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Global News Podcast
Trump heads to China for crucial talks with Xi Jinping
00:25:45
Trade tensions and Iran top the agenda during the US president's symbolic visit to China
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Podcast Host
This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK.
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Sponsor Announcer
Today's episode is sponsored by NerdWallet's Smart Money podcast. Personal finance can feel like a pop quiz you didn't study for. This podcast is your study guide. On NerdWallet's Smart Money podcast, you'll hear from trusted journalists who explain the why behind major financial decisions. You'll get research backed insights and clear pros and cons. Whether you're planning a big purchase or just want to grow your wealth, make your next financial move with confidence. Follow NerdWallet's Smart Money podcast on your favorite podcast app. Ever wonder why we make the choices we do and how to make smarter ones? Introducing Choiceology an original podcast from Charles Schwab Join Wharton Professor Katie Milkman, an award winning behavioral scientist and author of the best selling book how to Change, as she shares true stories from Nobel laureates, authors, athletes and everyday people about why we do the things we do and how to make better choices to help avoid costly mistakes. Each episode covers the latest research in behavioral science and dives into themes like the power of self control, shaping your mindset for success, navigating new beginnings and why starting over can feel so hard. Listen to Choiceologywab.com podcast or wherever you listen.
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Janet Jalil
This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Janet Jalil and in the early hours of Wednesday 13th May, these are our main stories. Donald Trump heads to Beijing in a visit set to test the fragile truce between the world's two biggest economies. The US President also says he's in talks with Cuba which has been under pressure from Washington's oil blockade for months. We have the latest from the court battle between two of the biggest names in tech, Elon Musk and Sam Altman. Also in this podcast, police in Sicily investigate illegal racing with horse drawn carts and Kalashnikovsky.
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Dr. Boro Dropolic
And after our one time immune therapy we have several individuals that are suppressing the virus long term. One individual is almost two years and another individual is almost a year.
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Janet Jalil
Researchers behind a new pioneering type of HIV treatment tell us how it works. Donald Trump is on his way to China for a high stakes meeting with the Chinese leader Xi Jinping. With their talks expected to be dominated by two wars that that have not gone the way the US President wanted. The war in Iran and his trade war. The first saw Mr. Trump delay the summit by six weeks in the expectation of a swift victory. Instead he's now struggling to find a way to end Iran's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. And the second saw him impose hefty tariffs on China and other countries, only for them to be reversed or diluted. Before he left, Mr. Trump said that while he would have a long talk with Mr. Xi about Iran, he didn't need China's help to end the conflict.
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Dr. Boro Dropolic
Well, I think, number one, we're going to have a long talk about it. I think he's been relatively good, to
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Reporter or Interviewee (various)
be honest with you.
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Dr. Boro Dropolic
You look at the blockade, no problem. They get a lot of their oil from that area. We've had no problem. And he's been a friend of mine. He's been somebody that we get along with. And I think you're going to see that good things are going to. This is going to be a very exciting trip. A lot of good things are going to happen.
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Janet Jalil
Well, our China correspondent, Laura Bicker has been to the cyberpunk city of Chongqing in China to find out the country's strengths and weaknesses ahead of the talks.
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Laura Bicker
At dusk, Chongqing's skyline flickers into life like a vertical neon display of China's ambition and technological power. It's been eight years since Donald Trump's last visit to China, and he's facing a far more confident rival here. Some had a message for the US President.
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Reporter or Interviewee (various)
I hope Trump can respect the common
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Lily Jamali
will of people around the world.
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Reporter or Interviewee (various)
He should know that we share the same world. He should not always put America first.
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Laura Bicker
This lesson for 3 and 4 year olds in Chongqing is part entertainment, part introduction to a future shaped by AI and automation. And let's face it, there's just pure joy in watching a robot dance. China is investing heavily in robotics and coding. However, it needs America's help, not just to buy high end computer chips to help program the robot brain. But Professor Da Wei from Tsinghua University believes that together the the two superpowers could help mitigate the risk that AI poses in the wrong hands.
