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much more. Thrive and where money means more connect with us at thrive in .com Bobby Bowens here with news on the top shelf country cruise, setting self February 27th to March 6th 2026.
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Got to hurry though.
These spots are filling up fast. This is the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service.
I'm Nick Myles, and in the early hours of Friday, the 4th of April, these are our main stories.
President Trump has said his policy of putting steep tariffs on U .S. imports is going very well despite huge falls in stock markets.
The new taxes have led the World Trade Organization to revise down its growth forecast. It now expects the global economy to shrink by 1 percent this year.
The authorities in Gaza say an Israeli airstrike has killed over 30 displaced people sheltering in a school.
Also in this podcast. This is absolutely a transformation.
I don't think people were really expecting 4k for star the screen 1080p like this is really big upgrades that people weren't necessarily expecting going into it.
The Japanese gaming company Nintendo has revealed the Switch 2, the long awaited successor to one of the best -selling consoles in history.
Donald Trump has defended the tariffs he's announced on US imports from around the world, despite a global stock market sell -off.
Wall Street suffered one of its worst days in recent years on Thursday, but speaking to reporters as he left the White House, Mr Trump expressed optimism.
I think it's going very well.
It was an operation like when a patient gets operated on, and it's a big thing.
I said this would exactly be the way it is.
We have six or seven trillion dollars coming into our country.
And we've never seen anything like it.
The markets are going to boom, the stock is going to boom, the country is going to boom.
We'll hear more about what the US president had to say in a moment, but let's hear from India, Vietnam, Japan and South Africa.
And first, from the US.
We're a small independent company.
It's been in business in Michigan, USA for 67 years.
A lot of our parts that come in, they are made of steel.
So we've already been hit with steel tariffs.
But I think what was frightening today is that some of our components that come in, come in through Taiwan and now there's a 32 % tariff on Taiwan.
So, in effect, when you couple the 32 % with that 25 % steel tariff, we could very well be looking at 57 % tariff.
90 % of our business is imported coming from latin countries.
So most of the countries that we operate are going to be at 10 % tariff.
Food is already retailing at a ridiculously high price and big box stores such as Costco, Walmart.
I don't know how much more they can pass on these tariffs to the consumer.
So in the end, it's going to come off our bottom line.
I understand what President Trump is trying to do here.
He's trying to bring back agriculture, food production, which has been very important, I think around the world people have seen since COVID how we are so interconnected as a global economy.
More than 60 % of business comes from the US alone.
So this is a big setback.
Already there were a lot of challenges in terms of pricing.
Our customers were finding it difficult to sell at large scale, so reducing price is an option but we will have to shrink our margins also.
This is very labour -intensive business, textile and garment making.
Something has to be done so that sectors like us should be incentivized to remain competitive.
Many people in Vietnam were so optimistic about the prospect that Trump would be lenient towards Vietnam because the Vietnamese government has done so much to appease Trump and his The thing is, so many U .S. companies have set up their factories in Vietnam to produce exactly for the U .S. market, so that is going to add onto the prices as well.
Most of these other companies are more or less global, so the supply chain is going to be disrupted, but I am confident that the manufacturers in Japan are pretty innovative.
So that may become a very good opportunity for the Japanese companies to get innovative in a rather interesting way.
In South Africa there's significantly higher imports of automotive components from the U .S. versus the number going into the U .S. in terms of exports.
So the sector we really concerned in our priority is to look to try and find a mutually beneficial way of maintaining the US as the key trade partner for the South African economy.
By one estimate, more than one and a half trillion dollars was wiped off the value of shares on Wall Street at the start of Thursday's trading.
Shares in tech firms were the worst hit.
Apple's value dropped by more than 250 billion dollars.
The dollar also fell and there has been a slide in oil prices.
Investors fear the tariffs will hit growth and drive up inflation worldwide.
Despite all this, President Trump remained buoyant.
I heard more from our North America correspondent David Willis.
