Global News Podcast - LA unrest: First federal charges for protesters

Episode Date: June 12, 2025

Two people are facing the first federal charges in the LA unrest and could serve up to 10 years in prison. Also: Harvey Weinstein is found guilty on one charge of sexual assault, and rare good news from Gaza.

This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Rachel Wright and in the early hours of Thursday the 12th of June these are our main stories. Police in Los Angeles announced the first federal charges against two people after unrest in the city. The general leading the deployment of US Marines to Los Angeles says they will not have power of arrest but will be allowed to detain protesters until police arrive. The disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein has been found guilty on one charge of sexual

assault at his retrial in New York. Also in this podcast, the United Nations says a deadline to end child labour has been missed and... 17 children came out of Gaza today. That's just a tiny fraction of the number who are actually seriously ill. But today for them, a day of hope. A rare piece of good news from Gaza. Mass arrests and the first federal charges, authorities in the United States have detailed the fallout from days of unrest in Los Angeles and other cities. But as we record this podcast,

the streets appear so far to be peaceful. Two people were charged with federal offences, including possession of unregistered explosive devices and the use of Molotov cocktails. The United States Attorney for the Central District of California, Bill S. Salley, said the defendants faced up to 10 years in prison if found guilty. The last few days we have seen vicious attacks on our agents and our properties here in the federal government. The escalation of violence by these rioters poses a serious threat to our agents and the safety of the public.

Throwing rocks, explosives, assaulting agents and committing other acts of violence are extremely dangerous and will not be tolerated. In Los Angeles, 4,000 members of the National Guard are being deployed, as are 700 Marines currently being trained quickly in crowd control techniques outside the city. The officer leading the troop deployment, Major General Scott Sherman, clarified what the soldiers could do. Strictly for the protection of the federal personnel and the protection of the federal

building, they're allowed to temporarily detain and wait for law enforcement to come and arrest them. They do not do any arrest. They are strictly there to detain, to wait for law enforcement to come and handle those demonstrators. Our correspondent in LA, Reagan Morris, told me more about the federal charges that were announced. They are pretty serious.

I just came out of that press conference and they made a point of saying they were intentionally filing these as federal charges, not state charges because the consequences can be so much more severe. And these young men, two of them, could be facing up to 10 years in prison if convicted. It was surreal in the press conference because they showed footage that I was in and so was our cameraman Chuck much more prominently because we happened to be there on Saturday in Paramount when that Molotov cocktail came over the fence and it didn't hit anyone, although an officer did catch his pants briefly on fire while I was trying to stomp it out.

But there were no injuries, but they used social media footage that somebody else had shot to identify them and they said they're going to be doing more and more of that and that they will pursue federal charges. And the White House press spokesperson, Caroline Levitt, said they won't allow mob rule meanwhile the Marines are about to come onto the streets are people worried I mean what's the atmosphere like? Well I'm in Westwood at the Federal Building and you would never know there's I mean there's certainly no mob rule the only thing different out in West LA is that there are heavily armed National Guard troops

guarding the building which which is unusual. But other than that, most of Los Angeles is, life goes on as normal. The demonstrations have been in a really small area in downtown Los Angeles, although I've just been told about one scheduled for the city of Inglewood, not far from where I am now, for later on today. So maybe because of the curfew, people are gonna start gathering in other places in the city, but that was announced as a peaceful protest.

And what happens is during the day, they are mostly peaceful protests, and then at night, things can get a little hectic. And briefly, the head of the troops has been speaking. What more do you know? Well, he said that the Marines were going to do a training course for two days to learn how to patrol the streets really because that's not something they normally do.

These are America's most highly trained killers really and the Marines, they're not police. So he said they're going to do a training course for two days and that they would not have live ammunition in their rifles. Reagan Morris in LA. For months now there's been talk of a full-blown trade war between the United States and China. But peace may have broken out between the two countries. Two days of trade talks in London have ended with what appears to be the beginnings of a deal.

The US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said that after the talks, he was optimistic. We're going to go back and speak to President Trump and make sure he approves it. They are going to go back and speak to President Xi and make sure he approves it and if that is approved we will then implement the framework that we have worked hard over these last two days. Obviously the team stayed at it until it was done, way into the evening. What's not clear yet is exactly what's in the deal. Though there does seem to be a pledge from China to supply the US with much needed so-called rare earth minerals and magnets, which are vital for many American industries.

