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China announces an 84% tariff on US imports, to take effect on Thursday, after Donald Trump imposed a 104% tariff on Chinese goods entering the US. We'll hear from South Korea and from Germany on what they can do to protect themselves. Also on the programme: The people of Myanmar, ignored and desperate after the earthquake; as the BBC puts a restored sculpture back on display, can you separate great art from appalling artists? And we'll hear from a British woman who has been reunited with a "talking postcard" - also known as a "voice-o-graph" - she recorded in New York 70 years ago.(Photo: American company Basic Fun!, which is known for its popular Care Bear toys, said it had to put out a notice earlier this week to halt shipments from China to the US. Credit: Gettty Images)
Photo: American black bear (Ursus Americanus) The Black Bears Feast along Lake Tahoe. Jeff Bliss #PacificWatch @JCBlisswNews As people fled the Tahoe region to escape an approaching wildfire, the last thing many did was pull their trash bins out to the curb. But the trash collectors left too. So the bears pigged out, ransacking not only the garbage cans but breaking into dozens of homes. “Bears are just having a heyday of it. It's just a nightmare,” said John Tillman, owner of South Tahoe Refuse. “There's so much garbage on the street because of the bears. Oh my God, they are making a mess.” S.F. Chronicle | SFGate.com https://www.sfgate.com/renotahoe/article/bears-break-in-south-lake-tahoe-caldor-fire-homes-16438635.php .
The head of the US-led military mission in Afghanistan, General Scott Miller, warns against attacks on foreign troops as they start to withdraw, saying they had the means to "respond forcefully”. But an Afghan MP tells Newshour the US withdrawal "has given terrorist organisations even more motivation to keep up the fight". Also in the programme: Why has the President of Somalia backed down on his plan to extend his mandate by two years; and 300 million Chinese prepare to travel during the Labour Day holiday, the first main opportunity since the outbreak of coronavirus a year and a half ago. (Photo: American soldier, inside a building, aiming his rifle through the doorway, Kandahar, Afghanistan, 2012. Credit: Reuters/Baz Ratner/File Photo)
Photo: American middle-class Cape Cod–style house c. 1920.The New John Batchelor ShowCBS Audio Network@BatchelorshowWhat is Biden's middle-class foreign policy? What is Biden's "New American Exceptionalism? @BerkowitzPeter @HooverInst https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2021/04/04/securing_freedom_for_the_middle_class_and_all_americans_145529.html
This special programme explores the sad and controversial life of Jim Thorpe - the American Indian who was the star of the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm, where the Swedish King famously told him 'Sir, you are the greatest athlete in the world'. Thorpe had grown up on the Sac and Fox Indian reservation in Oklahoma and then, as a teenager, was sent 1500 miles away to a boarding school in Pennsylvania whose purpose was to 'civilise' Indian children by eradicating their culture. Its motto was 'Kill the Indian and save the man'. The pupils were forced to wear military uniforms, have short hair, and were punished if they spoke their own languages. 'The last phase of the Indian wars was fought in the classroom', says one contributor. Thorpe was saved by sport and became the school's great star at both athletics and American football. He's often described as the 'first international sporting superstar'. But in 1913 it came out that he had been paid a few dollars to play minor-league baseball and the elite amateurs who ran US athletics rushed to condemn him as a professional. He was summarily stripped of his medals. But the public were on his side and his status in America is that of a popular hero victimised by those in power. He went on to become the first great professional football player, but he could never cope with fame and died in near poverty in 1953. His widow arranged for him to be buried in a small town in Pennsylvania which offered to build a memorial to him. They town even changed its name to 'Jim Thorpe', but his Indian tribe are pursuing a legal battle to have his remains returned to Oklahoma. Photo: American athlete Jim Thorpe (1888 -1953) at an athletics meeting at the Parc Pommery in Reims, France, 23rd July 1912. Thorpe is competing in the 110 yards Hurdles. BRA-75991. (Photo by Branger/Roger Viollet via Getty Images)
