Business Daily

The missiles that struck Syria on Friday night have certainly shifted the international economic focus from China tariffs to new potential trade sanctions targeting Russian companies with ties to the Syrian president, Bashar al Assad. So how does this economic tit-for-tat play at a time when America is apparently preparing for economic war with China? We hear from Pippa Malmgren, head of the risk consultancy, the DPRM group in London and former economic adviser to President George W Bush in Washington. She believes that US President Trump does have a grand plan for international trade and foreign policy. To discuss China's place in the global pecking order, we turned to Professor Kishore Mahbubani, a veteran former diplomat from Singapore and former dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. He argues that China will be soon on top and the West has failed to realise it. However, leading China-based economist, Michael Pettis from the Peking University told us he was skeptical that China would overtake t

Jaron Lanier is a pioneer of the modern internet and known as the "father" of Virtual Reality. But at the TED conference in Vancouver, Jane Wakefield hears why he thinks things have gone so badly wrong that there should be a mass deletion of social media, and the tech titans should start charging for their services.Jane also hears from Gizmodo's privacy expert Kashmir Hill about her experiment with turning her home into an internet-connected "smart-home" and the enormous amounts of data her devices produced, even as she slept. Plus Olga Yurkova, a Ukrainian journalist who set up the website StopFake to debunk fake news and propaganda, and Mikhail Zygar, a prominent Russian journalist who argues that the impact of fake news and Russian trolls is vastly over-stated. (Picture: Jaron Lanier speaking at TED2018; Credit: Bret Hartman/TED)

The cashless economy: Who are the winners and losers in the worldwide shift to digital payments?Rob Young hears from a grumpy pensioner in Sweden, a country that has blazed the way in ditching physical currency, as well as a Swedish expert on payment systems, Professor Niklas Arvidsson. Plus what difference has Narendra Modi's "demonetisation" policy of banning large denomination notes made to India's economy? Monika Halan, consulting editor at Indian financial newspaper Mint, gives her considered opinion. Meanwhile Rahul Tandon explains why Indians still don't know what Bitcoin is, even though they know they like it.(Picture: Indian farmer with daughter using mobile phone and credit card for online payment; Credit: triloks/Getty Images)

Ethiopia's economic growth has been hailed as a miracle by some, but it is a country deeply divided along the lines of ethnicity and wealth, and in recent years has been wracked by violence.New Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has made a public apology to the hundreds who have died and hundreds of thousands displaced, but will his words be enough to bring harmony?We hear from an Ethiopian medical student who fled to Yemen several months ago for fear of persecution, and ask Dr Awol Allo, a human rights lawyer and émigré from Ethiopia, about the reasons for the conflict, which prompted the government to declare a national state of emergency earlier this year. Ed Butler also visits a Chinese-built shoe factory south of the capital Addis Ababa to hear about pay and working conditions.Plus, what has been the international business reaction to the unrest? Has it deterred investment? We speak to Arusha Mehta, from clothing firm Goldmark Ltd, William Attwell from Frontier Strategy Group, and Zemenedeh Negatu, the Ethiopian-

As shares tumble and talk of regulation increases, we ask whether Facebook, Google and Amazon are facing a crisis.High-profile data breaches, falling user numbers and presidential questions over tax affairs have upped the pressure on these corporate giants in recent weeks. Bilal Hafeez, from the Japanese investment bank Nomura, tells us why he thinks their tech bubble is bursting.Another troubled tech firm, Uber, is under pressure once again - Jeremy Wagstaff tells us that this time it is from rivals in Southeast Asia. Plus, we take to the skies with real-life Iron Man Richard Browning, founder of tech start-up Gravity, who has set a world record in his jet-powered suit.(Picture: A man holding a smartphone showing Facebook's logo. Credit: Kirill Kudryavtsev, Getty Images.)

