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00:00:18These are the latest headlines
00:00:20from BBC News. King Charles warns warns of the existential dangers
00:00:24dangers of AI systems falling into into the wrong hands as he addresses
00:00:27addresses tech leaders at a summit summit in Scotland. The Duke of Sussex
00:00:31Sussex has been seen for the first first time in public since returning
00:00:34returning to the UK. When he arrived arrived at an awards ceremony for
00:00:37for the Invictus Games. More allegations
00:00:40allegations from Earl Spencer in in the latest extract from his book
00:00:43book on Princess Diana, he claims
00:00:45claims the then Prince Charles sounded sounded giddily elated on the night
00:00:49night Princess Diana died. South South African police say they have
00:00:53have found a ninth woman killed near near Johannesburg in a spate of murders,
00:00:57murders, causing fear and outrage outrage in the country. The head
00:01:00head of Nato tells the BBC there
00:01:02there has to be a credible path towards
00:01:04towards the UK meeting targets to
00:01:07to increase defence spending. Hope
00:01:09Hope for thousands of women with
00:01:11with incurable breast cancer as a
00:01:13a new life extending drug becomes becomes available on the NHS. Two
00:01:17Two years after it was deemed too
00:01:20too expensive. Welcome back. You're
00:01:27You're watching The Context USA with with Christian and Katrina now Canada.
00:01:31Canada. Canada's Prime Minister Mark Mark Carney told the European Parliament Parliament in Strasbourg today that
00:01:35that he wants an alliance with the the EU strong enough. He says that
00:01:39that no one can dictate Canada's
00:01:41Canada's choices. The Prime Minister Minister welcomed formally the statement
00:01:45statement that Council President President Ursula von der Leyen had
00:01:47had made yesterday when she invited invited Canada to become the EU's
00:01:51EU's first associate member. Now Now the details of what that might
00:01:54might look like are thin. Associate Associate membership doesn't formally
00:01:58formally exist under the EU treaty, treaty, so it would have to be created
00:02:02created and then ratified by member member states. And when you look look at European bureaucracy, well,
00:02:06well, maybe don't hold your breath breath for that to happen too quickly.
00:02:09quickly. You old cynic. Nonetheless, Nonetheless, it has sufficiently sufficiently irritated President
00:02:12President Trump. He spent months months pushing Canada away. Now he's
00:02:15he's warning Europe not to get too too close, threatening very serious
00:02:19serious tariffs if they do. And so so Carney today made no mention of
00:02:22of the US president by name. Perhaps
00:02:24Perhaps he didn't have to. You. At
00:02:31At all. I'm not proposing a third
00:02:34third bloc in order to become a great
00:02:37great power rival, only with better
00:02:40better manners. We. We do not seek
00:02:50seek power to dominate others. On
00:02:53On the contrary, we are pursuing
00:02:55pursuing resilience. So no one. No
00:02:58No one can control our open markets,
00:03:01markets, impair our sovereignty, sovereignty, threaten our territorial territorial integrity or undermine
00:03:05undermine our freedoms, our democracies,
00:03:07democracies, our rule of law. Well,
00:03:10Well, back home, Canadians want to to know this will deliver what Carney
00:03:14Carney promised on the campaign trail. trail. Economic resilience. That
00:03:17That promise has certainly been tested tested by Trump's second term and
00:03:21and the threats the President has has made to turn Canada into the
00:03:24the 51st state. Canada is going to
00:03:26to be a very serious contender to
00:03:29to be our 51st state. Canada should
00:03:31should honestly become our 51st state. state. We wouldn't have a northern
00:03:35northern border problem. We wouldn't
00:03:37wouldn't have a tariff problem. President
00:03:40President Trump there. Well let's let's speak live now to the former
00:03:43former Prime Minister of Ireland, Ireland, Leo Varadkar. Taoiseach,
00:03:46Taoiseach, thank you very much for for joining us here on BBC News.
