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BBC World Service


The daily drama of money and work from the BBC.


Business Daily

Rare earths have been a major sticking point in trade negotiations between China and the United States. 

China dominates the production of these critical resources – which power everything from electric vehicles to fighter jets and data centres – with Beijing disrupting production around the world when it cut off supplies earlier this year. 

But one project in Australia is hoping to ease the bottleneck. 

We visit one of the key sites.

If you'd like to get in touch with the programme, our email address is businessdaily@bbc.co.uk

Presenter: Suranjana Tewari
Producer: Jaltson Akkanath Chummar

(Picture: A rare earth mining site in Western Australia.)

Australia’s rare earth ambitions

It is three and a half years since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began. Homes, businesses, transport and energy infrastructure have been severely damaged or destroyed.

Amid Russia’s onslaught, economists are compiling a list of what has been destroyed and are attaching a value to its rebuilding. They put the cost of reconstructing Ukraine at more than $500 billion.

We look at how companies are preparing for the moment they can rebuild.

If you'd like to get in touch with the programme, email businessdaily@bbc.co.uk

Presented and produced by Rob Young

(Picture: Rubble of a service station building destroyed by a Russian drone strike in Pisochyn, Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine. Credit: Getty Images)

The cost of reconstructing Ukraine

The country was the economic success story of the 2000s. But declining natural gas production has lead to a downturn. 

Now, fuel and food prices are soaring and Bolivian businesses are floundering. Inflation is around 15% - one of the highest rates in the region. 

There are protests in the streets - so what could help this once prosperous country?

And will the upcoming general election change things? 

Produced and presented by Jane Chambers

(Image: El Alto shoe salesman Fernando Gutierrez in his store. He says business is slow)

Bolivia's ongoing economic crisis

It was a significant moment when Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was declared president of Liberia in 2005 - Africa's first elected female head of state. 

Although she made significant progress in promoting peace and development - which earned her a Nobel Peace Prize - her accomplishments were overshadowed by allegations of corruption and nepotism. 

She discusses her journey, which includes both achievements and controversies; what she would have done differently; and the various economic challenges that African countries are facing today. 

If you'd like to get in touch with the programme, email businessdaily@bbc.co.uk

Presenter: Rahul Tandon
Producer: Amber Mehmood

(Picture: Ellen Johnson Sirleaf speaks after receiving the "Lifetime Achievement Award" during the Forbes 30/50 Summit International Women's Day Awards Gala 2024 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Credit: Getty Images)

Business Daily meets: Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

We take a tour of one of the world's most famous luxury hotels, the Raffles in Singapore. 

Raffles' 83-year-old resident historian Leslie Danker tells us about some of the famous guests who have stayed in the Beach Road suites, including the author Somerset Maugham. But with Sikh doormen manning the lobby and a cocktail bar designed to evoke the days when British miners and planters dominated the local economy, the hotel can be read as an unapologetic celebration of the country's colonial era. 

As Singapore marks 60 years of independence, does it matter how hotels - and tourists - frame the past?

If you'd like to get in touch with the programme, please email businessdaily@bbc.co.uk

Presented and produced by Vivienne Nunis

(Picture: Leslie Danker, resident historian at the Raffles Hotel, Singapore.)

Singapore at 60: Raffles and the Republic

In 2023, Business Daily met Chinese people trying to get into the US using an unexpected route – the established migrant trail through South and Central America. 

We’ve re-connected with some of those migrants who have made it across the border and are now living in California.

Have they managed to find work and accommodation? And what are their plans for the future given US President Donald Trump’s crackdown on immigration?

Presented and produced by Shawn Yuan
Additional production by David Cann and Helen Thomas 

(Image: Pan, a man in his fifties from China, now works at a Chinese restaurant in Barstow, California, after having come to the US by way of Latin America two years ago)

From China to California: What's next for Chinese migrants?

WiFi, Bluetooth, and mobile networks are familiar names in wireless communication - but there’s a fourth contender transforming everything from city water systems to African wildlife conservation. 

LPWAN - or Low Power Wide Area Network technology - is used when you need to send small amounts of data over long distances, using very little power. 

We head to rural Portugal where it's used for solar and water systems, and from conservation parks in Africa to find out how this low-cost network could become the most influential wireless tech of them all.

Produced and presented by Alastair Leithead

(Image: An adult female Iberian Lynx named Lava with GPS tracking collar on January 12, 2023 in Toledo, Spain. Credit: Getty Images)

The quiet power behind smart tech

France, the world's second-biggest arms exporter, is expected to double military spending in the next two years. 

We visit a factory in the north of the country that's switched production from civilian to military equipment, as part of what French President Emmanuel Macron is calling a "war economy".

If you'd like to get in touch with the programme, please email businessdaily@bbc.co.uk

Presented and produced by John Laurenson

(Picture: President Emmanuel Macron delivers a speech to army leaders at l'Hôtel de Brienne in Paris on July 13, 2025, on the eve of the annual Bastille Day Parade in the French capital. Credit: Getty Images)

France: Building a ‘war economy’

The university academic was working in Australia when he developed an interest in Myanmar.

He then became an adviser to Aung San Suu Kyi but was jailed for nearly two years by the country’s military regime following the 2021 coup.

Sean Turnell recalls the moment of his arrest and tells us about the harsh conditions he endured – and how books, along with pacing the length of his tiny cell, helped him survive.

He also reflects on Myanmar’s deepening economic crisis – and shares his hopes for the country’s future.

Produced and presented by Sam Fenwick

(Sean Turnell with Myanmar's former leader Aung San Suu Kyi)

Business Daily meets: Sean Turnell

Around a fifth of the workforce in both come from abroad. 

That’s much more than in most high income countries - and these workers are key to powering growth and economic development. 

However as we hear, life can be incredibly difficult for migrant workers in South East Asia. 

Produced and presented by Ed Butler

(Image: A Myanmar migrant worker harvests chilies on the bank of the Moei River, which separates Thailand and Myanmar in July 2025. Credit: Getty Images)

Thailand and Malaysia: Powered by migrants

Can the continent remove trade barriers and create a billion-person internal market? That's the hope of the African Continental Free Trade Area, but a year on from its initial signing, many obstacles remain.

Nearly all of Africa's 55 nations have signed up to the initiative, yet the most populous country Nigeria remains a hold-out. And there still remain huge logistical barriers to free trade, as Will Bain discovers when he speaks to frustrated truckers on the Zambia-Botswana border.

Ed Butler speaks to Ghana's minister for trade Alan Kyerematen, as well as Pearl Uzokwe of the African conglomerate Sahara Group, and Alex Vines of London-based think tank Chatham House. 

(Picture: Trucks drive along the Ethiopian side of the Ethiopia-Eritrea border; Credit: Michael Tewelde/AFP/Getty Images)

Is pan-African trade a pipe dream?

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