Business Daily

How the conflict in Ukraine is playing out in cyberspace. With the conflict in Ukraine still raging following Russia’s invasion Ed Butler speaks to hackers from Ukraine including Vlad Styran of Berezha Security Group, one of the people tasked with fending off digital attacks on Ukraine. Dyma Budorin, CEO of cybersecurity firm Hacken.IO, tells Ed he left the country before the current conflict broke out, to carry out a programme of “offensive operations” against Russian targets. Chester Wisniewski of internet security firm Sophos says the Russian intelligence services occasionally work with existing groups of hackers to carry out targeted attacks. And Lennart Maschmeyer of the Center for Security Studies in Zurich explains why he thinks some people are overestimating the Russian state’s cyberwarfare capabilities.

(Photo: How the conflict in Ukraine could play out in cyberspace; Credit: Getty Images)

What will new legislation to crack down on “dirty money” in the UK be worth? Western governments have applied unprecedented sanctions on Russia following the invasion of Ukraine. But is it time they did more to address the corrupt money invested in their own countries? Ed Butler speaks to investigative journalist Tom Burgis, author of Kleptopia: How Dirty Money is Conquering the World. (Picture: Money laundromat: Credit: Getty Images)

Non-fungible tokens - or NFTs as they’re known - are already big business, whether you’ve heard about them or not. But when it comes to those creating them, there’s a huge gender disparity.

We hear from two female artists - Michele Pred in Oakland and Yiying Lu from San Francisco - plus Liana Zavo who runs her own PR and marketing company. Women make up just 16% of all NFT artists - according to ArtTactic, a London-based company that focuses on research and data in the world of art. Anders Petterson from the group explains why. Plus Maliha Abidi, an artist, author and activist, and the creator of Women Rise NFT, says she’s determined to make a change.

(Picture: A woman looks at a NFT by Larva Labs titled "CryptoPunk 7523"; Credit: Timothy A Clary/AFP via Getty Images)

How the latest penalties for invading Ukraine will hit Russia, and may also spill over into the world economy.

Ed Butler explores what the democratic world hopes to achieve with their targeting of the Russian Central Bank's currency reserves, as well as the exclusion of major Russian banks from the global communications network Swift. Elina Ribakova, deputy chief economist at the Institute of International Finance, says it will put a huge strain on Russia's economy and finances, although the authorities may be able to fend off the worst effects for months yet.

Meanwhile, historian Adam Tooze notes that Russia's biggest export - oil and gas exports - have been carved out of the latest round of sanctions, softening their impact. While lawyer Nigel Kushner explains how hard it may be for the Russian authorities and oligarchs to circumvent the new restrictions.

(Picture: A demonstrator holds a poster reading "Ban Russia from SWIFT" during a protest against Russia's invasion of Ukraine; Credit: Hans Punz/APA/AFP via Getty Images)

The multibillion dollar streaming industry is thriving, but too much choice makes it a fragmented landscape. In order to survive, the smallest companies might have the edge. Entertainment reporter Katie Ceck says the current model of streaming is unsustainable, and that the trend towards big companies gobbling up smaller ones is the future. Despite being a cluttered market, film lecturer in Vancouver, Michael Baser says there has never been a better time to make diverse programming that was formerly constricted by advertisers. But the new age of freedom is rife with peril, as investors begin to demand profits from an overly saturated market. Georg Szalai from the Hollywood Reporter tells us how the producers will pull it off.

(Image: A minimalist, digital iteration of a battle. Credit: Seamartini/Getty Images)

A series of governments on both sides of the Atlantic have announced punitive measures in response to Russia ordering troops into rebel-held regions of eastern Ukraine. But how much of an impact will these sanctions actually have on Russia?

In addition to restrictions on banks and access to capital markets, a number of individuals have had assets frozen. We speak to veteran anti-corruption campaigner Bill Browder, who has written a book "Freezing Order" about Russian money-laundering. Also Maria Shagina, a visiting senior fellow at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, who isn't convinced that the sanctions targeting individuals will work, but says financial institutions may be vulnerable.

Vladimir Putin's move has not triggered the full range of sanctions Western nations have prepared though. We hear from Hal Hodgson, technology reporter for The Economist, who says freezing out of the trade in western technology has had a devastating effect against the Chinese technology firm Huawei and could be deployed if tensions escalate.

Plus we get the latest market reaction to the international response from Justin Urquhart Stewart of Regionally Investment.

