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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 withdrawal of high value rupee notes has hit agriculture and industry in India hard and Lucy Kellaway of the Financial Times gives us a masterclass in the art of persuasion.All this and more discussed with our guests throughout the show Ralph Silva in Toronto in Canada and Daisy Guo in Shanghai in China and Rahul Tandon in Kolkata.(Photo: US Military Parade. Credit: Getty Images.)

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 build a wall along the US-Mexican border was a key election promise from President Trump. The BBC's Hugh Sykes reports from the southern US state of Arizona on what businesses and politicians along the border make of the plans. It might sound something of an oxymoron - car companies looking to develop something other than cars - but that's apparently exactly what some of the biggest players in the industry are doing. Mark Garrison from the US business radio programme Marketplace explains all. The BBC's Fergus Nicoll will be joined throughout the programme from New York by Mark Garrison, from New Dehli by Jyoti Malhotra, senior journalist and president of the South Asian Women in Media (SAWM) group, and they'll also be joined from Hong Kong by the BBC's Juliana Liu. PICTURE: A man walks past a graffiti with a EU flag reading in German 'NO' concerning Greece's referendum on the latest offer of a debt deal by the country's EU-IMF creditors, in Athens on June 28, 2015. (Photo: ARIS MESSINIS/AFP/Getty Images)

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 Michel Temer.From big tech companies, to smaller, more local ones now - we'll hear about the big ambitions for local social networking site Streetlife, from its founder Matt Boyes.The BBC's Fergus Nicoll will be joined throughout the programme from San Francisco, by the journalist Alison Van Diggelen and from Kolkata by the BBC's Rahul Tandon.PICTURE: Leading tech CEOs, including Apple's Tim Cook meet with President Trump in New York prior to his inauguration. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

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, and hear from Dr Betsy McCaughey, Republican Lieutenant Governor of New York State in the 1990s and an economic adviser to Mr Trump while he was the President-Elect.With almost daily stories about robots taking over everything from driving our cars, to our day to day jobs, are we all getting a bit hysterical about the prospect of artificial intelligence taking over our lives? Dr Chris Brauer from Goldsmiths University in London thinks so, and he'll tell us why. Throughout the hour the BBC's Rob Young will be joined from Dehli by Sushma Ramachandran, former chief business correspondent at the Hindu Times. And from San Francisco by Michael Brune, Executive Director of the environmental campaign group the Sierra Club. Picture: Demonstrators gather outside of the Trump Hotel International during a protest in Washington, DC. Protestors in Washington and around the country gathered to protest President Donald Trump's executive order barring the citizens of Muslim-majority countries Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen from traveling to the United States. (Photo by Zach Gibson/Getty Images)

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 Hill tells us why.A lack of investment spending in emerging markets is strangling economic growth in those countries. That's the warning from the World Bank in its annual global forecast. The report's lead author, Franziska Ohnsorge, talks to us about that, China, and trying to get a read on the Trump administration.It's the swankiest week of schmoozing and high powered financial dealing of the year, and all against the backdrop of the snowy Swiss Alps. But why is the World Economic Forum in Davos such a pull for the World's business elite? Sandra Navidi - author of a new book called Superhubs: How the Financial Elite & Their Networks Rule Our World is here to tell us. And, don't fancy becoming an air force pilot but still fancy travelling faster than the speed of sound? The answer used to be buy a ticket for Concorde, until the transatlantic supersonic plane landed for the final time in 2003. But could a very high speed return to supersonic passenger travel be on the horizon, the BBC's Business Correspondent Theo Leggett has been taking a look. To pilot us through the hour, the BBC's Fergus Nicoll is joined from Los Angeles by Raghu Manavalan, a broadcaster at Marketplace and from Singapore by Nisid Hajari, Asia Editor for Bloomberg View.(Picture: President Barack Obama delivers a farewell speech to the nation in Chicago, Illinois. Credit: Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

