Global News Podcast - Trump threatens 50% tariffs on EU and 25% on smartphones

Episode Date: May 23, 2025

President Trump threatens a 50% tariff on all goods sent to the US from the EU. Also: a gang is found guilty of the Kim Kardashian jewellery heist in Paris, and the Brazilian photographer Sebastiao Salgado dies aged 81.

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Now we got a show. Search for amazing sports stories 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, the 24th of May. President Trump threatens 50% tariffs on the EU and 25% on smartphone makers. A French court has found eight people guilty of robbing Kim Kardashian in a Paris hotel nine years ago and the Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado has died at Also in the podcast, why the Eurovision Song Contest is looking into its voting and promotion rules.

Our discussions with them are going nowhere. A post by Donald Trump on Friday referring to trade negotiations with the European Union. The US President said the bloc had been quote, very difficult to deal with and he threatened a 50% tariff on all EU goods from the 1st of June. He also warned Apple it could face a 25% import tax, later extending that to all smartphone makers. Shares fell on both sides at the Atlantic as the trade war ramped up once again after a period of calm. At an appearance in the Oval Office, Mr Trump again criticised the EU.

No, they haven't treated us properly, they haven't treated our country properly. They banded together to take advantage of us. And the people behind me know because they had some of that with their industry. But generally, you know, we signed a great deal with United Kingdom. We have numerous other deals that are ready to be signed. We have we've signed a deal with China. We have some really amazing

deals but the European Union, I mean the sole purpose was really to not to hurt us but to take advantage of us and we're not going to be taken advantage of. We're not going to be taken advantage of says Mr Trump but the EU said it will continue to defend its interests. Here's the Polish Trade Minister, Michal Baranowski. We are negotiating and I think anything I'm sure will get a good deal. I see this as another step in our negotiations that in the end I truly hope will result in a good agreement, good that is balanced and fair for both sides.

So what is going on? Our New York Business correspondent, Michelle Flurry, spoke to Helena Humphrey. We know that there was this meeting earlier on today that was due to take place between the EU Trade Commissioner and his American counterpart at the US Department of Trade. A short while ago we heard from the EU Trade Commissioner basically saying that the EU was prepared to defend EU rights but that being said they were also ready to do a deal but it needed to be based on mutual respect not threats. Of course this comes on a day when not only did Donald Trump say that he was dissatisfied with the way talks were progressing,

but then later on in the Oval Office doubling down and saying that he wasn't ready to do a deal with the EU. We often say that markets like certainty. So what does all of this mean in terms of what we are seeing on the markets? There was unsurprisingly a lot of discomfort when they started to see these social media posts on a Friday morning before a long weekend. At the end of the day though, how did they end? Well, US stocks were lower, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 both down

by less than 1% but certainly their worst performance since April. And all of this is being driven by uncertainty, something that as you point out markets really don't like. The unfortunate thing is that investors can prepare for more of a roller coaster ride ahead and that is because all of this stems from those liberation day tariffs imposed on April 2nd. They were put on pause for 90 days as we get closer to the end of that deadline in which you could see tariffs reimposed unless there are successful

trade negotiations. I think we're going to see a lot more of this potentially, which is this kind of repeated tariff threats, potentially rollbacks and more sort of back and forth, creating a lot of noise, a lot of uncertainty before we finally discover where things land. Michelle Fleury in New York. A gang of armed robbers has been found guilty of stealing jewels worth around ten million dollars from Kim Kardashian in Paris nearly nine years ago. However they will all go free after being given shorter sentences than the prosecution had requested. Dubbed the grandpa robbers by the French media, most are in their 60s and 70s and they have spent time in detention awaiting trial. I got reaction from Hugh Schofield in Paris.

I'm not at all surprised at the guilty verdicts for the main participants. Two of them had admitted that they did it. The main guy, the ringleader, Omar Kaddash, had said that he was there. All he disputed was the fact that he was the ringleader. He'd said that he was actually told by someone else who he wouldn't name to do it. So there's no real surprise there. Several of the others had said, oh no, case of mistaken identity, but I don't think anyone particularly believed that. The sentencing, I think, is the interesting part because they are like sentences. There are two ways about it. None of them is going to return to jail and because of the long periods of pre-trial custody

which so many of them have spent, they were arrested only a few months after the robbery and spent some years in jail before being released because it was all taking too long to bring them to trial. So they've got two years or three years which means they won't go back to jail now because they've already done it. You can sort of kind of understand it. I mean, they are very, very frail old men. And there was also this fact that in court there was this kind of funny rapport almost between Kim Kardashian herself when she was here and the main accused, Omar Qadash, who expressed his remorse, his regret. And she said, well, I'm getting involved in the law and rehabilitation.

