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 have brought some Canadian steel and aluminium producers - operating in an already very tight market - to the edge of bankruptcy.

The BBC's economics correspondent, Andrew Walker, is on hand to provide context and analysis throughout, and you can read more on the BBC website and hear more about the USA and the rest of the world, across the World Service this week.

Manuela and her guests also consider the alternative to President Trump - a Joe Biden presidency - and whether that would make it any easier to do business with the US. There might be a change of tone, but would he actually dismantle the protectionist policies of the last four years?

Picture: Trump Tower in New York. Credit: Getty

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)

Why do female entrepreneurs in Africa not get the investment capital they need? When women are navigating the male dominated finance and start-up scene in Africa, sexism can be a daily occurence. Efe Ukala is the founder of Impact Her - an organisation to help female entrepreneurs in Africa get access to finance. She says at one meeting she went to she was the only woman in the room and when one man joined them he went round the table to introduce himself to everyone except her. Mélanie Keita is the co-founder and CEO of Melanin Capital, a financial advisory firm that connects social impact entrepreneurs in Africa with investors. She tells Tamasin Ford that on a number of occasions she has set up meetings with potential investors only for them to hit on her. Manka Angwafo, the founder and CEO of agribusiness company, Grassland Cameroon, says women just aren't listened to on the continent. And Tokunboh Ishmael is the co-founder and MD of Alithea Capital, a private equity fund management firm based in Nigeria which has set up a fund aimed at proactively seeking out female founders and diverse management teams to invest in their businesses. (Picture credit: Getty creative)