The Inquiry

This July, it was reported that a woman from Washington State in the US had died of measles. It was the first measles death in the country in 12 years and comes after a huge spike in the number of cases of the disease. There is little doubt about what has caused the rise. The 'anti-vax' movement – activists who refuse vaccines believing them to be harmful to children – is vocal, vibrant and virulent. But with their claims proven time and again to be without any scientific basis, why are the 'anti-vaxxers' still going – and apparently growing?(Photo: Measles Cell. Credit: Shutterstock)

In 2009, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown declared “the beginning of the end” for off-shore tax havens. Since then, the EU, the G20, President Obama and others have lined up to criticise them. And yet they arre still with us. Tim Whewell asks why tax havens continue to exist, and whether tax havens are really to blame for tax avoidance in the first place.(Photo: Island in the Seychelles. Credit: Shutterstock)

China's economy was up 150% until June. Then it fell by nearly a third. Now it has had the strongest two-day rise since the 2008 global crisis. China’s rollercoaster stock market has provoked panic in recent weeks; panic on the part of small investors, who looked on in horror as previous gains were wiped out, and panic – some would argue – on the part of the Chinese government, which did everything it could to stop the slide. Four expert witnesses analyse what these dramatic events tell us – not about the Chinese stock market, but about China itself.(Photo: An Investor walks past a stocks and shares board. Credit: Associated Press)

Streaming has transformed the way millions listen to music. Whether signed up to Spotify, Apple Music or others, music lovers can access tens of millions of tracks instantly and for the monthly cost of one CD. But is this spectacular transformation good for music? Though streaming surely helps artists find new audiences, do those artists get rewarded fairly? And has having a ‘global jukebox’ at our fingertips changed our relationship to music itself?(Photo: Lucy Rose)

The global effort to prevent athletes using performance-enhancing drugs is vast and sophisticated. You might think, in this era of advanced testing, it would be almost impossible to cheat and get away with it. But is that really the case? Alberto Salazar, one of the world’s most successful coaches, has been accused of encouraging his athletes to dope. Salazar strongly denies the allegations. But the story has reignited concerns that, despite the efforts of the anti-doping authorities, cheating is still too easy in elite sport. The Inquiry hears from someone who sets the rules, someone who tests the rules and someone who broke the rules to find out if the dopers or the testers are winning. (Photo: The starting line of an athletics track. Credit: Ben Stansall/Getty Images)

The global financial crisis reignited an old debate - is it better to cut spending and raise taxes in an economic downturn, or spend your way out of it? After a period of relative consensus up to 2010, some countries inclined more to austerity (cuts and tax rises), some against. In this edition of The Inquiry we examine whether we now have the evidence to settle this important economic argument.(Photo: Anti-austerity demonstration. Credit: Zak Kaczmarek/Getty Images)

Despite the tense and increasingly bitter negotiations between Greece and its European creditors - who the Greek government accuse of demanding intolerable austerity – most Greek people want their country to stay in the euro currency union. But there are some, including within the governing Syriza party, who think Greece might ultimately be better off going it alone, and returning to the drachma. There would be serious pain, no doubt. But, in the longer term, might Greece be better off out of the euro? (Photo: A man walks by a zero Euro graffiti.Credit: AFP/Getty Images)

Fifteen years ago, manned space flight was still a dream for China. Now, they are looking to the moon. They have mastered space walking, they are building advanced scientific satellites in partnership with the European Space Agency, and they are constructing their own ‘heavenly palace’ – a space station to rival the ISS. But some, not least the United States, are concerned by possible military uses for China’s blossoming space technology. This week our four expert witnesses help us figure out what China really wants from its space programme. (Photo: Chines flag billows with the moon in the background. Credit: Mark Ralston/Getty Images)

Shocking images have brought the Rohingya to the world’s attention - boatloads of people drifting aimlessly on the Indian ocean, sustained by bottles of water thrown to them by visiting journalists. The Rohingya are Muslims from western Myanmar – or Burma – who live a life of poverty and exclusion. The government refuses even to recognise their ethnicity. Hoping for better lives in Malaysia, they turned to people smugglers and leaky boats. Will anyone help the Rohingya, one of the most marginalised communities in the world? And, why has even the most famous living Burmese, the icon of democracy and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, refused to speak up on their behalf?(Photo: Myanmar, South East Asia migrant. Credit: Ye Aung Thu/Getty Images)

