As the vital Colonial Pipeline in the US comes under cyberattack, Business Weekly hears how vulnerable infrastructure and companies are to being hacked. We take a look at the dirty business of car battery recycling - it’s an increasing health hazard in developing countries, as the lead acid seeps into people, plants and animals. We also hear from religious leaders who explain how the pandemic has affected the spiritual and religious life of their churches. And as the European Super League saga continues, we take a look at the finances driving the clubs’ desire to form a new league. Plus, should bamboo be used to make cricket bats? Business Weekly is presented by Lucy Burton and produced by Matthew Davies.

Calls are rising for a waiver of patent protections on Covid-19 vaccines - but would it do anything to accelerate their rollout in the developing world?

Manuela Saragosa speaks to an advocate of the "People's Vaccine" campaign, which aims to end the control of the major pharmaceutical companies. Els Torreele of University College London says much of the research and development of these vaccines was publicly funded anyway, and the need to negotiate patent agreements prevents other companies from rapidly scaling up vaccine production.

The need to speed up the rollout is testified to by the South African professor of vaccinology Shabir Madhi, who points out that his own country has yet to begin immunising the general public. But Thomas Cueni of the global pharmaceutical industry body, the IFPMA, says they are already on course to vaccinate the world within a year.

Producer: Laurence Knight

(Picture: A man is vaccinated at a hospital in Nairobi, Kenya; Credit: Robert Bonet/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

The chief scientist for the World Health Organisation acknowledges the frailty of the official numbers. Ed Butler speaks to Anthony Masters, the statistics ambassador for the UK's Royal Statistical Society who explains that one way to try to count the number of deaths is through excess deaths figures. But in countries like India there aren't very reliable national mortality statistics to start with, and there's often a long delay in delivering the latest numbers. One man who's done as much as any to sift through the data available is Murad Banaji, an Indian-born mathematician based at the University of Middlesex in the UK. He says the Indian death toll could be between three and eight times higher than the official data. (Picture: A relative of a Covid-19 patient cries in New Delhi, India. Picture credit: Raj K Raj/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)

The recycling of lead acid batteries poses a growing health hazard in many developing countries.

Vivienne Nunis looks at the case of Bangladesh, where a cottage industry has sprung up all over the country, with old car and auto-rickshaw batteries being burned in unsafe conditions, poisoning the surrounding land, animals, plants and people. Researcher Bret Ericson says that hundreds of millions of children across the developing world have dangerously high blood lead levels, risking damage to their developing brains.

Andrew McCartor of the anti-pollution activists Pure Earth explains why the economics of battery recycling make it such an intractable problem, while Adam Muellerweiss of the major global battery manufacturer Clarios explains what he thinks needs to be done to make recycling a fully closed-loop process, as it is in the developed world. Plus industry journalist Christian Ruoff explains why the rise of electric vehicles does not spell the end of lead acid batteries.

(Picture: Used batteries piled up at a recycling plant in Russia; Credit: Peter Kovalev\TASS via Getty Images)

Why plans for a European Super League won't go away. Ed Butler speaks to James Montague, author of the book The Billionaires Club: The Unstoppable Rise of Football’s Super-rich Owners, about why creating a Europe-wide league of the richest clubs made so much sense to football club owners with backgrounds in US sport. Spanish football journalist Semra Hunter explains why for Spanish clubs, the ESL is seen as the only way to guarantee their financial survival. And Keiran Maguire, accountant and lecturer in football finance, tells us why the swift collapse of the ESL plans could prompt owners to sell up.

(Photo: Fans protest outside Old Trafford, the home of Manchester United, Credit: Getty Images)

Paying extra to offset your carbon emissions may sound like a good idea. But does planting trees or paying to save a rainforest actually reduce your carbon footprint? Travel writer Manchán Magan and climate scientist Thales West explain why they're sceptical. We also hear from one of America's leading airlines, United, which is increasing the number of flights powered by waste products and old cooking fat. United's head of global environmental affairs Lauren Riley tells us more.