I think that's very important, so I accept your apology and I forgive you. But it was quite an astonishing robbery that they carried out, even though they were relatively elderly. It was, and the prosecution and the court's president were at pains to remind everyone over and over again that there was nothing funny or cuddly or old-timer-y about the robbery. It was a petrifying, terrifying experience. They got away with the theft of millions of dollars in jewels, which has never been recovered. But the balance was between that and the fact that it all happened so long ago that they'd

served time already in pre-trial custody that they are old men, that they are in many cases sick old men, and there was this strange rapport, this strange sort of forgiveness between the main victim Kim Kardashian and a couple of the main participants who basically said sorry and regretted that they'd done what they'd done. And what did the French public make of it all? All I can say is that this has not exercised the French public quite as much as it's exercised the world's public. I mean, it's very much an international story rather than the French story.

The French themselves are, they follow it and they were bemused, I think, by the portrayal of the gang as the grandad bandits. That's all a reference to an old French film, Le Tonto Flange, which is about a group that gets together in their 70s to do one last job. That was kind of an amusing spin on the story. Hugh Schofield in Paris. The European Union's police agency says it's carried out a large sting operation against international cybercriminals, dismantling key infrastructure used to spread

malware and launch ransomware attacks. Europol said five European countries, including the UK, were involved, along with the US and Canada. Our Europe Regional Editor Danny Eberhardt has the details. This operation targeted global networks spreading the malicious software or malware that cybercriminals use to infect computer systems unnoticed. They can then deploy ransomware to cripple networks and encrypt, destroy or steal data. The raids were unconnected to the recent cyber attacks here in Britain on the co-op on Marks and Spencer, but those incidents were a reminder of how damaging such attacks can be, both

financially and reputationally. Criminals use ransomware to try to extort huge sums from the public service or corporation targeted to restore access. This week's raids saw 300 servers and hundreds of domain names taken down and several strains of malware disabled. In addition, Europol said £3 million of cryptocurrency was seized and international arrest warrants were issued for 20 suspects. But no one's yet been taken into custody. The game of cat and mouse continues. Danny Aberhart.

President Trump's plan to force Harvard to get rid of its foreign students has been temporarily blocked by a US judge. The ban was announced yesterday by the Homeland Security Secretary who accused the University of fostering anti-Semitism and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party on its campus. Harvard sued and there'll now be a court hearing next week. But in the meantime, thousands of students remain in limbo. Among them are many from China, as we heard from our China media analyst, Kerry Allen. There's been a real feeling in China that this is a measure that's targeting Chinese students. So there's a real emphasis in newspapers that Chinese students account for around 20% of all international students at Harvard, which is around 1800 to 2300 Chinese students

a year. And there's a lot of attention being given to China's foreign ministry saying that it's going to safeguard the rights and interests of overseas Chinese students. Also a lot in newspapers highlighting how students have reacted with some saying that they feel heartbroken by the decision and it's left them not really knowing where to go. Yeah, I mean, what can the Chinese authorities do to look after their foreign students? One of the things that China's been saying is that this impacts a lot of countries. They're saying that it impacts students from as many as 140 countries and regions. One university in Hong Kong, for example, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology has said that it can

offer places to affected Harvard students. So there's a real emphasis that China wants to welcome people who've been impacted by this decision by the US government. And how many Chinese students like to go abroad to study? Is that a big thing in China? It is, yeah. So many years ago, I used to be a teacher in China and there was this idea of the American dream was very real to Chinese students. They used to have a lot of exposure to American TV shows and the idea of speaking English is still associated with prestige. But at the same time, there's a lot of state media messaging that stresses the frictions between China and the US are only getting worse. That really

kind of changes the idea in Chinese students' minds of how safe it is to go abroad and whether this dream that they've had for many years is the actual reality. And in a way, might the communist authorities in China be pleased that Harvard might actually be forced to kick out some of its Chinese students as a result of this action? Oh, absolutely. And I think this is why state media want to draw so much attention to it. There's a lot of messaging at the moment that the US government under President Trump is almost isolating itself against the world. So China's really capitalising on that and saying where the

