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Global News Podcast
As stock markets tumble again, Trump calls for a cut to interest rates
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President Trump calls for a cut to interest rates after stock markets fall again
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Zing Singh
This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the uk. I'm Zing Singh. And I'm Simon Jack. And together we host Good Bad Billionaire, the podcast exploring the lives of some of the world's richest people. In the new season, we're setting our sights on some big names. Yep, LeBron James and Martha Stewart, to name just a few. And as always, Simon and I are trying to decide whether we think they're good, bad or just another billionaire that's good. Bad Billionaire from the BBC World Service. Listen now wherever you get your BBC podcasts. You're listening to the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. Hello, I'm Oliver Conway. This edition is published in the early hours of Saturday 5th April. President Trump calls for a cut in interest rates. But the head of the US Central bank suggests that won't happen as trillions of dollars are wiped off global markets. Ukraine says a Russian missile strike has killed 16 civilians in President Zelensky's home city. And the best selling video game Minecraft hits the cinema screens. Also in the podcast, the Tanzanian diet that can boost the immune system in the morning. For breakfast, used to have a millet porridge and sorghum porridge as well. For lunch, banana with beans. And does a whiff of power surround the French president? When he announced his new tariffs earlier this week, President Trump called it Liberation Day. Critics said Liquidation Day would have been a better name. And investors continued to dump stocks. On Friday, some financial markets recorded their worst fall since COVID During the day, China announced it would match the 34% additional tariffs imposed by the US spending, sparking fears of a global trade war. Donald Trump said China played it wrong. They panicked and he would never change his policies. But he did make a plea for the US Central bank to cut interest rates. The response from Jerome Powell, chairman of the Federal Reserve suggested that would not happen. Tariffs are highly likely to generate at least a temporary rise in inflation. It's also possible that the effects could be more persistent. Our obligation is to keep longer term inflation expectations well anchored and to make certain that a one time increase in the price level does not become an ongoing inflation problem. Jerome Powell Talking to business journalists, I asked our business correspondent Mark Ashdown why the President was pushing for a cut in interest rates. Waitresses have been obviously the big issue as America and the rest of the world has grappled with inflation. Obviously we had hugely high inflation post the Russian invasion of Ukraine, energy bill spikes, that sort of thing, which makes life very painful for everyone. So I think Donald Trump they're looking forward for some help, really. If interest rates were to come down, that would help everyone in their pockets. That would help businesses as well. It makes money cheaper to borrow as well. But the chair of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, has always been very circumspect on this. He's very careful with the language he uses. He won't want to stoke any inflationary issues. I think he also reflected there he was a bit worried about the size of these tariffs, even took them by surprise. So I think as ever, Donald Trump wants fast moving responses. But Jerome Powell, the sort of polar opposite, really. It's slow and steady. They will take all the data, analyze and work out the path from there. Now, investors and traders also appear to have been surprised by the scale of the impact of this. Just take us through what's been happening on the markets. I think so. Well, pretty much as soon as Donald Trump got his massive card out with his tariff menu, there was a fall in U.S. stocks that continued. We had a massive drop off at all stocks on Wall street yesterday. Overnight, Asian indexes lost ground, European indexes as well. I mean, the FTSE, for example, the 100 biggest companies in London now trading at lows not seen for over a year. So we're not in what you might call crash territory. But certainly in America, a massive sharp decline. Again on the opening bell this afternoon, the NASDAQ now trading at its lowest point since last May. It's 20% below its December peak, which technically now puts us in what we call bear territory. Donald Trump's message, though has been this is a short term pain. He says it's not a crash, it's a correction. It's these big companies getting used to this new world order. And he is sending out that message loud and clear to him. Americans that yes, we could have some short term pain here, even possibly the R word being raised, recession, we could expect that