Picture: A group of people hold signs at the front of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry Credit: Chris McGrath/Getty Images

Increasingly scientists are using genetic material from wild plants to make agricultural crops more resilient to climate change.

To find out how, Rebecca Kesby heads to the Millennium Seed Bank for the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, in the south of England. There she meets Dr Chris Cockel, one of their project coordinators. We also hear from Asmund Asdal of the Global Seed Vault, which is located in a mountain on the archipelago of Svalbaard, between mainland Norway and the North Pole.

We speak to Dr Shivali Sharma, who is developing climate resistant varieties of pigeon pea, a staple crop in many parts of rural India. And Mohamed Lassad Ben Saleh, farmer in Tunisia, tells us how breeding crops that combine properties of indigenous wild varieties has improved the quality and yield of his crops.

This is a repeat of an episode first broadcast on 17 September 2021.

Producers: Clare Williamson and Benjie Guy

(Picture: a hand holding seeds. Credit: Getty Images)

California's state capital suffers from a serious shortage of housing, like much of the Golden State. Small informal encampments along riverbanks or the side of the road are a common sight.

We hear from Laura Nussbaum, a woman living in one of these camps in Sacramento. She's trying to get back into permanent housing but doesn't think she'll get any help from the city. Meanwhile, the mayor of Sacramento thinks his city should pass a law which gives everyone the legal right to housing. Darrell Steinberg tells presenter Sarah Hawkins how it would work, and why a law is needed to cut through red tape.

But not everyone is convinced; Faye Wilson Kennedy of the Sacramento Poor People's Campaign worries that the law could force people to choose from the city's very limited list of housing options without necessarily building new options. And local reporter Chris Nichols gives us the perspective of local builders, NIMBY groups, and even some YIMBY groups who positively want new developments to take shape.

(Picture: Woman living in an encampment in Sacramento; Credit: Andrew Nixon)

In Business Weekly, we look at the implications of the European Court of Justice clearing the way for the European Union to cut billions of euros in funding to Poland and Hungary. Judges dismissed a challenge by the two nations, with the court ruling that the EU can suspend funding to member states that violate the bloc’s democratic values. Sophie Pornschlegel at the Brussels-based European Policy Centre explains how the cut in funding will hit both countries’ economies. Also, we hear why India has banned more than fifty Chinese mobile apps, claiming they pose a threat to national security. Amit Bhandari, a senior fellow for energy investment and connectivity at Gateway House, tells us about the power dynamics between the Asian giants. After years of delays, the green light for what will be the largest heated oil pipeline in the world has been given. Running from Uganda to the cost of Tanzania, the pipeline is being heralded as an economic boon for both countries, but has been fiercely opposed by activists who question its environmental impact. The BBC’s Joshua Thorpe takes a closer look at whether the region will truly benefit. Plus, a new study has revealed that a quarter of the world's rivers contain potentially toxic levels of pharmaceutical drugs. We hear more on the findings with Dr John Wilkinson from the University of York who co-led the project. And did you know that one in seven of us – that’s one billion people - lives with a disability? However, they can be twice as likely to be unemployed than non-disabled people. The BBC’s Tamasin Ford has been speaking to those fighting to end the exclusion of people with disabilities in the workplace. Business Weekly is presented by Ijeoma Ndukwe and produced by Matthew Davies.

There’s a credit crunch facing dozens of the world's poorest countries: billions of dollars are now owed and some countries simply won't manage the repayments. So who should foot the bill? We speak with Sri Lankan businessman, Indika Merenchige, who imports vehicles in to Sri Lanka – but it’s not business as usual when your government has defaulted with one of the world’s most influential creditors: China.

Meanwhile, the percentage some African countries are now paying just to service loan repayments has become alarmingly high. Jan Friederich is an African specialist at the Ratings Agency Fitch and speaks with us from Hong Kong. Plus, saying there’s no crisis on the horizon is Sonja Gibbs, the managing director and head of global policy initiatives at the Institute of International Finance, a trade group for the global financial industry. And it is when middle income countries like Turkey default on debt that really worries banks, says Harvard economist Ken Rogoff. Finally, Tim Jones represents the Jubilee Campaign, a non-profit organisation campaigning for global debt relief, thinks there might be a plan for widespread debt relief:

(Photo: A man holds banknotes of the Turkish lira. Credit: Berkcan Zengi/Getty Images)