It was a fairly wide ranging conversation Nick on that flight to his Florida home and Donald Trump conceded that there was going to be what he called a transition period whilst some trading partners transferred their manufacturing operations to the United States.
He stressed that for companies that chose to make their products here in the US there will be no tariffs of course and he said that he'd already spoken to two of the five major automobile makers and maintained that they had already started moving aspects of their operations out of neighbors Canada and Mexico and into the U .S. yet for all of his confidence it's worth remembering that Donald Trump has long hailed the stock market as the barometer of this country's economic health and I think much as he may pretend otherwise he won't be pleased to see the sort of sharp falls that we've seen today
as you mentioned both the Nasdaq and the S &P experienced their worst declines in about five years.
Retailers, tech companies, taking a particularly bad hit.
Both Apple and Amazon down more than nine percent.
Companies like Dell and Ralph Lauren experiencing falls of more than 15 percent.
And David, in that clip we heard from Mr Trump he referred to what's happening as an operation that's going to work.
To what extent do Americans like the idea of being operated on?
Well I think like people in many other parts of the world, Nick, American consumers are holding their breath, I can put it that way.
They are waiting to see what all this means in terms of the price of goods in the shops.
The stock market, of course, is not the economy.
But the reaction that we've seen today is nonetheless an early, someone say visceral demonstration of the sort of widespread said, and growing concern that exists here over rising prices, the prospect of rising prices, the prospect of slowing growth, and of course, the prospect of recession.
As one analyst here put it, traders are shooting first Nick and asking questions later.
And no sign of any kind of dissent within the Trump administration, far from it at the moment, Far from it, although I think the closest we've come to that is perhaps some Republicans who voted in favor of Democrat -led measure in the Senate to prevent the tariffs being introduced on Canada but that was then both for Republican Senators, it's a small protest, but it does can underline the fact I think Nick that there is concern at grassroots level to an extent at least over what these tariffs could mean for industries here in the U .S. such as farming.
David Willis in Los Angeles.
The World Trade Organization has revised its forecast for global economic growth sharply downwards in the light of the new U .S. tariffs.
In contrast to its previous forecast of 3 per cent growth for the world economy this year, the urgency now expects a contraction of 1%.
Jonathan Josephs reports.
The drastic scale of this reduction underlines that these U .S. tariffs pose the biggest challenge to the global trading system since the World Trade Organization began drawing up and enforcing the rules 30 years ago.
The director general, Ngoziakonjo Ewela, says the tariffs will have substantial implications for global trade and economic growth prospects.
She added she was deeply concerned about escalation and retaliatory measures, which have already started, making things even worse.
Jonathan Josephs. Well, many people around the world see Donald Trump's tariffs as the moment the post -war system of global trade was turned on its head.
So are they right? Our business correspondent, Mark Ashdown, gave me his assessment.
Look in terms of trade tariffs, we haven't seen anything like this since probably the 1930s, an escalating scale of universal tariffs, anything from 10 % for the ones that got off most likely, up to 50 % or so and this all depends on what Donald Trump sees as the level of trade deficit.
In his words, how much America has been ripped off over the years.
He wants the level of that playing field.
I think the feeling now the hope among some countries is Donald Trump has had his big showman moment.
He wanted that moment with a big ledger in the Rose Garden.
So now the work begins behind the scenes to kind of mitigate the situation to improve those trade terms for as many countries as possible.
Now some people, the doom and gloom mongers, are saying it could lead to a global recession.
It's far too early to predict that, but at what point does a run on the stock market that we've been seeing become pretty unsustainable and really worrying?
Well I think a day of volatility to put it lightly, started out in the Far East, spread across to Europe, and then from the opening bell really in America, all the major indices were down and Nasdaq, very tech -heavy that one, down 5 .5 % at one point.
Now I believe 10 % is what they call a correction.
20 % at bear market.
We don't really talk about crashes and there is that mantra isn't it?
Shut your eyes, over time the stock market will recover.
So I think on days like this the likes of Apple, Amazon, Dell, HP, Nike, Tesla saw billions wiped off their values.