even potentially. But that will lead to what he sees as a level trading playing field across the world, creation of better jobs in America, better wages. But I think there's no doubt in the short term though, consumers are bracing themselves like markets, like investors, like governments for what's to come over the next few days. Our business correspondent Mark Ashdown. So how is all this going down in the US on what they call Main Street, Neda Taufik has been speaking to people in New Jersey. Stores like Jacobsen Appliance here in Union County, New Jersey are urging customers to make any necessary purchases quickly before price shock kicks in. We don't Know what the price is going to be at the end of this month. Be prepared for a huge price increase. It could be 30 to 40%. And what impact will that have for you as a business owner? Well, might have to close up door. You've been here for over 40 years. Yep. Fears that a recession could be on the horizon have rattled Wall street and Main Street. I do look at our investments every day and you know, the way things went yesterday and the way things are going this morning, not a good thing. It makes me upset that, like I said, I don't think that it's real. The whole process has really been thought through, through that. What is it really going to do for everyone's day to day ability to just support themselves? It's too soon to know the exact impact of tariffs on consumers, though some estimates warn it could cost US Households thousands more each year. And small businesses are bracing for steeper price increases. Randolph has worked in fabrication for 50 years. He knows his business might be hurt, but he thinks the president's tariffs are needed. So they will come on shore in the United States and then hire American people and things, you know, slowly, hopefully will get better. Economists say that's unlikely to happen. Well, everybody has their own opinion. Donald Trump is taking his biggest gamble yet with the US Economy where he sees liberation. Others see a misguided nostalgia for a long gone era. That report from New Jersey by Neda Taufik. In recent days, there have been hints that the US May be willing to put more pressure on Russia to agree a ceasefire in Ukraine. At the weekend, President Trump said he was angry with Vladimir Putin. And on Friday, the American Secretary of State, Marco Rubio said the US Was not going to fall into the trap of endless talks with Russia. Peace means you stop shooting at each other. I mean, it's as simplistic as that. Now, obviously, look, there's all kinds of conditions for a final peace and you have to work with both sides. And I've said from the beginning, the only way a war ends in a negotiated settlement. If it's not an unconditional surrender, then it is both sides make concessions. We're not going to prejudge what those concessions are because those concessions will depend on what Ukraine will accept and Russia will accept. But we have to make concrete steps towards peace. What we're not interested in, and I'm not accusing them of this, I'm just telling you what we're not interested in is negotiations about negotiations. However, for now, Russian aggression continues. Ukraine said 16 people, including six children died. From a Russian missile strike on a residential area of President Zelensky's home city, Krivy? Re. I heard more about the attack from our Ukraine correspondent, James Waterhouse. Well, it's a bad one. And when you consider that there is a backdrop of daily Russian missile and drone attacks, they take place all the time. There is occasionally one that stands out. And in Krivi, we're talking about a gritty, industrial, vast city where President Zelensky coincidentally grew up. And what we have seen from footage is a gaping smouldering chasm in the side of a residential block, which suggests that this was, as the authorities say, a ballistic missile. Next to it, you can see bodies scattered on the pavement in a neighboring playground, and there are shrapnel marks everywhere. All signs suggest that this was a civilian area. And President Zelensky has said that this is a clear demonstration that Russia is not interested in peace. And I think when we consider the ceasefire efforts being led by America at the moment, where the question of just how up for peace Russia is is increasingly being asked, this is something Ukraine is looking to highlight and something that leaves Ukraine in no doubt that Russia is only interested, as of now, in continuing to wage its full scale invasion. Yeah, I mean, is there any sense in Ukraine that U.S. patience might be starting to run out with Russia? I think it's more of a hope than a sense. I think, you know, you've had European leaders try to impose some kind of timeline, as they'd like it, on Russia, saying that Vladimir Putin can't obfuscate forever. He can't be adding caveats or demands to America's calls for it to come to the table forever. Most tellingly, today you've had Marco Rubio say that Russia will have to