US lawmakers are deciding whether to act against the country’s powerful tech giants. Some believe the likes of Facebook, Amazon, Google and Apple are stifling competition. The companies have made huge profits during the Covid crisis and critics believe they will use this cash to buy competitors. With Charmaine Cozier.

Clockwise from top left: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Apple CEO Tim Cook. Getty Images

Winter is coming in the northern hemisphere and traditionally it is time for colds and flu. This has raised fears that coronavirus will surge when the seasons change, possibly leading to a second wave of the disease that is even bigger than the first. However, predicting what a Covid winter will look like is complex and uncertainty reigns - there are reasons both to be worried and to be reassured.

Contributors: . Micaela Martinez, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at Columbia University . Katherine Wu, a health and science journalist with The New York Times . Judit Vall, a professor in health and labour economics at the University of Barcelona . Dominique Moisi, the author of The Geopolitics of Emotion.

(A man walks through a snowfall in Sarajevo, wearing a mask as protection against Covid-19. Credit Mustafa Ozturk / Getty Images)

With an estimated million Uighurs in detention camps, China has used a variety of means to successfully stifle world criticism. They include its economic muscle, political alliances with like-minded countries and sanitized tours of the facilities for opinion formers.

With Charmaine Cozier.

(Uighur prisoners shackled and blindfolded in Xinjiang, China. Still from anonymous drone footage.)

The presidential opposition candidate Joe Biden has barely emerged from his home since America’s lockdown at the end of March. But polls suggest that the low-key strategy is working in his favour – as his rival President Donald Trump comes under increasing pressure over his handling of the coronavirus and a resurgence of racial tension.

With four months to go until the election, is staying in the basement Joe Biden’s best option? What are the risks if he does? And how could Donald Trump turn things around?

Contributors: . Jason Zengerle, writer at large for the New York Times Magazine . Rachel Bitecofer, Senior Fellow at the Niskanen Center and host of the Election Whisperer. . Niambi Carter, Associate Professor of Political Science at Howard University and author of “American While Black”. . Whit Ayres, Republican pollster at North Star Opinion Research.

Presenter: Tanya Beckett Producers: Estelle Doyle and Victoria McCraven Editor: Richard Vadon

(Image: Joe Biden at campaign event, Credit: Leah Mills/Reuters)

The recent border clash between China and India is seen as a watershed moment in the two nuclear nations’ relationship. How will its repercussions affect Asia, and the rest of the world?

Contributors: . Chris Dougherty - a senior fellow with the Defence Programme at the Centre for New American Securities. . Ananth Krishnan – a correspondent for the Hindu newspaper. And the author of “India’s China Challenge” . Tanvi Madan – a senior fellow in the Foreign Policy programme at the Brookings Institution. . Yu Jie - a Senior Research Fellow on China at Chatham House.

Presenter: Tanya Beckett Series Producer: Estelle Doyle

(Chinese President Leader Xi Jinping with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the 2017 BRICS Summit. Photo: Kenzaburo Fukuhara/Getty images)

Why are Covid cases dramatically increasing in some U.S. states, where rates had been low? The number of new coronavirus infections in a single day has passed fifty five thousand. Is it because of more testing, or is something else going on?

(Demonstrators outside the State Capitol in Auston.Texas protesting against Coronavirus restrictions. Credit: Gary Miller/Getty Images)

President Vladimir Putin has been in power for 20 years. The Russian people have been voting on a change to the constitution that could keep him in the Kremlin until 2036. While world leaders and opponents struggle to second guess him, some objectives appear to be clear: stability at home, respect abroad and power maintained for his inner circle.

Presented by Charmaine Cozier

(President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, February 2020. Credit: Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images)

The killing of African American George Floyd ignited anti-racist protests around the world - many centred on statues associated with colonialism and slavery. Why do these figures of bronze and stone generate such strong feelings? And what do they tell us about how countries deal with their past?

Contributors: Sarah Beetham Chair of Liberal Arts at the Pennsylvania Academy in the Fine Arts. Ghaith Abdul-Ahad journalist for The Guardian newspaper. AGK Menon, architect, urban planner and founder of the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage. Daniel Libeskind, architect.

Presenter: Kavita Puri

(Protesters attempt to pull down the statue of Andrew Jackson near the White House June 22, 2020 in Washington, DC. Credit: Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Why is the movie business having trouble representing the world’s population on and behind the big screen? A rising share of the U.S. population are black, more than half of the demographic are female – so why is it so difficult to translate this into cinema?

Hollywood has found itself red-faced in an era of Black Lives Matter and MeToo movements. From #OscarsSoWhite to criticism of who’s behind the films we see, the pressure to change is stacking up.

Charmaine Cozier discovers the issues within the industry and what movie bosses prioritise over diversity. But will activists, actors and data be enough to convince big studios that the revolution is here – or will it just be business as usual?

Guests: April Reign, Diversity and Inclusion Advocate and creator of the #OscarsSoWhite movement Naomi McDougall-Jones, a film producer, writer and women in film activist Darnell Hunt, Dean of Social Sciences at UCLA and Professor of Sociology in African American Studies. He is co-author of the UCLA Hollywood Diversity report Bonnie Greer, a writer and critic

Presenter: Charmaine Cozier/ Producer: Bethan Head

(Actor John Boyega raises his fist in protest at a Black Lives Matter march in London, UK (Credit: Daniel Leal-Olivas /Getty Images)

From the bubonic plague and cholera to tuberculosis, pandemics have changed the ways cities have been designed and built. The coronavirus has been no different: with cities all over the world on lockdown, our cities have changed to become quieter, greener, with wildlife returning on an unprecedented scale. Now, with the lockdowns beginning to ease, Kavita Puri asks: what is the future of our cities? Will they return to the way they were - and do we want them to?

Producer: Eleanor Biggs Presenter: Kavita Puri

(Parisians cycle through the streets of Paris on the Rue de Rivoli, which has been made almost entirely cycleable. Photo:Samuel Boivin/Getty Images)

Why is George Floyd the latest in a long line of unarmed black men killed by US police? Studies show black men are three times more likely to be killed by police in America than white people.

With Helena Merriman.

(A man speaks into a bullhorn as demonstrators march in Los Angeles, California. 2 June 2020. Brent Stirton/Getty Images)

Ever since a mysterious virus was reported in December 2019 in the Chinese city of Wuhan, the world has been watching China.

Silenced whistleblowers, unregulated wildlife trade in wet markets, limited international cooperation, and even a local biosafety lab have been held up as examples of how China mishandled the crisis. But how far can it be blamed for Covid-19 becoming a pandemic?

This week on The Inquiry, Kavita Puri asks what the Chinese government could, or should, have done differently to prevent a global catastrophe.

Producer: Eleanor Biggs Presenter: Kavita Puri

(A man drags a handcart across an emptied road on February 5, 2020 during lockdown in Wuhan, Hubei province, China. Getty Images)