I think investors, individual and pension funds will just sort of grit their teeth and hope for the best. In terms of the wider global recession though, I mean Donald Trump is convinced this short -term pain is going to lead to long -term gain.
He said today on his socials that the patient has survived, it will get stronger.
So I think his feeling is this has been a successful day.
Of course we do await the retaliation now from the likes of the EU, the likes of China.
They've promised strong responses to this.
In the UK, they've talked about a calm and considered approach, but even here they've published this afternoon this 417 -page list of US goods potentially they could put tariffs on, so strengthening of their position there.
But as I say, they are going to try and hope they can come up with a deal.
Mark Ashdown, the southern African nation of Lesotho says it will send a government delegation to the United States to plead its case after Washington imposed 50 % tariffs on its imports.
Thousands of people in Lesotho are employed making clothes for the US market under a tax free initiative set up more than two decades ago.
Our Africa Regional Editor Will Ross reports.
The owner of a clothing factory in the capital of Lesotho, Meseru, said waking up to news of the 50 % tariff had been devastating for the country that said he'd look for markets in Africa and Europe.
Across Africa, tens of thousands of workers produce clothing for the US under a tax -free initiative known as AGOA.
It was partly set up to help countries trade their way out of poverty.
Now Lesotho's government is warning of job losses.
Botswana faces a 38 % tariff on its exports because Donald Trump wants to get rid of a trade deficit.
But that won't be easy.
Botswana has diamonds.
Well, Ross, there's more concern in Asia as well to these tariffs.
Bangladesh was number 16 on President Trump's tariff list, which was shown to the invited guests on the White House lawn.
The South Asian country now has a 37 per cent tax levied on its imports into the US.
Bangladesh's economy has grown in recent years and it's scheduled at the end next year to graduate from the UN's Group of Least Developed Countries or LDC status.
But it's still vulnerable as Tim Franks has been hearing from Salim Reihan, professor of economics at the University of Dhaka.
This has created a lot of tension among the business community as well as among the policy makers.
And it's not only about, you know, that the tariff is not only imposed on Bangladesh, but also quite a lot of countries with which Bangladesh compete in US market.
The problem Bangladesh exporters, they faced a lot of challenges.
At home because of the business environment or there is a high cost of doing business and various other challenges, is there for the exporters now this additional pressure coming from US, especially with respect to this reciprocal tariff.
That has created lot of tensions and lot of worryness, I can tell you.
How much does Bangladesh export to the United States?
I mean, how important a market is it?
As a single destination, country destination, the U .S. is the largest export destination for Bangladesh exports.
It's around between 15 % to 20 % of total export goes to the U .S. And of course, a large chunk of it is ready -made garments.
And also, I must tell you that Bangladesh is expected to graduate from the LDC status next year.
That is another challenge the country is going to face where, after the graduation, Bangladesh will not be able to enjoy many trade preferences the country enjoys at this moment.
So all these things are actually now made the whole situation very complicated.
Well, it certainly is complex and there certainly is uncertainty.
And as you mentioned Bangladesh has actually been doing rather well economically, hence it's the possibility that it will it will, as you say, graduate from LDC status, least developed country status.
You did mention at the start of the interview, that there will be tariffs imposed on a lot of, essentially, your competitor countries.
A lot of other Asian countries will have tariffs, some of which are considerably higher, even than yours.
So actually in terms of a competitive disadvantage, you may not be in that sense in too bad a position.
We'll have to wait and see to what extent this new scenario translates into, as you say that's comparative disadvantage for some countries or less comparative disadvantage for some countries over others.
And this will be a very tough situation, I can tell you.
These countries will try to absorb this shock.
And the countries which are better prepared with respect to they have better infrastructure, better competitiveness in terms of supporting these trading institutions and low cost of doing business, and also more importantly, having more diversified export basket, they will be in a better position I think compared to Bangladesh which has a very concentrated export basket, low level of competitiveness.
You also know that Bangladesh just a few months back had a very significant political transition.
