The United States has suspended all military aid to Ukraine until Zelensky commits to negotiating peace. Also: Canada, Mexico and China face new US tariffs, and can scientists use mice resurrect the woolly mammoth?
Chapter 1: What is the main news about US-Ukraine relations?
Also in this podcast, a report claims half of adults worldwide are predicted to be obese or overweight by 2050. And can mice give first aid?
Researchers in California say yes.
You don't have the cards. That's what Donald Trump told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during that diplomatic blowout at the White House on Friday. Now, Ukraine finds itself under huge pressure. The United States has suspended all military aid and says it will continue to do so until the Ukrainian leader demonstrates a commitment to negotiating peace with Russia.
The suspension includes all American weapons and equipment that were in transit. Ukrainian officials are in shock. Oleksandr Merezhko is a member of parliament from President Zelensky's party.
Chapter 2: What are the implications of the US halting military aid to Ukraine?
You know, when you take away a weaponry from a person from a country which is fighting for its survival, you are helping the enemy. Casualties and human lives lost because of this. I think Mr Trump should seriously think about how he's going to enter in history. To me, it's a date will go down in infamy.
Since the invasion in 2022, almost half of military aid going into Ukraine has come from the United States. Our correspondent in Kiev, James Waterhouse, told me that the US announcement is already being felt on the front line.
It's a devastating blow to Ukraine's ability to defend itself. America is its single biggest military donor. It provides the scale and speed of military support that Ukraine needs to sustain its fight. We're talking about sophisticated missile launcher systems, armoured vehicles, ammunition.
When you're near the Western border, it's not uncommon to see military convoys under police escort coming in. It's like an artery. It's much needed armor and ammunition for exhausted troops on the front line. And other Western allies to this point have been unable to plug the gap when American aid has slowed in the past, when it's happened in the past through political disagreements in the U.S.
Congress. President Zelensky says Ukraine has lost land and lives as a direct result. And I remember the eastern once fortress town of Avdiivka falling early last year because you had troops there that were dug in, but they just ran out of kit. And this as a political lever puts enormous pressure on President Zelensky to play ball with Washington.
And it challenges that existential belief that if Ukraine stops fighting, then it'll succumb to Russia forever. because without American help, things could probably go south very quickly.
Is there a real risk, then, that Russian forces could make big gains further into Ukraine?
Very much so. There are a string of towns and cities in the eastern Donetsk region which come under increasing artillery fire that are sitting very uncomfortably as Russian forces target major supply lines. Now, Ukraine had been launching counter-offensives in some areas, pushing back... But the Russian forces are advancing slowly, albeit in several other areas.
And how that is perceived, if you look at America warming its relationship with Russia, exploring the relaxation of sanctions whilst putting Ukraine first. under this kind of pressure, in the eyes of some amounts to a switching of sides.
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Chapter 3: How are US tariffs affecting global trade?
But for China, of course, they already had the 10% tariff earlier last month, and that has basically been doubled. So it's now 20% tariffs on everything that gets imported from China into the United States. Thank you very much. would be quite significant. But let's also not forget about the US economy, because these tariffs would likely push up prices of products being sold in the United States.
And that would feed into that cost of living crisis that we've been talking about. And inflation has calmed down a bit, but this could actually feed back into inflation, though Mr. Trump has so far shrugged off the potential damages to the US economy.
Is there a real worry that this actually could end up in a global trade slowdown, Mariko?
I think that is what investors are worried about. And that's why even before these latest tariffs kicked in at about five o'clock GMT, which was midnight in the US time, when Mr. Trump said that these tariffs would go ahead, because of course, remember, those tariffs on Mexico and Canada, they were kind of put on hold while they negotiated all these deals.
But when Mr Trump said that these tariffs would kick in, we saw US shares falling. And then when those tariffs kicked in, we saw an impact on the Asian markets, which were trading at the time. And of course, we're going to start seeing some impact on the European market as well.
And that is all because investors are worried, as you said, about the global trade war, which would impact, of course, the US economy, and that would, of course, impact the rest of the world. And it's just not something that investors wanted to hear about, because China has repeatedly said that they didn't want a trade war, because in their words, nobody wins a trade war.
But of course, Mr. Trump sees tariffs as a negotiating tool, and that's what he's going ahead with.
Mariko Oi. The leader of the rebel group that swept through eastern Congo has told the BBC his fighters will go all the way to the capital, Kinshasa, some 1,500 kilometres away if confronted by government forces. Corne Nanga heads an alliance including the Rwandan-backed M23 rebels. They currently control the two largest cities in the mineral-rich east of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
This report from our senior international correspondent, Ola Geeren.
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Chapter 4: What is the situation in Eastern Congo with the M23 rebels?
Coming up, modified mice that mimic mammoths.
It's got bright orange hair, about five centimetres long. This mouse is supposed to be a first step towards recreating the mammoth.
Our science correspondent explains.
I'm Krassi Twig from the Global Jigsaw podcast on the BBC World Service, where we are asking how entrenched has Russia made itself in Ukrainian territories it controls?
People who actively support the Ukrainian cause, that is being violently destroyed. You disagree, you die. It's as simple as that.
The Global Jigsaw looks at the world through the lens of its media. Find us wherever you get your BBC podcasts.
This is the Global News Podcast. For years now, the World Health Organization has warned that obesity is a global epidemic, but a new study covering more than 200 countries predicts obesity levels will accelerate rapidly over the rest of this decade. The report in the Lancet Journal found that by 2050, more than half of adults around the world are predicted to be overweight or obese.
So what's driving this worsening problem? I spoke to our health correspondent, Dominic Hughes.
Bernadette, it's really complex. It's partly to do with big changes in society that we've seen in recent decades. So, for example, people moving from rural areas to the cities... but it's partly also to do with changing diets. Basically, more calories are being consumed, but not necessarily better quality food.
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Chapter 5: Can scientists resurrect the woolly mammoth using mice?
Nazarenko Andrei Andreevich was born on June 3, 2000.
He was a qualified chef, and when he called his mother Oksana from the front, he talked of using those skills when he got back.
He used to say, Mom, let's open a cafe together. It'll be great.
Now, though she's still grieving bitterly, Oksana's fulfilled his dream. Without him, she's opened a cozy little restaurant in his memory.
We do lots of different cuisines. European, Caucasian, a bit of Japanese, like sushi. And my signature dish? Well, I do like man.
A rich noodle dish with meat, vegetables and spices. The business employs several people. Oksana couldn't have started it without the compensation money from the state. The average payout is about 14 million rubles. That's nearly 160,000 US dollars. All of Russia's families of the fallen are using the money to buy property and raise up the social ladder.
Economist Vladislav Anasemtsev calls it deathonomics.
If someone signs up to the army at the age of 35 from not the most wealthy Russian regions, gets the regional payment for the signature of the contract, serves there six to eight months and is killed, and all the compensations are paid to his family, it would be definitely a bigger sum of money than he could earn till the end of his active life at the age of 65.
You could buy a whole village on the proceeds from one man's death.
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