The controversial historian, David Irving, tried to sue Penguin Books and professor Deborah Lipstadt for libel after she called him a Holocaust denier in one of her books. The case drew intense media interest. Deborah Lipstadt told Rebecca Kesby what it was like to have to defend her work and the memories of survivors of the Holocaust at the High Court in London in 2000. History was on trial. (Photo: American academic Deborah Lipstadt (C) exults 11 April 2000 at the High Court in London after winning a libel case brought against her and Penguin publications by British revisionist historian David Irving. Credit: Martyn Hayhow/AFP/Getty Images)
We probably know ‘cool' when we see it, but what lies behind it and where did it originate? Most scholars agree that cool is a mode of being, an attitude or aesthetic. Some argue it arose out of a West African mode of performance, and was later developed in jazz circles by African-American musicians. Cool served to hide one's emotions and survive confrontation with any hostile external forces – namely racism. In post-World War Two America, cool took on a new meaning, especially when its ideas were translated to white popular culture. It symbolised an individual's rebellion, and new icons of cool emerged (especially on the silver screen) onto which people projected their deepest desires and fears. Today cool is a commodity, taken up by global brands and in some ways divorced from its rebellious roots. Bridget Kendall is joined by three cultural historians to explore the multiple meanings and emergence of cool, including Joel Dinerstein from Tulane University in New Orleans, US, Claudia Springer from Framingham State University in Massachusetts, and Carol Tulloch from Chelsea College of Arts in London. (Photo: American jazz musician Miles Davis. Credit: Jack Vartoogian/Getty Images)
When the Korean War ended, a few American prisoners of war chose to go with their captors and try life under communism, instead of heading home to the USA. David Hawkins was one of them. He told his story to Chloe Hadjimatheou in 2012.Photo: American, and South Korean POWs who refused repatriation. An African-American prisoner is singing a Chinese folk song to entertain his companions at the Songgongni camp while they wait. 1954.(Credit: Sovfoto/UIG via Getty Images)
Communist forces overran the key southern city of Hue triggering one of the biggest battles of the war. The attack was part of the Tet Offensive in 1968, when North Vietnam launched surprise assaults on towns and cities across South Vietnam, with the support of its southern based guerrilla force, the Viet Cong. Alex Last spoke to Nguyen Dac Xuan, a former member of the Viet Cong which fought against American and South Vietnamese forces in Hue. Photo: American troops watch as a US plane bombs Communist positions in the city of Hue, February 1968 (BBC)
3/4 One of the most fascinating, and least understood, features of American democracy is that individual states possessed a scope of power much greater than what was given to the central government in Washington. On so many issues, the states went their own way. Whether to teach religion in schools; legalise or outlaw slavery; allow divorce or the sale of alcohol or the sale of firecrackers; permit birth control, pornography, or gambling - on all these matters, and many others, it was up to the individual states to decide. This episode examines the enormous powers possessed by these little leviathans and the diverse ways in which they used them. We visit Dayton, Tennessee, the site of the famous 1924 Scopes Trial, which put before a judge the question of whether the state of Tennessee had the right to ban the teaching of Charles Darwin and evolution from the schools (it did). We talk to experts on the history of marriage in America to understand why some states banned interracial unions while others didn't seem to care. And we talk to Californians who see in the recent rebirth of states' rights the best hope of sustaining a liberal politics in America on matters such as climate control, social welfare and racial equality. (Photo: American teacher John Thomas Scopes (1900 - 1970) (2nd from left) standing in the courtroom during his trial for teaching Darwin's Theory of Evolution in his high school science class, Dayton, Tennessee, 1925. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Stephen King once said that wannabe authors should avoid using adverbs which end with ‘ly’ but does he follow his own advice? Data journalist Ben Blatt decided to find out. He also analysed texts written by some of the best known authors to discover the words they use obsessively. This year has seen a sharp rise in the number of confrontations in America between far right white supremacists and a group known as antifa – the anti fascists. We look at these two groups in traditionally liberal towns like Berkeley, California and Portland, Oregon and ask who is winning and what they are fighting for. Do you ever feel like a fraud? Do you think that you don’t deserve your success and one day you’ll be found out? If so, you may suffer from Imposter Syndrome. It can afflict both men and women and people who belong to minority groups of whom there are stereotypes about competence also commonly experience imposter feelings. Afua Hirsch reports. (Photo: American novelist Ernest Hemingway in 1954 on safari in Africa. