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If journalism is the first draft of history, what happens if that draft is flawed?
In 1999, four Russian apartment buildings were bombed.
Hundreds killed, but even now we still don't know for sure who did it.
It's a mystery that sparked chilling theories.
I'm Helena Merriman and in a new BBC series I'm talking to the reporters who first covered this story.
What did they miss the first time?
The History Bureau, Putin and the apartment bombs.
Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.
Available now on the documentary from the BBC World Service.
When a person dies in Upper Mustang in Nepal...
If they've led a good life and the stars are correctly aligned, the body is offered as food to vultures in a sacred ritual called sky burial.
My name is Tashi Bister and I've come to meet the monks and morticians keeping the ceremony alive.
Listen now by searching for the documentary wherever you get your BBC podcasts.
Another day, another trade deal.
This one is 25 years in the making between the EU and South America.
It's World Business Express from the BBC World Service.
I'm Hannah Mullane.
Meanwhile, Canada and China have also been making a deal of sorts.
They call it a new strategic partnership.
And what did you want to be when you grew up?
Looks like doctors are out and social media is in.
Hello.
Let's start today with a deal that's been 25 years in the making.
Farmers blockading Brussels airport today, protesting a trade deal due to be signed between the European Union and South American nations.
Jean-Matteo Tevano is a farmer in Sanguy in central France.
He explains why he's against the deal.
Well, to be honest, we feel as a treason from the European institution.
Basically, we'll have Big quantities of food being imported from the Mercosur into Europe with very low cost, because then you have no more taxes.
And the production conditions in the Mercosur are completely different from Europe.
So it makes it almost impossible for us to compete in a fair way with these importations.
So that's why we think that it's not acceptable.
The deal will eliminate import taxes or tariffs on more than 90 of goods traded between Europe and the South American nations.
Europe hopes to boost its export of cars, machinery and medicines, while South American farmers see a huge new market for their crops and produce.
Natalie Tocci has been an advisor to two EU foreign policy chiefs, now professor at John Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington.
It is a significant moment, and I think it's worth noting that it probably would not have happened had it not been for the return of Donald Trump to the White House and his unleashing of essentially, not just an economic war on Europe, but on the rest of the world.
So very clearly.
As Europe has been in a sense trying to de-risk itself from the United States, it has started taking a lot more seriously its relations with other parts of the world.
And there's always winners and losers when it comes to trade deals.
The farmers in Europe particularly have been talking about how they're upset about this, protesting about it.
But there are some sort of safeguards in place for farmers as well, aren't there?
You're always going to get particular reasons and interests against.
The question is, do you lose sight of the forest for the trees?
And provided that you do indeed insert some forms of compensation and protection.
We simply don't have the option of remaining as we were, because the world around us has changed so fundamentally.
But this isn't the final hurdle for the deal either, is it?
No, it's not the final hurdle.
Of course, this has to be approved by the European Parliament.
And as we know, when it comes to politics, anything can happen.
So this can go wrong.
And at the moment, as we speak, the numbers are still not there in the European Parliament.
So it really isn't a done deal.
I keep on thinking and believing and obviously hoping that suicidal instincts will not prevail.
But of course, when it comes to politics, never say never.
Natalie Tocci there.
A win for Canada today, as Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping and announced a new strategic partnership between the two countries in Beijing.
Mr. Carney said Canada was recalibrating its relationship with China after years of antagonism.
This is a relationship that has been distant and uncertain for nearly a decade.
That has held back investment.
It's stalled business growth and cost Canadian workers good opportunities.
And it has had the consequence of leaving us even more dependent on our largest trading partner.
Mr Carney has been under pressure to boost relations without angering its biggest trading partner, the US.
James Griffith is Asia correspondent for the Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail and has been following the story closely.
So what we've had announced this afternoon was that Canada will accept 49000 Chinese EVs into the country, which is around the same level as they're accepting in 2023, before they adopted a 100 tariff on Chinese EVs, which was copying a similar measure adopted by the US.