Does the world face a food crisis in the next 10 years? Or could the solution to world hunger already be at hand? Laurence Knight explores whether technological solutions like multi-storey indoor farms and self-driving tractors could help provide affordable food for everyone. Producer: Laurence Knight(Photo: Greens growing on floating beds. Credit: Mira Oberman/AFP/Getty Images)

Africa has the youngest population of any continent in the world and that figure is expected to double in less than 30 years. The BBC's Tamasin Ford travels across three countries to hear from young people about their hopes and dreams for their working lives. In Ghana, she talks to award winning actor and producer Yvonne Nelson. In Ivory Coast Tamasin hears from Edith Brou, CEO of her own Digital Agency, the Africa Content Group. And in Liberia, young people tell Tamasin about their hopes for the future in a country where youth unemployment is very high amongst the sixty percent of the population who are under 25.(Photo; Young men on the streets of Monrovia, Liberia. Credit: Tamasin Ford)

As the country prepares for elections, Ed Butler visits Sierra Leone to find out how people are feeling about the economy as it fights back following the devastating Ebola outbreak. Ed speaks to top politicians and also hears from ordinary people struggling to make a living. And he asks what happened to money donated to deal with Ebola victims, amid reports of corruption.(Picture: Children attending school on November 15, 2017 at the Old Skool Camp. Credit:SAIDU BAH/AFP/Getty Images)

Business Daily hears remarkable stories from Yemen's civil war. The tens of thousands of African economic migrants risking everything each year to travel into the world's worst humanitarian crisis. And the man who decided to start a coffee export business out of the very heart of the war-zone. Ed Butler talks to Mokhtar Alkhanshali from the Port of Mokha coffee company, humanitarian worker Rabih Sarieddine at the International Organization for Migration's office in the Yemeni port of Aden and journalist Iona Craig who's been reporting on Yemen for many years. The programme contains descriptions of kidnapping and violence. (picture: Yemeni tribesmen from the Popular Resistance Committees, keep watch at Nihm district, on the eastern edges of the capital Sanaa, on February 2, 2018. (Credit ABDULLAH AL-QADRY/AFP/Getty Images)

Are you saving for a rainy day? Eight of the world's major economies will between them have a joint shortfall of some $400 trillion in the next thirty years in terms of pension provision, according to the World Economic Forum. The assumption here is that most of us need about 70% of our working income to get by in our retirement years. But the shortfall they've come up with is a staggering 5 times the size of global stock markets. Luckily, Dan Ariely, a behavioural economist based at Duke University in the US, has been studying some of the simple human tricks that perhaps might nudge us towards a more prudent attitude.(Picture: Getty images)

US President Donald Trump has pledged a major upgrade to the country's nuclear deterrent, but are a handful of private defence contractors driving the multi-billion dollar modernisation programme?Jonathan King, a veteran campaigner against nuclear proliferation and professor at MIT, argues guaranteed profit margins and secrecy make the industry very attractive to such companies.But Hawk Carlisle, chief executive of the US National Defense Industrial Association, tells Ed Butler the private sector is the only area capable of building such weapons and that there is adequate competition and government scrutiny.Plus, how complicated is it to make a bomb these days? Robert Kelley, a former weapons inspector in Iraq, says technology is advancing so fast that it's getting easier and easier.Producer: Laurence Knight(Picture: Ballistic missiles being launched in North Korea. Credit: AFP photo/KCNA via KNS, Getty Images)

We predict and discuss the biggest business and economic trends of the coming year. Have we failed at handling globalisation, and how can we deal with it in the coming year? The Nobel prize winner Joseph Stiglitz tells us how the global economy can thrive without the failings of globalisation which we have seen so far - and advises us on how to handle the increasing tendency towards interdependence between countries.And the BBC's Rahul Tandon hears the woes of street market sellers in India. Hawkers sell their products at a much cheaper price than many other retailers - but at what cost to the country and society? We look at the role of the open market seller in an increasingly regulated economy.Plus, we take a look at what's in store for global stock exchanges and industries with experts Stephanie Hare, an independent political risk analyst, and Gabriel Sterne from Oxford Economics.(Image: Reflection of Jubilee Bridge and Central Business District of Singapore during dusk hour in a glass ball. Credit: Getty

There's been another round of revelations from the Paradise Papers - the leaked documents from a big offshore law firm. The leaks put Apple's tax affairs under scrutiny. The company shopped around for a tax haven after a crackdown on its controversial tax practices in Ireland. The BBC's Andrew Walker explains the background and Manuela Saragosa asks tax specialist Rita de la Feria, professor of tax law at the University of Leeds, whether it is possible to create a level playing field for tax globally. Also in the programme: Daniel Gallas reports from Brazil two years after the country's worst ever environmental accident. On November 5th 2015, a dam operated by the iron ore company Samarco - a joint venture between commodity giants Vale and BHP Biliton - burst in the town of Mariana. Two years on, has the region's economy recovered? (Picture: The Apple logo is displayed on the exterior of an Apple Store in San Francisco. Credit: Getty Images)