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 comment on an ongoing legal matter, but what might the latest details mean for VW in the United States? Professor John Coffee of Columbia Law School joins us. It's been divided for more than 40 years, but could the European island of Cyprus soon become a reunified, single state once again? We'll hear views from both the north and the south, and assess the chances of success with Christiana Erotokritou, parliamentary spokeswoman for the Democratic Party in the Republic of Cyprus. How far is too far when it comes to compromising corporate principles for hard-nosed business realism? When Apple removed the New York Times app from its store in China, there was a lot of angry commentary on social media. But are such compromises simply pragmatism - or are they self-censorship? Reporter Melissa Chan, familiar with both China and the US, gives us her view. And, come on, be honest, you're amongst friends here at Business Matters. Have you ever not been... strictly upfront with someone in work? Perhaps professed something they'd done was just fine at the exact moment you began hastily redoing that piece of work from scratch, all the while sobbing silently inside for the bus you are set to inevitably now miss? Well former Apple and Google employee Kim Scott reckons she has the answer, it's called Radical Candor, and it sounds... candid. Buzfeed's Jonny Ensall assesses its brilliance, brutality or perhaps both. The BBC's bastion of honesty, Fergus Nicoll is joined throughout the programme by the equally honourable Diana Furchgott Roth,the Washington-based former chief economist of the U.S. Department of Labor, and from Hong Kong by independent economist, and former Morgan Stanley & World Bank employee Andy Xie. Picture:Getty Images.

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 organisation is facing criticism that it's failed to sell a convincing vision for the future. Despite this, Serbia want to join the EU.. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Alexander Vucic, the country has undergone a major privatisation campaign - and is recording consistent GDP growth of nearly 3 percent. Vladimir Krujl is Serbia's Chief Economist for EU Accession - and when he came into the Business Matters studio Fergus Nicholl asked him why Belgrade is still hoping to join the EU.A free co-working movement launched in Sweden claims that working alongside strangers can make us more productive and even happier. This home/office hybrid is called Hoffice -and the BBC's Maddy Savage reports from one of their events in Stockholm.Fergus Nicholl is joined by Clive Hunton of ABC News in Canberra for comment throughout the programme,Photo credit: DON EMMERT/AFP/Getty Images

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 from Brussels. But this will change when Britain leaves the European Union. Brexit is the theme for two farming conferences taking place at the moment. The BBC's Caz Graham got the views of some young farmers there about the uncertainty of what Brexit will mean for them.Roger Hearing is joined by Jason Abbruzzese, a Business Reporter at Mashable in New York, and Rosie Blau, China correspondent for the Economist in Beijing for comment throughout the programme.Photo Credit: JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP/Getty Images

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 from Reykjavik, Iceland, on the country's place at the head of a global league table for gender equality. Plus we hear from Bill Gates who has just launched his latest start-up - a billion-dollar project to turn good clean energy ideas into successful money-making schemes. It's called Breakthrough Energy Ventures - and he talked about it with David Brancaccio of Marketplace on American Public Radio.As US debt approaches the $20trillion mark within weeks, possibly days, of Donald Trump's arrival in the White House, we discuss why this matters and the impact of excessive debt on the global economy. And they may be an aphrodisiac, but oysters certainly aren't seducing some of the locals on Rhode Island where public land is being turned into oyster farms. Marketplace's Andy Uhler went there to check it out. Andy joins us throughout the programme alongside Lingling Wei who China correspondent for the Wall Street Journal in Beijing.(Picture: Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson speaks as he and other top oil and gas industry executives testify during a Senate Finance Committee Credit: REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque)