It's not only the US's action which is important because there will be counter actions and already there are some counter actions from many countries.
That means the global trading regime is getting into a very uncertain territory.
If the overall demand gets reduced in US market, all countries will suffer and Bangladesh with the kind of problems and challenge the country is going through, they will suffer or likely to suffer more than other countries.
Saleem Reihan, economics professor at the University of Dhaka.
Still to come. Where there are clusters of Somalis in the West that there is higher prevalence of autism in the Somali community.
Against these findings, the condition itself is said not to be recognised in Somali culture.
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Bobby Bones here. With news on the Top Shelf Country Cruise.
Setting sail February 27th to March 6th, 2026.
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It's a country music experience at sea.
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Gaza's Hamas -run civil defense agency says an Israeli airstrike on a school sheltering displaced people east of Gaza City, has killed at least 31 people, some of them children.
Israel says it had targeted a Hamas command and control center.
More details from Dan Johnson in Jerusalem.
A statement from Israel Defence Forces says it targeted a site being used by Hamas militants to launch attacks on its soldiers but Gaza's civil defence agency says a school sheltering displaced Palestinians was hit in Tufa northeast of Gaza City.
Video from a nearby hospital shows children being rushed in cars and trucks with very serious injuries.
More than 100 people are reported wounded and the number of dead keeps increasing.
The Hamas -run Health Ministry in Gaza says more than 100 people have been killed in the last 24 hours, after Israel expanded its military operation in the north of the territory.
Dan Johnson. Myanmar's military leader is attending a regional summit in Bangkok after the number of people known to have died in last week's earthquake passed 3 ,000.
Critics say he should have stayed at home to help oversee relief efforts.
Nick Beek reports. The head of the junta, Senior General Min Aung Lai flew to Bangkok for a regional economic summit.
He's been largely ostracised from the global stage, relying on support from Russia and China.
So his presence today marks a rehabilitation of sorts.
But the dire domestic reality to which he'll return will shape his immediate fate.
There's now a short term ceasefire in Myanmar. But the Burmese people often see their fortunes as divine judgement on the deeds of their leaders, rising anger, despair and disease would represent a new and dangerous threat to the hunter.
Myanmar's military hasn't allowed foreign journalists into the country since the earthquake.
But our correspondent, Yogita Limae managed to cross the border and made her way to Mandalay, the country's second largest city.
This is the second of her reports.
We've just stopped by the side of the street where we saw that a funeral ceremony was actually just going on by the side of the street.
And we found out that this is a funeral for a couple, Uong Kheng and Dow Mamarte.
They were a couple in their 60s.
And actually just behind the ceremony is their house, which is completely destroyed.
I'm looking at it right now, and just a pile of rubble and bricks, pipes, steel rods, the grills of the windows.
I can see clothes, towels and what looks like a drying rack.
Their bodies were found arms around each other.
They were pulled out of the rubble, not by trained rescuers, but by locals using basic equipment.
There simply aren't enough rescue teams operating on the ground.
And we saw more signs of how overwhelmed facilities are at Mandalay's main hospital that we managed to slip into.
What we are seeing here is hospitals that are stretched, fast capacity, and they can't go inside because the building is damaged and so people are just being treated here outside.
As the rescue work continues and access to the epicentre of the earthquake in Sagain is reached.
More people are expected to be brought here.
Everything is needed here.
Blood, medicines, food.
We saw rows and rows of beds full of the injured, lying under a makeshift tent in the compound of hospital.
Fourteen -year -old Shwegi Tunfoe has bloodshot eyes caused by an injury to her head.
She's responsive but in a serious condition, her family by her side.
In another bed, Zazar says she has an abdominal injury.
Her daughter props her up.
Everywhere we see families who are stepping in to do what trained medical staff should, there aren't enough doctors and nurses.
I'm at a sprawling ground in the city where there's lots and lots of different tents and umbrellas put up, where I can see families just camping outside, some of them because their homes are damaged and they can't return to them.