Ask a scientist, and they will almost certainly tell you genetically modified food is safe to eat. Yet an awful lot of consumers disagree. Is their fear of GM food irrational? Earlier this year the Pew Foundation released a US poll which suggested 88% of scientists think GM food is generally safe to eat, while only 37% of the public agree. It is the issue on which American scientists and the general public are most divided, more so than climate change or vaccines. If the scientific consensus says it is safe, should we embrace a technology that could help solve hunger and feed the world? Or is GM food a lightning rod for justified concerns about the impact of global agribusiness and industrial food production?(Photo: Ripe wheat in a field. BBC copyright)

Fifa has been described as a “totalitarian” set-up “beyond ridicule” with a leadership “incapable of reform or cultural change”. A corruption report is said to have contained “numerous materially incomplete and erroneous representations”. Many have argued that world football’s governing body is badly in need of reform. So, as Fifa prepares to elect its next president, our question this week: who can fix FIfa? Sponsors and broadcasters provide the vast majority of the body’s income. Could they force change? Fifa relies on the support of regional organisations like Uefa to maintain its hold over world football. Could they put pressure on Fifa’s leadership? Or could the key be new laws in Switzerland, where Fifa is based? And what are the chances of change from within? Examining evidence from experts who know Fifa outside and in, The Inquiry has answers. Presenter: Helena Merriman. (Image:Member of the media wait next to a logo of the Worlds football governing body. Credit:MICHAEL BUHOLZER/AFP/Getty Images)

Recent high profile cases of unarmed black men dying at the hands of the US police have sparked outrage, protests and civil unrest in several American cities. The deaths of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Walter Scott and Freddie Gray are – some claim – evidence of long-standing problems with police racism and excessive violence. But what do we really know about what’s happening? Our expert witnesses this week explain the issues of racism, bias and police use of force. And the head of President Obama’s taskforce on police reform, Charles Ramsey, tells us that fixing the problem will involve much more than just fixing the police.(Photo: Demonstration in St Louis, Missouri, following the shooting of Michael Brown. Credit: Scott Olson/Getty Images)

The violent riots on the streets of South Africa in recent weeks have seen foreigners killed, their shops looted and 5,000 left homeless. They are accused of taking jobs from locals in a country where high unemployment is a big concern - and an example of the gaping chasm that remains between rich and poor. So 21 years after Nelson Mandela pledged to liberate all South Africans from the continuing bondage of poverty and deprivation, why is South Africa one of the most unequal societies on the planet? (Photo: South African man waves a stick in the air, while demonstrators are chanting. Credit: Stefan Heunis/Getty Images)

Last month Nato ran a military exercise involving over 400 people from 16 countries. It was the most advanced ‘live-fire’ cyber-defence exercise ever carried out. The point of it all? To help Nato countries prepare for an all-out cyber attack. The former US Secretary of Defence, Leon Panetta, has said “there's a strong likelihood that the next Pearl Harbor could very well be a cyber attack that cripples our power system or our grid, our security systems, our financial systems, our governmental systems. This is a real possibility in today's world”. But how real is the threat of cyber warfare? Four expert witness help us separate fact from fiction.(Photo:Binary code cyber war. Credit: Profit_Image/Shutterstock)

In 2000 the world committed to reduce child mortality rates by 2015. At the time, there were on average 90 under-five deaths per 1,000 live births globally. Now there are 46. The UN says that means 17,000 fewer children are dying every day. Unicef has described the improvement as “one of the most significant achievements in human history”. But progress has been uneven. We look at one of the unexpected stars of the race to tackle child mortality – Rwanda – which, between 2000 and 2015, achieved the highest average annual reduction in the under-five mortality rate in the world. How did Rwanda do it? And could other nations follow its example?(Photo: Children Smiling Credit: Wlablack / Shutterstock)

