South Korea said the ship had transferred 600 tonnes of oil to a North Korean vessel. There are suggestions, denied by the Chinese, that China was responsible for the shipment. We find out more from China expert Gordon Chang. Also in the programme, it’s been a bumper year for commodities with palladium ending at a 17-year high. IG chief market analyst Chris Beauchamp explains what’s ahead in 2018. Does fake news mark the end of free speech in America? Katherine Mangu-Ward, editor of Reason.com e...
Dec 30, 2017•52 min•Transcript available on Metacast The U.S. Senate closes in on passing tax reform legislation. Bipartisan Policy Center senior advisor, Steve Bell, weighs in on what a legislative victory on taxes could mean for the Trump administration. And a conversation with Democratic Congresswoman Jackie Speier about sexual-harassment allegations swirling through Congress. Also in the programme, UNCHR’s representative to Libya talks about the evidence of Libyan slave markets in a post-Gadaffi world. Plus, has Trump’s travel ban had an impac...
Dec 02, 2017•53 min•Transcript available on Metacast A look into why Japan’s once sterling corporate reputation has taken such a hit amid a number of high-profile scandals in recent years. Also in the programme, a deep dive into why the nation's efforts to make it easier for women to return to work after having children may be destined to fail. And, as Tokyo celebrates its own AIDS Week – a conversation with Japan’s most prominent and respected LGBT figure, Pink Bear, about how traditional values in the country make it difficult for gay people to ...
Dec 01, 2017•52 min•Transcript available on Metacast Host Roger Hearing visits areas surrounding the city on the east side of Japan’s main island where almost half a million people had to leave their homes in 2011 due to the nuclear disaster. He speaks with one man who lost two children and is now involved in a group dedicated to finding those who have so far never been found. Later in the programme, Roger visits an area that was once considered the nation’s breadbasket, but now even as the government and producers try to clean the land and convin...
Nov 30, 2017•54 min•Transcript available on Metacast An already tense situation on the Korean peninsula escalated with North Korea’s launch of its highest-ever ICBM that landed in Japanese waters. Anna Fifield, Tokyo bureau chief for the Washington Post, explains how significant the action is. Later in the programme, Jared Bernstein, a member of President Obama’s economic team, talks about Jerome Powell’s testimony on Capitol Hill as he seeks confirmation to become the next Federal Reserve chairman. We’ll also hear from the BBC’s Karishma Vaswani ...
Nov 29, 2017•52 min•Transcript available on Metacast Regional branches of Zimbabwe's ruling Zanu-PF party have joined growing calls for President Robert Mugabe to resign. We hear the latest from the BBC's Fergal Keane. Britain could put a tax on one-use plastic food packaging and polystyrene takeaway boxes. Government ministers are asking for evidence on whether a new tax would prevent waste and cut pollution in the world's oceans. Research this week found plastic is widespread in the stomachs of sea creatures, and humans are eating them. Craig Be...
Nov 18, 2017•52 min•Transcript available on Metacast President Trump has renewed his verbal pressure on North Korea, warning Pyongyang not to take military action against the US or its allies. Mr Trump said he hoped the North's leader understood the gravity of the situation. World leaders have expressed concern at the war of words over Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programme. Vincent Ni, Senior Producer, BBC Chinese Service talks about how many people use services and social media platforms like Weibo, WeChat and Baidu Tieba in China. They are curre...
Aug 12, 2017•52 min•Transcript available on Metacast North Korea’s latest ballistic missile launch was in the direction of Japan. The Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, says the world needs to increase pressure on Pyongyang to end its missile testing programme. We'll discuss North Korea's latest intercontinental missile test, which experts say puts US cities in range. As the United States Food and Drug Administration announces that it wants to limit the amount of nicotine in cigarettes, we asked Professor Stanton Glantz from the University of Ca...
Jul 29, 2017•53 min•Transcript available on Metacast The US House of Representatives has voted to impose fresh sanctions on Russia, despite President Donald Trump objecting to the legislation. Daniel Fried, former sanctions coordinator at the US State Department looks at the latest step. Is infrastructure spending really the secret to boosting economic growth? We look at the cost and benefits of planned projects around the globe. And, the "world's most useless airport" is finally about to get its first scheduled flight. The BBC's Roger Hearing wil...
Jul 26, 2017•51 min•Transcript available on Metacast Just as the protestors on Hamburg's streets have varied demands, so too do the leaders of the G20. The US, for example, wants more trade tariffs (especially on steel imports) - a policy that not all members agree with. We get the latest on the summit from our correspondent in Hamburg, Amir Paivar. London-based PR firm Bell Pottinger apologises after its social media campaigns caused offence in South Africa. Nikita Ramkissoon from the Save South Africa campaign tells us her objections to it. Plus...