make a decision in weeks and not months. And I think that is a reflection, finally, of the impatience Washington has in wanting to get this war ended. I mean, you know, once upon a time, Donald Trump said he wanted it over in a day. And I think what Ukraine will be hoping is that just maybe what we've seen in Krivi and what we've seen with the growing frustration with Moscow, just maybe it might nudge Washington to act on its threats of further sanctions for Russia as it continues to mount this global trade war. But as of now, perhaps the tide is turning. But when you're Ukraine, when you're on the receiving end of these attacks, when you're continuing to defend yourself in this war, there is no happy ending. I don't think anyone's getting under any illusion about that? Yeah. And is Ukraine able to respond to launch attacks against Russian forces? Well, Ukraine continues to launch drone attacks inside Russian territory. It's certainly looking to frustrate Russia's supply lines in that respect. But what Ukraine is also trying to do, these are the spinning plates Ukraine is trying to juggle at the moment. It's also trying to demonstrate that it can adhere to a ceasefire agreed between America, Russia and Ukraine to pause striking infrastructure. So Ukraine is holding off on that for now, and it is claiming that Russia is continually breaking this ceasefire by doing the exact opposite. So Ukraine is actually having to show restraint with these kind of attacks. But a like for like response is something you rarely see because of the constant nature of these aerial bombardments waged by Russia. James Waterhouse in Kyiv. Over the past two weeks, Turkey has been rocked by its biggest anti government protests in more than a decade. They were sparked by the jailing of the mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imam Olu, main rival of the Turkish president. Since the demonstrations began, about 2,000 people have been detained. One of them, a photojournalist, has told the BBC that he was arrested with six other reporters. To stop the media coverage, he spoke to our senior international correspondent, Ola Guerin. We've just arrived at the home of a Turkish journalist, Yassin Akgul. He's a photojournalist with the AFP news agency. He's one of those who was arrested after covering the protests. Hi, Yassin. Very nice to meet you. Thanks for seeing us. Thank you. Thank you. How are you? Good, I'm fine, thank you. Good. His son Umut is here beside me. He's. He's 8 years old. He's playing on his computer. He's dressed as Harry Potter. And Umut was here at home with his mom and dad and his baby sister when the police came. There were a lot of police. They said they had an order to arrest me, but gave me no details. My son was awake. I couldn't even tell him what was happening. I'm sitting with Yasin at his laptop and he's showing me some of the extraordinary images he captured during the protest. Just looking here at photographs of a whirling dervish in front of a line of police. These images became incredibly famous. They were seen around the world. And these photos landed Yassin in prison for two nights. He's accused of being a protester, not a journalist, at the banned demonstrations. He says his arrest is a warning to others. This message, all the journalists not shooting, don't take Pictures don't speak, don't film. They are making other journalists afraid that if they go back into the field, they could face the same thing night after night. This is growing the biggest street protest here in Turkey in more than a decade after the arrest of. When the BBC's Mark Loewen came to Istanbul last week to report on the protests, he was deported. He was accused of being a threat to public order. My name is ECE Guinar. I'm a politician, a lawyer. I'm an advisor to the mayor of Istanbul. It's not just journalists at risk. Ajay Gunnar knows that only too well. She's part of the mayor's legal team. One of their lawyers was briefly detained himself. Is there now a feeling among those trying to defend the mayor that anybody could be next, that anybody could be arrested? I cannot lie that of course, it's always there is some fear, of course. But we believe we have to act in accordance with our principles and we have to really preserve democracy and the rule of law and our basic freedoms. In Turkey, those freedoms are under threat. According to opposition supporters at this mass rally in Istanbul last weekend, Berke, who's 26, says time's running out for Turkish democracy. This is the last station of salvation, so we have to do anything that we can do. But do you know many people who have already been arrested? Yeah, I know all too many people. Two days ago, my five of my friends got arrested and I feel guilty because I wasn't getting arrested, but they were getting arrested. There could be many more arrests to come. While the opposition continues its protests, the government looks certain to continue its crackdown. Ola Guerin reporting from Istanbul. It is the best