US is gaining criticism, China is not. At the moment, people are looking at China more favourably. Our China media analyst Kerry Allen. The Brazilian photographer and environmental campaigner Sebastião Salgado has died at the age of 81. He travelled the world with his camera captivating audiences with his images of wildlife, landscapes and people. Many of his projects focused on the dignity of marginalised communities, from Brazilian gold miners to Ethiopian refugees, all shot in black and white. Last year he spoke to

the BBC about his career, saying he began as a wedding photographer. I went to a magazine in Paris and I said, guys, I'm a new photographer, a young photographer, I want to see if you want to lose my pics. They smiled, they joked of me. And said, Sebastian, look, we give you all the stories that will be published next week. If you have one picture that can illustrate one of these matters, you bring it. We look. If it's good, we use it. I look at this, and I had a lot of stories about migration. And I said, I'm a migrant.

These guys I know. And I had a small motorbike. I went there. I was accepted by the migrants, and I started to make the pictures. Next week, I developed my prints. I bring to the magazine. And they accept my pictures.

They publish and they pay me. And slowly by slowly, I was accepted by this magazine and after by a second one, by a third one. In a moment I started to work as a photographer. Well Sebastiao Salgado's agent Neil Burgess spoke to Rebecca Kesby about his career. The first big project was called Workers, it was called the Archaeology of Industrialism. He was looking at the remaining industries which used manual labor. I think he saw back then what we see very clearly now with the advent of AI and computerization,

how mechanization and computers were taking over the role of people who only had their labor to sell, the proletariat if you like, and he made a fantastic record of that era. What do you think his contribution has been to the art form? Salgado was a brilliant image maker and he was a fantastic storyteller, but the way that he concentrated on his ideas, the way that he researched his ideas and the way he put together not just a single image, but a whole essay, a whole book, a whole exhibition, which would inform the viewer of some of the most important issues of our time, issues about migration,

issues about the environment, issues about the changing economic scene. He has influenced a couple of generations of photographers already, and I'm sure he'll keep influencing many more generations of photographers to come. But I think, I mean, speaking to him a couple of decades ago, he told me about the thing that he hoped would probably be his greatest work and the thing that he might be most remembered for and that's for his and his wife Leila's reforestation project in Brazil, the Instituto Terra, where they have reinstated a very large number of farms worth of northern rainforest. And Neil, obviously we've been focusing on his work, but you worked with him very closely, you

were his agent for decades. What was he like as a person? He was a very intense man, he was very intense about his work and everything he did. He loved football, he loved music, he enjoyed life, he loved his family. He was a very generous, funny man. He was a great human being. Neil Burgess on Sebastiao Salgado, who's died at the age of 81. And still to come on the Global News Podcast. I think one of the reasons why Java has remained so strong is that it looks to the past while also advancing towards the future.

The programming language Java turns 30. What links the Soviet Union, basketball and the iconic American rock band, The Grateful Dead? You gotta be kidding. Find out in Bill Walton's The Grateful Team, the new series of amazing sports stories from the BBC World Service. It's a story where sport, rock music, and dramatic world events collide. The Lithuanian team, they were the underdogs and we love underdogs. Now we got a show.

Search for amazing sports stories wherever you get your BBC podcasts. Now contrary to myth, carrots do not help you see in the dark. But what about contact lenses? Well scientists in China believe they've found a way to improve night vision through technology that even allows people to see when their eyes are shut. Richard Hamilton has been looking into the story for us. The human eye cannot see infrared light which is like the beam coming out of a TV remote control. So it's usually invisible because this wavelength is too long to be detected.

So what the scientists did was they embedded nanoparticles into a type of contact lens which converts that wavelength into a shorter wavelength that's more visible. So these nanoparticles absorb infrared light and convert it into the normal red, blue and green wavelengths. And what's amazing is that if you close your eyelids, it becomes, these lenses become four times more effective because they're cutting out any interference. And the technology is similar to what these sort of special ops guys that you see in films like Mission Impossible, you

know if there's a nighttime raid they wear these bulky goggles but of course the advantage of the contact lenses is that you don't need any batteries so they're not bulky. And they tested, it sounds a bit dangerous, but they tested this technology on mice and the mice were fitted with the contact lenses and given a choice between a dark box and one flooded with infrared light and the mouse chose the darker box suggesting that they could see this infrared light and they didn't find it comfortable and they also did brain scans which showed there was activity going around in the mice's brains which is responsible for visual processing. Are there any problems with them though?