And just now I can see an aid truck has come in and people are queuing up to get some food supplies, some water.
It just looks like a private vehicle really, someone in the city who has brought their car along and bought some supplies to distribute among the people who are here.
Lots of children, families, but some very heartbreaking stories as well.
We meet Dow Kinsaw Mint who breaks down as And she tells us she's lost her home.
I don't know anything anymore.
My heart is still trembling.
It's really difficult.
My house collapsed.
It's gone. There's no one to rescue us.
Please help us. Even those whose homes are intact don't dare go inside.
There have been multiple aftershocks in the days following the earthquake.
week. This is a city living outdoors.
A city living in terror.
That report by Yogita Limay in Mandalay.
It is autism acceptance week around the world.
Autism is a neurodevelopmental condition that affects how people communicate and interact and how a person's brain develops and functions from infancy through adulthood.
It's a condition that is misunderstood.
A new report from the has found that Somali children in Britain are six times more likely to be referred for autism than children from any other background.
The condition itself is said not to be recognised in the Somali culture.
There isn't even a name for it in the Somali language.
So parents of these children with the condition have not been able to get the help they need, both in the UK and in Somalia because they fear judgment from the community.
So they struggle on in silence but things are starting to change.
In 2020, a Somali autism advocate introduced a new word, mangar, meaning unique mind to describe autism in Somali and in Mogadishu, the Mustakbal centre is helping such children find a place in society.
Audrey Brown spoke to Noura Abe, the founder of Autism Independence here in the UK.
How would she define autism?
People with autism often struggle to communicate in situations.
Although communication can be a different level in the way it impacts them, they can struggle to socialise and interact with people.
They often see the world from their own lenses.
So, for example, they might not express their feelings, Because they may not articulate themselves if in trying to understand situations or respond to people in questions.
The reason why we are talking about this is because in the UK, a study has found that Somali children diagnosed with autism six times more likely than other children.
Is there an explanation for why this is the case?
So I am one of the researchers who have done some research with Bristol University looking at autism and the Somali community.
And a lot of the research that we have references have seen where there are clusters of Somalis in the West that there is a higher preference of autism in the Somali community.
So why is this? It is yet unknown, but we know from the current research that there is a lack of early diagnosis.
this there's a lack of understanding and one of the key things is there's no word for autism in the Somali language.
I'm wondering if that's the case in other African languages as well it would be interesting to find out but is there scientific evidence that supports the findings in the UK, you also did say that in Somali communities in the West there seems to be a higher prevalence of autism diagnosis.
The early studies that was carried in Sweden were the studies that have highlighted that something is not added up.
These studies were later then followed in America, and these studies show in the USA that there is higher preference of autism, where there has been clusters of Somalis.
For example, in Minnesota there's higher population of the Somali community and those have shown where they study carried out high prevalence of autism.
We are seeing in where we are for Bristol, we see in higher numbers of Somali children with autism within the system or that there hasn't been a particular specific studies that has looked at the numbers in the UK.
But yeah, these studies fellow started in Sweden, fellow in there in America all have shown clusters of Somali people in the West have got higher preference of autism.
So there are concrete studies, scientific studies supporting this data.
What about in Somalia, there are high incidence of autism and diagnosis of autism?
My understanding of Somalia, I haven't seen any scientific research that showed the numbers, or I don't believe there's the infrastructure in place to show these data.
But I think to my understanding from, you know, conversations on observations there's an emerging numbers of Somali children with autism.
Within Somalia, often what we're seeing is that autism is perceived as a mental illness and that comes with high level of stigma and segregation.
Actually, Hani Ali Mohamed is a parent in Mogadishu who actually bumped up against those attitudes in Somalia.
So when her son was diagnosed with autism, she had never heard the word before and now she encourages other parents to educate themselves about their child's condition.
So let's listen to her.
There's been a huge difference in my son since day one.
He felt like he was gone but now he's truly alive again.
I taught myself to love my son, to be proud of him and not hide him from the world." Hani Ali Muhammadi.