selling video game of all time, with more than 200 million monthly users. And now Minecraft has hit the cinema screens. I am Steve. As a child, I yearned for the mines, but something always got in the way. Well, Marcus Person created the game, earning billions by selling it to Microsoft. He's now the subject of an episode of the BBC World Service podcast Good Bad Billionaire, which explores the minds and motives of the world's wealthiest people. Xing Zhang is the podcast's co host. She told Rachel Wright More about Marcus Person. For people who haven't had the pleasure of playing Minecraft, it's what's called a sandbox game industry terms. It basically means that there's no levels, there's no quests. You can kind of use the resources around you to build whatever you want. And whether that's a private island or a flying jet or A castle or a lake, you know, where you really can let your creativity run free. And the inventor who your program is about, Marcus Persson. Did you get a sense of how he came across the idea? Yeah, Markus Person is a really interesting, colorful figure. He actually grew up in a very rural Swedish town called Erdispin. And, you know, his childhood was basically consisting of him wandering around the woods nearby. He was a big LEGO fan. And I think those two things actually play a really big part in Minecraft. You know, the main thing is this idea of just wandering through forests, wander through this world, but also the LEGO aspect of it, because one of the most compelling aesthetic features of Minecraft is that everything is made out of blocks. And, you know, he was a real kind of computer programming prodigy. He kind of taught himself to code by the age of eight. He's actually a high school dropout. He left school and ended up getting a job in video games. And that's when he really kind of started looking into creating his own game. One that, you know, fulfilled him artistically and that eventually became Minecraft. But he did leave the company that he, the studio that he founded that built Minecraft. Why did he leave and you know, what has he done since? I think part of the reason why he ended up selling the company was because there was an enormous amount of pressure on him. You know, this second album kind of pressure, you know, would he be able to come up with a hit to succeed Minecraft? And then there was also kind of stuff going on in his personal life. His father really tragically died by suicide. There was also a lot of fan criticism and the spotlight was really on him as the creator of this enormously successful game. So when things went wrong in the game, he would be blamed online. And I think really the pressure got to him and eventually he ended up selling that company, which is called Mojang, to Microsoft for two and a half billion. So in one kind of fell swoop, he became a billionaire. I think he's currently worth an estimated $1.3 billion. But he has said some. A few things that's quite controversial, that has upset a lot of people. Yes. Yeah. So he has become known for tweeting quite controversial things. You know, he's made racist, homophobic comments. At one point he even endorsed QAnon, which is of course that baseless conspiracy theory that really took root a few years back. And because of this, Microsoft actually kind of almost erased him from mention of the game. So when they had their recent 10 year anniversary celebrations of the game, he wasn't included or mentioned at all. What I think is interesting is recently he said he's working on a spiritual successor to Minecraft, but I think really, I'm not sure we'll ever see a Minecraft successor. Ding Cheng from Good Bad Billionaire and still to come on the global news podcast Red they are smart and clever. They have good sense of smell, they move fast and they are light. They're not heavy enough to set off the mine. Yeah, they have us a lot. The record breaking rodent detecting landmines in Cambodia. Foreign Singh and I'm Simon Jack and together we host Good Bad Billionaire, the podcast exploring the lives of some of the world's richest people. In the new season, we're setting our sights on some big names. Yep, LeBron James and Martha Stewart to name just a few. And as always, Simon and I are trying to decide whether we think they're good, bad or just another billionaire that's Good Bad Billionaire from the BBC World Service. Listen now, wherever you get your BBC podcasts. In a recent podcast, we looked at euthanasia in California, where it was made legal in 2016. Canada did something similar, but the rules there are more relaxed and one in 20 deaths is now a result of assisted dying. Initially, it was only allowed for the terminally ill, but now people who face what's called intolerable suffering can request assisted death. Critics often cite Canada as an example of the, quote, slippery slope, arguing that once assisted dying is introduced, it inevitably leads to safeguards being lowered. Our medical editor Fergus Walsh has this report. This theater feels