Doping is a growing problem in the multi-billion dollar industry of competitive online gaming – but remains an open secret. As prize money runs in to the millions, are more young people turning to drugs to stay focused to win? With major league eSport athletes admitting to mass doping, we speak with the founder of the world’s first eSport university programme - Dr Glenn Platt at Miami University, Ohio - who tells us the casual attitude to doping for performance enhancement. Varsity eSport players Jared Shapiro and Jennifer Frank tell us that doping using Adderall and Ritalin are engrained within eSports, making it to difficult ban, when so many gamers need them for medical purposes. Doping in eSport regulator Ian Smith from the eSports Integrity Commission says that the major tournament organisers and games publishers should foot the bill for testing – which is severely underfunded. But while the major names – DOTA 2, Overwatch and League of Legends – continue to grow in users during lockdown, Craig Fletcher, an eSports tournament organiser, says the business has less money to spend on regulation, after coronavirus stops people gathering for tournaments.

(Image: Pixelated pills. Credit: non157 / Getty Images)

On this edition of Business Weekly, we look into Lebanon’s economy - a country going through the worst economic crisis since its civil war of the 70s and 80s, with severe disruption to basic services and food shortages. We also hear from Zambia, where the pandemic has meant the usual cash-rich tourists have stayed away, and the economy is dominating the general election campaigns. Plus, we look at another attempt to narrow the gender gap in science and engineering careers, by introducing female role models into toy dolls. Business Weekly is presented by Sasha Twining and produced by Matthew Davies.

Is China's behavior towards its innovators separating the country further from the world? That's the question on everybody's mind, as the Chinese authorities continue to exert their political power over the country's rising tech companies. George Magnus, associate at the China Centre at Oxford University warns that despite increasing western interest in the Chinese market, foreign investors should be wary about political clampdowns on companies. But Angela Zhang at the University of Hong Kong, argues some of the government's actions could be seen simply as prudent regulatory moves against the power of Big Tech. And Ker Gibbs, Chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai, explains how businesses are navigating this intersection between politics and commerce.

Producer: Frey Lindsay.

(Picture: Logo of Didi Chuxing, China's largest ride-hailing company. Picture credit: Zhang Peng/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Less than two percent of Africa’s population has been vaccinated against Covid-19. Could homegrown vaccines be the solution? If so, why isn’t it happening? Is it an issue with patents and intellectual property rights? Is big pharma standing in the way? Or is it simply about money and profits?

Things are beginning to happen. Last month a consortium was set up with the aim of opening an mRNA technology transfer hub in South Africa. If they succeed it will be the first regional mRNA vaccine manufacturing production facility in Africa.

In this edition of Business Daily, Tamasin Ford hears from Marie-Paule Kieny, the chair of the Governance Board of the Medicines Patent Pool, Toyin Abiodun from the Tony Blair Global Institute for Change, based in Rwanda, and from Petro Terblanche, the Managing Director of Afrigen, the South African biotech company where the first African vaccines will hopefully be produced.

(Producer: Joshua Thorpe)

(Image: Health workers prepare a dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine during a mass vaccination campaign against the Covid-19, in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Credit: Getty Images.)

Since they first appeared in the nineties, GMOs have remained wildly unpopular with consumers, who see them as potentially sinister tools of big agricultural companies. Ivana Davidovic explores if the new scientific developments might make them shed their bad image.

She visits Norwich in the east of England where professor Cathie Martin has been developing genetically modified tomatoes for decades. One purple variety - unusually high in antioxidants - has shown high cancer-fighting properties in mice and is expected to be approved for sale directly to consumers in the US later this year.

Alex Smith's Alara Wholefoods based in London was licensed by the Soil Association back in 1988 to produce the first Organic certified cereal in the world. He explains why he changed from anti-GMO campaigner to someone who believes this technology could help with the worst effects of climate change.

Rose Gidado, the Assistant Director at the National Biotechnology Development Agency in Nigeria, explains why the country approved the world's first GM cowpea - also known as black-eyed pea - and why gene editing and genetically modifying staple crops could help combat malnutrition.

Marta Messa from the Slow Food movement is particularly concerned about the implications of intellectual property rights behind some of the genetically engineered produce.

And professor Fred Gould, who chaired a large study into safety of GMOs for the National Academy of Sciences in the US, warns that this technology is not a silver bullet for solving all of our environmental and health problems.

