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Available now on the documentary from the BBC World Service.
When Mick Fleming took drugs, he did so to blot out traumatic events in his childhood.
Then followed a life of escalating crime.
Join me, Sharoma Silva, to learn about how Mick is reconciling and using his past to reach others in one of Britain's poorest communities.
Listen now by searching for The Documentary, wherever you get your BBC podcasts.
Kevin Warsh is nominated to take a seat as the US Fed chair.
It's World Business Express from the BBC World Service.
I'm Leanna Byrne.
Venezuela's parliament passes a new bill that will pave the way for more private investors in its oil industry.
And Panama's top court makes a key ruling on China's involvement on the country's famous canal.
Kevin Warsh.
That's the guy who President Trump just nominated to be the chair of the Federal Reserve, America's central bank.
He's a former Fed governor who's been critical of how the central bank has handled inflation and thinks it has too broad of an influence on financial markets.
President Trump has recently been seeking greater control over the Fed by putting in policymakers who back his push for lower interest rates.
But is that what Warsh will do?
Here's Aaron Klein, a former U.S.
Treasury official who previously worked with Kevin Warsh and is now a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington.
Through most of his career, he's been relatively hawkish and wanted higher interest rates.
You know how somebody is going to do once they get the job is the big open question of all of the finalists.
Warsh was among the people that I think would be less pliable and more committed to the Federal Reserve's long term goals.
So how certain is this nomination and what are the next steps?
Our North America business correspondent in New York is Sumira Hussain.
In order for Kevin Walsh to become the next Fed chair, he needs to be approved by Senate.
And of course, we know that nothing is very easy these days when it comes to politics in Washington.
What's further complicating this is not – it's not so much that this is a Trump appointee and therefore Republicans will vote one way and Democrats will vote another.
It has more to do with some of the other outstanding issues to do with the Fed.
So we saw that one senator is already saying that he's going to oppose the nomination today of Kevin Warsh until the criminal investigation into the Fed chair, Jerome Powell, is done and dusted.
We also know that there are some senators that are expressing concern about the firing of Lisa Cook, and she was on the board of governors.
And that case has gone to the Supreme Court.
So are all these outside issues that could bleed into the confirmation of Kevin Warsh?
What do we know about him?
So he's an economist, but he's also no stranger to the Federal Reserve.
He was on the Board of Governors for a number of years.
And so he understands...
That said, he's also someone who believes that interest rates should be cut.
Now we know that that has been a big bugbear for President Trump, who has often been quite hostile in his work words with regards to the current chair, Jerome Powell, because he doesn't feel that he's cutting interest rates fast enough.
So certainly, Kevin Warsh is more on the team of cutting more interest rates.
That said, speaking with some of his former colleagues, they do say that he is someone who is very much on the team of maintaining the Fed's independence, because that's been one of the worries right.
That you have President Trump that's calling for more interest rate cuts.
But politics and the Federal Reserve and interest rates are supposed to be completely separate.
It's very important for the Fed to maintain that independence.
That was Samir Hussain in our New York bureau.
Let's find out how markets reacted.
Susanna Streeter is Chief Investment Strategist at Wealth Club.
Susanna, let's talk about the dollar first.
It's been weak lately, but how has it reacted?
Well, it has strengthened a little bit.
I think that is because Kevin Walsh has had this history as a governor, Fed governor, and he has credibility in the financial sector.
And there is some expectation that perhaps he will hold the line if inflation really risks running off into super hot territory again.
That being said, he recently announced, as has been explained, has been advocating looser monetary policy, a cut in interest rates.
And that's exactly what President Trump wants to see.
So we'll have to see, once his position is actually confirmed, which direction of travel he will take.
But for now, it certainly seems as though investors are a little bit on the fence.
There is a little bit more reassurance given his position. pedigree.
But still, I think we want to find out just whether the Fed's independence will stay intact.
I thought it was interesting.
Treasury bonds had a bit of a sell off.
Yes, they have risen a little bit since then.
And I think what you're seeing is fluctuations between the fact that he has recently advocated for looser monetary policy and a cut in rates.
And then, of course, his more hawkish tendencies.
And that's really coming into the fore with the bonds selling off.
And that's why you're having that movement.
But, you know, let's be honest, there have been quite a lot of fluctuations of late.
And if you look at the wider market, the S&P 500, it's opened down slightly.
But that's partly because of concerns about AI overspend amidst some of the tech giants.
Susanna Streeter, thank you so much.
Now Venezuela's parliament has passed a new bill that will pave the way for more private investors in its oil industry.
That was one of the key demands for the United States after it seized the country's president, Nicolas Maduro, and carried out strikes on the capital.
The Trump administration has also eased sanctions on Venezuela's oil industry to allow new American investment.
BBC's Mundo.
Noberto Paredes is the first international journalist to report from Venezuela's decaying oil heartland since the removal of the president.
It's a place where people are hoping the industry's revival will once again bring jobs and prosperity.
Maracaibo is the oil heartland of the country with the largest boomer reserves in the world.
This city is not what it used to be.
The streets are full of potholes and very quiet.
In a nearby neighborhood, 93-year-old Jose is talking about his old job at the state-owned oil company.
I changed everything.
Everything has changed.
In the past, things were easier.
We had more comforts.
The streets in this area could be straight out of a 1960s American suburb.
International oil companies, many with U.S. links, built whole neighborhoods for the workers.
But today, many of these houses stand empty and some have been looted.
Turning things around won't be easy.
Analysts say it could take tens of billions of dollars and potentially a decade to restore Venezuela's oil output to what it once was.
There is still uncertainty over the U.S.'
's long-term plans.
Juan Romero is a local member of parliament for the governing Socialist Party.
He says there is still anger over the U.S. sanctions and military action that have hit the country.
Look at what we Venezuelans are suffering.
The attacks haven't stopped since President Trump announced the start of a firm blockade on the country.
Noberto Paredes with that report.
The Panama Canal handles about 5 of global trade, allowing ships to pass between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
It's been a focus for President Trump, who previously threatened to bring the canal back under American control.
Now the Supreme Court in Panama has annulled a concession that's allowed a Hong Kong-based company to operate two of the five container ports around the canal.
Ian McWilliam has more.
Panama's Supreme Court has found that the laws allowing the giant Hong Kong conglomerate C.K.
Hutchinson to operate two of the canal's five ports were unconstitutional.
It's unclear what will happen next.
The ruling could disrupt the company's plans to sell its interests in ports worldwide to a consortium involving the American investment firm BlackRock.
President Trump, at the start of his second term, threatened to reimpose US control over the Panama Canal.
As he said, in effect, China was operating it.
The two powers are involved in a growing rivalry over control of global trade routes.
Ian McWilliam there.
China's foreign ministry says the country will take all necessary measures to resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises.
And that is it from World Business Express.
I'm Leanna Byrne.
Thanks for listening.
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