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Is there still public appetite for Dan Brown's high fibre blockbuster novels? He's one of the biggest selling authors of all time. His 2003 novel The Da Vinci Code challenged the story of Christianity and sparked outrage in the Vatican. Now he's back with another epic tale, this time about man's quest to understand the beginnings of life on earth. Stephen Sackur speaks to Dan Brown about his new book - Origin.(Photo: American author Dan Brown during a press conference at the 2017 Frankfurt Book Fair. Credit: Hannelore Foerster/Getty Images)
Is there still public appetite for Dan Brown’s high fibre blockbuster novels? He’s one of the biggest selling authors of all time. His 2003 novel The Da Vinci Code challenged the story of Christianity and sparked outrage in the Vatican. Now he’s back with another epic tale, this time about man’s quest to understand the beginnings of life on earth. Stephen Sackur speaks to Dan Brown about his new book - Origin. (Photo: American author Dan Brown during a press conference at the 2017 Frankfurt Book Fair. Credit: Hannelore Foerster/Getty Images)
"We have outlawed Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes". It was just an unscripted joke by US President Ronald Reagan but it terrified ordinary Russians. Reagan's advisor Morton Blackwell tells Dina Newman about the president's love of anti-Soviet jokes and his determination to destroy Communism.Photo: American president Ronald Reagan in the 1980s at his desk in the White House, Washington DC. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images
"We have outlawed Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes". It was just an unscripted joke by US President Ronald Reagan but it terrified ordinary Russians. Reagan's advisor Morton Blackwell tells Dina Newman about the president's love of anti-Soviet jokes and his determination to destroy Communism. Photo: American president Ronald Reagan in the 1980s at his desk in the White House, Washington DC. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Ronald Reagan's joke about bombing Russia in the 1980s, the murder of a Palestinian cartoonist in London, communal violence in India a year before partition, the man who discovered the Great Pacific Garbage patch, and Florence Nightingale, in her own words and those of people who knew her. Photo: American president Ronald Reagan in the 1980s at his desk in the White House, Washington DC. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Phlyllis Schalfly, the woman who defeated a law to guarantee gender equality in the US; plus, the first performance of the Beatles hit "All You Need Is Love", a forgotten WW2 disaster, Berber rights in Algeria, and the volcanic eruption on the island of Montserrat. PHOTO: American political activist Phyllis Schlafly smiles from behind a pair of podium mounted microphones, 1982. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
In June 1982 an attempt to amend the US constitution to guarantee equal rights for men and women was defeated. Despite two decades of women's liberation activism and a huge groundswell of political support, the amendment was prevented from going through. The defeat was in large part down to one woman, staunch Republican and leading conservative, Phyllis Schlafly. Claire Bowes has been listening to archive recordings of Mrs Schlafly, held by the Abraham Lincoln Presidential library.PHOTO: American political activist Phyllis Schlafly smiles from behind a pair of podium mounted microphones, 1982. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
In June 1982 an attempt to amend the US constitution to guarantee equal rights for men and women was defeated. Despite two decades of women's liberation activism and a huge groundswell of political support, the amendment was prevented from going through. The defeat was in large part down to one woman, staunch Republican and leading conservative, Phyllis Schlafly. Claire Bowes has been listening to archive recordings of Mrs Schlafly, held by the Abraham Lincoln Presidential library. PHOTO: American political activist Phyllis Schlafly smiles from behind a pair of podium mounted microphones, 1982. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
In July of 1967 London Bridge was put up for sale. It was sold to an American millionaire who had it dismantled and transported to the USA where it was rebuilt, stone by stone, in Arizona.(Photo: American entrepreneur Robert P McCulloch, standing in front of London Bridge as it is dismantled, ready for transportation back to America, 1968. Credit: Jim Gray/Keystone/Getty Images)
