Trump prepares to host Xi in Washington

0:00Hello and welcome to News app from the BBC World Service. We're coming to you live from London. I'm James Menendez. And coming up a little later, the US-Democ and Greenland strike a new defence deal after months of tension in which President Trump threatened repeatedly to seize the territory. Could a deal have been struck months ago? Also after a six-year-old Chinese girl completes a Rubik's cube in less than four and a half seconds, breaking the women's world record, we'll look into the mind-boggling world of speed-cubing that's coming up in half an hour. But our top story today takes us to Washington, DC, where later today, President Trump will welcome his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping for a three-day summit at the White House. In fact, unusually he'll be there on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland when President Xi's plane lands, a sign perhaps of how much this encounter matters, at least in visual terms. But what about the substance of this meeting between the leaders of the world's two economic

1:03and military superpowers? Trade, Taiwan, the wars in Iran and Ukraine and AI? There is a lot at stake and in a few minutes we'll be discussing how much progress is likely to be made. But before that, let's hear from China, which is investing heavily to compete with the US in the development of AI. Much of that investment is happening far from China's major cities in places like Inamongolia, where vast new data centers are being built to power the country's ambitions. Our China correspondent, Laura Bicker, sent us this report. I'm wondering through the grasslands of Inamongolia, this is a land of extraordinary scale. In front of me, I have towering wind turbines, endless rows of solar panels and of course beautiful horses rambling beneath them. To build the infrastructure that is desperately needed for AI, Inamongolia is key because it

2:04has vast amounts of wind and solar resources. And that's why China has chosen to build its AI data centers here. At remarkable speed. Buildings have risen out of the farmland in a matter of months, built by construction workers from all over the country. There is one phase of construction every year. This is the second phase. There are more to come. This has been a 75 billion dollar investment. It doesn't do much good for us locals. They need educated people. They don't need that many workers. For me, I can only do some hard manual labor. This country has fewer data centers than the US for now, but this hub is a way of catching up. If China is going to lead the world in artificial intelligence development, this is where it is

3:10building the engine room that will drive that change. Just a few months ago, this corner of Inamongolia was farmland. Now, thousands of data centers have sprung up for the likes of Huawei and others. There is no sign that China is slowing down on this technology. Across China, AI is becoming part of every day life. From programming robot deliveries to aiding police on patrol, it's moving out of the lab and onto the streets. It's all part of Beijing's ambition to embed AI in its economy. Officials have bristled at any mention of a slowdown. Try to think this from China's perspective, right? Jingyang is based in Hong Kong and is the Asia-Beauter Chief of the Business and Tech media outlet, the information. The S4 country really has knee-capped China's AI development in the last several years. And then, inspired of that, Chinese labs have managed to catch up,

4:14why would China be incentivized to collaborate with America, which in China's Beijing's view has been knee-capping China's technological development, which it has been trying to contain China's rise. Unless there is something that Washington can offer to really sweat and the de-oat. But others do see the urgency. David Finclostown from the Center for Naval Analysis told a defense forum in Beijing that it was time for the two leaders to talk. I'm not sure they're going to come to any agreements anytime soon, but I think there's a lot of motivation to talk about these things. The use of AI and command and control and warfare, who's using it and their nuclear chain of command. This is scary stuff. Back in Innamangolia, the building work continues, while farm workers gather up rows of plump potatoes for market. There has been little opposition to data centers here, unlike in the West.

5:14But there are still some quiet skeptics. If they demolish the village for a data center, you won't be good. I prefer living by the farmland. Away from the microphones, perhaps feeding reprisals, a few farmers told us they saw no benefits and feared for their land and their way of life. Others were keen to praise the country's leadership. Of course, the data center brings us benefits. It creates jobs. President Xi is raising living standards for the Chinese people. China is growing. We are now leading the world. There's no longer the China from the 1960s. It's all the way through. President Xi has set the direction, and will feel that in the long term, China can compete with the US on this technology.