Noorah, do you think it's because people don't understand what's going on that there's stigma attached to it?
Well, absolutely. There is no educational system.
There's no health system that supports the awareness of autism.
There's often no hope for the young person to access the right support, and therefore, very sadly, they are often either locked up or removed from society.
Nora Abe, the founder of Autism Independence in the UK.
Even if you've never played a video game before in your life you've probably heard of Super Mario and Donkey Kong.
Two of the hugely popular characters created by the Japanese gaming company Nintendo.
Well, Nintendo is also a giant in the video console world.
Seven years ago, it launched the Nintendo Switch. it has sold more than a hundred and fifty million consoles since then.
Now it's come up with an upgrade, the Switch 2.
These gamers in New York had the chance to try it out.
It's a big step up from the original Switch. The graphics are quite impressive, comparatively, I think.
It's kind of bigger, I think, and...
I think it's like a good demonstration of what the Switch 2 is capable of.
This is absolutely a transformation.
I don't think people were really expecting 4K for a start.
the screen 1080p. Like this is really big upgrades that people weren't necessarily expecting going into it.
And yeah Nintendo very clearly like upping his game.
But the Nintendo Switch 2 is being launched at a rather inauspicious time.
With hefty American tariffs being put on Japanese imports.
I asked our technology reporter Tom Gurkin whether that's taken the shine off the launch. I was just did a big event in Paris with lots of other journalists, lots of other big gaming fans to talk about this console and in amongst the chat of everyone holding these consoles and playing it for the first time and feeling really excited there were a lot of conversations and I think even bordering on doom and gloom from people talking about the prices as they were announced.
This is a very expensive console in the current climate.
In the United States it's going to cost $450 for a Switch 2.
Now to put that in some context for you you can buy a PlayStation 5 for 400 and then you get down to the cost of the games.
Nintendo is suggesting people pay as much as $80 for a physical copy of Mario Kart World.
Now $80 for a video game even if you're not a keen gamer yourself but your child might be perhaps are you thinking you would spend that to put a present under the Christmas tree it just seems like a lot of money to me and it's definitely going to dampen spirits.
Clearly this is a result of the tariffs.
That's why these prices have come out just now and at the price point they are.
We know for a fact that the tariffs on Japan, where these games are manufactured, are going to be quite significant.
So that's having an impact here, but my goodness gracious me there's no question that the shine in the excitement of his console is being impacted.
And Tom, how price sensitive is the market for these games?
Will many people say, look, I'll suck it up because it's a must have item.
Nintendo has experienced this in the past when it released the 3DS, which was the sequel console to the DS.
Nintendo released the 3DS at a very high price point and it found out very quickly that people weren't willing to pay it.
Nintendo simply had to bite the bullet, dropped the price significantly and even apologised to consumers and offered them free games by way of making it up.
Do you think though the general trajectory of the industry is upwards?
Video games market $200 billion around the world at the moment.
Is it going to go up do you think?
Yes. As time goes on video games get more expensive and we keep seeing year on year that number just getting pushed a little bit more.
How high can we go?
So, I think that there is definitely a price point where people are going to say, actually, that's just too much money for me.
And of course, you would rather sell two games at $60 than one game at $80.
So, Tom, what is special about this new Switch 2 that may mean it is a big seller despite the inauspicious timing?
There is absolutely no question, but this is a heck of a piece of technology.
When I was there holding it in my hands, the first thing I thought was, it's like the original console but the screen is larger, the screen is much more vivid, the colours are more vibrant, the graphics, what it's capable of under the hood, is far superior to what previous Nintendo consoles have been able to manage.
It feels comfortable, it feels like an expensive piece of technology, which it is.
Tom Gerken. 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 globalpodcastatbbc .co .uk.
You can also find us on X at BBC World Service.
Use the hashtag globalnewspod.
This edition was mixed by Nick Randel.
The producer was The editor is Karen Martin.
I'm Nick Myles, and until next time, goodbye.
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