like the most special, unique place on earth for me, and it just feels fitting that I should take my final breath. Within the next few months, April Hubbard plans to die on stage at her local theater in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where she's performed many times. She's not terminally ill, but has been given approval to have an assisted death. I want to end my life because the balance of being able to live and enjoy life is no longer outweighing the pain that I'm in. And there's many days where I can't lift my head off the pillow and I can't eat anymore. And it's not a way I want to live for another 10 or 20 or 30 years. April has been on strong opioid painkillers for more than 20 years, including fentanyl patches. She's been approved for medical assistance in Dying Maid because her condition is incurable and she finds her suffering intolerable. But critics like family doctor Ramona Coelho say Maid is being Used as an alternative to social or medical support. Canada has fallen off a cliff. I wouldn't even call it a slippery slope. So I think that when people have suicidal ideations, we used to meet them with counseling and care and actually for people with terminal illness and other diseases, we could mitigate that suffering and help them have a better life. And yet now we are seeing that as an appropriate request to die and ending their lives very quickly. More than 15,000 people a year have a medically assisted death in Canada. I think it's just robbing our people of hope. Vicki Whelan says her 81 year old mother, Sharon, was bombarded with offers of maid when she was close to death in hospital where approval can be given within 24 hours. We had the nurse come in saying, you should fill this paper out, Sharon, before you go, so you can get on the list to see the maid doctor. And my mom said, no, no thanks. They really did not want us to leave until my mom had signed these papers. You brought your mum home to die. What was her death like? We had the palliative care team in the community came in and it gave all the family time to visit her. They came from far and wide and she had the best last day of her life. So it was special. I take out my gloves and my tourniquet. Dr. Konia Troughton is president of the Canadian association of MAID Assessors and Providers. She's helped hundreds of people to die since the law was introduced using a lethal injection of drugs. So I'd start an intravenous probably there, get some tape to secure that part. It usually takes patients only a few minutes to die. That's where the drugs would go in. Yeah. This is not what's planned for England and Wales where patients would need to self administer, usually drink the dose. Strangely, these days I use my stethoscope more to determine if someone has no heartbeat. Dr. Troughton says it's more effective for doctors to carry it out. I do think MAID is working well for the patients. I think it's been hopefully a relief of their suffering at the last moment. They're always looking in my eyes and giving me the heads up and ready to go. They are directing the process and I feel it's a very much patient driven process that gives me an honour and a duty and a privilege to be able to help them in those last moments with their family around them, with those who love them around them, and to know that they've made that decision thoughtfully, carefully and thoroughly. Dr. Konia Troughton ending that Report from Canada by Fergus Walsh. A new study has found that the traditional cuisine of northern Tanzania can boost the immune system and reduce inflammation. The diet of the Chaga people is rich in grains and fermented foods. Sam Deer runs a safari business in Arusha in northern Tanzania. His mother and grandmother were both Chaga. He spoke to Tim Franks. They eat grain, a lot of grain. I remember I used to, in the morning for breakfast, used to have a millet porridge and sorghum porridge as well. We used to take for lunch banana with beans and all other types of grain like cow, pea mixed with banana. Taro root. We have a local name here we call magimbi and milk. And this milk is not necessary fresh milk, it's cultured milk, fermented milk. We call it in Swahili, Maziwa Yamugando. A lot of vegetables in every meal are used to have vegetable. These are all always green vegetables like the taro roots, and used to mix them in the food. In whatever food we eat, we use that one. Are there special types of fermented foods that you think are special to the Chaga? I grew up, I used to go every weekend. I used to go to my grandma for three days during weekends and during holidays. The fermented food that we use to take is taro roots. They put milk in the calabash, then they put something like smoky thing to make it sour. And then after three days, it is fermented and then we mix it with porridge. I remember I told you in the breakfast you used to have porridge. They mix it with the cultured milk and life goes on. That is how we used to have here. You talked about the sort of food