6:16His government is focused on securing an AI-powered future, even as some of its people wonder whether they'll be part of it. That was Laura Bicker reporting our China correspondent. What prospect is there of an agreement on possible regulation of AI AI with China forging ahead and a Trump administration wary of giving up its current technological advantage. That was made clear at the UN General Assembly yesterday during President Trump's speech. Whoever wins AI, you have to remember this, and now I say, whoever wins SI, whoever wins super intelligent wins. That's the group that wins. And we're leading now over China by a lot and everyone else. And we're going to keep it that way. Dennis Wilder's a China expert with long experience at the top level of US government and intelligence, including two years as China director on the National Security Council during the George

7:16W. Bush administration. I asked him what he thought, first of all, each leader wanted from the meeting. Both leaders want to show, for legacy reasons, that they are managing this relationship. For Xi Jinping, it's all about the 21st Party Congress next year in October, where he wants his fourth term as leader of China. For him, it's very important domestically to show he's managing Trump. On Trump's side, this is really the sixth year of an eight-year presidency. And often we see American presidents go to foreign policy for legacy. You can see that in his Venezuela, his Cuba, his Iran, and China is part of his legacy. So my word for this summit is legacy. It's not about deliverables. It's about both leaders wanting to show that they have successfully managed the other side. Let's talk about AI, one of the big issues. Do you think there's any appetite on either

8:18side for some sort of agreement on regulation? There is, but there are huge hurdles here. Number one, neither side really understands what's going on in front of your AI. Neither government has a handle on this. So when we talk about creating guardrails, what are those guardrails? Are those against non-state actors, terrorists? It is against each other. Is it dealing with criminals? There are a whole lot of questions about what we're guarding against here. Secondly, neither side's bureaucracy is set up for this. Both governments don't really have people who know this. The people who know this are in private industry, not in central government authorities. So it's very difficult to see how this can move ahead rapidly. It's a first step forward in dialogue, but certainly there is a long road. There is no trust factor here. If they're going to come to agreements, it is only because it's in both national security interests, not because they see AI on these issues.

9:21What about trade? There is an uneasy truce on trade at the moment. I just wonder whether China's squeeze on rare earth elements, its ability to cut off the supply of those to the US, means that the US doesn't at the moment have much leverage when it comes to trade. If it wanted to exert any leverage. Well, my understanding is the trade truce will be extended, but only by six months, because the US side doesn't feel China has lived up to the agreement, particularly on rare earths. A, for example, American defense firms still don't get licenses for rare earths, and indeed the Japanese have no licenses for rare earths right now. So the US is complaining that China needs to open this up, that it's critical to the United States. And until that happens, I think our trade truce will remain very short term. Has it also had another impact on the Trump administration? Do you think the fact that China does hold this card means that it's quiet and those voices in

10:27the administration, the more hawkish voices in the administration? Well, I think in general, Secretary Besant who leads is pro-business, pro-dual dealing with Beijing, and Trump is listening to him. So I think that yes, the rare earths China showed the ability to hit back in a way no other company a country did against Trump. I think frankly that's part of why Trump respects she, because he's as good a boxer as Trump is. Both of them can land punches on each other, but no one's has a knockout punch. It's more like a relatively even fight. We've got to talk about Taiwan, always a potential flashpoint. China, I imagine once the US to pause, arms sales, there's a new package that I think's been approved by Congress, but that could go through. Do you think President Trump would agree to that? I think the Chinese have made it very clear to Trump that this is a red line.

11:29One of the things to look for in this summit is whether Trump agrees to go to Shenzhen for the APEC meetings, and she agrees to come to the United States later this year to Miami for the G20 meetings. I think if that agreement is made, Trump is going to kick this can down the road again. Dennis, can I just give this finally? I mean, there are some huge challenges facing the world at the moment. I mean, we haven't even talked about climate change. I mean, are either of these leaders, the right leaders, to be dealing with those challenges and dealing with them together? Or is that never going to happen given the dynamic between the two countries? I am optimistic on AI because both countries are scared. These frontier technologies could be a danger to humanity. Well, that is a shared interest. I would look to AI as the one common ground that is reasonable to expect forward processing. That was for the US National Security Council,