In a matter of months rebels have swept through Yemen, capturing the capital, forcing the president into exile and causing hundreds of casualties as a simmering conflict has exploded into war. But the causes are complex and confusing. The Houthi rebels are from Yemen’s north, and are now laying siege to the southern port of Aden. Are these geographical rivalries the key? The Houthi are Shia Muslims, supported by Iran. The rest of Yemen is mostly Sunni Muslim, and Saudi Arabia is leading a bombing campaign against the Houthi forces. So is this a sectarian conflict, or even a regional proxy war? And the Houthis have allied with former President Saleh, against Yemen’s current leader who replaced him in the transition after Yemen’s 2011 revolution. Are the roots of the current conflict in the failure of that revolution to deliver progress? Four expert witnesses help to disentangle this complex web and explain what the conflict in Yemen is really about.(Photo: Houthi supporters demonstrate against recent UNSC sanctions. Credit: Yahya Arhab/European Photopress Agency)

Later this month 190 nations will meet in New York to discuss the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), 45 years after it came into force. The Treaty prompted several aspiring nuclear-weapon nations to give up trying to get the bomb, but it also committed nuclear-weapon states like Russia and the US to pursue disarmament. Progress has been made. Overall stocks of nuclear warheads have dropped significantly. But is that the whole story? Both the US and Russia have committed huge sums – over a long timescale – to modernise their arsenals. One expert tells The Inquiry that these modernisation programmes amount to a new nuclear arms race - one which is creating a new generation of less powerful but more accurate weapons. Some argue that such ‘tactical’ weapons are more likely to be used. Another expert witness tells us that the failure of nuclear-weapon states to disarm threatens the NPT itself. And we hear disturbing testimony about the nuclear stand-off between India and Pakistan and a terrifying account of a largely forgotten incident in 1995 when the world came within two minutes of nuclear annihilation.(Photo: Explosion nuclear bomb in ocean. Credit: Romolo Tavani/Shutterstock)

Ahead of a historic meeting between Cuba’s President Castro and US President Obama, The Inquiry asks if the island nation’s warmer relations with America are a betrayal of its revolutionary past. More than half a century ago, Che Guevara became a global icon after he fought alongside Fidel and Raul Castro to overthrow an American-backed government and put into practice their socialist ideals. Now Raul Castro has made a deal with the Americans and the lifting of the long-standing economic embargo of Cuba is becoming a realistic prospect. We delve into Che Guevara’s past, the changes already happening in Cuba under Raul Castro and the Obama administration’s motives, to answer the question - what would Che say?(Photo: Fidel Castro and Che Guevara in the mid 1950s. Credit: Getty Images)

It seems something is missing from newspapers and TV bulletins - climate change. A story which dominated the news five years ago has dropped steadily down the agenda. One study has found coverage has dropped 36% globally in that time. Why? On The Inquiry this week we hear a tale of chronic political fatigue. We ask whether our hunter-gatherer brains simply aren't wired to think long-term. And we find out why climate change has all the hallmarks of a story likely to make newspaper editors groan. It could be – as one of our expert witnesses tells us – time to "change the narrative".(Image: A man places his hand on the parched soil. Credit: Press Association)

Who has authority in Tibet? Many Tibetans revere the Dalai Lama and support his goal of greater autonomy from Beijing. But officials there hold the opposite view. For them, he is a villainous traitor. Both sides agree that the role of Dalai Lama has been filled for centuries through reincarnation. The current one will turn 80 this year and Beijing is keen to control the process of finding his reincarnation. But he has said that the role will one day end. Better to have no Dalai Lama than “a stupid one,” he said. His comments sparked a furious reaction from Beijing this month. So, will the Dalai Lama reincarnate? Guests include a spokesman for His Holiness and a Chinese analyst in Beijing.