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Dr. Boro Dropolic
The technology is developing very, very fast. So if we don't work and try to govern it effectively in next, I
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Janet Jalil
guess, one or two years, it will
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Dr. Boro Dropolic
become out of control. Then we won't have that opportunity again.
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Laura Bicker
Elsewhere in the city, cars are getting their final checks before being shipped abroad. This city is part of China's rise as the world's biggest car exporter, a challenge for a US President that's obsessed with manufacturing and the auto industry. Lucia Chen is a saleswoman for Sahayu.
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Shaima Khalil
Whether or not the US Needs Chinese electric vehicles, our development and sales won't be constrained by that. We mainly export to the Middle East, Asia and South America. We don't rely on the US Market.
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Laura Bicker
The cars are even shipped straight from here to Europe and Southeast Asia via new rail links. This country is doing what it can to move away from past dependence on sales to the U.S. china is also trying to be a bit more, well, trendy. This city's image has been amplified with the help of influencers. Now what's happening here is there is a line of people with their mouths open, and they're looking for that perfect Instagram shot where the train heads into their mouths. It looks like they're eating the train, but from this angle, obviously, it looks rather strange. Here comes the train. The mouths are open and ready. Photographer Mr. Wang is profiting off the city's newfound popularity.
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Podcast Host
I feel like China is getting more
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Dr. Boro Dropolic
connected to the world, more integrated with the international community. I feel like the world is like a big family.
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Laura Bicker
And yet we found streets behind the futuristic skyline where workers in their 50s and 60s were shifting heavy loads and selling fruit and veg for just a few dollars a day. Just like a Sichuan opera where performers breathe fire in elaborate painted faces, Chongqing tells a story of rapid transformation. But this carefully curated image masks sky high local government debt, high unemployment, and uneven growth. China needs Donald Trump to end his tariffs and the war in Iran, which is adding to those pressures. That's why President Xi will see these talks as a chance for China to push forward with its ambition to be modern, resilient, and increasingly capable of rivaling American power.
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Janet Jalil
That report by Laura Bicker. Earlier this month, President Trump said the US Would be taking over Cuba almost immediately. Now, in a post on social media, he's announced talks with the Cuban leadership, saying they'd asked for help. Mr. Trump went on to describe the Caribbean island nation as a foreign failed country. Our Cuba correspondent, Will Grant, has this assessment.
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Podcast Host
It's not much to go on, to be perfectly honest. We know from previous information that the grandson of Raul Castro is said to have been in conversations with the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio. It's not clear at this stage, really, if Donald Trump is talking about something more formal. What I think we can say is there is diplomacy behind the scenes.
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Lily Jamali
There is.
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Podcast Host
The Cubans have acknowledged that there is conversations taking place across the Florida Straits. But what's interesting to me is that when President Obama made his opening to Cuba, there were two years of secret talks beforehand. It's impossible, I think, with this administration, to carry on something similar, because Donald Trump simply tells people what's happening, which is not something that the Cubans are very used to. It is getting extremely difficult for the Cuban government and has been for a long time. Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela was removed from power at the very beginning of this year and basically from that point onwards the Trump administration has imposed what amounts to a complete blockade of fuel to the island. So it is an extremely difficult situation and one wonders exactly how long the Cuban government can carry on. What is interesting is that the two sides seem so far apart. Raul Castro, the lead revolutionary on the island, if you like, is never going to simply hand over everything that the Trump administration would like to see. And Marco Rubio is one of the key Cuban American anti Castro voices in the United States for many decades now, is not going to want to see anything other than root and branch economic and political reform. So marrying those two things, them meeting in the middle somewhere currently seems very distant.
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Janet Jalil
Will grant. Survivors of the abuse carried out by the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein have given emotional testimony at a hearing in Palm beach in Florida, near the waterfront mansion where many of his crimes took place. Democratic politicians heard how Epstein and his accomplices evaded accountability for years. And one survivor named Oney as Rosa, spoke publicly for the first time. Here's our North America correspondent, Shaima Khalil.
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Shaima Khalil
Several survivors returned to Palm beach, where many say their abuse began and where prosecutors struck the controversial 2008 plea deal that allowed Jeffrey Epstein to avoid federal sex trafficking charges. Witnesses told the politicians they'd been denied justice for decades. In a recorded message, Maria Farmer said she first reported Epstein's abuse in 1996 and accused law enforcement agencies of repeatedly failing to act.