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. Glenn Hurowitz of Mighty Earth spoke to us from Washington DC.The Cuban government has signed a deal with Google's parent company - allowing the internet giant to provide faster access to its data by installing servers on the island that will store much of the company's most popular content. A little while earlier, another agreement was being signed between Cuba and the European Union - covering issues such as trade, human rights and migration. Will Grant is our Havana Correspondent - more from him on the Google deal.The world's largest oil producers have made a big money bet - agreeing to cut production in the hopes of boosting the price of crude oil - and refilling their dwindling Treasury coffers. Almost immediately, the price of crude went gone up to its highest level in almost two years. This strategy is a complete reversal of what was Plan A - pumping like crazy, not least in the hopes of driving upstart US shale oil companies out of business. So why have Russia, Kazakhstan and Mexico decided to work with OPEC? To assess the significance of the deal, the BBC's Rob Young talks to Chris Weafer at Macro Advisory in Moscow.One year ago, Saudi women were given the right to vote and run for office in municipal elections for the first time ever. Although municipal councils don't hold much power, many in the kingdom hoped it would bring about change. Hanan Razek has been looking at what's different one year on.Ageism in the workplace affects even the most glamorous of livelihoods. In Hollywood it's routine - well for women anyway. In music too - the latest evidence from Madonna as she received the Billboard Woman of the Year Award. Capping a list of music industry bigotry, she said - "And finally - do not age. Because to age is a sin. You will be criticized and vilified - and definitely not played on the radio." Now you'd think that a place like Silicon Valley in California - home to the likes of Google, Facebook and Apple - would be progressive ... beyond all that. But Lucy Kellaway of the Financial Times says what started out as a youthful vibe has indeed become outright ageism - an environment specifically designed to discriminate against the older worker.Hong Kong's pro-democracy groups have made strong gains in elections for the territory's Election Committee - a panel of 1,200 people that will choose Hong Kong's next leader. Pro-democracy groups fielded an unprecedented number of candidates this year, and have secured 325 seats, giving them significant negotiating power in the elections for Hong Kong's next leader. But pro-democracy campaigners like the lawyer Alvin Yu are annoyed that anti-establishment legislators are being targeted by pro-Beijing authorities. The Chief Executive elections will take place in March 2017. Hong Kong's financial secretary, John Tsang, has resigned from his position - but he's so far coy about plans to run for the top job. We get an update from Helier Cheung in Hong Kong.For a bit of musical levity to end the programme, it's worth considering that this year's Billboard CD sales may represent the final nail in the coffin of the music business as we know it. So who topped the list? Well it wasn't Drake. We are joined on the show by Anu Partanen, a Finnish journalist and the author of a book called The Nordic Theory of Everything, talking with us from New York. And our other guest is Catherine Yeung, the Investment Director at Fidelity Worldwide Investment, based in Hong Kong.(PHOTO CREDIT: Aerial view of an oil palm plantation, Borneo 04/02/2016 Science Photo Library)

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 amongst those states looking to interfere in the election. Hannah Kuchler who covers cyber security for the Financial Times in San Francisco explains more. It's a country the size of a continent, but the potential sale of private land of more than 1 per cent of the Australian landmass has caused controversy. We'll hear why the purchase of the Kidman estate is causing such concern from Danny Samson live in Melbourne. Plus, the Malaysian delegation shopping in London for data-savvy professionals to boost its growing tech sector. And you've heard of L'oreal, Maybeline and Max Factor - but what about Suzie Beauty? We'll hear from Nairobi about the Kenyan make-up artists looking to join the big name brands on a shelf near you soon. How can we eat healthily, sustainably and yet still tastily? It's the conundrum governments, scientists and the industry amongst others are pondering at a fringe event at the Nobel Prize awards in Oslo. We'll hear from two of the delegates. The BBC's Fergus Nicoll will be joined throughout the programme by Danny Samson, Professor of Management at the University of Melbourne, in Australia.(Picture: President Barack Obama pauses as he speaks at MacDill Air Force Base Credit: AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

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 of ceasing. Our security correspondent Frank Gardner reports from the Saudi Yemen border.Chief executive pay - it's a topic which regularly sees temperatures run high, and governments scratch their heads about how to control the gap between the highest and lowest earners. But now the US city of Portland in Oregon thinks it might have come up with an answer. The New York Times' Gretchen Morgenson tells us about the city's controversial new tax. The former British Prime Minister David Cameron says it cost him his job, but what's behind the rise in political populism across the globe? Our North America editor Jon Sopel takes a look. And, could there be a spy in your midst under the tree this Christmas? We'll hear about concerns that so-called "smart toys" are recording what our children say,and reporting it back to the software companies. The BBC's Roger Hearing will be joined throughout the programme by entrepreneur and author of The Business Secrets of Trappist Monks August Turak in Raleigh, North Carolina. And from Hong Kong by Andrew Peaple, Deputy Asia Finance editor for the Wall Street Journal.(Picture: Highrise buildings of downtown Nairobi are seen from Uhuru Park in Nairobi, Kenya. Credit: EPA/DAI KUROKAWA)