Forty-four years after President Nixon declared “war on drugs”, four US states have now agreed to legalise the sale of marijuana and a majority of Americans supports legalisation. Across the world, drug laws are being relaxed, from Uruguay to Portugal to Jamaica to the Czech Republic. Does this global trend mean the war on drugs has been lost? The Inquiry hears from expert witnesses including an ex-president and a former prosecutor who now defends drug traffickers.(Photo: A person rolling a joint of cannabis. Credit: Press Association)

The beheading of 21 Egyptian Christians on a Libyan beach has exposed the lawlessness of the country ruled by Colonel Gaddafi until 2011. The internationally-recognised government is trying, without much success, to run the country from the eastern city of Tobruk. In Tripoli, another body claims to be the legitimate government. But is the real power struggle between the militias associated with each group – and where does the so-called Islamic State fit in? With neighbours near and far getting involved to push their own agendas, we investigates the forces operating in Libya and what they want. (Image: A Libyan man waves his national flag. Credit: Abdullah Doma/AFP/Getty Images)

The murder and disfigurement of a 20-year-old woman in southern Turkey has prompted nationwide protests. Demonstrators have chanted the victim’s name, Ozgecan Aslan, and claimed that Turkey is becoming increasingly misogynistic. They point to growing reports of violence against women and restricted access to abortion. Hundreds of thousands of women have tweeted #sendeandat – 'tell your story' in Turkish - to share their experiences of abuse. The powerful president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, says that violence against women is the “bleeding wound” of Turkey. But he has also said that women are “not equal” to men. So, is it life getting worse for woman in Turkey? Expert witnesses include a leading Turkish feminist and a member of the governing AK party.(Image: People hold posters of Ozgecan Aslan. Credit: Adem Altan/AFP/Getty Images)

More than 3,000 people are estimated to have died in the Mediterranean Sea last year. The Pope has warned that the waters are in danger of becoming "a vast cemetery". So what could European countries do to stop these deaths? The Inquiry hears evidence about the people smugglers described as the most ruthless travel agents on the planet, the Italian Navy rescue mission that’s been dramatically down-sized, and the claims that saving migrants at sea creates a "pull factor".Presenter: Neal Razzell(Image: The coffins of immigrants who died trying to reach the Italian coast arrive from Lampedusa to Porto Empedocle, 11 February 2015. Credit: MARCELLO PATERNOSTRO/AFP/Getty Images)

War in Ukraine and the threat of conflict in the Baltics raise fundamental questions about the West’s military alliance. What is NATO for? And is it up to the job? More countries have been joining the club, but those who foot the bill seem to be becoming less keen to do so. Do would-be aggressors still believe that an attack on one NATO member would be treated as an attack on all? Our witnesses include a former senior commander and the man who, until a few months ago, led the alliance.(Photo: Romanian army soldiers from the guard regiment hold NATO membership countries' flags at NATO flag raising ceremony in Bucharest, 2004. Credit: Daniel Mihailescu/AFP/Getty Images)

79-year-old King Salman has taken the Saudi throne, promising security and stability. But what do his past and his first acts as king tell us about how the country might change under his rule and beyond? Our Inquiry hears from a newspaper editor and an ex-spy who have both met him and from Saudis who hope for change.Presenter: Helena MerrimanPhoto: New Saudi King Salman attends a ceremony following the death of the late Saudi King at the Diwan royal palace in Riyadh (Credit: Reuters)

Most of the nearly 300 girls kidnapped from a school in northern Nigeria last year are still missing. Their plight temporarily brought global focus to a hideous insurgency that seems to produce new horrors every day. More than 17,000 people have died and a million have been displaced in the Nigerian army’s six-year fight with Boko Haram. The army has been rocked by mutinies – including in the division created to fight the militants - and soldiers in other parts of the country have been dismissed for refusing orders to fight in the north. Meanwhile, human rights groups say the army can be nearly as brutal to civilians as the militants are. And in a sign of apparent growing impatience, Nigeria's neighbours have begun sending their own armies against Boko Haram. So this week we ask, Is the Nigerian Army Failing? (Photo: Some of the 59 Nigerian soldiers facing trial on charges of mutiny and conspiracy to commit mutiny over claims that they refused to fight Boko Haram militants sit handcuffed on October 15, 2014 in the military courtroom in Abuja. The soldiers, all members of the 111th Special Forces Battalion, all pleaded not guilty in court. They are also accused of refusing to deploy in August to recapture the towns of Yelwa, Bellabulini and Dambo in Borno state from Boko Haram, according to the charge sheet. Credit: AFP/Getty Images)