Jul 08, 2017•52 min•Transcript available on Metacast As leaders of the world’s twenty largest economies arrive in the northern German city of Hamburg, thousands of protestors took to the streets. Several police officers were injured as violence erupted. We get the latest from BBC correspondent Jenny Hill. As the EU and Japan announce their free trade deal, we speak to Shihoko Goto of the Northeast Asia Program at the Wilson Center in Washington. And the BBC’s Timothy McDonald reports from the Philippines, where new technology is disrupting the cra...
Jul 07, 2017•52 min•Transcript available on Metacast Figures from the US Department of Labor showed that the unemployment rate dropped in April. But the rebound in the jobs market could pave the way for the US central bank to raise interest rates, warns Chirs Low of FTN Financial on Wall Street. The Indian government says it's planning new rules allowing airlines to ban unruly passengers from flying. It follows a steady increase in air rage incidents worldwide, and an incident where MP Ravindra Gaikwad hit an Air India duty manager with his sandal...
May 06, 2017•56 min•Transcript available on Metacast The GDU-43 bomb weighs almost 10,000kg, is as long as a small bus and packs the equivalent of eleven tons of TNT. But is deploying it an essential part of the war against so-called Islamic State, or is it just designed to show off America's military strength? We ask Michael O'Hanlon from the Brookings Institution. Since the start of the conflict in Syria, Armenia has welcomed an influx of refugees from the native Syrian Armenian community in Aleppo. They've been supported by the government to se...
Apr 14, 2017•56 min•Transcript available on Metacast Despite the shadow of US military action in Syria, American President Donald Trump insists his talks with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping have been positive. We talk to Heather Timmons from Quartz to find out how relations between the two superpowers are being shaped. After at least four people were killed in a suspected terror attack in Sweden, we find out the latest from the BBC's Maddy Savage in Stockholm. We discuss some of the weeks biggest stories - including executive pay, fake news an...
Apr 08, 2017•55 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Democrats hated it before it even happened and now many Republicans have distanced themselves from the US President's proposals for an Obamacare replacement. So is Trumpcare already dead in the water? We speak to Professor John McDonough of Harvard University's Department of Health Policy & Management - who worked in the Senate on the passage of the Affordable Care Act. The US Department of Justice has fined the Chinese telecoms maker ZTE nearly $1.2 billion for selling banned American-m...
Mar 08, 2017•56 min•Transcript available on Metacast President Trump has issued an executive order putting in place a new travel ban. Is it legally watertight this time? We hear from Ambassador Norman Eisen who was senior counsel to President Obama and David Rivkin, a lawyer who served under Presidents Reagan and George Bush senior. The centre-right in France keeps Francois Fillon as its presidential candidate, despite falling poll ratings and a legal investigation into his financial arrangements; we get analysis from the BBC's Hugh Schofield in P...
Mar 07, 2017•56 min•Transcript available on Metacast With President Donald Trump less than an hour away from addressing Congress for the first time, we preview what he's likely to say and how he's been performing in The White House so far. Three months on from India's surprise decision to remove high-valued banknotes from circulation, we examine how the economy has been affected with British economist Roger Bootle. Despite frequent reports that 'Milennials' are finding it difficult to get onto the housing ladder, a report from HSBC suggests that h...
Mar 01, 2017•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast Donald Trump plans to radically change government spending, increasing the defence budget by 10% paid for by slashing domestic programmes and foreign aid. We hear from Sharon Parrot of the independent Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in Washington DC. After the Oscars 2017 'Best Picture' mix up, we discuss how the accountants at PWC managed to mess the winners up with Erich Schwartzel, film industry reporter at The Wall Street Journal. We hear from the BBC's Yogita Limaye on how the withdr...
Feb 28, 2017•56 min•Transcript available on Metacast Greece's debt crisis burst back on to the economic and political agenda today following an extraordinary row at the top of the International Monetary Fund, the body overseeing the Greek government's bailout programme. In simple terms some of the IMF's board members think Greece's debt is "unsustainable", so some of it may need to be written off, whilst others passionately disagree. We'll have reaction from Athens from economist Dr Michael Arghyrou and journalist Katerina Btazak. The pledge to bu...
Feb 08, 2017•56 min•Transcript available on Metacast More than 100 US tech firms, including some of the industry's biggest players, have filed a legal document stating that President Trump's immigration ban affects their operations and "inflicts significant harm" on business. Journalist Alison Van Diggelen will bring us views and reaction from Silicon Valley. The BBC's Daniel Gallas takes us through a significant meeting in South America, as the President of Argentina Maurico Macri, travels to talk cross-border trade with his Brazilian counterpart...
