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When they cast their votes for US president, Californians also approved a change to the law allowing gig economy companies like Uber and Lyft to keep treating their drivers as contractors, not employees. The move could have major consequences for the gig economy. Manuela Saragosa speaks to Geoff Vetter from the Yes to 22 campaign, which fought for the law change, and to Veena Dubal, law professor at the University of California, who argues the vote is a disaster for workers' rights. Dave Lee, Silicon Valley correspondent for the Financial Times, tells us what it means for the future of companies like Uber.(Photo: Uber and Lyft logos, Credit: Getty Images)

Vote counting continues in a handful of key battleground states which will determine the outcome of the US presidential election. Democratic candidate Joe Biden has been projected to win Michigan and Wisconsin. He also holds narrow leads in Nevada and Arizona. If he's able to hang on in all these states as final votes are counted, Mr Biden will be almost certain to win. We take a look at what this means for the US economy. International economics policy analyst Pippa Malmgren joins the show to get us up to speed, and then we’ll hear from Jason Furman, the former chief economic adviser to President Obama, who says Biden’s focus will be on trade policy and manufacturing. Meanwhile, Trump’s own former chief economic adviser Tomas Philipson says the president’s economic achievements have been undervalued. And Mohamed El-Erian of Allianz says the balance between a Democratic executive and a Republican senate will not be the kind of stabilising influence economists usually expect.Producers: Joshua Thorpe and Frey

The world's richest people have become even richer this year, despite an economic crisis brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. Manuela Saragosa speaks to John Matthews, chairman of private jet company AirX, about the surprising resiliance of the private aviation industry despite global travel restrictions. Chuck Collins from the Institute for Policy Studies - a think tank in Washington DC - explains how the richest people in the world have added to their wealth in the pandemic, and what it reveals about inequalities in the US economy.(Photo: Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and the world's richest man, poses with his girlfriend Lauren Sanchez, pose outside the Taj Mahal in India in January 2020. CredIT: Getty Images)

Manuela Saragosa finds out what happened when fifty homeless people were gifted thousands of dollars each. The gifts were part of a social project in Canada and the results were unveiled this month. The results were described as ‘beautifully surprising’ by the project’s leaders. (Pic of pregnant homeless woman on the corner of a busy street in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada by Creative Touch Imaging Ltd via Getty Images).

The new Japanese prime minister has pledged to make his country carbon neutral by 2050. On this edition of Business Weekly we ask how he’s planning to do it. We also take a closer look at nuclear energy to find out whether mass production of smaller reactors could be the way forward for the industry. And what can be done to get more medical grade oxygen to the countries that desperately need it? Plus, as the coronavirus pandemic forces Hollywood to delay the release of big budget movies, how are cinemas being affected? Business Weekly is produced by Matthew Davies and presented by Lucy Burton.

We speak to those who argue parents should give their children money long into adulthood - and others who say the whole of society should be responsible, not just parents. Raphael Samuel is a 28 year old businessman in India who tried to sue his parents for giving birth to him - without his consent. An Indian court threw out the case on grounds of absurdity, but Raphael isn’t giving up. He’s now filed a case demanding that all parents prove - before they give birth - that they have the ability to give their child the ‘right to life’ - something he thinks should include being able to provide an education, proper food, and healthcare. He believes parents’ financial responsibility for their children doesn’t end when the child hits 18 years of age. In Italy, where almost two thirds of 18-34 year olds live at home, we hear from Tobia della Puppa, who explains why it can be hard to explain to the older generation why this is the case. We also get the perspective of Nina Bandelj, a sociology professor at the Univers

Has one the biggest slums in India escaped the worst of Covid-19? Dharavi is one of the biggest slums in India, if not the whole of Asia. Ed Butler hears from Dharavi residents about life in the slums back in April, and now. Radhika Kapoor, a Delhi economist who's been focussed on the Government response to the crisis, says efforts to protect ordinary workers have been very limited. But the Government rejects that argument. Sanjeev Sanyal, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi's chief economic advisor, says the Government has done all that it can to stem the tide of the disease.Producer: Frey Lindsay(A BMC health care worker collect swab sample of a resident at Dharavi. Photo by Satish Bate via Getty Images)