12:31advisor in China, but Dennis, while there, we will of course have full coverage of the summit over the next couple of days between President Xi and Trump here on the BBC World Service, and of course on our website, BBC.com forward. Slash news, you're listening to News app. So to come, the six-year-old who smashed the women's world record for solving a Rubik's cube, what is the secret? It's like a magician. When you see a slide of hand, when you see a magician manipulate cards, they are amazing you. Your mind is completely blown. It looks natural, but it took years and years to practice. Speed cubing is the same. You need to be possessed somehow by the cube. Possessed by the cube. That's coming up in half an hour. Our main headlines from the newsroom at the moment, fighting is broken out in Ethiopia between government and

13:34to grey and regional forces, raising fears of another conflict. We'll be talking about that in just a moment. And a former militially leader from the Central African Republic has been convicted of crimes against humanity by the international criminal court. This is James Menendos with News app live from the BBC. Well, there are growing fears of a return to all-out conflict between the government of Ethiopia and rebel fighters from the northern region of Tigray. The two sides fought a devastating civil war at the beginning of the decade, which cost the lives of more than half a million people. About double that number, a still displaced despite a peace agreement that was struck back in 2022. Well, let's speak to the BBC's Calcutan Yebilthel, the BBC's former correspondent in Ethiopia, who joins us live on the line from Nairobi, Calcutan. Good to have you on the programme. Where are we today? What's been happening?

14:39It's been a day that's been filled with quite significant developments and escalations. First, we've heard that flights have been suspended to all the major airports in the Tigray region. The main flag here, if you've been online, said that they are suspending the operations there indefinitely due to what's going on there. Then we've heard that the Grand Forces have captured the main airport in the region's capital, Makalei, and then they have replaced the federal forces who used to be there. Then after that, a little later than that, there are country reports that the Grand Forces are announcing they're engaged and they have ordered troops to engage in combat against the federal forces after using the federal forces of launching an invasion. It seems that things have been dramatically changing throughout today. This comes in the backdrop of deteriorating relationships and increasing tensions in the past few days. It was just three days ago that the Grand Forces, together with other six armed groups in Ethiopia, announced that

15:44they're forming a new alliance aimed at toppling the central government. It seems that all these fears that have been alarmed, all these three alarms that have been sounded over the past few months, that Ethiopia might be sliding back to full civil war, showing this are leading up to this. Yeah, I mean, remind us what the Tigrayan rebels, what do they want? Well, as you mentioned earlier, the Grand Forces and the Ethiopian government have been, that they were engaged in a brutal civil war for two years. In 2022, there was a peace deal that was signed and it silenced the guns and then normally to some degree returned to the region. But all the issues have not been resolved. One of these resolve stories are these contested areas that are claimed by the Grand Regions and other regions as well that has not been solved. And all these, these last people have not been returned to their places of origin. And each side, we're accusing each other of bridging the peace deal. And finally,

16:48what they're indicating now is that peace deal might in effect be dead. So a real lack of trust between both sides. I mean, is there anyone who can come in and try and bring them back to the negotiating table, do you think? Well, there have been efforts by some of the Western countries, by the US and the African Union. But there hasn't been much success. First, it seems that the international community is distracted by quite a number of crises across the world. Even in the Horn of Africa, there is the war in Sudan and there are other conflicts in neighboring countries as well. So there seems to be a temptation of the international communities divided to put focused pressure and concentrated pressure on the two parties. We're going to see how they're going to react from here onwards. But so far, all the efforts seem to be half-hearted and we have not seen any success. Okay, well, we shall see what happens over the next few days. Calcutan, thank you very much indeed. That was Calcutan Yebeltolder.

17:52Now, the man that said, I hate tennis, hate it with a dark and secret passion is back, playing competitive tennis. Andre Agassi, an eight-time grand slam champion, retire 20 years ago, and since then, has only occasionally dabbled in the sport. Agassi is immersing himself back in tennis once more. He's in London right now and the BBC's Kathy Ganana-Segarum went along to meet him. If you're a tennis fan, you're probably used to the green grass of Wimbledon, the red clay of Rowland Garros, and maybe a blue hard court. But in front of me, I have a black tennis court. And that's because it's the colour of the tennis tournament, the Labour Cup, which pits team Europe against team world. On court at the moment, we have the seven-time grand slam champion Carlos Alcras and the new US Open Champion Alexander's Ferev practicing. The world team captain is Andre Agassi, and I've been chatting to him about the current state of tennis and what he's enjoying about being a captain in the Labour Cup. The challenge I enjoy is getting to know what