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 trucks within a decade to improve poor air quality.As Barbados celebrates 50 years of independence, we ask Guy Hewitt, the High Commissioner for Barbados in the UK, why the country still retains free education and healthcare systems, in a difficult economic environment.The fashion and fragrance company Chanel warns that a planned high-speed train through the centre of France's perfume-making region will threaten production of its iconic product - Chanel No 5. Elizabeth Musmanno, President of The Fragrance Foundation in New York tells us what makes this particular scent so special.The BBC's Roger Hearing is joined throughout the programme by Peter Ryan, ABC Australia's Senior Business Correspondent. (Photo credit: Claudio Giovannini /AFP/Getty Images)

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 sugar without affecting the taste. Professor Julian Cooper, chair of the Scientific Committee at the UK Institute of Food Science and Technology, explains the implications. About 10 million turkeys are consumed in the UK over the festive season. Rearing the birds however isn't as easy as you might think with natural predators like foxes providing a constant threat. Elizabeth Hotson has been finding out about a rather novel solution to the problem.Business Matters is joined from Washington by Michael Brune, Executive Director of the environmental organisation the Sierra Club and Madhavan Narayahan, columnist and writer in India for comment throughout the programme.(Picture Credit: Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)

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 their heads, including the twin beliefs that organised labour delivers votes for the Democratic Party candidate, while evangelicals deliver votes for the GOP. This time round things were less cut and dried, as Mitchell Hartman of Marketplace reports. Lithium - or white petrol as it's becoming known - is a hot commodity. Demand for the metal could triple in the next ten years - driven particularly by a rise in demand for batteries in products like smartphones, laptops and electric cars. On Tuesday a group of leading carmakers - including Ford, BMW and Porsche - announced they wanted to build a Europe-wide network of charging stations for electric vehicles - and that's music to the ears of lithium producers like the Canadian firm Wealth Minerals. The company's chief executive Henk Van Alphen spoke to the BBC's Jon Bithrey.A group of American developers has chosen a patch of countryside in the Netherlands to build a self-sustainable eco-village. Its marketing pitch is pretty straightforward -off the grid and the ideal antidote to the crazy congested urban lifestyle, as Anna Holligan reports.(PHOTO CREDIT: OPEC logo shown at an informal meeting between members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in Algiers, Algeria September 28, 2016. REUTERS/Ramzi Boudina/File Photo)

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 Donald Trump's Twitter feed that is not going to change any time soon. Following Britain's vote to leave the European Union, the internal Conservative Party process to replace David Cameron as prime minister has whittled five candidates down to three. The second round comes on Thursday. Also, the Governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, used his third public speech in less than a fortnight to say that many of the predicted consequences of Britain's departure from the EU are already starting to happen, Still, he said, it is his job to protect jobs and growth - so he would free up 200 billion dollars for loans to households and businesses to try to prevent the economy slipping into recession. Zimbabwe is facing serious disruption by a public sector strike. Doctors, nurses and teachers have stayed away from work on the first of three days - protesting over their June salaries being withheld until the end of July. The country is already fighting its worst drought in a quarter of a century - and there is growing frustration over the rapidly deteriorating economy.A number of foreign clothing companies are reviewing their investments in the Bangladesh garment industry after an attack at the weekend on a cafe in the capital Dhaka. Twenty-eight people died - including Italians, Japanese and US citizens. It has since emerged that one of the attackers was the son of a politician from the governing party.We are joined by two guests on opposite sides of the Pacific - Kimberly Adams of the US business programme Marketplace in Washington DC and Madhavan Narayanan, a columnist and technology writer on the Hindustan Times in Delhi.(Photo: President Obama (L) and Hilary Clinton (R). Credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