that you ate growing up and this traditional food, which sounds. I mean, it sounds delicious. It also sounds very healthy. Are you still managing to eat in that way or has the dread lure of processed Western food grabbed you? Not really. I wish you could see me. I'm going 60 now. Yeah. I still play my soccer. I still play my soccer. I train the youth. And you can imagine I run with them in the pitch under 17. And I'm still strong. One secret is I've not been drained by Western type of food. I still eat the local food. If you come to my house, I don't eat a lot of Western kind of food. I still eat the taro root. I eat my banana. I'm trying to maintain the healthy food that I grew up with. Someday in Tanzania, talking to Tim Franks since 2002, April 4, has been celebrated as World Rat Day. And this year, one particular rodent has been singled out for special attention. Ronin is a landmine detecting rat in Cambodia who set a new world record by sniffing out 100 mines and other war remnants. Our Asia Pacific editor, Celia Hatton has the details. It's dangerous work uncovering landmines and unexploded weaponry in Cambodia. Two clearance experts were killed earlier this year, and that's why many in the northern Cambodian province of Preah Vikhir are celebrating the accomplishments of a certain rodent. Ronin is a giant African pouched rat, and he's a world record holder after successfully sniffing out 109 landmines over the past three years. Then Kang, a Cambodian working with the landmine action charity Apopo, cuddles a giant rat as he explains why they're so helpful. We are using rats. You know rats. They are smart and clever. They have good sense of smell. You can see the long whiskers away, moving, sniffing, searching for explosives. They move fast and they are lights. They're not heavy enough to set off the mine. Yeah, they help us a lot. They ignore any scrap method. It goes lead to the explosive much faster compared to Meta detector. That would take a long time because Meta detector detect all the scrap metal. Each rat weighs just over a kilogram. So as Van King says, they don't trigger the hidden explosives, which often lie buried just underneath the ground. After the mines are sniffed out by the rats nearby, human experts can then remove them safely. Cambodia is still littered with mines after three decades of civil war that ended in the late 90s. As for Ronan the Rat, it took a year for him to learn how to find explosives. And his trainers believe he has another two years of work ahead before a happy rat retirement. Celia Hatton. Finally, a new book about Emmanuel Macron's sometimes difficult reign as French president claims he uses so much cologne that his staff can smell him coming even before he enters the room. The book the Tragedy of the Elyse says he uses the Dior fragrance to project an image of power, as Richard Hamilton explains. Olivier Beaumont, who wrote the book, alleges that Emmanuel Macron uses industrial amounts of eau sauvage, keeps a bottle in one of the drawers of his desk and freshens up with it at all hours of the day. He compares the president with Louis xiv, who made his perfumes an attribute of power as he paraded through the corridors of Versailles. The book quotes former aides to the president. One says he uses scent almost to mark his territory, and another says it means, watch out, here I come. Sarah McCartney is the author of the Perfume Companion. She says Mr. Macron is not alone in using scent as an instrument of power. I think it's marvellous. I don't think anyone could wear too much Eau sauvage. It projects 1970s power. It's a classic, but it came out in 1966, so it's quite an unusual choice. Napoleon used to wash every day with two litres of cologne. It is a lot. He didn't have a shower, he was out. But I think that his Macron seems to be carrying on the tradition. The Dior brand is owned by the multinational company lvmh. Its CEO is Bernard Arnault, who's France's richest man and believed to be close to the President. The book goes on to say that Mr. Macron's wife, Brigitte, wears Louis Vuitton, another of Arnaud's products. But it adds that when her husband is abroad, she sometimes sprays herself lightly with his perfume to have the feeling that her man is not very far away. Richard Hamilton. And that's all from us for now, but the Global News podcast will be back at the same time tomorrow. This edition was mixed by Ricardo McCarthy and produced by Oliver Burlau. Our editor's Karen Martin. I'm Oliver Conway. Until next time. Goodbye. I'm Zing Singh. And I'm Simon Jack. And together we host Good Bad Billionaire, the podcast exploring the lives of some of the world's richest people. In the new season, we're setting our sights on some big names. Yep, LeBron James and Martha Stewart, to name just a few. And as always, Simon and I are trying to decide whether we think they're good, bad or just another billionaire. That's Good Bad Billionaire from the BBC World Service. Listen now, wherever you get your BBC podcasts.