Yes, because these lenses sit on the retina, the fine detail is a bit blurred. So for example in the dark you wouldn't be able to see the writing on a sign on a wall. So the scientists also developed a pair of glasses that you can put on top of these lenses to make the image sharper. And then they finally said that sort of the last resort is to shine a light on the infrared light which seems rather sort of taking away the point. You might as well say we'll just switch the light on in the room then you won't have any

problems. And are we all going to be going around wearing contact lenses and glasses as well in the future? Not anytime soon but they say that there are some serious implications. It could help colour-blind people translate otherwise indistinct hues into shades that are more easily perceived and then going back to the special ops situation, those guys with the bulky goggles, they say that flickering infrared light could be used to transmit information in security or rescue operations. And I was talking to Richard Hamilton there. The world's biggest music competition, the Eurovision Song Contest, has been hit with

rigging claims after Israel got most votes from the public in the final last Saturday. TV networks have raised concerns with the European Broadcasting Union which organises Eurovision. It has said it will look into how entries are promoted and the number of votes allowed per viewer. Stephanie Zakristen has the details. Yuval Rafael and her ballad New Day Rise, came top of the viewer vote last Saturday, but finished second overall to Austria when combined with the jury scores. But Israel's success among the public and the disparity between the two tallies has prompted calls from a string of countries to examine the results and voting system.

Broadcasters in Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Iceland and Finland have raised concerns or questions, with some requesting an audit of the votes. Two areas have been highlighted. Firstly, heavy promotion of the Israeli entry on digital and social media platforms. So what is and isn't allowed? Here's Eurovision expert Paul Jordan. It is a bit of a grey area because promotion of your song is fine but targeted ads, encouraging voting 20 times for a specific entry isn't really within the rules, certainly not within the spirit of the event. I voted for Israel because it was a very good song and I understand, you know, politically it's a very challenging situation but for me Eurovision is about the music. Now Israel's entry is not the only one that popped up on people's

social media feeds in the weeks leading up to the competition but looking at its presence online it appears to have been a wide ranging campaign. On YouTube there are videos targeting voters in all Eurovision participating countries with the singer Yuval Rafael addressing them in different languages. Hi, Alisamen. Stempo, New Day Will Rise. Moika, Anistakaka, Paleta, New Day Will Rise. Bonjour à tous. Votez pour New Day Will Rise. Privitos, Tim.

Roulousouitez-en, New Day Will Rise. Hi, everyone. Vote for New Day Will Rise, number four. These ads have been labelled as paid for by the Israeli government advertising agency. The Eurovision organiser, EBU, has said the ads did not break the rules. Another criticism facing the contest is the way the public voting system works, with every viewer able to vote 20 times. There are reports of voters finding ways around this, by registering different bank cards when voting via the website or using multiple phones.

The Eurovision expert Paul Jordan again. There's no proof in the allegations that this has happened this time. However, I think we need to protect the contest from future opportunities for even hackers. You know, Eurovision is a very complex event and it's very vulnerable at times as well. The EBU has updated its rules over the years. In 2014, it tightened the regulations after Azerbaijan was accused of trying to buy jury votes and pay members of the public in other countries to dial in. In a public letter published on Friday, the head of the Eurovision Song Contest, Martin Green, says there is no evidence that votes were manipulated.

Rather, the EBU has insisted the results have been thoroughly checked and verified. But, in light of the criticism and questions raised, Eurovision will look into the rules around the promotion of entries and the number of votes allowed per person. Stephanie Zachrisson. For most of us, it's easier not to look too hard inside the devices that dominate our lives. But the programming language which helps many of them run has celebrated a special birthday. Java is now 30. Named after the coffee that one of its founders was drinking in a brainstorming session, it's now used on more than 3 billion devices, as Louis Brett Kelly reports. Java has been described as the Swiss army knife of programming languages. From Netflix and Minecraft to cloud servers and cars, Java's language is behind so much of the technology that surrounds us. Today it's used by more than 90% of the companies

on the Fortune 500, a list of top American companies, and is considered the default language for big businesses. And since its founding 30 years ago, despite the development of potentially revolutionary technology like AI and more advanced programming languages, Java has remained a key player. Chris Stokell-Walker is a tech journalist. I think one of the reasons why Java has remained so strong is that it's both been adaptable to the changes that are coming down the line while also recognising that there are a lot of systems that are built on this sort of thing that need to remain compatible in the past. So it manages to play both cards.