Henry Sanderson is an associate fellow with the Royal United Services Institute. Just why are these rare earth metals so important? My colleague Owen Bennett-Jones asked him. The rare earth magnets that they're talking about are critical for defence industries but also especially automotive industries. You know, most cars contain dozens of magnets and especially electric vehicles contain very powerful magnets. So China has a lot of leverage. It produces over 90% of the world's rarest magnets and it's used this leverage, it's used this weapon.

It doesn't have that many tools in its toolbox, but it's used this weapon in this trade war with the US and it's been quite effective. Yes, slowing down the supply of those magnets to Western markets now Why doesn't the US produce this sort of stuff because they used to didn't they? Yeah, the US used to be the largest producer used to be the largest Have the largest rare earth mine in the world is is really a story of you know, globalization neoliberal economic thinking a a lot was offshored to China, but also China domestically produces a lot of rare earths

and they basically moved up the value chain. They worked out how to process them, then they became dominant in producing magnets. And today, China's the lion's share of demand. Two thirds of electric vehicle sales are in China. They produce most of the world's robots. So they have the demand. So they're mostly supplying their own market with the export market being a much smaller

part of demand. Nonetheless, a lot of this stuff is vital for US defense, isn't it, in missiles and drones and this sort of thing. So it really is a leverage that the Chinese have got, and I presume they got a lot back for offering to resume these exports. Well, we still don't know the details. I mean, Trump is saying that China's agreed upfront to supply these rare earth magnets, but the Chinese system that they've come up with is a license system.

So they can at any point, they maintain this control, right? So they have control over who gets a license for export, where it goes, they know where it's going to. So they can at any point restrict exports again. So it's really quite a clever system, you know, so that they do have leverage to restrict it going forward. I think Japan some years ago sorted out its own supply lines of rare earth metals so that they wouldn't be in this situation. Is America doing the same thing? Yeah, you're right. So Japan, you know, China restricted exports in 2010 to Japan. They spent about a billion dollars at the time supporting Australian rare earth producer, but they still

do rely on China for some rare earth they need for magnet production. The question now with the US is, they've learned the lesson, we can see the impact of China's leverage, but will they sustain the focus and the determination to actually rebuild an industry that's going to take five to 10 years, is going to take sustained investments, sustained support? Can the US keep the focus? Because it's not going to take five to ten years, it's going to take sustained investments, sustained support, can the US keep the focus because it's not going to be necessarily economically competitive or easy to compete with China. Henry Sanderson talking to my colleague Owen Bennett-Jones. Now, the European Space Agency has released the first ever video and image of the Sun's

South Pole. The footage taken from a solar orbitous spacecraft will help scientists get a better understanding of why the Sun's poles switch from north to south and back again every 11 years. Our science correspondent Pallab Ghosh has the details. The video shows that the Sun's south pole has a super hot atmosphere, which is one million Celsius. It appears as a shimmering brighter band at the bottom of an already bright yellow surface. Interspersed a darker cooler wisps of gas, gently waving in what seems like a solar breeze. But there's nothing gentle about this picture.

Flashes of even brighter light that appear tiny are in reality planet-sized explosions. Complex magnetic fields conjure up flares and loops of gas, parts of which hurtle towards the Earth. This new view is important because what happens at the top and bottom of the Sun gives an insight into how its north and south poles regularly switch places. This switch is also related to why the Sun shifts from having a quiet period to raging storms, according to Professor Lucy Green of University College London. The reversal of the polar magnetic fields on the Sun is for me I think one of the big open questions

in science and what we'll be able to do with Solar Orbiter is measure for the first time really important fluid flows that grab pieces of the magnetic field of the sun and transport them to the polar regions. As the solar poles are in transition, the sun is less contained, and bits of it are more likely to be spat out towards the earth. These solar storms can damage communication satellites and power grids but they can also cause beautiful auroras in the sky. The ultimate goal is

to develop computer models so satellite operators, power distribution companies as well as aurora watchers can plan for the sun's turbulent activity. Pallabh Ghosh. The United Nations says that there are nearly 138 million children still working worldwide. UNICEF and the International Labour Organisation released a joint report which said that despite progress, a deadline to end child labour had been missed. Max Horbury reports. More than one in every 12 children works. This represents, the United Nations say, an improvement. But it still means that 138 million children aged between 5 and 17 work, equivalent almost to the entire population of Russia. Nearly 40% of those children have been risking their health, working in mines, factories or fields.

Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest number of child labourers, while most progress has been made in the Asia-Pacific region. There had been an aim to bring the global number down to zero by 2025, but at the current rate it will take hundreds of years before the world is free of child labour. Max Horbury. And now some rare good news from Gaza. Some Palestinians have been able to leave the territory, one of them, Siwa Ashoor, just six months old and facing starvation. The BBC filmed her just over a month ago in hospital, suffering from severe malnutrition. On Wednesday, Siwa was among a group of children, some with cancer, pulled out of Gaza to be taken for treatment in Jordan. Our special correspondent Fergal Keane travelled with Siwa and her mother Najwa from

Jordan's border with Israel. Out of Gaza a small story of hope. Siwahoor, her tiny frame carried onto Jordanian soil. Siwar weighs three kilos. She should be at least twice that. Welcome Reem, welcome. And so Siwar has just arrived. She's now going to be taken to a man where there will be a diagnosis and the beginning of her treatment. And while this is a wonderful moment for her family and for the hopes of this child, of course there are so many other sick children in Gaza who will not make it out to treatment here. Sixteen other sick children join Siwaar today, some suffering from cancer.

Here no chaos, no pleading for food, peace and plenty. You're here in Jordan, I just have to ask you what does it feel like? It feels like there is a truth. We will spend our night without rockets and bombing, without anything in God's will. Our journalist first filmed Siwa Rashour back in April, a child who struggled to cry. Her mother and doctor spoke of a severe shortage of the right baby formula to feed her under the Israeli blockade. She's like a skeleton. Whenever I look at her, I cry. I cannot bear how thin she is.

What you notice most is the utter weariness of parents and children, all that they have lost. Zewar's father Saleh, who is blind since before the war, and Najwa, who's pregnant and exhausted on the last miles to Oman. In Jordan's capital, just over 100 miles from Gaza, the last transfer into the arms of a nurse taking siwar for specialist treatment. Thank God I have got out of the crisis. It felt like I'd been there a hundred years. My heart is finally at ease, away from the tanks and the rest. We couldn't sleep at all, not a single night.

Baby Siwa's mother Najwa ending that report by Fergal Keane. Still to come... The original plays were considered too old fashioned so we have to do him a favour and update them and jazz them up with a bit of singing and dancing. A very different take on William Shakespeare. The disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein has been found guilty on one charge of sexual assault at his retrial in New York. He was found not guilty of a second sex assault charge. As we record this podcast, the jury has not yet reached a verdict on a third rape count. Weinstein's previous conviction in 2020 was overturned by a state appeals court last year.

Weinstein has yet to serve a 16-year sentence after being convicted of sexual crimes in Los Angeles. Our correspondent, Neda Taufik, was in court in New York. After five days, we now have a decision where the jury has found Harvey Weinstein guilty of a criminal sexual act with Mimi Haley. Now, she was a production assistant that worked with Weinstein and she has accused him of forcibly performing oral sex on her. So they have found forcibly performing oral sex on her. So they have found Weinstein guilty on that charge. They have found Weinstein not guilty on the third new accuser, a Polish model who said that she was hoping that Weinstein

would help her with her career, but then also forced oral sex on her. Now there is a third woman who was part of the original case, Jessica Mann. She actually had a long consensual relationship with Weinstein but accused him of rape. Now the jury is going to return to continue deliberating on that count. But look, we are years from the Me Too movement. Harvey Weinstein, of course, was kind of the poster man for that movement because of how many

women in Hollywood had come out and spoken out against him. And so his initial trial where he was found guilty was really seen as a victory for that movement. Years on, many were waiting to see what the result would be this time around. So a partial victory for one of the women who the jury heard her case and believed her, but more to come as we wait to see what the jury has to say about the rest of the case." Neda Taufik in New York. And now to Poland.