00:03:50News. We've gone from President Trump Trump referring to Canada as the
00:03:53the 51st state to now perhaps a suggestion suggestion that it will be the 28th
00:03:5628th member state of the European European Union. This offer from Ursula
00:03:59Ursula von der Leyen of associate associate membership, is that a realistic
00:04:03realistic thing for her to offer?
00:04:05offer? Well, look, it's very interesting interesting and it's gone down very
00:04:09very well in Europe, certainly with with most people I've been speaking speaking to. It's interesting that
00:04:12that it comes at a time when Russia
00:04:14Russia is trying to expand through
00:04:17through territorial conquest and and war, and the US is threatening
00:04:20threatening to expand through conquest
00:04:23conquest of Greenland, for example. example. The EU is the only bloc,
00:04:26bloc, the only entity that people people are actually queuing up to to join, whether it's people who
00:04:30who want to become full members in in the Balkans or perhaps Canada
00:04:33Canada becoming now an associate associate member. And I think that
00:04:35that says a lot about the European European Union, notwithstanding its
00:04:39its weaknesses the EU and Canada Canada already have a very strong strong relationship. We tend to work
00:04:43work together and vote together in in international forums. We have
00:04:47have a comprehensive trade agreement agreement with CETA not fully ratified
00:04:50ratified but almost fully in place. place. And then also there's co-operation
00:04:53co-operation on security through through Nato. So there already is
00:04:56is a close relationship. The question question is what? How can we make
00:04:59make closer how can it be deepened deepened in terms of economic partnership
00:05:03partnership security, perhaps even even a degree of freedom of movement?
00:05:05movement? And that's really now what what has to be discussed because
00:05:08because as you said earlier, Europe
00:05:10Europe is built on treaties and built built on laws, and there's no provision
00:05:14provision for associate membership membership in the treaties. So that
00:05:17that would have to be written up
00:05:20up and decided on. But there are
00:05:23are bespoke relationships. It's not
00:05:25not a joke to say that that would would take some time. I mean, given
00:05:28given the institutions of the European European Union, it may in fact be
00:05:32be that that associate membership membership would only come into force
00:05:35force after President Trump had left left the White House, in which case
00:05:38case perhaps Canada would be less
00:05:39less interested. Yeah, look, it depends depends on what it is. So if you
00:05:43you take the Efta countries, they're they're part of the single market
00:05:46market Iceland, Norway there's full full freedom of movement. For example,
00:05:49example, they accept all European
00:05:52European standards. We've a bespoke bespoke relationship with Switzerland,
00:05:55Switzerland, having with the UK that that we're trying to strengthen and
00:05:58and deepen now. So the question is
00:06:00is would this fall into that category? category? Would it be something that's
00:06:03that's just about the EU and Canada, Canada, or could it potentially be
00:06:07be a model for other countries? For
00:06:09For example, could it be a model model for the UK coming closer to
00:06:12to the European Union again, could could it be a model for Ukraine on
00:06:15on the road to full membership? And
00:06:18And I don't know to what extent. extent. President von der Leyen discussed
00:06:21discussed this with the 27 member member states and the Prime Ministers.
00:06:25Ministers. But I think what's clear clear is that there is a really strong
00:06:28strong willingness on both sides sides to realise this, to make this
00:06:31this happen. And for the European
00:06:34European Union really to strengthen strengthen its relationship with with the other democracies in the
00:06:38the world, whether it's Canada or or Australia, New Zealand countries
00:06:41countries in Latin America too, all all of which have a connection to
00:06:45to Europe and speak the same language
00:06:46language and share the same values.