PHOTO: Genetically modified tomato created by professor Cathie Martin at the John Innes Centre/Ivana Davidovic/BBC

This week the major technology companies posted record-breaking quarterly results, as they reaped the benefits of a world in lockdown. However, as politicians seek to curb their power, will they be able to keep making such vast amounts of money forever? Also on Business Weekly, we hear why more of us are quitting our jobs, why the price of coffee is close to a seven-year high and whether rental fashion is really good for the environment. Plus, from near bankruptcy to the Bangles via The Police – the legendary music producer Miles Copeland tells us about his long and successful career in the industry. Business Weekly is presented by Lucy Burton and produced by Matthew Davies.

Mental health care apps have boomed during the pandemic. But can receiving therapy through an app ever be as good as face to face? And do they raise concerns over our privacy? Tamasin Ford speaks to Brad Kettridge, founder and CEO of the mental health care app Brightside as well as the co-founder of the Oliva app, Sancir Sahin, which is aimed at businesses. We also hear from writer Julie Peck who suffers from bipolar disorder on why she sought help from one of these apps. John Torous, director of the digital psychiatry division at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, and Heleen Riper, professor of eMental-Health and Clinical Psychology at the Amsterdam University Medical Centre, discuss some of the concerns around privacy and effectiveness of digital mental health care.

(Image credit: Getty Images).

Lessons from nearly fifty years producing and managing bands, with industry veteran Miles Copeland III. From brilliantly promoting his brother's band The Police, to founding a record label for all the misfits in the industry: the Buzzcocks, the Cramps, The Go Go's, R.E.M., The Bangles, and many more; the American-born, Lebanon-raised record executive, and now the author of the memoir 'Two Steps Forward, One Step Back', tells the BBC's Ed Butler how he built his empire with music nobody else wanted.

Producer: Frey Lindsay.

(Picture: Stewart Copeland, Andy Summers and Sting from The Police at the A&M offices after signing a record deal. Their manager, Miles Copeland is 3rd from left. Picture credit: Richard E. Aaron/Redferns via Getty Images.)

Why Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk are battling it out among the stars. Ed Butler speaks to Brad Stone, author of the book Amazon Unbound, about Amazon founder Jeff Bezos's lifelong obsession with space, and to Christian Davenport, space reporter for the Washington Post, about the growing rivalry between the worlds two richest men over government space contracts and the future of the space economy. Former astronaut Janet Kavandi tells us why, like Elon Musk, NASA has Mars colonisation in its sights.

(Photo: Jeff Bezos among Blue Origin’s New Shepard crew after flying into space on July 20, 2021. Credit: Getty Images)

Has the pandemic encouraged more of us to quit our jobs? Rebecca Kesby speaks to Anthony Klotz, associate professor at Texas A&M University, who says the US is about to face a wave of resignations, as many people re-evaluate what they want from a job after months of lockdowns. Ben Kiziltug from the HR software company Personio tells us why companies who managed their staff poorly during the pandemic risk losing workers now. But Zeynep Ton from the MIT Sloan School of Management explains why there might not be a long-lasting shift in power from employers to employees.

(Photo credit: Getty Images)

Rental fashion is in the spotlight when it comes to climate footprint. A new study suggests it might not be the silver bullet as once thought, but environmental journalist Lucy Siegle cautions the study is too limited to give a blanket judgment on the rental industry overall. Meanwhile, Christina Dean, of the charity Redress, argues that the potential for rental fashion marks a revolutionary step in the way we think about our clothing. Eshita Kabra, founder of By Rotation, the world's first social fashion rental app, says people around the world could easily solve the fashion industry’s problem with the clothes already in their wardrobe. And sustainable stylist Susie Holland argues that there is a wealth of value stored up in second-hand and recycled clothing.

(Picture: Clothes hanging in the wardrobe. Picture credit: Getty Image.)

In this episode of Business Weekly, we look at the use of vaccine passports in the tourism and hospitality industries. Owning a 'pass sanitaire' is now compulsory to visit certain sites in France and nightclubs in the UK have been told they can only admit people who’ve been double-jabbed come September. We also have a special report on the Champlain Tower in Miami, where nearly a hundred people died last month when the building collapsed. What lessons should be learned? And Jeff Bezos blasted into space this week, hot on the heels of fellow billionaire supersonic joyrider Richard Branson. We’ll ask why. Business Weekly is produced by Matthew Davies and presented by Lucy Burton.