18:54each of these great champions not need. When I say, well, that's not true, it is what they need, because they all process differently. They all ask the most of themselves in a different kind of way so that you can help them be the best of themselves without screwing anything up. And then I also enjoy the opportunity of being some form of North Star for them moving forward so that the ceiling of their high-end in their careers is something that they are reassured about. One of the most fascinating parts of your career, I know there's eight major titles and a gold medal in all the rest of it, but going from world number 141 to world number six, that period. How much do you think that gives you a perspective that some of these youngsters are really interested in? Obviously, I got there before, but I got there based out of fear of losing, you know, fear of not winning. And then I had to start over again, but I knew getting to the top wasn't the answer, but being the best of myself every day was. So it did teach me what to value in order to maximize who you are. And talking about that perspective and how you maximize things, Emma Radicarni,

19:58you mentioned recently that she's just been reading your book and how much it's helped her. How do you think she could maximize now? Certainly somebody who was very young, similar to you, but it's now struggled a little bit within, is in a different way, I suppose, than you did. That would be the question, right? What is your struggle? What is your demon? What is your battle? Is it a physical one? Is it a temperamental one? Is it a pressure one? Is it expectation one? You know, so you'd have to understand where the wrestling match is really happening. And then you'd have to find a way to either address it systematically, or you find a way to give context and clarity as to where the value systems need to remain. I think it's a choice of life. I'm going to go about my life a certain way. And tennis is just part of it. I think anyone that read your book knows about that struggle, the love-hate relationship. Where are you on that love-hate relationship with tennis? I'm on the hate love part of it. So yes, my father was very enthusiastic and I'm using a very generous term to address the soul.

21:03I was introduced as a future number one tennis player in the world since I was seven years old. So I had to live up to a lot in my own mind and it was pretty lonely journey. With that being said, I self-mutilated myself to 141. And then I came back knowing it's not about the number. It's about being the most of yourself. Even if the most of yourself is 80%, I'm going to get 100% out of that 80% and it gave me perspective and it gave me reason. Above everything, it gave me reason. And you've been involved with education. You've obviously had a life to live for the last 20 years, but for tennis fans that have missed you. Why did you return now to tennis? And what are you enjoying about being around tennis again? Oh, thanks for asking. I mean, one of the things I promise my wife, promise her. Yeah, just a mention. I promise her a lot of things, including Tilda Thuras Park. Was that I would never be too busy or too bored because I'm dangerous. I'm dangerous in both cases. So she knows what pushes my buttons. She knows, like for example, at this week, that as hard as this

22:03week is, as long as this week is, that I connect to it and it means something to me. So she can smile. And I have the bandwidth now, right? The kids are older and paying respect to a platform that tennis has given me to build 130 schools across my country by home. It is just a lot of reasons to appreciate it now through through the older lands. That was Andre Agassi, eight-time Grand Slam Champion, talking there to BBC's Kathy and Anna Seger on about his return to some competitive tennis. You're listening to News Air from the BBC World Service. Do stay with us. We got a lot of small coming up in the second half of the programme. This is James Minnandas with News Air. To Ghana in West Africa now, where an entrepreneur has found a way to solve two problems at once by turning waste plastic packaging into much needed school desks. Our reporter Justice Baydu met Makafui Awaku in his workshop in Ghana's capital city of

23:10Krah. Welcome to Makintosh Africa. So let's walk around and let me show you some more. A big guy with a bit smile. Makafui Awaku has an infectious passion for recycling plastic. He shows me his current stockpile. So it's a huge heap of plastic bottles, sachet, rubbers that have been collected together. How much plastic do we have here? About 400 kilograms. We generate about 1.1 million metric tons of plastic waste in Ghana every year. In Ghana, it is thought that just around 5% of plastic is collected for recycling. Makafui's latest projects addresses another problem here in Ghana. A shortage of school desks. We have a lot of dex deficits in our schools. We have a dex deficit of close to 2 million. Makafui makes desks tops from the plastic sachets that are commonly used for drinking water here in Ghana. He has 300 drop-off points for the sachets around the country.