Feb 07, 2017•56 min•Transcript available on Metacast Some of the most powerful business leaders in America have been among those to criticize President Donald Trump's plans to ban travel from seven mainly Muslim countries. In particular the bosses of some of the country's biggest tech firms have been quick to call on the President to think again. We'll hear from the billionaire chief executive of the cloud software firm, Stripe, Patrick Collison. We'll also hear diplomatic reaction, from a former US ambassador and government adviser Norman Eisen, ...
Jan 31, 2017•56 min•Transcript available on Metacast In ten days, President Obama will leave the White House. But as the current President gives his farewell speech in his home town of Chicago, key players from the team assembled by the man set to replace Mr Obama in just over a week, President elect Donald Trump, are being confirmed to their cabinet posts in Washington. And many eyes will be on Mr Trump;s pick as Secretary of State, the former oil boss, Ex ExxonMobil chief executive Rex Tillerson. Jordan Fabian, White House Correspondent for The ...
Jan 11, 2017•56 min•Transcript available on Metacast The ongoing fall-out from the Volkswagen emissions scandal took another twist in the US today as court papers revealed VW executives knew about emissions cheating two months before the scandal broke. It follows the arrest at the weekend of Oliver Schmidt, who was in charge of VW's US environmental regulatory compliance office from 2012 until March 2015. He was arrested on Saturday on charges that he took part in a conspiracy to defraud the US and VW customers. The company has said it can't comme...
Jan 10, 2017•56 min•Transcript available on Metacast A US intelligence report says that the Russian president Vladimir Putin "ordered" a hacking campaign to help Donald Trump win the presidential election. The unclassified and cut-down version of the report was released shortly after Mr Trump was briefed by intelligence chiefs. John Bussey, Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal in New York considers whether the President - elect is convinced about the hacking incidents. In the aftermath of Britain's vote to leave the European Union, the orga...
Jan 07, 2017•56 min•Transcript available on Metacast Several disturbing incidents have been streamed on Facebook Live, including one of a mentally disabled man being severely assaulted. Business Matters asks, whether with other sites like Periscope too, live broadcasting is now open to all - so is this a welcome expansion of free speech or a risky way of giving a vast audience to extremists and criminals? Jon Fingas, associate editor at Engadget comments. The farming community in Britain receive more than three and a half billion dollars a year fr...
Jan 06, 2017•56 min•Transcript available on Metacast As President-elect Donald Trump confirms the Chief Executive of Exxon Mobil, Rex Tillerson, as his choice for US secretary of state and the former Texas Gov. Rick Perry to lead the Energy Department, we look at the implications of the appointments, for both the United States and the rest of the world. Professor James Goldgeier is Dean of the School of International Service at American University in Washington DC and gave us his thoughts. Also in the programme, the BBC's Coletta Smith reports fro...
Dec 14, 2016•56 min•Transcript available on Metacast The big Palm Oil company Olam has been accused of using suppliers that may use unsustainable practices in parts of Southeast Asia and West Africa. The claims against the agricultural commodities trader were made in a report by a US-based environmental lobby group called Mighty Earth. The Singaporean company that has a majority share in Olam, called Temasek, insists that it's always been in support of ethical land clearance practices - and Olam itself has vehemently rejected the allegations. Glen...
Dec 13, 2016•56 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Obama White House hasn't always had the easiest of relationships with the Kremlin during his eight-year tenure, and it doesn't look like it's about to get any cosier. And that's because President Obama has ordered US intelligence agencies to investigate all cyber attacks and alleged foreign interventions in US presidential elections - and he wants the results on his desk before he leaves the White House on January twentieth. It was of course alleged during the campaign that Russia was amongs...
Dec 10, 2016•56 min•Transcript available on Metacast With the presidential election looming in the key East African economy of Kenya, the issue of corruption looks to be high on the political agenda. It was of course a key cornerstone of Donald Trump's US presidential election campaign, where he pledged to "drain the swamp" and rid Washington of corruption, so how bigger factor could it be in Kenya's presidential race? Vivienne Nunis reports from Nairobi. It's been described as the World's "forgotten war," yet the bloodshed in Yemen shows no signs...
Dec 09, 2016•56 min•Transcript available on Metacast Millions of Italians go to the polls on Sunday to vote on whether their constitution should be reformed. Lorenzo Codogno, former chief economist and director general at the Treasury Department at the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance discusses whether the Prime Minister might be on the way out. The BBC's Guy Hedgecoe in Madrid reports on the pollution problem in Spain, and the decisions by the Mayors of Paris, Mexico City, Madrid and Athens to ban the use of all diesel-powered cars and tru...
Dec 03, 2016•56 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