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 Enrico Colombotto of the University of Turin described the scale of the problem faced by Italian banks.The Australian Electoral Commission has begun counting millions of postal and absentee votes today with the election still too close to call. Phil Mercer is watching the long-drawn-out process.The US space agency NASA is no stranger to dramatic count-downs, but right now early on Tuesday they are really holding their breaths. NASA's solar-powered Juno spacecraft is about to reach Jupiter after an almost five-year journey. When it does arrive, it's going to hit the brakes. But if a 35-minute main engine burn doesn't slow the spacecraft so it can be pulled into Jupiter's orbit it will be an epic billion-dollar fail.(Photo credit: GIUSEPPE CACACE/AFP/Getty Images)

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 from the EU. We put to him that he must be very pleased today.Some of the world's largest companies warned they could relocate their British-based operations following the EU referendum result. But how do smaller businesses in the UK see their bottom line being affected? Lucy Hooker has been along to talk to the owner of the Brompton bike company here in the UK, a big exporter.We are joined throughout the programme by three guests. From Washington, Philippe Le Corre, a visiting fellow at the Centre on the United States and Europe at the Brookings Institution. Simon Littlewood, President at the Asia Now Consulting Group, joins from Singapore, and Colin Peacock of Radio New Zealand is with us from Wellington.(Photo Credit: Rob Stothard/ Getty Images)

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 power plant will close by 2025 under a proposal announced on Tuesday, with safety concerns given as the main reason. But the Diablo Canyon plant produces enough power for 1.7 million homes. There is now a plan to replace the energy with renewables, though some environmentalists do not think they will be able to match that produced by nuclear. However, Erich Pica, president of Friends of the Earth US, says he is celebrating the closure of the plant.Are we heading towards a cashless society? It is a subject of intense debate in financial circles. The Danish and Swedish government have said they expect their countries to go entirely cashless in the future. In the UK, contactless card transactions have risen by a third over the past year and a Mastercard survey shows one in four Britons intend to make payments with their phone over the next 12 months. Most retailers have adapted to the trend but what about individual traders and organisations who have relied on cash donations to survive? The BBC's Susannah Streeter reports. We are joined by two guests on opposite sides of the Pacific - Peter Morici, professor of International Business at the University of Maryland - who is in Washington, and Simon Long Asia editor of The Economist in Singapore.(Photo: Graffiti with a sentence that reads 'Peace is ours' in Bogota, June 2016. Credit: Getty Images)

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 Professor Danny Samson from the University of Melbourne in Australia.(Photo: Nice, France where some Euro 2016 matches will be played. Credit: AFP/Getty)

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 Child". It's been described as the eighth Potter story - although it's the first to originate as a piece of theatre. But does it have the magic of its printed predecessors? Our arts correspondent Vincent Dowd was among those blessed with a ticket and gives us his view.It seems the UK isn't the only country in Europe where enthusiasm for the European Union is less than whole-hearted. Britain may be the country which is about to have a referendum on membership - but new research by the US-based Pew Research centre suggests more than sixty percent of French people have an unfavourable view of the EU. Poland is the country with the largest proportion of EU fans. In Germany favourable is ahead by a fraction: 50% to 48%. So what does this tell us? Roger Bootle, the Chairman of Capital Economics, who's campaigning for Britain to leave the European Union - and Professor Sebastian Dullien, at the University of Applied Science in Berlin discuss.You know how it is - you're sitting in a café and you notice the person who just departed left their newspaper behind. You casually pick it up and start reading. In Morocco, you would be committing a crime. The authorities have banned people from reading in public newspapers bought by other people. Many Moroccans have taken to social media to ridicule the ban. One suggested special uniformed Newspaper Police might arrest 'illegal' readers, seize their offending newspapers and burn them publicly in the square. We hear from the BBC's Sidy Yansane in Casablanca.Throughout the programme we are joined by two guests on opposite sides of the Pacific. Duncan Clarke, the author and consultant in Beijing and Peter Morici, Professor of International Business at the University of Maryland in Washington.(Picture: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at a campaign event at Clinton Middle School. Credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