24:15And he supplements these by buying more that have been gathered by waste pickers. So when the dry shreds come here, we have these heat transfer equipment. And then we have hydraulic press that we should press it. So we set it and then we wait. So this looks to me like a big sandwich making machine. But instead of sandwich, this is plastic materials that have been put into this machine and then being pressed together. Yes, that's close enough. This sandwich machines can create a range of materials from a leather-like fabric to these desk boards that are just like plywood. They are sanded. And drilled to the desk frames. So far, Makafui has supplied 600 desks to 12 schools around the

25:16country. They cost about 60 US dollars each. But they are not paid for by the schools, but with grants and corporate donations. I travel to a nearby school to see them for myself. So this is a classroom of about 60 pupils. And as I enter here, I can see Makafui's desk lined up with the students sitting on them and using them. I'm just going to go have a chat. When we are writing at home, you know, the wooden decks is they are not that smooth for the people. So when we are writing, the writing don't make smooth, but the fun is good for us. It's really helpful. The wooden decks is the brick easily, but these plastic decks is they don't need key and they don't brick easily. They are very hard. Well, I can't resist asking the students to test the strength of the desks. Okay, so three, two, one, go. Thank you. And that was the BBC's Justice Bydhu reporting there from a crowd in Ghana.

26:20This is the BBC World Service in London. You're listening to News Hour and I'm James Menendos. Now remember the time, not long ago, when all we were talking about was Greenland, a threat by the Trump administration to Annex or even invade this Snowbound territory of Denmark. The spark to profound crisis in transatlantic relations and indeed the NATO alliance. Well, that was only nine months ago, but on Tuesday, the leaders of Denmark, the US and Greenland all signed an agreement that looks like it settles the matter once and for all. A new defence deal or rather an update to an old deal from the 1950s that allows the US to develop two new military bases there while underscoring Denmark's sovereignty. A win, win, win said Greenland's Prime Minister and the Danish Prime Minister, Meta Fredrickson, had this to say about the agreement. I've been involved in making many political deals over the years, but I haven't made many as consequential as this one, I'll freely admit. What characterises a good deal is of course

27:24that it resonates with all parties and from the perspective of the Danish Commonwealth and of Europe. It is crucial that we strengthen overall security in our part of the world. And this is also something that the US president cares about. And yes, it has been a long process, a lot has been said. I'm not going to get into all the discussions that we've had, but what I will say is that I am absolutely thrilled about this deal. Well, Minik Rosingh is a professor of geology at the University of Copenhagen and a Greenlander himself. What's his view? I think it's really good and is basically if participating in the situation as it de facto has been for a long time. Yeah, so to that extent, I mean, how much has changed? I think not very much actually. I think there's one major thing that you would see where the US side would like to have some reassurance that is that in case Greenland gains independence from Denmark,

28:25that the military president of the US is still guaranteed and that Greenland will remain within NATO. So I think that is probably the new part that is most important. I mean, it's also good for Greenland and the countries now are signatory to this deal. I mean, does that feel like quite a big step? I think it is. And I think that the fact that Greenland and Denmark and the US are at certain the turrets on the same level, I think it is very important for Greenland anyway. But one thing that is interesting also is of course that you could all say that two sides of the table and Greenland and Denmark were sitting on the same side and representing basically the same objective. So I think that's also important for the kingdom of Denmark. Do you think that's widespread relief now in Greenland that all the uncertainty, I mean, all the worry over the past few months has gone away? Yeah, I think that all of the worries probably have been taken a bit too far, but there's definitely when this was pulled out of the public sphere and into diplomatic track was a relief already,

29:25but that this has been allowed to continue and reach a resolution. There's good news for everybody. I mean, one wonders given the agreement, what was all the fuss about? I think it's really hard to tell what it was about. I think that the American industry has had access to work on resources and greenland and have been encouraged to do so for decades from both being in the Netherlands and Denmark. And I think also the military present has been guaranteed since 1951. So I think that it's difficult to put a thing on exactly what was the objective. Do you think if President Trump had asked Greenlanders and asked Denmark for what is in this agreement and asked them nicely and calmly, then the US would have got it? Absolutely, absolutely. I have no doubt about that. I don't think it was a hard negotiation. I think it was more that it's a clarification of again what the situation was and what the desired situation would be and everybody pretty much agreed about that.

