Big Boss Interview

India and Pakistan may share a past, but more than seven decades after shaking off British rule, both countries have moved forward on their own paths. Sam Fenwick explores the differences and similarities between them, and memories of the partition with guests Madhavan Narayanan, freelance writer and former senior editor at Hindustan Times in India, and journalist Mehmal Sarfraz in Pakistan.

Travel companies are using subscription services to keep travellers travelling. The BBC's Leanna Byrne has been finding out from airline bosses about how this has boosted business.

Kenya's deputy president, William Ruto, has been declared the winner of the presidential elections after a tight race against the opposition leader and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga. We talk to Ken Gichinga, chief economist from Mentorial Economics, in Nairobi.

One of the UK's largest graduate employers, Price Waterhouse Coopers, says it will no longer require new recruits to hold a first-class or a two-one degree, the two highest score levels students can achieve in a UK university. We discuss the relevance of grades for recent graduates with Michael Gralapp, international recruitment director at Banyan Recruitment.

Scotland has become the first country in the world to issue a law requiring public settings to provide free period products. Georgie Nicholson from social enterprise Hey Girls discusses the challenges in the fight against period poverty.

(Picture: Narendra Modi. Picture credit: EPA)

Sam Fenwick is joined by Ralph Silva, broadcasting analyst from Yorkville University in Canada and Yoko Ishikura, a Professor at Hitotsubashi University and a member of the World Economic Forum’s Expert Network.

People in the US are spending more than earlier in the year as the country's consumer sentiment survey results rise to a three-month high.

Mayonnaise is one of the world’s most versatile condiments and now it's even being used to measure inflation. Tracy Alloway, a financial journalist with Bloomberg and co-host of the ODD LOTS podcast, tells us more.

Last year Pernilla Nyrensten made history when she became the first female founding chief executive to float her company on the Stockholm stock exchange in its 160-year history. The company has recently been valued at over one billion dollars.

(Picture: NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JUNE 10: People shop at a grocery store on June 10, 2022 in New York City. Picture Credit: Getty Images).

The US Attorney General, Merrick Garland, has asked a court to unseal the unprecedented search warrant for Mar-a-Lago, Donald Trump's residence in Florida. Allies of the former president have accused the FBI of raiding the property for political reasons but they haven't provided any evidence. Mr Garland, however, says upholding the rule of law meant applying it without favour. We hear from the BBC's Washington correspondent Nomia Iqbal.

Canada will ban the import of handguns from 19 August as part of a wider proposed freeze in the wake of high-profile mass shootings in the United States. Economist Ed Lotterman tells us more.

The Unification Church, commonly known as the Moonies, have come under the spotlight in Japan after the assassination of former prime minister Shinzo Abe. Professor Levi McLauhglin explains how this controversial religious group became so powerful in Japan.

Meta’s BlenderBot3 has been criticising its own boss, Mark Zuckerberg. Bloomberg’s Charlie Hancock explains the purpose of the chatbot and what it has learned from its interactions with users one week after being launched.

Roger Hearing is joined throughout the programme by two guests on the opposite side of the world to discuss the latest business news: Alison van Diggelen, host of Fresh Dialogues, in California and Peter Landers, Tokyo Bureau Chief of the Wall Street Journal, in the Japanese capital.

(Picture: US Attorney General, Merrick Garland. Picture credit: EPA)

There's minor relief for American consumers after inflation slowed from 9.1% in June to 8.5% in July. The lower-than-expected figure is mainly due to decreasing fuel costs. Although prices are still running relatively high, President Joe Biden says it's a sign his economic strategy is working. Randall Kroszner, a former governor of the Federal Reserve Board, tells us what it means for the world's biggest economy.

A year on from the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan, several prominent economists, including Nobel Prize winner Joseph Stiglitz, are calling for funds to the country to be freed. He tells us why.

Ed Butler speaks to the London company fighting to protect people's data privacy rights online.

We also hear why seaweed is causing some unpleasant problems in Sierra Leone.

Throughout the programme, Business Matters is joined by two guests on opposite sides of the world: Paddy Hirsch, contributing editor at NPR in Los Angeles; and Stella Bangura, a TV presenter in Sierra Leone.

(Picture: Shopping for potatoes in California. Credit: Getty Images.)

President Joe Biden has committed hundreds of billions of dollars to supercharging the US tech sector. Democrats hope it will give the nation a competitive edge when it comes to semiconductors - a new battleground in global manufacturing. Professor David Yoffie, a former board member at Intel, gives us his insight.