After the recent high-profile spat with the US over The Interview – a Hollywood film that mocks North Korea’s enigmatic leader – what do we know about his ambitions? Our expert witnesses include the first Western journalist to open an office in Pyongyang, a businessman who trains North Koreans and an admirer of Kim Jong Un who says he will succeed where his father and grandfather failed.(Photo: Kim Jong Un. Credit: Associated Press)

The murder of more than 130 students at an Army school in Pakistan last month shocked the world. In the following days, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif promised a comprehensive campaign to defeat the Taliban. More than 50,000 Pakistanis have died in militant attacks since 9/11. Pakistani presidents and prime ministers have previously vowed to crack down on militants. But the United States and others have said Pakistan has long harboured "snakes in the back yard" – militants who sometimes benefit the state's interests. Prime Minister Sharif says no longer will there be a distinction between "good" and "bad" Taliban. "We have resolved to continue the war against terrorism till the last terrorist is eliminated," he said. Is he right? Will this time be different? As we'll hear, the stakes extend beyond Pakistan's borders. Experts include a man who has negotiated with the Taliban, a historian on the rise of militancy and a retired Pakistani Army brigadier general.(Image: Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Credit: Reuters)

Billions of dollars are pouring into the latest investor craze - artificial intelligence. But serious scientists like Stephen Hawking have warned that full AI could spell the end of the human race. How seriously should we take the warnings that ever-smarter computers could turn on us? Our expert witnesses explain the threat, the opportunities and how we might avoid being turned into paperclips. (Photo: An artificial intelligence concept illustration. Credit: Shutterstock)

On 8 December at a summit in London Britain’s prime minister David Cameron told delegates from 50 countries and 26 tech firms that online child exploitation “existed on an almost industrial scale" around the world. He announced an “unprecedented package of global action” to hunt paedophiles who use the internet. And just weeks before that a committee of British politicians revealed their belief that the intelligence services could have stopped a May 2013 terror attack in London if Facebook had alerted the authorities to an online exchange between one of the attackers and another extremist. In this edition of The Inquiry we ask: Can the internet be policed?Presenter: Jo Fidgen(Photo: Big Data. Credit: Carlos Amarillo)

In November President Obama stepped onto a plush red carpet at the end of a White House corridor. “My fellow Americans,” he said, “tonight I want to talk to you about immigration.” He promised to bring change through executive action. “And to those members of Congress who question my authority to make our immigration system work better,” he said, “or question the wisdom of me acting where Congress has failed, I have one answer - pass a bill.” That was a dig at his Republican opponents who control the House of Representatives. They failed to pass a bill last year to reform immigration. But that night, after Mr Obama finished speaking, the Republican leader in the House had his own harsh words for the president: “That’s just not how our democracy works,” he said, “the president has said before that he’s not king. And he’s not an emperor. But he’s sure acting like one." With Republicans now in control of both the House and the Senate, the risk of continued political paralysis in Washington is very real. Many Americans are angry; turnout at the recent mid-term elections hit a 72-year low. Is American democracy broken?(Photo: American Flag. BBC copyright)

In the last six months the price of oil has collapsed dramatically. It has been called an oil shock. Previous oil shocks have had profound and long-lasting effects. No single commodity is more important to the global economy – and therefore to global politics. What are the political consequences of cheap oil? Contributors include an ex-president of Shell Oil, a former US energy secretary and one of the world’s leading thinkers on the subject. (Image: Oil rig in the North Sea. Credit: Press Association)

Swedish politics has for decades been the very model of stability. Not any longer. Earlier this month a far-right party which holds the balance of power in Sweden’s parliament sided with the opposition to defeat the government. A snap election has been called, just months after the government was formed. In Greece, where EU-imposed austerity has fuelled extreme politics, the radical left Syriza party could soon have a shot at gaining power. It is already the main opposition.Elsewhere in Europe – in France, Spain, Hungary, Italy and elsewhere – far right and hard left parties have gained popular support and parliamentary seats, threatening the political centre. Can Europe resist the rise of radical politics?(Photo: Shadow of Marine Le Pen. Credit: Jeff Pachoud/AFP/Getty Images)

