Business Matters

‌

Episodes

‌

Episodes

Donald Trump Begins Victory Tour Around the US

President- elect Donald Trump has begun a victory tour of US starting in the state of Indiana where he's taken credit for stopping a thousand jobs at an air conditioning firm Carrier from going to Mexico. Can Mr Trump live up to his campaign pledges - and does it matter? We asked economist Irwin Stelzer at the Hudson Institute. Food giant Nestle claims is claiming a breakthrough that will cut the sugar in its chocolate by 40 per cent. The company suggests it can scientifically 'restructure' the ...

Dec 02, 2016•56 min•Transcript available on Metacast

Crunch Time for Opec

On Wednesday morning in Vienna OPEC is holding a meeting, aimed at halting the biggest decline in oil prices for a generation. Back in September, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries reached a tentative agreement to restrict output - but they still haven't hammered out individual output targets for each nation. We spoke to Amrita Sen of Energy Aspects about the biggest and most influential producer - Saudi Arabia. The old certainties about politics in America have been turned on the...

Nov 30, 2016•56 min•Transcript available on Metacast

No Charges for Hilary Clinton - FBI

Reckless, careless, even irresponsible, but not criminal. That is the judgment from the FBI on former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton - the presumptive nominee of the Democratic Party for president - over her use of a private email server for highly confidential government material. Still, not exactly labels that any politician is going to wear with much pride. Will voters change their views? Mrs Clinton's Republican Party rivals have been flogging the email issue for months and going by D...

Jul 06, 2016•58 min•Transcript available on Metacast

Italian Brexit Banking Woes

Britain's vote to leave the European Union has caused damage to banks and to the wider economy in Italy. Growth forecasts there have been more pessimistic since June 23rd, and investors fear there'll be more defaults on loans. Italian banks are already sitting on a big pile of bad debt - but on Monday the world's oldest bank, Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, saw its share price fall to an all time low after the European Central Bank said it had to cut back on the risky loans it holds. Professor ...

Jul 05, 2016•55 min•Transcript available on Metacast

The UK votes to leave the European Union.

We get global reaction as the UK votes to leave the European Union. In Finland, the Foreign Minister, Timo Soini - who heads the eurosceptic Finns Party - said the UK result had to be respected - and he warned against what he called retaliation in future negotiations between the EU and Britain. We hear from Alexander Stubb , who was until recently, the Finance Minister of Finland. In recent weeks, we've heard the views of Roger Bootle of Capital Economics - arguing in favour of a British exit fr...

Jun 25, 2016•55 min•Transcript available on Metacast

Farc Peace Deal in Colombia

The Colombian government and Farc rebels say they have reached a definitive bilateral ceasefire in Latin America's longest running armed conflict. The main issue - the disarmament of the rebels - has been addressed. And, after half a century of war, the Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos has said a final peace deal could be signed by late July. There have been plenty of reports of peace before, so is this really it? We hear from the BBC's Natalio Cosoy in Bogota. California's last nuclear po...

Jun 23, 2016•55 min•Transcript available on Metacast

Euro 16 Underway in France

France wins the opening game of the Euros tournament, but will businesses lose out as striking workers disrupt the country's transport system? The US news site Gawker files for bankruptcy after being told to pay 140 million dollars in damages to a celebrity wrestler Plus the feat of engineering over common sense - we find out more about the multi billion dollar satellite constellation which was very nearly crashed back down to earth. And Susannah Streeter is joined throughout the programme by Pr...

Jun 11, 2016•55 min•Transcript available on Metacast

Who Would be Better for US Business, Trump or Clinton?

So we now know, barring major incidents, that Hilary Clinton and Donald Trump are the choices for US President in November. But what are they offering American business? That's a concern of course for the US Chamber of Commerce. We hear from J.D Harrison, a senior editor at the US Chamber of Commerce based in Washington. The creative money-spinner that is Harry Potter moved on to its latest incarnation in London this week with the start of a series of previews of "Harry Potter and the Cursed Chi...

Jun 09, 2016•55 min•Transcript available on Metacast

Euro-quotas for Amazon Prime and Netflix proposed

Officials in Brussels are proposing rules that would force online video services in the European Union to ensure at least twenty percent of their content is made in the EU. The biggest companies in the sector, Netflix and Amazon Prime, are American and much of their material currently comes from Hollywood. Supporters of the plan say it would have "a positive effect on cultural diversity". EU rules already oblige television broadcasters to spend at least half of their time showing European works,...

May 26, 2016•56 min•Transcript available on Metacast

Argentina Corruption Charges

Former Argentine President Cristina Fernandez has been indicted over accusations that she oversaw irregularities in the central bank's sale of dollars in the futures market. The number of migrants arriving in Greece from Turkey has fallen dramatically...as Ankara tightens the border, but elsewhere in the Mediterranean, attempts to stop the smugglers are failing. Miners seeking millions of dollars in compensation for contracting a serious lung disease have won a landmark judgement against the gol...

May 14, 2016•55 min•Transcript available on Metacast

Brazil's New Leader

In Brazil, the new president is putting together a very different-looking cabinet to his predecessor - a much more market friendly one. His new finance minister is Henriques Meirelles, former head of the central bank. So what is the likely effect going to be on Brazil's wobbly finances? "Fantastically corrupt". That's how British prime minister David Cameron described Nigeria and Afghanistan earlier in the week. On Thursday he was hosting a global anti-corruption conference in London. Fifty stat...

May 13, 2016•55 min•Transcript available on Metacast

India Special: Bollywood's Challenges

Rahul Tandon looks at India's changing entertainment industry - the competition that Hindi films face from regional cinema and Hollywood. He also speaks to one of India's leading actors Manoj Bajpayee about his latest film Aligarh, based on the life of gay professor Ramchandra Siras. Plus the risks and opportunities posed to the industry by the ever growing numbers of Indian smartphone and tablet owners. Also, why aren't more Indian bands cracking the international music scene? Rahul hears from ...

Feb 25, 2016•56 min•Transcript available on Metacast

Poachers Threaten Reef in South China Sea

The BBC has exclusive evidence of the large-scale destruction of a reef in the South China Sea by Chinese poachers and the theft of valuable and endangered giant clams. The Philippines, which is pursuing its own legal claim to many of the islands, says the Chinese navy is allowing the poachers to plunder the reefs with impunity. Rupert Wingfield-Hayes has the story. All public schools in the Los Angeles area were closed on Tuesday after a ‘credible threat’ was received via email. Almost 700,000 ...

Dec 16, 2015•56 min•Transcript available on Metacast