US to withdraw 5,000 troops from Germany
Global News Podcast
BBC
4.3 • 8.2K Ratings
🗓️ 2 May 2026
⏱️ 26 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The US Defence Department says 5,000 military personnel stationed in Germany will leave their bases over the next 6-12 months. The withdrawal of American troops follows a spat between President Trump and the German Chancellor Friedrich Merz over the war with Iran. Also, President Trump says he'll increase tariffs on European vehicles imported to the US; Cuba says new US sanctions amount to "collective punishment"; rats, fleas and other pests are spreading disease amongst displaced Palestinians in Gaza; the Oscar statue that was lost and then found by staff at Lufthansa Airlines; scientists say they've used new technology to identify a previously unknown sketch of the Tudor queen, Anne Boleyn; and we find out who won the Flatpack World Championships.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:05.6 | This is the global news podcast from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:12.4 | I'm Charlotte Gallagher, and in the early hours of Saturday, the 2nd of May, these are our main stories. |
| 0:18.9 | 5,000 US troops will be ordered home from Germany following a spat between the two |
| 0:24.6 | country's leaders. |
| 0:26.0 | And are we any closer to an Iran deal? |
| 0:28.9 | We'll hear from President Trump. |
| 0:30.6 | We want to go and just blast the hell out of them and finish him forever? |
| 0:34.4 | Or do we want to try and make a deal? |
| 0:36.5 | Let me go go to go. Do you want to go |
| 0:38.4 | blast the hell out of them? I'd prefer not. Also, Cuba says new sanctions imposed by the U.S. |
| 0:45.0 | amount to collective punishment. In Gaza, rats and fleas are spreading diseases among displaced |
| 0:51.7 | Palestinians. |
| 0:57.0 | Also in this podcast, |
| 0:59.2 | it's been quite an ordeal, |
| 1:03.3 | and I'm sure that no Hollywood star, |
| 1:06.4 | and really it doesn't sound like any other person who has ever traveled with an Oscar |
| 1:08.7 | has ever had to deal with this. |
| 1:10.4 | The Hollywood ending for a missing Oscar. |
| 1:18.2 | President Trump has been threatening to punish some European countries for refusing to help |
| 1:23.9 | with the war in Iran. |
| 1:25.4 | And when the German Chancellor Friedrich Mertz commented that the US was |
... |
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