How much do the Great Satan and the Axis of Evil have in common? Quite a bit, it turns out. They share a mutual antipathy towards Islamic State militants and a mutual desire for a stable Afghanistan. There has been cautious optimism in Washington and Tehran about the talks over Iran’s nuclear programme. And yet there is a legacy of hate and mistrust on both sides that goes back decades. How far can today’s leaders overcome the past to work together on common goals? We have answers from experts who travel back and forth between the two countries, including a former ayatollah.(Image: U.S. Secretary of State Kerry and Iranian FM Zarif shake hands - Reuters Wires)

Perhaps the most striking feature of the global financial crisis has been that no top banking executive has been successfully prosecuted for their role in bringing it about in the first place. The period covered by the statute of limitations is running out so it is conceivable none ever will. Yet the word 'fraud' appears 157 times in the final report of the US Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission. So why are we not seeing prosecutions and prison terms, as in previous financial scandals? Guests include a former prosecutor, a law professor, an economist and a recently-retired US Senator.(Image: Shutterstock - Val Lawless)

Mexico is gripped with the story of 43 student protesters who vanished in September. They were allegedly killed on the orders of a mayor who wanted to prevent them from attending a rally where his wife was due to speak. The mayor and his wife have been arrested but no case has been proven against them in court. The story has fuelled nationwide demonstrations about the relationship between government and organised crime. The government says it is taking the problem seriously and points to falling murder rates and the arrest of a number of drug barons in recent years, as evidence that Mexico is winning the war against the cartels. Guests include an investigative journalist who has had run-ins with the cartels, a former Mexican intelligence analyst who says he is obsessed with stopping the violence and a prominent public intellectual with a long view of the patterns of power in Mexico.

Vladimir Putin certainly knows how the West views his actions in Ukraine. Sanctions have been in place against Russia for months. There is talk of toughening them. At the G20 meeting in Australia he was rebuked by Angela Merkel, Stephen Harper and other leaders, before flying home early. But are sanctions having any real effect on the Russian president? Are they likely to force him to change course in Ukraine? We hear from a top Moscow economist Natalia Orlova, a Putin loyalist in Vladivostok, veteran European diplomat Sir Robert Cooper and Fyodor Lukyanov, editor of Russia in Global Affairs and a close Putin-watcher.(Photo: President Vladimir Putin. Credit: AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

Hong Kong's government is preparing to clear the streets after weeks of protest. The demonstrators want direct talks with Beijing over who gets on the ballot for the 2017 Hong Kong election. But there is more than politics at play. China has had almost a generation to win hearts and minds in Hong Kong - a time when the mainland population has become increasingly nationalistic. What has gone wrong in Hong Kong? Our four experts tell a story of snobbery, arrogance and perhaps unrealistic expectations on both sides. Helena Merriman presents.

Outbreaks are inevitable, pandemics are optional,” says Dr Larry Brilliant, a leading figure in the successful global campaign to eradicate smallpox.But does the flawed international response to the Ebola outbreak suggest it is now less likely that the world will come together to defeat diseases with pandemic potential?The Inquiry meets Dr Brilliant and other expert witnesses: Dr Malik Peiris, who identified SARS; Dr Julie Gerberding, president of the Vaccine division at Merck; and Ian Goldin, formerly of the World Bank.Presenter: Helena Merriman Producers: Charlotte Pritchard and Neal Razzell Editor: Richard Knight

The sudden rise of Islamic State in June shocked the world. It now controls a swathe of the desert in Syria and Iraq and has declared a caliphate. Iraq’s second city, Mosul, has fallen to the militants and they are menacing the capital, Baghdad. Western powers and their Gulf Arab allies have responded with war planes and bombs. The American general in charge of the campaign says it is buying time for the Iraqi Army to regroup and counter attack. But what would a long-term plan to defeat Islamic State look like? The Inquiry’s panel of experts have some thought-provoking ideas.