00:06:50values. It has, though, drawn the the wrath of President Trump. He's
00:06:53He's described it as a hostile act act and threatened to levy tariffs
00:06:57tariffs on the European Union. Should Should this kind of side relationship,
00:07:00relationship, if you like, go ahead. ahead. Is that too big a price to
00:07:04to pay for the European Union? Whatever Whatever gains they may get from
00:07:07from closer ties with Canada might
00:07:09might be undercut by more tariffs tariffs on that key trade relationship
00:07:12relationship between the EU and the the US. Yeah, I think the difficulty
00:07:16difficulty with tariffs when it comes comes to tariffs is the President
00:07:19President seems to be willing to
00:07:21to apply them for any reason on any
00:07:24any given week. So it's one of those those things that you almost can't
00:07:27can't plan for any more. The only only thing you can be certain about
00:07:30about is the uncertainty of it all.
00:07:34all. And I think while European leaders leaders were very keen to appease appease President Trump, particularly
00:07:38particularly because of fears that that he might withdraw support for for Ukraine, and that led to the
00:07:42the unbalanced ternary agreement agreement where the EU accepted US US tariffs on our products while
00:07:46while having none on theirs. Greenland
00:07:48Greenland really changed that. And And I think most European leaders
00:07:52leaders have now come to the view
00:07:54view that there's no reward really really for appeasing President Trump.
00:07:57Trump. You may wish to keep out of of his crosshairs, but appeasement
00:08:01appeasement hasn't particularly worked. worked. And we need to go on and
00:08:03and build and deepen our relationships. relationships. And then, of course,
00:08:08course, with the utterance of a few few words, he can lift those tariffs,
00:08:10tariffs, as he did on Irish whiskey whiskey when he was in Ireland. On
00:08:13On Sunday. Yeah. And then the courts courts may decide they have to be
00:08:16be refunded. So you know, that's that's that that's where we stand. stand. The main problem for people
00:08:20people who want to trade and do business business with the US now is you just
00:08:23just don't know what the tariffs tariffs are going to be in a few
00:08:26few weeks' time. They can be changed
00:08:28changed almost on a whim. And then then sometimes the courts overturn
00:08:32overturn that. And that's not the the way Europe does business. We We do free trade agreements with
00:08:35with other parts of the world. There There are clear rules. There are
00:08:38are clear standards. There are clear clear tariffs. If you're going to
00:08:42to make a one year investment, a a two year investment, a 20 year
00:08:45year investment, you know what the the rules are. And you know, since
00:08:48since President Trump has come to to office, we've agreed the Mercosur
00:08:52Mercosur trade agreement with for for 4 or 5 Latin American countries.
00:08:55countries. We've agreed a free trade trade agreement with India as well.
00:08:58well. So while the US is no longer
00:09:00longer committed to free trade and and certainly not barrier free and
00:09:04and tariff free trade, the European European Union is doubling down on
00:09:07on that and seeing it as an opportunity opportunity to improve our competitiveness,
00:09:10competitiveness, our trading relationships relationships and then also our political
00:09:14political our political balance on
00:09:15on foot of that. OK. All right. Leo
00:09:18Leo Varadkar, former Taoiseach of of Ireland, thank you very much for
00:09:21for joining us here on BBC News.
00:09:23News. Our panel listening to that, that, if you are just joining us us tonight, Abel Maldonado former
00:09:27former Republican lieutenant governor governor of California and Janet Janet Napolitano, the former secretary
00:09:31secretary of Homeland Security, former
00:09:33former governor of Arizona, to Janet,
00:09:35Janet, is this a lasting shift in
00:09:37in North America or does it fade,
00:09:39fade, as Katrina suggests once Trump
00:09:41Trump has left office? Well, American
00:09:46American politics like politics everywhere, everywhere, are always difficult
00:09:49difficult to predict. But I think think the better argument is that
00:09:53that this is temporary. This whole
00:09:57whole tariff, you know, fixation fixation is a very Donald Trump fixation.
00:10:01fixation. It's not popular with the
00:10:02the American people and it's not not popular with both Republican
00:10:06Republican and Democratic members members of Congress as various industries
00:10:10industries in their states have been been affected by the tariffs. You
00:10:14You know, this summer we're supposed supposed to have the renegotiation
00:10:17renegotiation of the US, Mexico, Mexico, Canadian Free Trade Agreement.