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Carlo Conti
The government needs to start telling the truth, face my lawsuit and be held to account to me and to all others who have been harmed. Had the FBI done their job, 30 years of child sex abuse and trauma could have been avoided. I want my full FBI file, including the 96 and 2006 reports.
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Shaima Khalil
Another survivor, identified only as Rosa, spoke publicly for the first time. She alleged that she was repeatedly sent to Epstein's Palm beach home by her modeling agency in 2009 and that she was subjected to repeated sex abuse and rape. Noting that Epstein was on house arrest at the time for abusing children, she explained how she was lured in.
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Janet Jalil
Doesn't look really scary to begin with. So they gain your trust and then they put you in a situation where financially you can't leave.
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Shaima Khalil
Although the hearing carries no legal authority, it's. It has kept the Epstein case in the political spotlight, with critics accusing the Justice Department of shielding Powerful figures, an allegation the department denies. President Trump has consistently denied any wrongdoing or knowledge of Epstein's crimes, saying he ended their friendship years ago.
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Janet Jalil
Shaimi Khalil can just one infusion of immune cells, also known as white blood cells, suppress HIV for years? It's very early days, but on Tuesday, researchers presented a study in indicating that they've had remarkable success using a type of immunotherapy normally associated with treating blood cancers and they use that to treat a handful of patients with HIV. Dr. Boro Dropolic is the executive director of Caring Cross, the non profit organization that's developed this pioneering technique. He's been working on this for 30 years and he told Tim Franks how the treatment works.
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Dr. Boro Dropolic
The therapy involves taking the immune cells from people with HIV and then reprogramming them so that those cells can then find and destroy HIV infected cells. And the therapy also protects part of the immune system against being infected by HIV, called the CD4 cells, which are coordinators of the immune system. And what this clinical study that has been sponsored by the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine has shown overall people with HIV that once they've stopped taking drug therapy which suppresses the virus and you have to keep on taking the drug therapy to suppress the virus once they've stopped taking the drugs after our one time immune therapy, we have several individuals that are suppressing the virus long term. One individual is almost two years and another individual is almost a year and we have other individuals that either partially suppressed or have suppressed for months or weeks.
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Podcast Host
Was it particularly effective with a certain small subset of those patients? I mean for example, those who've only recently been infected with hiv?
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Dr. Boro Dropolic
Yeah, there seems to be a trend those individuals that when they got originally infected with HIV quickly went on to drug therapy, they seem to be responding better than those individuals that when they originally got infected took years to then come on drug therapy. And the hypothesis is that if you're delaying drug therapy then you create a larger reservoir of the virus in the body that can become activated over a period of time. It's one of the few viruses that hide in a stealth like mode and then once you stop taking drug therapy, the virus comes roaring back. But in our case we're trying to tackle the virus with the cells themselves. These cells that are reprogrammed, they're around all the time living. And when the virus then becomes activated, our goal ultimately is that these cells that are around and that can stop the virus replicating any further. The cost of CAR T therapy in the US today is $350,000 a dose. We have produced a method to produce these cells and by tech transferring we can reduce that cost to a tenth. So instead of being 350,000, 35,000 as starters and then continue to work on further reducing the costs to further improve access. That's our goal.
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Janet Jalil
Dr. Boro Dropolic still to come in
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Daniel Rosny
this podcast not since Tel Aviv hosted Eurovision in have I seen that many Israeli flags in the audience. Israel has qualified. There are a lot of protests over Israel's inclusion.
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Janet Jalil
Amid boycotts and controversy, the 70th edition of Eurovision has got underway.
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Janet Jalil
This is the global news podcast. Let's turn now to a legal battle between some of the biggest names in tech the world's richest man, Elon Musk, is suing the OpenAI boss Sam Altman, accusing him of looting a charity. Given that OpenAI, the firm behind ChatGPT, began as a non profit, but appearing before a US federal jury in Oakland in California, Mr. Altman rejected Mr. Musk's claimed that he had betrayed the company's founding mission to serve the public good and said it was the Tesla boss who wanted to control OpenAI and make money from it. Our North America Tech correspondent Lily Jamali was at the trial and told us more about what the Chat GPT co founder had to say.
