Big Boss Interview

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)