Also on the programme, we visit Turkey, where there's a threat of new sanctions over the Russia-Ukraine conflict; and Sri Lanka, where fresh protests have erupted over fuel and energy supplies. There's the latest on China's growing housing crisis from the BBC's Stephen McDonnell; and why users have welcomed the latest changes to WhatsApp.

To discuss all of these issues and more, Business Matters is joined by Diane Brady, Assistant Managing Editor at Forbes Magazine in New York; and Timothy Martin, Korea Bureau Chief at the Wall Street Journal.

(Picture: Circuit boards, powered by semiconductor components, leave a factory in Shanghai. Credit: Getty Images.)

The former US President, Donald Trump, says federal agents carried out a search warrant at his resort in Palm Beach, Florida on Monday. No reason has been given for the search, and there's been no comment from the White House.

It comes on the same day Democrat senators passed the landmark Inflation Reduction Act - a bill they say will crack down on America's rising prices and greenhouse gas emissions.

Elsewhere, Business Matters visits Bangladesh, where citizens are living under the grip of inflation.

Throughout the programme we're joined by guests on either side of the world: Peter Morici in Washington, and Zyma Islam in Bangladesh.

Also, we get the latest as tensions continue to simmer between the US and China over Taiwan. David Woo, a Taiwanese former Wall Street trader-turned-blogger, explains why sentiment in Taiwan is not as clear cut as we might imagine; and Neil Seeman, founder of the research firm RIWI, tells us why that's a challenge for big data science to meet.

(Picture: The Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. Credit: Getty Images.)

US employers added more than 500,000 jobs in July and the unemployment rate dropped, defying fears that the labour market is heading for a slowdown.

The jobless rate fell to 3.5% from 3.6% in June, as restaurants, bars and other firms continued to add workers.

China is halting co-operation with the US in several key areas including climate change, military talks and efforts to combat international crime.

The new measures follow a trip to Taiwan by a US congressional delegation led by senior Democrat Nancy Pelosi.

The Premier League is back for another season, starting Friday night with a London derby as Crystal Palace host Arsenal. We find out how the league has transform from being a competition enjoyed exclusively for football purists, to one of the UK's biggest cultural exports.

(The US has now regained all 22 million jobs lost when the pandemic hit. Image Credit: AFP/GETTY)

The Bank of England has warned the UK will fall into recession as it raised interest rates by the most in 27 years.

The economy is forecast to shrink in the last three months of this year and keep shrinking until the end of 2023.

Insurance companies in Australia say flood-prone areas might have to be abandoned because the risks are just too high.

A US court has ordered conspiracy theorist - Alex Jones to pay $4.1m in damages after falsely claiming the Sandy Hook school shooting in 2012 was a hoax.

(Governor Andrew Bailey says the alternative would be worse. Credit: Reuters)

The UN's Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, wants to see windfall taxes for oil and gas companies. He's accused them of 'grotesque' greed - but not everyone agrees. Some analysts believe ending the crisis is more about safeguarding supply. Alex Epstein is one of them. He believes the only way out of the current situation is to use more, not less, oil and gas.

US President Joe Biden has signed a new executive order to make it easier for women seeking abortions. It's a pledge already made by some major employers. We ask whether it's the duty of big businesses to get involved in divisive political issues. Emily Killham, from US-based 'people analytics' firm Perceptyx, has some interesting data on how Americans feel.

Ka-blam! The new 90-million dollar Batgirl movie has been scrapped before it hits the cinemas. Variety writer Cynthia Littleton tells us why it's been such a flop.

Throughout Business Matters we're joined by Erin Delmore from the Wall Street Journal in New York, along with stock market analyst and Smart Investor co-founder David Kuo in London.

(Picture: A gas-fired power station. Credit: Getty Images.)

US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi has become the most senior US politician to visit Taiwan in 25 years, despite China warning that Washington would "pay the price" if she visited the island.

Beijing warned it would respond to any potential visit from Pelosi, who has not been backed by the White House to visit Taiwan.

The first grain ship to depart Ukraine since Russia's invasion - The Razoni, has arrived at Turkey's Bosphorus strait.

The vessel which is carrying 26,000 tonnes of corn, will be inspected on Wednesday morning before continuing its journey to Lebanon.

(Pelosi is the highest-ranking US politician to visit Taiwan in 25 years. Credit: EPA)