Those new tariffs had kicked off a trade war with China, where China introduced massive tariffs on Canadian canola seed and other agricultural imports, which really hurt the Canadian ag sector.
And so, as part of the deal announced today, while Canada will accept 49000 Chinese EVs China, for its part, is dropping tariffs on canola seed to around 15.
And it's also kind of not going to take further measures that it was threatening.
So this seems to be a pretty good win for Mr. Carney.
Canada is setting a different foreign policy path to the US now with this meeting, isn't it?
How might the US react to the deals made today?
And how much of that is a concern to Carney?
That is the massive question hanging over this whole trip.
Mr. Carney just wrapped up a presser in Beijing talking to Canadian journalists.
What was very, very notable in that press conference was how much he seemed to go out of his way to avoid mentioning the United States.
And he really danced around questions that were drawn in a direct comparison between Canada's relations with China and its relations with the US.
And of course you know we've seen previously where Mr Trump has very strongly reacted to countries dealing with China.
You know, I think it's fair to say they'll be very pretty nervous about what the US reaction to these announcements will be.
And, you know, we'll have to wait and see.
James Griffiths, Asia correspondent for the Canadian newspaper, The Globe and Mail.
Thank you very much.
Now the mother of one of Musk's children has filed a lawsuit against the company, alleging explicit images were generated of her by his Grok AI tool, including one in which she was underage.
Now Ford are reportedly in talks with China's BYD about potentially supplying batteries for hybrid vehicles to the American automakers' overseas factories.
Emma Wall is chief investment officer at Hargreaves Lansdowne.
Emma, Ford already working with BYD on electric cars.
This partnership must be going well if they're looking to expand it.
Yeah, they've sourced batteries from BYD for nearly six years now.
And they've actually got two deals with Chinese battery suppliers.
But the reason why this one is interesting is this would be the first time that the cars that had those batteries in them would actually be imported back to the States.
And it's already although it's quite new information sort of attracted quite a lot of controversy from the White House, because it's Chinese autos that were very much targeted in the tariffs that came out over the last year, because they believe in sort of Ford amongst them, but American autos having dominance in this area.
So whether this deal actually goes through will be interesting to see, or whether the White House intervention will pour some cold water on it.
Yeah, it's a controversial choice, isn't it?
It is indeed.
You know, when we hear about kind of make America great again manufacturing, and particularly car manufacturing, was very much at the heart of that.
As for Ford, a brand that is known as being very US, entrenched in kind of US manufacturing history for multi-decrades, if not nearly a century, to be partnering with China, it's quite interesting.
Yeah.
Emma Wall, Chief Investment Officer at Hargreaves Lansdowne, thanks for joining us.
Now, when you were younger, what did you want to be when you grew up?
Research in Kenya has shown that many young people would choose to be a TikToker or a YouTuber over a more conventional job like a doctor or a lawyer.
But while Africa's content creators ecosystem is growing fast, more than half of the continent's creators earn less than 70 a month.
Chef Abis is a Ghanaian engineer turned TikToker who has millions of followers.
People think that when you start, it's so easy.
It's not easy.
I struggled.
You have to invest into posting all the time and your videos won't start doing well when you start.
There's no way.
But I think that comes to confidence question is consistency and understanding your audience.
It requires effort.
Chef Abbey's is a Ghanaian engineer turned TikToker ending this programme.
That's it from World Business Express with me, Hannah Mullane.
Please subscribe to get the latest.
Just search for World Business Express wherever you get your podcasts.
If journalism is the first draft of history, what happens if that draft is flawed?
In 1999, four Russian apartment buildings were bombed, hundreds killed.
But even now, we still don't know for sure who did it.
It's a mystery that sparked chilling theories.
I'm Helena Merriman and in a new BBC series I'm talking to the reporters who first covered this story.
What did they miss the first time?
Listen on bbc.com or wherever you get your podcasts.