It kind of looks to the past while also advancing towards the future. Java's slogan is Write Once, Run Anywhere. The idea being that its language is compatible with a majority of platforms. In the 90s, Java's versatility set it apart from its competitors. At the time, Microsoft was creating tech that could only work with its own Windows software, so Java was essentially set up as a riposte to that. The language's flexibility paid off, and for years, Java was the official language for Android app development. In its 30 years, Java has prioritised stability and slow evolution, and it's still taught in classrooms across the world. While new flashy models

have cropped up, Java has remained a trusted language and built a diverse and loyal user base. Louis Brett Kelly reporting. Now to an African football icon who, despite having played all around the world, has developed a love affair with Scotland. Victor Wanyama was a European Champions League finalist with Tottenham Hotspur. He also played in Sweden, Belgium and Canada. But the Kenyan midfielder first made his name with Scottish champion Celtic and recently returned to Scotland on an unlikely rescue mission for second tier Dunfermline Athletic, as BBC Sport Africa's

Ian Williams found out. In Dunfermline history calls out. This small and picturesque city in central Scotland used to be the capital. At its heart sits a sandstone abbey dating back to the 12th century. Its cool interior houses the remains of kings and queens. But recently the city has been playing host to African football royalty. I actually couldn't believe when I told you you're signing for Dunfermline. On the other side of town, outside Dunfermline's modern-day cathedral, East End Park, fans who remember the first reign of Victor Wan Yama in Scotland when he won two titles with

Celtic in 2012 and 2013, queue for autographs and photos. It's a bond the Kenyan midfielder feels is shared. They have really looked after me. They embrace their culture, always loving. It doesn't matter where you come from. They see you as one always loving, it doesn't matter where you come from, they see you as one of their own and they love their football. When all the photos are snapped, I finally get my chance. Victor, this is great of you to welcome us. Shall we go inside and have a look around? Yeah, let's go.

Thank you. Victor, when you came to Dunfermline, what did you know about the club? I knew the club is a big club. They have produced some of the legends in the game. The legs of Sir Alex Faggis. When he arrived on a short term deal in March the two time Scottish Cup winners were fighting relegation to the third tier. The reason he signed up for the battle, his former manager and mentor at Celtic, Neil Lennon, the man in charge of Wanyama once again at Dunfermline.

He knows me very well and he's a winner so it's that easy when someone like Neil calls. Reunited with Lennon, a strong late run saw the team beat the drop, even if Wanyama's influence on the pitch was limited. You've not played all that many minutes, has that been a frustration? Not at all. We are the young team and had to play a role in that, you know, speaking to the young lads, trying to help them in training. So this is the club shop where you can get your Wanyama shirt. Evidence that Wanyama retains hero status can be found in the fact that the club run

out of replica shirts. Marketing manager Chris Addison is the man often responsible for printing them. With Wan Yama choosing 44 as his squad number, Chris had to make an emergency order for more number fours. As soon as the squad number was confirmed, which was 44, and we saw the orders come in from the UK, his native Kenya, further afield, all over the world really. Wanyama hasn't played for his own country since 2020, having fallen out with the National Federation. But with the National Federation.

But with the new regime in place and the appointment of high-profile South African coach Benny McCarthy, could a Kenya comeback be on the cards? Has Benny given you a call? Yeah, I've spoken to him a few times. He was trying to convince me to go back. Things have changed the way the Federation manages the players and the football national team. So that has already convinced me. It's something maybe I might consider. 34 next month, Wanyama is also talking to his new friends at Dunfermline about maybe staying on next season.

We'll have to sit down again and see what's next and then we'll be happy. We'll be happy to come back here for next season. Enjoying being back in the heart of the action, Wan Yama says he has no plans for retirement. Whatever comes next it seems he'll always have a second home here in Scotland. Ian Williams of BBC Sport Africa. Ian Williams of BBC Sport Africa. 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 Mike Campbell and produced by Stephanie Tillotson. Our editors, Karen Martin, I'm Oliver Conway. Until next time, goodbye. This podcast is brought to you by WISE. WISE is the fast, affordable way to get the currency

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