30:29Yeah, I mean, President Trump at one point said he wanted to own Greenland. This agreement is quite a long way from that, isn't it? It is. Again, there's one of these things. I don't think it's helpful to speak with too much about. So can Greenlanders get on with their lives now? I hope so. Yeah, and I think it has definitely been some dense in the trust and I think also people have been really concerned about this prospect of potential military intervention, but also being colonized over again. I think it has not been very attractive. I think it has been some level of misjudgment from the US side in that I think the Americans thought when they first proposed is that Greenlanders would be happy to be part of the US right away and there's maybe some level of surprise that people actually didn't buy into that idea. That was Greenlander Professor Minic Rosing. Well, true horn, it's a former US Department of Energy and White House official from the first Trump administration. He's the founder and CEO of GreenMET,

31:30a critical minerals and financial advisory firm drew joins us on the line from West Virginia. Welcome to NewsHour. What does this agreement mean for someone like you? Does it open up the possibility of searching for those critical minerals? Or does it make it harder? Well, I got to say I think it's a phenomenal deal for all parties and it absolutely accelerates and helps our projects and desire to develop and build sustainable growth here between the countries and with the right resources. So we're in a position where we already have a large rare earth critical minerals mine that we're working to bring in US and European and Greenlandic finance and development companies into I think having the deal official and putting to bed some of the drama and the distraction. It's really going to help us fast track growth that I think is going to be really beneficial for all parties, particularly the Greenlanders that I think really want and need

32:31this. Well, you're just interesting to use words drama and distraction. I mean, was all that drama and distraction worth it? I mean, as we heard there, this deal probably could have been reached what back in January or February, couldn't it? Well, no, it couldn't actually and a lot of people what they don't realize is that there was a previous deal that was similar to this that was presented to the new Greenlandic leadership that was rejected back in the winter time. And so a lot of people don't understand President Trump's negotiation style. I'm not going to get into all the details of exactly what was said, but those of us that have worked for him, you know, publicly in government before and then, you know, as a as a private advisor and investor looking to support a lot of those policy initiatives with investment and development, you know, we understand it's a process. And I think that process though, it was at times a little bit painful and now there's some, you know, hurt feelings on all sides to maybe repair and build past. It was necessary to get us where we're at right now and looking at. Because sorry, just because it's that because

33:34Denmark, from your point of view, Denmark and Greenland weren't cooperating. I don't think they realized there was the specifics that we from the US perspective were looking forward to protect our collective security and to open up from a business perspective, the ability to develop and move forward all of these projects. I can, you know, go through the actual language of the agreement, but there's some specific concessions and agreements that have made that are really going to turn on the pipeline for growth. That really were not there previously from a US private perspective. Do that, I mean, was it worth threatening to invade Greenland though? There was never, in my opinion, an actual threat to do that. I think there was misunderstandings. I think there was a lot of, I mean, a threat and to use military force to achieve as objectives, didn't they? Well, well, I mean, I'm not going to get into too much arguments on the details. I don't think there was ever a legitimate or real threat to use military force. The United States has

34:36always been the primary security provider for Greenland and for Denmark for that matter. And I don't think that was ever in question. I think a lot of comments were taken out of context. But I think what's important is that we've now gotten to a part where all of the allies can work together. We can get past these misunderstandings and we can focus on collective growth and security that, you know, frankly, we all benefit from. Thank you very much indeed. That was Drew Horn who worked in the first Trump administration founder now on CEO of Greenland, that's a critical minerals firm. Now, here's a story for anyone who's dreamed of rifling through a charity shop and finding a hidden treasure, a rare first edition of the American classic to kill a mockingbird. It's been discovered among a box of donations to a store belonging to the charity Orcs Fam in West London. Let's talk to the manager there, Olivia Hazeman, Walker, Olivia. Welcome to News Air. Take us through the story. How does it all begin then? What a box of books turns out?