Could the future of nuclear power be the mass production of cheap small modular reactors?Justin Rowlatt visits a UK-based consortium led by Rolls Royce that is trying to develop these factory-produced miniature power stations. But how much funding does their chief executive Tom Samson think they need from the UK government to get started, and how long will it take them to deliver their first reactor?Nuclear power has long had its sceptics. Greenpeace chief scientist Doug Parr explains why they continue to oppose nuclear on safety grounds, even as the need to find carbon-free sources of energy has become more urgent. Meanwhile, nuclear physicist M V Ramana of the University of British Columbia questions the business case for small reactors.Plus, clean energy consultant Michael Liebreich gives his view on how big - and competitive - the market for small modular reactors could be.Producer: Laurence Knight(Picture: Small modular reactor; Credit: Rolls Royce)

Delays to Hollywood blockbusters are prompting a crisis in the cinema industry. Movie studios are putting their biggest releases on hold while the pandemic is still affecting audience numbers.Mooky Greidinger, boss of cinema giant Cineworld, tells us why this has forced him to close all his screens in the UK and US. Shawn Robbins, senior analyst at BoxOffice Pro, explains why the global success of Christopher Nolan's Tenet wasn't enough to convince the studios to take the risk. And Penn Ketchum, founder of Penn Cinemas in the US state of Pennsylvania, describes the impact that's having on independent cinema operators.Presented by Ed Butler.(Photo: A reopened cinema in Wuhan, China. Credit: Getty Images)

A former CIA analyst shares her tips on separating what’s true from what’s false. There’s been a lot of nervousness about the role of social media in the run up to next week’s US presidential elections with concerns over voting interference and disinformation campaigns from foreign actors. Cindy Otis was an analyst at the CIA for ten years and her job was to filter through information and weed out fake and misleading news. She has now written a book aimed at young adults called True or False: A CIA Analyst's Guide to Spotting Fake News and tells us how fake news works.

How successful has President Trump's America First policy been? On Business Weekly we assess the legacy of his first term and ask what the world wants from the next resident of the White House. We take a look at how effective Covid-19 tracing apps are in tracking and stopping the spread of the disease. Could technology like this be the silver bullet the world is waiting for? As the Hindu festival of Durga Puja begins, we consider how those businesses that rely on the celebrations for the income will cope this year. And we examine the sharp rise in the price of pets during lockdown. Presented by Lucy Burton and produced by Matthew Davies.

Is the fossil fuel industry being too complacent about the speed at which renewable energy will disrupt their business in the next three decades?That's the contention of Spencer Dale, chief economist at BP. In an extended interview with Justin Rowlatt, he explains the thinking behind his company's plan to cut its own oil and gas production by 40% before the end of this decade.And it's not just about heading off the threat of catastrophic climate change. As Spencer explains, even in their business-as-usual scenario they expected an unprecedentedly fast shift towards solar, wind and biomass energy, thanks to steep learning curves and stiffening competition.Producer: Laurence Knight(Picture: BP logo at night; Credit: NurPhoto/Getty Images)

Why contact tracing technology has been slow to make an impact. Ed Butler speaks to Jenny Wanger from the Linux Foundation Public Health in the US where many states are only now rolling out contact tracing apps, months after many countries around the world. We hear from Colm Harte, technical director at NearForm, the company behind Ireland's app, which has been downloaded by about a quarter of the population. Chan Cheow Hoe, the chief digital technology officer for the Singapore government, talks about the success of digital contact tracing in his country. And the BBC's technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones explains why contact tracing apps are no longer being seen as the silver bullet in the fight against Covid-19.(Photo: The National Health Service contact tracing app rolled out in England and Wales. Credit: Getty Images)

The US government has filed charges against Google, accusing the company of violating competition law to preserve its monopoly over internet searches and online advertising. As the Department of Justice sues the search engine google for being a monopoly, could all tech giants be under threat? We hear from Eric Schmidt, the former CEO of Google and Jack Poulsen, a software engineer and former Google employee. We also get the view of Sally Hubbard, a former New York anti-trust attorney and current director of enforcement strategy at the Open Markets Institute. (Pic of Google logo by Jakub Porzycki via Getty Images).