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Lily Jamali
Sam Altman testified for about two hours in court today. He began by describing his early relationship with Elon Musk, acknowledging that the multibillionaire made critical contributions to OpenAI early on. But he also said that Musk wanted it to be a for Profit as well. And what he described today on the stand was, you know, his increasing alarm at what he calls Musk's demands for control. So back when Musk testified a couple weeks ago, he acknowledged he wanted initial control, said that would diminish over time. As more investors came in Tuesday, we heard from Altman that he was unsettled by Elon Musk's reluctance, put that commitment that control would be diminished over time to put that into writing. He suspected he wanted long term control. He called into question this hair raising moment, as he described it, in which OpenAI co founders asked Musk, well, what happens if you die? To which Musk allegedly responded that control could potentially pass on to his own children, which was a very alarming moment to Altman. And it certainly got a lot of attention in the gallery, in the courtroom today.
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Janet Jalil
And this is a very different version of events from that being given by Mr. Musk.
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Lily Jamali
Yeah, because ultimately this case is about whether Sam Altman breached a commitment to keep OpenAI as a nonprofit. Musk has repeatedly said that he had made such a commitment. And Altman says that, no, you know, there was no such commitment made. And that is very much in line with some of the more recent witnesses that we've heard from. So just yesterday we heard from Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, who said he was not aware of any such commitments after all the due diligence that Microsoft's lawyer went into as they began a strategic partnership with OpenAI in 2019. Ilya Sutskever, who is a former chief scientist at OpenAI, also a co founder there, also said he was aware of no such commitment. So in that respect, Musk's case is somewhat falling apart.
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Janet Jalil
And Lily, when are we expecting a verdict and what could it mean for OpenAI and its place in the AI race?
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Lily Jamali
Murray could begin deliberations as early as Thursday, perhaps more likely on Monday, but any day now. And we have no idea how long that would take. It could take a few hours, it could take several days. But ultimately, if Musk gets his way and wins this case, what he wants to do is see Sam Altman ousted, and he wants to see these for profit entities that OpenAI has created in recent years unwound to basically have it revert back to its nonprofit roots.
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Janet Jalil
Lilly Jamali. A viral video of a Mafia linked illegal horse race in Sicily escorted by armed scooter riders has led Italian police to seize the animals and investigate two men. The race took place on Friday morning near the city of Catania, and the footage was later shared Online by an animal rights activist. Our reporter Carlo Conti has been looking at what these races are really used.
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Carlo Conti
At first it could be a snapshot of small town Sicily, hooves on tarmac, scooters beeping and people shouting from the roadside. But then come the gunshots, An illegal horse race happening in plain sight. The footage, filmed near Palagonia in eastern Sicily, shows two horses pulling small carts along a public road surrounded by a convoy of scooters. Some of the number plates are blacked out. Several riders appear to be armed. In the video, gunshots are fired into the sky and at least one man can be seen holding what looks like a Kalashnikov. Illegal horse and cart races have a long history in Sicily and other parts of southern Italy. Investigators and animal rights groups say they are used by criminal families with ties to the Mafia to make money through illegal betting, but also to project power, closing off roads and drawing crowds to show who really controls the territory. The images were posted online by the animal rights activist Enrico Rizzi, who says he received them from an anonymous source. Here's what he told the Italian broadcaster.
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Dr. Boro Dropolic
It isn't a clandestine race. These individuals are so confident they'll get away with it. They do it in broad daylight with lots of people lining the streets watching, witnessing the spectacle. So it's no longer clandestine. It's really about sending a message. We're in charge here.
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Reporter or Interviewee (various)
The state does not exist.
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Carlo Conti
Police later carried out raids in Catania's San Cristoforo neighborhood. Two men have been reported to prosecutors and the horses have been seized after officers found they had no legal registration or microchips.