In July of 1967 London Bridge was put up for sale. It was sold to an American millionaire who had it dismantled and transported to the USA where it was rebuilt, stone by stone, in Arizona. (Photo: American entrepreneur Robert P McCulloch, standing in front of London Bridge as it is dismantled, ready for transportation back to America, 1968. Credit: Jim Gray/Keystone/Getty Images)
In January 1995 Mexico's economy went into melt-down following the sudden devaluation of its currency, the peso. The government was forced to seek a multi-billion dollar bailout from the US and the IMF. Witness hears from Luis de la Calle, a top Mexican official who helped negotiate the package. (Photo: American and Mexican officials sign a US$20 billion rescue package for the Mexican economy at a ceremony at the US Treasury in Washington. Credit: Pam Price/AFP/Getty Images)
In January 2002, the first prisoners from America's war on terror arrived at a new hastily-built detention facility at the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The camp's first commander, Major General Mike Lehnert, recalls the challenges he faced in opening what would become one of the most notorious prisons in the world. (Photo: American military police guard the first detainees at Camp X-Ray at Guantanamo Bay in January 2002. Credit:Petty Officer 1st class Shane T. McCoy/U.S. Navy/Getty Images)
Fought during the winter months of 1944, it was the last major German attack on the Western Allies in World War II. Witness speaks to Keith Davis, an American survivor of the Battle of the Bulge. Photo: American tanks in Belgium in January 1945. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images.
Fought during the winter months of 1944, it was the last major German attack on the Western Allies in World War II. Witness speaks to Keith Davis, an American survivor of the Battle of the Bulge. Photo: American tanks in Belgium in January 1945. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images.
In December 1919, the first woman took her seat in the British parliament. Her name was Lady Nancy Astor and she had been born in America. Witness History listens back through the BBC archives, and talks to her grandson David Astor about his memories of her. (Photo:American-born Nancy Witcher Langhorne, or Viscountess Astor, at the declaration of the poll in Plymouth which made her Britain's first woman member of parliament. Credit: Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)
Is rising inequality the sickness that could yet kill capitalism? It's a debate currently raging in politics as well as economics. President Obama says income inequality is the defining challenge of our time. The influential American economist Deirdre McCloskey thinks that is to misunderstand 300 years of global growth and enrichment. She focuses on the enduring power of innovation, rather than wealth distribution. So is it ok for the rich to enjoy a party to which no one else is invited?(Photo: American economist Deirdre McCloskey)
Senator Joseph McCarthy made it his mission to purge communists from American public life - but in April 1954 he was the subject of his own congressional hearing, after allegations that he had tried to blackmail the US Army into giving preferential treatment to one of his aides. Witness speaks to Norman Dorsen, one of the Army's junior legal advisors in the Army-McCarthy hearings. (Photo: American politician Joseph McCarthy, Republican senator from Wisconsin, testifies against the US Army during the Army-McCarthy hearings, Washington DC, 9 June, 1954. McCarthy stands before a map which charts communist activity in the United States. Credit: Getty Images)
Thousands of foreign civilians were interned in camps when Japanese troops occupied the Philippines in World War II. Many of the inmates suffered from acute malnutrition. We hear the story of one boy, Desmond Malone, who was interned at the Santo Tomas camp in Manila. Photo: American inmates of the Santo Tomas internment camp after liberation by US forces in February 1945 (AP Photo/Pool)
Thousands of foreign civilians were interned in camps when Japanese troops occupied the Philippines in World War II. Many of the inmates suffered from acute malnutrition. We hear the story of one boy, Desmond Malone, who was interned at the Santo Tomas camp in Manila. Photo: American inmates of the Santo Tomas internment camp after liberation by US forces in February 1945 (AP Photo/Pool)
After their release in 1973, former US prisoners of war began to talk about the torture they had suffered at the hands of the Vietcong. One of the POWs who spent longest in Vietnamese prison camps was Everett Alvarez - hear his story. (Photo: American prisoners of war leaving Vietnam in 1973 (AFP/Getty Images)