When President Trump came to power in 2016 he vowed he would scrap the international trade agreements he believed had cost a huge number of US jobs, and declared his intent to tip the trade balance back in America's favour. He wanted to take on China and what he saw as its dominance in the global marketplace. How has this 'America First' policy worked out in the ensuing four years, and what has it meant for the US's trading partners? As part of our look at the US elections 2020: and What the World Wants, Manuela Saragosa examines whether President Trump has succeeded in his aim, and she finds out what companies from China to Canada hope will come out of the next presidency. Manuela talks to Herbert Lun, managing director of Wing Sang electrical, whose factory is in China's Pearl River Delta. He produces electronic hair products for the American market - how has his business coped with the threat of US tariffs? While Mark Rowlinson, counsel at the United Steelworkers of Canada, tells Manuela that tariffs

A commodity associated with the destruction of tropical rainforest in South East Asia may soon have a synthetic replacement.But can it match palm oil's magic properties? Will consumers accept it in their food? And what will it mean for the farmers whose livelihoods depend on palm oil plantations?Manuela Saragosa speaks to Shara Ticku, co-founder of the biotech firm C16 Biosciences, which is pioneering the new plantation-free product, as well as Anita Neville of Indonesia's largest privately owned palm oil grower, Golden Agri-Resources. Plus Veronika Pountcheva of the international food wholesalers Metro Group explains why they are actively looking at the synthetic alternative.Producer: Laurence Knight(Picture: A tub of palm oil; Credit: Edwin Remsberg/Getty Images)

Golden passports and cash for citizenship - a legitimate way to for countries to get investment or a scheme open to abuse and corruption? That’s the big question we’ll be looking at on this episode of Business Weekly. We look at why the wealthy want to acquire them. We also hear from Cyprus where a passport corruption scandal has rocked the nation. Meanwhile, the winner of this year’s Nobel Prize for Economics tells us about the unusual way in which he discovered he'd won, and of course, about the game theory that netted him and a colleague the award. And we hear from the African animators who are taking on the world. Business Weekly is presented by Lucy Burton and produced by Matthew Davies.

As talks between the EU and the UK enter their final stretch, what sort of Brexit are businesses preparing for? Manuela Saragosa speaks to Chayenne Wiskerke of the Dutch onion growing company Wiskerke Onions which exports to the UK. She also speaks to Martin Bysh the founder of Huboo, a UK fulfilment company which works mostly with the e-commerce industry and exports all over the world. They tell her how they've been coping with the years of uncertainty around the Brexit negotiations. (Picture credit: Getty Creative)

It’s been a tough year for much of the entertainment industry, with the pandemic causing production to be halted on all but a few projects. Filming bubbles and closed sets have been costly and time consuming. But one sector is booming – animation – especially in Africa. We hear from animators and producers across the continent about why demand for their work has never been higher. Vivienne Nunis speaks to Chris Morgan of Fundi Films, which recently produced the animation series My Better World. She's also joined by award-winning Kenyan animator and artist Ng’endo Muki and Nick Wilson, founder of the African Animation Network. Self-taught Nigerian animator Ridwan Moshood tells us how his passion for the craft took him from watching video tutorials in the internet cafes of Lagos to his own production company.(Picture credit: A still from the animated series My Better World. Picture Credit: My Better World/Chris Morgan)

What's it like for older people losing their job during the Covid pandemic?Tamasin Ford speaks to 59 year old lighting crew chief Michael Heggett. He's worked on events like Princess Diana’s funeral, the London’s Olympic games and Nelson Mandela’s 70th birthday concert. He had a fantastic career until Covid hit and he lost all his work. He fears he might never be employed again. Patrick Button, an assistant economics professor at Tulane University in the USA says his research shows that older workers are being disproportionately impacted by Covid. And Yvonne Sonsino from Mercer, a global human resources firm, says that the long term outcomes for older people are not good, particularly for their pensions? (Picture credit: Getty Creative)