Photo: A plane casts a shadow over a forest (Credit: Getty)

On this edition of Business Weekly, we look at the battle between the makers of one of the world’s biggest computer games, Fortnite, and the world’s biggest tech company, Apple. The court case could have implications for how app stores and payment models are run in the future. We also take a look at the jewellery sector and hear two different tales of sustainability - from those selling diamonds made in a laboratory and those digging them out of the ground. Plus, we head to campuses in the United States, where universities cash in on the popularity of college sports, while the players themselves - the students – rarely see a penny for their efforts. That is quickly changing, but perhaps too rapidly for some observers. Business Weekly is presented by Sasha Twining and produced by Matthew Davies.

Scientists, artists and some of the world’s biggest companies are carving up the visual spectrum, and claiming certain colours as their own, so who does have a right to use the colours of the rainbow? We explore the ongoing rift over the worlds “blackest black” Vantablack, which was created by engineering firm Surrey Nanosystems, and can only be used by the artist Anish Kapoor. Contemporary British artist Stuart Semple argues that creativity should not be limited by commercial agreements, while Surrey Nanosystems executive Ben Jensen explains that the material is not suitable for general use. Author Kassia St Clair explores the meaning and history of colour, and we hear how interpretations of colour have changed from Julie Irish, an assistant professor specialising in colour, at the College of Design in Iowa.

Note: Surrey NanoSystems has clarified their material Vantablack isn’t toxic, as described by one speaker in this programme, but can be an irritant.

This programme is a repeat from January 2021.

(Picture of a colour splash via Getty Images).

What next for China's giant tech companies? Ed Butler speaks to China watcher Richard McGregor at the Lowy Institute in Sydney about why China's leaders have clipped the wings of Jack Ma, the country's most famous business leader and founder of the tech giant Alibaba. Chinese tech sector analyst Rui Ma argues that closer regulation of China's giant tech companies will be good for competition, while Rebecca Fannin, author of Tech Titans of China, worries about the impact on innovation. Eswar Prasad, economics and trade policy professor at Cornell University in the US, outlines the challenge China faces in balancing its desire for control over its tech entrepreneurs with its need for innovation and growth.

(Photo: Jack Ma pictured in Paris in 2019, Credit: Getty Images)

The car industry is preparing to go fully electric sooner than you might imagine - and not just because of the climate crisis.

Justin Rowlatt speaks to Bjorn Annwall, head of Volvo Cars in Europe, about why his company is one of a string of major carmakers to rush out plans in recent months to electrify their business. They intend to stop selling internal combustion engine cars as soon as 2030. What's driving it is the rapid improvement and collapsing cost of the batteries at their heart, according to Madeline Tyson of the clean energy technology research group RMI.

But how willing will people be to give up the glamour and roar of their engines for the silent speed of electric vehicles? Norway-based researcher Schalk Cloete fears that despite the technical advances, their limited range remains a deal-killer for many families. But EV fanatic and former Top Gear presenter Quentin Willson says give people a couple of days' test drive and they will soon be won over.

Producer: Laurence Knight

(Picture: Electric car logo; Credit: Lya Cattel/Getty Images)

Millions of Indians risk being knocked back into poverty by the current explosion in coronavirus infections.

Rahul Tandon hears from Radhika, who abruptly lost her job in Mumbai when India went into lockdown last year, and has since struggled with thoughts of suicide. Newspaper columnist Sandip Roy discusses how Covid threatens to strip many self-identifying middle class of their sense of comfort and security. Meanwhile, many women who run their own businesses face ruin, according Renu Shah, who runs Shakti - an organisation that helps women entrepreneurs.

We also hear opposing views on how big a setback the middle class faces from Covid from two leading Indian economists - Pravin Krishna of John Hopkins University, and Jayati Ghosh of Jawaharlal Nehru University.

(Picture: A Covid-19 patient in Gurudwara, India; Credit: Naveen Sharma/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

It could be the biggest shake-up of corporate taxation in history. But can President Biden's push for a minimum global rate succeed? He wants multinational companies to pay a rate of at least 21%. The proposal is likely to face opposition from smaller economies. Tech consultant Pamela Newenham explains how Ireland's low tax regime has helped to transform the country's capital. Others say the proposal doesn't go far enough. We hear why from Nobel prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz. We also hear from the man leading the charge for reform at the OECD, Pascal Saint-Amans, and Danny McCoy, head of Ireland's biggest business group.

Picture: Stock photo of a yellow warning sign on a fence (Credit: Getty)