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, including material made in their own country.The world's biggest publicly traded oil company, Exxon Mobil, has largely seen down a rebellion at its annual general meeting over its climate change policies. Only a third of shareholders backed a motion that would have forced the company to work out a strategy against global warming. However a majority did approve a motion that could allow green activists to nominate members of the company's board.A report by the charity Human Rights Watch says thousands of children, some as young as eight years old, are working on tobacco farms in Indonesia. The country is the fifth biggest tobacco producer in the world. The authors say the farms involved supply companies including Philip Morris - the maker of Marlboro - and British American Tobacco, which owns cigarette brands including Dunhill. Our reporter has been to hear the stories of some of the child labourers.We speak to a group called Eco Peace Middle East, which has united Israelis and Palestinians on some of the biggest issues in the middle east, including water provision.And a report on our technology correspondent, Rory Cellan Jones on a new breed of robots - designed to work alongside their human masters.Our guests for the hour, on opposite sides of the Pacific - Peter Morici, Profesor of International Business at the University of Maryland - who's in Washington, and Puja Mehra of the Hindu in Delhi.(Picture: French actress Nadia Fares at the premiere of the French TV show 'Marseille', a Netflix co-production. Credit: AFP/Getty Images)

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 gold mining industry. The High Court in South Africa has given the go ahead for a class action by thousands of workers who developed silicosis while working underground. The head of GSK Sir Andrew Witty tells Marketplace host Kai Ryssdal why developing new drugs is so expensive. And throughout the programme Susannah Streeter is joined by Danny Samson, Professor of Management at Melbourne University in Australia. And the power of Eurovision - why the song contest has such an enduring appeal.

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 states were represented at the summit, alongside banks, civil society organisations and the International Monetary Fund. Though delegates promised to make tackling corruption a top priority, the meeting led to few firm commitments. Just six countries agreed to publish registers of who really owns companies in their territories, a key goal of anti-corruption campaigners. So - just how much was achieved?St Louis, in Missouri, made international news two years ago because of race riots in the suburb of Ferguson. But it would rather be known for something else. It's become the unlikely capital of chess - in America if not - here's a boast - the world. David Edmonds has just returned from St Louis, which was hosting the US National Championship.Can you copyright a language? Obviously you can't claim the rights to Russian, or Spanish or Swahili, but what about a made-up language? That is an issue that an American court will look at later this year when Paramount Pictures and CBS sue the makers of a Star Trek fan movie. One part of that case is the use of the invented language for the warlike alien race, the Klingons. Klingon is a BIG deal. It was invented in the early 1980s by the linguist Marc Okrand for the Star Trek movies. And Roger Hearing is joined by two guests for the hour on opposite sides of the Pacific - David Kuo of the Motley Fool in Singapore and Ralph Silva of the Silva Network in Toronto.

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 rock band Indus Creed. Joining Rahul in Mumbai is author and film critic Deepanjana Pal and from Boston, journalist and academic Hasit Shah.(Photo: Manoj Bajpayee in Aligarh. Credit: Eros International)

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 students were affected. A similar threat was received by police in New York, but was not deemed credible - schools remained open. We hear from families caught up in the California alert.Also in the programme, the US central bank the Federal Reserve is expected to raise interest rates tomorrow, for the first time in almost a decade. Our economic commentator Roger Bootle offers his assessment.We discuss big data, as the EU announces new laws requiring companies to ask permission to keep clients data. Customers are also given the right to demand their details are removed from a company's database. However, a breach of the rules could see firms fined around 4% of global revenues.And the artists from a Grammy shortlisted album who definitely won’t be attending the awards ceremony – because they’re all behind bars. We speak to the producer of the Zomba Prison Project in Malawi.We're joined throughout the programme by Mark Miller, Managing Editor at Marketplace in LA and Madhavan Narayanan, columnist and tech writer on the Hindustan Times in Delhi.(Picture: Reef in South China Sea. Credit: BBC)