35:40Right. Yeah. So it's very exciting. Our deputy manager found the book in a box of donations. It was a beautiful antiquarian copy of Tickula Mockingbird. When you get a book, because that's as beloved as that, and that's as old as this copy was, you start to look and see if it's something special and this copy was. And your colleague, I mean, was it was it an instant thing? They took a look at it and thought, hold on a second, this is something different. Yeah, absolutely. We're always on the lookout for precious gems like that. And people are really generous and sometimes they'll even say, oh, I think this one might be a bit, something a bit special. Did they in this case? We don't know, but we hope that they knew what they had and that they knew that we'd get a fair price for it. I mean, was there any clue? I'm just going to say so intrigued by this. Was there any clue in the other books that this was someone who had a high quality collection, they were donating? Or do you think that they overlooked the fact that this was something so rare? Well, it was something that clearly been read and loved. The book, Jack, in itself, was a little

36:44bit tati. So you can picture it being on somebody's shelf and then ending up in like a donation, they're clearing out their library. And yeah, it came in with just a lot of other books from the period. So possibly was bought originally in 1960 and has been with them ever since. Yeah, I'm just looking at a picture of it. And as you say, it looks like, you know, what could easily be mistaken for any slightly sort of war and secondhand book. But what about the condition inside? How was that? It was beautiful. Yeah, pages were on blemish, they were tightly bound. It was, yeah, a real special find. So it's been passed to the national collection at the British Library. Did that? I don't want to break any confidences, but I mean, did they pay for it and did they pay you? They did. Yeah, they gave us a very generous charitable donation for it. It eventually ended up on our online shop, which is open to anybody across the country who wants to browse and buy books.

37:46And that's where the British Library found it. And they got into contact with us and said, can we come and have a look at it? Just verify that it is what we think it is. And then they were very happy to purchase it from us. So it was open for general sale before they spotted it? It was, yeah, first of all shop floor and then on online shops. Oh my goodness, I feel like I'm Mr. Tricky. Can I ask you, I mean, you're able to tell us how much they pay for it? I'm not allowed on the trade, but it was very beautiful. Are we talking four figures? Five figures? Four figures, yes. Four figures. Has this ever happened, I mean, has this ever happened to you before to one of your shops? Yeah, we get gems all the time. I would keep an eye out on the bottoms auction. And that's who Oxam goes to when we have valuable valuable books. In the recent years, we've sold the first translation of the Bible into Chinese bottoms. Last year, we sold a very beautiful edition of Hobbit. And actually, my shop is really buzzing at the moment because we had a first edition Hobbit that is also going

38:49for sale at bottoms in November. Wow, amazing. Olivia, thank you very much, and thank you for telling us that. That was a manager of that Oxam charity shop in London, Olivia Hazeman, Walker on that uncovering that first edition of Tequila Walking Bird. You're listening to News.

40:55This is James Menendos with News. Let's head to Morocco now because people there are taking part in parliamentary elections today. Or other some people are because with more than one in three young adults out of work in Morocco, many of them simply haven't bothered registering to vote. That level of unemployment as well as frustration over the cost of living and access to healthcare is part Morocco's own Gen Z demonstrations this time last year. Ciharm Zero-Island is an environmental activist who lives in the Atlas region of the country. She's been talking to us about the vote. This is my first time voting ever because I truly believe that if you don't vote, you don't have the right to criticize the system. But the thing is,

42:00I'm kind of ashamed by our political scene because it's a complete circus out there. And I'm ashamed that this is the level of politicians that we have. Well, at the end of July, this year about 60,000 people, most of them young Moroccans searched across the border into Spain's North African ex-clave of Saeolta in search of better prospects in the European Union, most of now being sent back. So will this election make any difference? Let's speak to Gregory Holliot, who covers North Africa for BBC. Monitoring Gregory, a warm welcome to News. I mean, first of all, is this parliamentary election? I mean, is there a real contest here? Well, thank you very much for having me. First of all, yes, there is definitely a competition that's going on and there has been a lot of media speculation in Morocco that we've been looking at of whether the current governing coalition will be able to maintain power, or if this opposition justice and development islamist party that was in power until the previous election when

43:04it's representation really collapsed, about 13 of the almost 400 seats, whether they will be able to take back some power. But, you know, I think as as Sehem mentioned there in her interview, one of the main issues here is that a lot of people don't feel like any of the parties are representative of them. And I think that the recent protests, the Gen Z protests really exemplify that. Yeah, and is that because the king still basically wields most of the power in the country? Yeah, I mean, it's not necessarily as as simple as that. It's definitely not like Saudi Arabia in terms of it's kind of a absolute monarchy. And in 2011, you know, following the Arab Spring, which started, you know, in that region, it started in North Africa, in Tunisia, in 2011, there were constitutional reforms because there were protests in Morocco. And that definitely, you know, almost sort of magnetartist style way pops down some, you know, administrative and governmental

