The Inquiry

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Are the Tokyo Olympic games in trouble? Jun 24, 2021

Show notes

In just under a month’s time Japan’s capital city Tokyo will host the 32nd Olympic Games.

They were due to take place last year but were delayed because of the pandemic.

But even 12 months later the Japanese public is far from enthused at the prospect of thousands of athletes and their entourages turning up just as the country is experiencing a fourth wave of the coronavirus.

So, Tanya Beckett asks if Japan can pull off the greatest show on earth during a pandemic?

Produced by Soila Apparicio and Rob Cave.

(People pose next to the Olympic Rings in Tokyo, Japan, March 2020. Credit: Carl Court/ Getty Images)

Could Covid-19 have come from a lab leak? Jun 17, 2021

Show notes

For the last year discussions about the origins of Covid-19 have divided people all over the world. Some say it came from nature and others believe it could have escaped from a lab. The idea of a lab accident was originally dismissed as a conspiracy theory but it’s starting to gain attention all over again.

Now President Biden has given the US intelligence service 90 days to try and investigate the virus's origins further.

Many still believe the virus jumped to humans from animals but some say that we need to be open minded until we have all of the data.

But could Covid-19 really have come from a lab?

Presenter: Kavita Puri Producer: Olivia Noon Researcher: Kirsteen Knight

(Virus research in a lab. Tek Science/Getty images)

Belarus: Can President Lukashenko be overthrown? Jun 10, 2021

Show notes

Over his 26 years in power, Belarus’s president Alexander Lukashenko has taken more and more control.

He has detained protesters and tortured political opponents for years. He is emboldened by his last ally in Europe - Vladimir Putin. And his regime of terror is spilling over into the continent.

But, Tanya Beckett asks if Europe’s last dictator can cling on to power for much longer.

Produced by Soila Apparicio.

(image: Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko at a meeting with Commonwealth of Independent States officials in Minsk May 28 2021. Credit: Dmitry Astakhov/Getty Images)

Do we need more nuclear power to help deal with climate change? Jun 03, 2021

Show notes

In November 2021, Britain will host the next UN Climate Change Conference, otherwise known as COP 26. Some 200 countries will come together to try to speed up attempts to make the world carbon neutral by the middle of the century.

But many countries are already struggling to ramp up renewable energy sufficiently to meet their greenhouse emission reduction targets. So is there another answer out there?

Around a tenth of the world's electricity is generated by nuclear reactors. Global generation has slowed in recent years after the nuclear accident in Fukushima a decade ago prompted governments to take a more cautious stance.

But with the urgent need to reduce carbon emissions, many prominent environmentalists are now taking another look at nuclear energy.

Tanya Beckett asks if nuclear energy can helps us transition away from fossil fuel power.

Produced by Soila Apparicio.

(Exhaust plumes from cooling towers at the coal-fired power station at Jaenschwalde Germany. Credit: Sean Gallup /Getty Images)

What are NFTs and are they really the next big thing? May 27, 2021

Show notes

In 2005 a photo of four-year-old Zoë Roth standing in front of a burning house went viral on the internet. It became a meme known as “disaster girl”. In April 2021, the image sold for $473,000 as an NFT, or non-fungible token - that’s sort of a digital record of ownership.

And the sales keep coming. Another NFT recently sold for $69 million. The first ever Tweet went for a huge $2.9 million … and a GIF of a pixelated rainbow cat sold for $690,000.

But what is an NFT, and is it really the next big thing? Suzanne Kianpour explores the world of NFT’s.

Produced by Soila Apparicio and Olivia Noon.

(CryptoPunk digital art NFT displayed on a digital billboard in Times Square NY City, May 12 2021. Credit: Alexi Rosenfeld /Getty Images)

Why are murder rates in Chicago so high? May 20, 2021

Show notes

History and geography have conspired to give the city of Chicago an unenviable reputation for guns and gangs, but what will it take to bring the murder rate, which rose 55 per cent last year, down?

Low conviction rates and an unwillingness on behalf of witnesses to give evidence play their part in the problem. But others think the time has come to treat murder like any other deadly disease that afflicts the poor.

Charmaine Cozier examines the reasons for the city’s stubbornly high murder rate and the options to stop the killing.

Produced by Nathan Gower.

(a small flag depicting bullet holes at an anti-gun violence march in Chicago Dec.31 2020. Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski /Getty Images)

Will the Taliban rule Afghanistan again? May 13, 2021

Show notes

In the afternoon of Saturday 8th May in the Afghan capital of Kabul, just a few days before the end of Ramadan, students from the Syed Al-Shahda girls school were starting to leave for the day. Without any warning, a car bomb went off. Then a second explosion, followed by a third.

The Afghan Government blamed the Taliban, the hardline Islamist movement that has fought a long civil war in Afghanistan. The Taliban, although they have previously targeted the education of girls, denied it and blamed the Islamic State Group.

Things were supposed to be getting better in this war torn country.

Earlier this year President Joe Biden announced US troops were going to be removed in September. But what will happen after they’ve gone?

Produced by Rob Cave and Soila Apparicio.

(Taliban militia move towards the front line in Kabul, February 1995. Credit: Saeed Khan /Getty Images)

Is peace under threat in Northern Ireland? May 07, 2021

Show notes

It was on Good Friday, 2nd of April 2021, that rioting erupted in a corner of Northern Ireland’s vibrant capital Belfast. In days, violence spread. It was on a scale that hadn’t been seen for years. With fears of a return to the troubled period of violence from Northern Ireland’s past, Tanya Beckett asks if the fragile peace is under threat.

Produced by Beth Sagar-Fenton and Soila Apparicio.

'A previous version of this programme gave an incorrect title to Northern Ireland’s First Minister Arlene Foster this has been corrected.'

(Nationalists attack police on Springfield Road in Belfast, Northern Ireland, April 08 2021. Photo: Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)

Covid: What went wrong in India? Apr 29, 2021

Show notes

Earlier this year, India’s ruling party was declaring victory in the fight against Covid-19. Some two months on, India set a global record for the highest number of cases recorded in a single country.

Kavita Puri asks what went wrong.

Image: A queue near a vaccination centre in Mumbai, 26 April 2021 (Credit: Divyakant Solanki/EPA)

Is the legal cannabis business about to go global? Apr 22, 2021

Show notes

Changes to the laws governing cannabis use are happening around the world. The number of States in the USA legalising cannabis is increasing rapidly. Uruguay and Canada have legalised it already, and Mexico may soon follow suit.

Tanya Beckett looks at the different models of legalisation and at what might be holding the global cannabis industry back.

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