Pro-democracy protests have happened before in Thailand, but there’s something new about the latest one - the king is being publicly criticised. It’s a serious criminal offence to do that. This week, Charmaine Cozier asks why people are protesting against the Thai monarchy.

National polls ahead of the US presidential election suggest a clear win for challenger Joe Biden. But could they be getting it wrong as they did four years ago? In 2016, Hillary Clinton won the popular vote, but - because of the US electoral system - lost the election. Could history repeat itself? In this week’s Inquiry, Tanya Beckett asks: can President Trump still win?

When he was elected, President Trump promised to put ‘America First’, but how has he governed?

Charmaine Cozier looks at trade, diplomacy, defence and the environment to examine the results of four years of a very different approach to international affairs.

(Image: Donald Trump at public address, Credit: Getty Images)

As new students start at universities in many countries around the world, governments are grappling with how to contain a second wave of Coronavirus. Already many universities have put lectures online and students are being told to stay in their rooms. But is this fair? Covid-19 is a deadly virus but not so much for the young. Can or should we keep the world locked down until there’s a vaccine or cure? Or, Tanya Beckett asks: should we learn to live with Covid?

(Students wait to start their entrance exams outside the University of Madrid, Spain. Credit: Eduardo Parra/Getty Images)

In 2018, the electric car maker, Tesla, was struggling to get the Model 3 electric vehicle off the production line. Its CEO, tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, was working up to 22 hours a day on the factory floor, trying to solve a host of problems on the car he’d bet the company on. It was close to running out of money. Two years later, the company’s doing better. It says it will grow 30-40% this year.

No surprise then that Tesla’s share price has gone up. But the amount may surprise you – up eight fold in the last year, to $400 a share. Making it the most valuable car company in the world.

It’s now worth more than Toyota, Volkswagen and Honda put together. But yet it still manufactures only a fraction of the cars they make. So are shares in Elon Musk’s Tesla vastly overvalued? Sumant Bhatia finds out from our expert witnesses, who include a Tesla owner who’s a shareholder and superfan, a fund manager who thinks the shares are in a bubble, an investor with millions of dollars in Tesla and an expert in electric vehicles.

In July, billionaire musician Kanye West announces on Twitter that he’s standing as a candidate in November’s US presidential election. After a scramble to meet the registration deadlines, his name is on the ballot in fewer than 20 states. His manifesto is confusing, his motive unclear.

In the past, Kanye West has been a vocal supporter of president Donald Trump. And it seems his campaign is being run largely by those with close ties to the Republican party. The Democrats say his entry in the race as an independent third party candidate is a dirty trick by Republicans. Others claim it’s simply a publicity stunt to promote his new album. But, in battleground states, where every vote counts, could his celebrity status have a significant impact on the election result? How seriously should we take Kanye West’s run for president? Kavita Puri finds out from our expert witnesses, who include professors of African-American studies at US universities, a Washington-based politics reporter and a Democratic pollster and strategist.

(Kanye West at the 2020 Vanity Fair Oscar Party, Beverly Hills, California. Photo: Rich Fury/Getty Images)

On the 29th September the two US presidential candidates Donald Trump and Joe Biden will take part in the first of three 90-minute live televised debates ahead of the presidential election in November.

Tanya Beckett asks can the debates affect the outcome of the election?

(Composite image of Joe Biden (Credit: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters) and Donald Trump (Credit: John G Mabanglo/EPA)

Online fraud takes many forms, from deceptive e-mails and websites which trick us into paying money to the wrong bank account, to romance scams and malicious software copying our bank and credit card details.

It's regarded by criminals as a highly lucrative and relatively low risk crime, so why is it so easy for fraudsters to manipulate our personal data and steal our money, what can be done to end online fraud?

Charmaine Cozier talks to some of those trying to disrupt the scammers and protect the public.

Guests: Rachel Tobac, Ethical Hacker CEO of SocialProof Security Muhammad Imran, Criminal Intelligence Officer, Interpol Financial Crimes Unit Stéphane Konan, Cyber Security Consultant & African Government Advisor Tamlyn Edmonds, Fraud Prosecutor, Edmonds Marshall McMahon

(Laptop owned by an online romance scammer, Accra, Ghana. Credit: Per-Anders Pettersson / Getty Images)

President Trump says opening up November’s election to more postal voting will make it more vulnerable to fraud and election interference. Many more Americans are expected to avoid going in person to polling stations because of the coronavirus pandemic and will rely on postal voting to ensure their voices are heard.

Tanya Beckett examines President Trump’s claims and how the US postal service will cope with millions of ballots.

Producer: Sharon Hemans and Diane Richardson

(A voter drops off a mail-in ballot at a collection box outside Cambridge City Hall, Mass. USA. Credit: Lane Turner / Getty Images)

A maverick American general, a call to the Russian ambassador and allegations of spying on Donald Trump’s incoming administration. But what exactly is “Obamagate” and what impact might it have on this year’s US presidential election? With Tanya Beckett.

The massive explosion that tore through Beirut on August 4th left more than 200 people dead, 6,000 injured, and as many as 300,000 homeless. The explosion was caused by a fire that ignited 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate stored at the port. When the blast hit, Lebanon was already in the middle of an unprecedented economic and political crisis that has triggered hyperinflation, poverty, and hunger. Many Lebanese feel that the blast was not the cause of catastrophe in Lebanon, but the result of it. Tanya Beckett asks, what’s gone wrong in Lebanon?

Producer: Viv Jones

(Lebanese protester waves a national flag amid clashes with security forces in Beirut, August 10 2020. Credit: Joseph Eid/Getty images)

Researchers around the world are racing to develop a vaccine against Covid-19, with more than 170 candidate vaccines now in development. Most vaccines take years of testing and additional time to produce at scale, but scientists are hoping to develop a coronavirus vaccine at record speed. Several potential vaccines are now in the final phase of testing but it could still be months before we discover if they are safe and can effectively prevent people from being infected.

If a vaccine can be found, there are concerns about how the world will manufacture enough. There may be challenges in storing it at the right temperature and transporting it safely around the world. Plus, rich countries might hoard supplies. Although hopes are high it is entirely possible that a safe and effective vaccine is a long way off, or never discovered. Experts warn that ‘waiting for a vaccine syndrome’ could be distracting us from finding other solutions for controlling the spread of Covid-19.

Presenter: Tanya Beckett

(A scientist works on an experimental coronavirus vaccine at a laboratory in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Credit: Juan Mabromata/Getty Images)