A huge new leak of financial documents has revealed how the powerful and ultra-wealthy, including the British Queen's private estate, secretly invest vast amounts of cash in offshore tax havens. Donald Trump's commerce secretary is shown to have a stake in a firm dealing with Russians sanctioned by the US. The leak, dubbed the Paradise Papers, contains 13.4m documents, mostly from one leading firm in offshore finance. Manuela Saragosa hears more from the BBC's Dominic O'Connell. Also in the programme we hear from the Premier of Bermuda David Burt and the Secretary General of the OECD OECD - and its secretary general Angel Gurria.

We explore the anxieties of the wealthy, and the mentality of conspicuous consumption, which is about more than being discreet about high-end purchases. Journalist Rachel Sherman tells us her accounts of interviewing some of New York's elite wealthy - who are equally as stealthy about their endeavours and purchases. We hear more about the anxiety associated with wealth, both earned and inherited, including the constant need to seem 'normal', and justify funds. Stephen Lussier, a chief executive from diamond company De Beers, tells us about the changing buying habits of some of the world's richest - including the increasing number of women who prefer to buy their own diamonds for reasons other than romance. Plus, extravagant signs of wealth are at their peak during India;s wedding season. Weddings can go on for days, and include thousands of guests and private chartered planes, and over 70 types of food. The BBC's Rahul Tandon reports that some Indian states are cracking down on what they say are 'excessive' a

The path to a profitable business could lie in your ability to be nice. From The Empathy Business, Belinda Parmar OBE tells us that some understanding between leaders and customers, and within teams, has proven to lead to sharp rises in profits.And some people throw billions in to the business of being compassionate, and can turn huge profits. We speak to the founder of LeapFrog Investments, Andy Kuper, whose business invests in fast-growing companies that bring about serious change to the world and to shareholders. His projects include the world's first insurer to give life cover to HIV positive people across Africa.(Image: A black and white photo English airline entrepreneur Freddie Laker (1922 - 2006) giving a thumbs up gesture and smiling; plane in background. (Photo by London Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

In times of economic crunch, where should you store your savings? Perhaps you are tempted by the rise in value of bitcoin. But can it last? And what is bitcoin anyway? A currency or an asset? Garrick Hileman, Research fellow at the Cambridge centre for alternative finance, tells the BBC's Manuela Saragosa what to make of the cryptocurrency.British business couple Baroness Michelle Mone and Doug Barrowman tell Ed Butler about their property development where units will be sold for bitcoin.And Martin Arnold, an analyst at London investment firm ETF Securities, weighs it up against other assets, like the safe haven of gold.(Picture: bars of gold. Credit: Getty.)

Will robots and artificial intelligence help us in our daily lives, or steal our jobs and discriminate against us? Manuela Saragosa talks to Max Tegmark, who has just written a book about what it means to be human in an age of artificial intelligence. In it he recounts how he was left in tears after a recent visit to London's Science Museum. She also interviews Noel Sharkey, professor of artificial intelligence and robots at the University of Sheffield.And regular commentator James Srodes has a warning about letting computers make decisions for us.(Photo: Model robots. Credit: Getty Images)

Texas has undergone an energy revolution, and even has its own power grid to service the vast State’s needs, but while some claim renewables are the future, others are staunch supporters of oil and gas. How do the two sides fit together? Joe Miller speaks to Jim Briggs, deputy City Manager in Georgetown, which despite its Republican politics, has gone 100% renewable. He also hears from author Kate Galbriath, about how wind energy has a long history in Texas and has sat side by side with oil for decades. Joe also hears from ERCOT, the Texas energy grid, about how they manage supply and demand, and from Fred Beach an energy policy expert from the University of Austin about the motivation for the switch to renewables in places like Georgetown.(Photo: Georgetown Town Square. Credit: City of Georgetown)

India's financial shock therapy continues, this time with an all-new tax system. The BBC's Rahul Tandon reports on its progress. Presenter Ed Butler speaks about the new plan with businessman Gaurav Daga, founder of plastics supply company Oswal Cable, near New Delhi.And Simon Ruda, the director of home affairs and international programmes at the Behavioural Insights Team in London, also known as the Nudge Unit, says getting people to pay tax isn't as simple as it might seem.(Photo: India flag. Credit: Getty Images)