44:10reforms that passed power to parliament. That being said, we do see with Morocco, it was one of the only countries in the region whose governing forces, that being the king there actually survived those uprisings. And he does definitely still in terms of foreign policy and a lot of domestic policy and kind of financial policy, wield a huge amount of power. Morocco is, however, still under most metrics like the economist democracy index, it's counted as a hybrid regime. It's not counted as a full democracy, but it does generally come out as the kind of most democratic in the Middle East, North Africa region. Yeah. And just finally, and we've got about 45 seconds left, I mean, we've got to talk about football. I mean, Morocco's been doing very well at football and it's preparing to host the next world cup. I mean, how unhappy are people about all the money that's been spent on investing in new stadiums and stuff and perhaps not other things? Well, I'm really glad you mentioned that as well because yes, this is this sort of weird paradox where it's a nation that is so proud of its football and so proud of its football

45:13and achievements and it's so proud to hold the FIFA World Cup, but they're less proud to be spending or at least the population, you know, billions of dollars on it. I actually just saw this image of a woman holding a sign saying, you know, at least the FIFA World Cup stadium will have a first aid kit in reference to the lack of money that they believe is going to social and health services. Thank you very much indeed. That was Gregory Holyoca covers North Africa for BBC monitoring. Now, it once took me a whole day with a book to solve a rebix cube, but this week a six-year-old girl from China, Lian Yun Ji has broken the women's world record for solving a three by three by three puzzle, the standard cube in an average time of less than four and a half seconds. Yeah, Blink and you'll miss it. New's house Rebecca Kesby has been talking to Jessica Friedrich. She's a pioneering speed cubeer as they're known. She's been doing it for about 40 years and even invented her own widely copied method. What does she make of this achievement? It's absolutely mind-boggling.

46:18Conga, joystions to her. She's going to be even better. When you see her, it's like magic. She's doing it so fast and she's so small just six years old. It's unbelievable, especially the cubers from China nowadays. They are dominating speed cubing. If you look at the top six cubers, they're all from China. They are all very young. So it's a trend and it's unbelievable that a six-year-old girl can do it in 4.27 seconds on average. That is nothing short of a miracle, basically. I mean, apparently she does spend two to three hours a day training on the Rubik's cube. Is that something that's normal for a cuber, as you call them? I think she spends a lot more than that. Really? That's my personal guess. Tell me why. Because you'll become a great speed cuber only if you get possessed by the cube. If it spells the magic all over you and you can't do anything else, basically. So I think two to three hours is an understatement. That's just my

47:18personal guess. So what is your advice then on even completing a Rubik's cube to be completely honest with you? Because I mean, obviously she's doing it very fast. I just don't have the patience. I've been sitting with this thing now for half the program and I still can't do it. So what would top tips be? My top tip is to have fun and do it the way you like to do it and that brings you joy. If it brings you joy to try to chase the seconds and become one of the best cubers in the world, then do it. If you just want to be able to solve it or impress friends, do it. If you don't want to do it at all, don't do it. Would there be a trick to it or a system maybe that works? There's no trick to it. It's a lot of work. It's an incredible amount of work and incredible memorization that you have to be willing to undertake to memorize probably over a thousand of algorithms to be able to be this fast. It's like a magician. When you see a slide of hand, when you see a magician manipulate

48:21cards, they are doing tricks. They are amazing you. Your mind is completely blown because you have no explanation for what's happening. It looks natural, but it took years and years to practice. Speed cubing is the same. You need to be possessed somehow by the cube. You need to feel the inner engine to keep doing it and keep doing it and the motivation to just get faster and faster and faster. That's intangible. You either have it or you're done. I was pioneering speed cuber, Jessica Friedrich talking there to my colleague Rebecca Kessby. That brings us to the end of this edition of News Air for me and the rest of the team. Thanks so much for listening. I'll be back at the same time tomorrow. Until then, bye bye.