The moment it was announced in parliament that a vote of confidence had been won by Poland's pro-EU government. It had been called by Prime Minister Donald Tusk after his political candidate lost the presidential election to Karol Noworowski, a national conservative historian supported by the opposition law and justice party. The new president is expected to use his presidential veto to block the government's more liberal legislation. From Warsaw, Adam Easton reports. Donald Tusk's broad coalition united and voted to stay in office. He said he called the vote to end speculation about his government's future. The next two years before scheduled

parliamentary elections will not be easy. The socially conservative president-elect, Karel Navrotsky, is widely expected to use his presidential veto to block legislation to de-politicise the judiciary, as the Prime Minister promised to both Brussels and his voters. Liberalising the country's strict abortion law will probably remain on the shelf. The government will have to find creative solutions to introduce its reforms, but many areas require legislative changes. Many voters are displeased with the government's lack of progress during its 18 months in office. Mr Tusk gambled that his presidential candidate would win and the obstacle to effective governance would be removed. He lost the bet and getting

re-elected in 2027 will not be easy. Adam Easton in Warsaw. One of the most respected antique experts in France has been jailed for helping to pass off fake antique chairs as genuine. One pair, which he claimed were made for a Marie Antoinette, was sold for $2 million. Here's our Europe Regional Editor Paul Moss. It apparently started as a joke. The antiques expert Georges Pellaud and woodcarver Bruno Denoux say they wanted to see if they could fool people

by making furniture and artificially ageing the wood to make it appear to be the work of master craftsmen from two or three centuries ago. Galleries and antique dealers were indeed fooled, even curators from the Palace of Versailles. But now Paolo, Dénou and four others have been convicted for their role in the forgery. In court, Mr Dénou said he was motivated only by the pleasure of making beautiful things. Paul Moss. It's hard to believe today, with William Shakespeare hailed as the greatest British playwright and perhaps the greatest the world has ever known, that there was ever a time when his works were not regarded as great literature. Yet, according to 18th century actor-manager David Garrick, it wasn't actors or writers that thrust the poet into the spotlight, but a group of determined noblewomen.

Christine Hainsworth tells the story in her new book, The Shakespeare Ladies Club, co-written with her husband Jonathan. She told my colleague Sean Lay how it all started in the 1730s. Susanna, the fourth countess of Shaftesbury, she was only 26 when she formed the Shakespeare Ladies Club and it comprised a duchess, a countess, a baroness and a working writer. They got together, they loved reading the original Shakespeare plays, so they would read them together

and then naturally want to see them on the stage. And when they went to the theaters, they found that they were a censored version with all the fun bits taken out, all the tragedy taken out, all the rude words taken out. But they lamented that and they felt that Shakespeare had really been lost. And the original plays were considered too old-fashioned. So we have to do him a favor and update them and jazz them up with a bit of singing and dancing and happy ending.

So they got together and they decided that they'd lobby theater managers to put on more Shakespeare. And they were really up against it because people quite liked these musical versions and all the fun songs and acting. By the end of their campaign they had a quarter of all productions being Shakespeare productions on the stage. Yes, yes, so it really worked. They also wanted a monument put in Poets Corner, Westminster Abbey because Shakespeare had been dead for over a hundred years and there was nothing there. And one of the most famous men of the theatre at the stage pretty much gave the Shakespeare Ladies Club the credit, didn't they, for reviving the playwright's reputation?

Well that was David Garrick and at his Jubilee, he said it was the ladies that formed a society and saved Shakespeare. But unfortunately, he didn't name them single-handedly. So the man got the credit once again. Yes. And they did raise the money and they did put the monument of Shakespeare in Poet's Corner. And the problem again was that as women, they weren't by tradition at that time able to conduct business with men. So they had to appoint a committee to oversee the statue going into Poets Corner and that was a committee of men, for men.

And of course when the Abbey recorded the particulars, they put the names of the men down as being responsible for the monument. Christine Hainsworth and Westminster Abbey has now updated its website to reflect the role played by the Ladies Club in getting the Shakespeare Memorial built. And that's all from us for now, but there will be a new edition of the Global News podcast later. If you want to comment on this podcast or the topics covered in it, you can send us an email. The address is globalpodcast at bbc.co.uk. You can also find us on X at BBC World Service. Use the hashtag globalnewspod.

This edition was mixed by Caroline Driscoll. The producers were Alison Davis and Arian Kochi. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Rachel Wright. Until next time, goodbye.