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Janet Jalil
Carla Conti the news from Gaza in recent times has been relentlessly bleak. Large swathes of the territory remain in ruins, with people living in tents and struggling to get basic supplies following Israel's devastating war against Hamas in the wake of the October 7 attacks three years ago. But this next story is one of hope because two teenage Gazan sisters have won an environmental prize awarded by a Geneva non profit organization, the Earth Foundation. Tala and Farah Moussa have been crowned the regional Middle Eastern winners for the foundation's annual Earth Prize for a project that turns rubble into reusable bricks. And they're in the running for an overall global award. Dani Eberhard has the story.
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Reporter or Interviewee (various)
Tala Musa, who's 17, and her 15 year old sister Farah know well the cost of the Gaza war. Their house was bombed last year. They've been displaced several times and live now in a tent. There's a dearth of materials for rebuilding in Gaza. So the sisters set about developing bricks using crushed, sieved rubble mixed with binding agents. The blocks aren't load bearing, but could be used for pavements and temporary shelters, and the project is scalable. The Musa sisters are delighted with their prize money, $12,500. They plan to use it to teach other young people their skills. Talla says the prize is recognition that hope can rise from the rubble. The Earth Prize, open to people between the ages of 13 and 19, aims to act as an ideas incubator, providing winners with mentorship and money to develop their projects. As such, it tries to provide young people with a pathway from concern to action.
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Janet Jalil
Danny Abrahad now the biggest music extravaganza of the year is back the Eurovision Song Contest. But politics is again casting a shadow over the competition after five countries pulled out over Israel's inclusion in the event. Spain, Ireland, the Netherlands, Iceland and Slovenia are boycotting the contest in protest at Israel's war in Gaza. Journalist and Eurovision expert Daniel Rosny was in the arena in the Austrian capital Vienna for the first semifinal on Tuesday and gave us a rundown of the evening starting with the results.
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Daniel Rosny
10 of the 15 who performed this evening have qualified to Saturday's grand final. Of five that haven't are Georgia, Portugal, Montenegro, Estonia and San Marino. But those that did qualify are Greece, Finland, Belgium, Sweden, Moldova, Israel, Serbia, Croatia, Lithuania and Poland. And I've been covering this event going on for 10 years now and not since Tel Aviv hosted Eurovision in 2019 have I seen that many Israeli flags in the audience. So there were lots of Israeli supporters there this evening. Israel has qualified. There are a lot of protests over Israel's inclusion. As you said, five broadcasters have withdrawn and for those that were watching, viewers will have heard an anti Israeli chant right before the Israel performance began. And I've just had a statement actually from the Eurovision organizers which says that Eurovision was being broadcast on a clean audio feed live from audience microphones. Before and during every performance song, one audience member close to a microphone loudly expressed their views as the Israeli artist began his performance. And during the song which was heard on the live broadcast, they were later removed by security for continuing to disturb the audience and three other people were also removed from the arena by security for disruptive behavior. And because those five broadcasters have withdrawn, it has sort of put a cloud over this year's event. It is the 70th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It is the fewest number of countries taking part in Eurovision since 2003. So there is definitely the brand is bruised, but the viewers. It's 50% of this evening's vote. And the competition's judges have decided that Israel deserves a place in Saturday's Grand Final. But Spain is one of the big broadcasters that isn't participating this year, and that is because of Israel's war. And that has been a bruise for the competition because of how much it be could contribute financially. And so there's a big talk of what the Big Five is, and those are those broadcasters that ordinarily do automatically qualify for the final. And the minute you start to talk about money, that is when the organizers get a bit nervous, because the more countries that withdraw, that makes it more expensive for the participating broadcasters. And all of these broadcasters around Europe, including the BBC, they're all looking at their bank balances and they're all thinking, one, is it worth the hustle because of the discourse that now surrounds this competition? But two, can they afford to host it?
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Janet Jalil
Daniel Rosny in Vienna. And the second Eurovision Semi Final will take place on Thursday, with the final to be held on Saturday. And that's all from us for now. If you want to get in touch, you can email us@globalpodcastbc.co.uk this edition of the Global News Podcast was mixed by Chris Ablakwa. The producers were Siobhan Leahy and Stephanie Zakrisen. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Janat Jalil. Until next time, goodbye.