00:10:20Agreement. That was renegotiated renegotiated in Trump's first term.
00:10:23term. And when that was renegotiated renegotiated in the first term, he
00:10:26he called it the best trade agreement agreement I think ever in the history
00:10:29history of the world. You know how
00:10:30how he talks and yet now we find
00:10:34find ourselves at odds with what what has been one of our closest
00:10:38closest partners and allies over over the decades, and that is Canada.
00:10:41Canada. To what end? And I think
00:10:44think a lot of Americans, American American voters, American politicians,
00:10:48politicians, American elected officials officials are saying, where does
00:10:51does this end? And I think the conclusion
00:10:53conclusion by many is that it must must end and will end by the end
00:10:57end of the Trump administration. administration. Just in terms of
00:10:59of the time span for this. And I I think we're right to say bureaucracy bureaucracy might get in the way
00:11:03way of it, but it's also true when when you look at the problems in in the Middle East and particularly
00:11:07particularly the problems in the the Red Sea right now that Europe Europe this winter might be starved
00:11:10starved of gas and oil able. They They might want to fast track a deal
00:11:14deal with an energy rich Canada. Well, you know what, as Janet
00:11:18Janet was stating, you know, is it it going to be temporary or not?
00:11:21not? I mean, look, I have a different
00:11:24different take on this. Canada is is our neighbour. They are our next
00:11:28next door neighbour. I actually where where I live, I have a next door
00:11:31door neighbour. I have a great relationship relationship with my neighbour. I'm
00:11:33I'm a farmer, I have a farm, I have have a great relationship with my
00:11:37my farmers next door. So I just hope
00:11:40hope this is just temporary and we we can move on. Canada is our next
00:11:43next door neighbour. There are huge huge trading partner. We've been
00:11:47been allies forever. Speech you know.
00:11:49know. What does it mean to be an an associate member of the European
00:11:53European Union? What does that mean? mean? Well, I mean, I don't know.
00:11:56know. It's I get why he's saying saying it. I get why he went over
00:11:58over there to do that. A little slap slap at President Trump and get back
00:12:02back and forth. At the end of the the day, we're next door neighbours. neighbours. Let's get our act together.
00:12:06together. Let's be let's be who we we are. As Janet stated, we're going
00:12:10going to negotiate a trade agreement agreement with Mexico soon. All three
00:12:12three of us. I mean, and he did say
00:12:14say this it was the best agreement
00:12:17agreement ever on the planet. I get get that we got to do it again. So
00:12:21So you know what? Let's let today today go by and tomorrow's going
00:12:23going to be a different day. But
00:12:26But Janet, isn't it the case for for Prime Minister Carney that he
00:12:30he has to look after Canadians, just just as President Trump has to look
00:12:33look after Americans? And if he's he's seeing these tariffs kind of of looming into the distance that
00:12:37that he has to look elsewhere for
00:12:39for trade arrangements for visa arrangements,
00:12:42arrangements, potentially. Well, Well, I think Carney is doing what
00:12:46what he feels he needs to do to protect
00:12:48protect the country that he leads.
00:12:51leads. The tragedy is that he feels feels like he must do this because
00:12:55because of the actions of the United
00:12:59United States and again, you know, know, I have to agree with Abel.
00:13:03Abel. I think, you know, we are neighbours. neighbours. We share a long border.
00:13:06border. We share we've shared military
00:13:09military assets, we share intelligence
00:13:12intelligence assets, we share commercial commercial assets. And we're both
00:13:15both countries are stronger and better
00:13:16better off when we do so without
00:13:19without this trade friction interfering. interfering. And now what I think
00:13:22think has evolved into a almost a
00:13:25a personality based conflict between
00:13:28between the leadership of the United United States and the leadership leadership of Canada. We need to
00:13:32to back up the bus a little bit here
00:13:34here and say, what who is benefiting
00:13:36benefiting from this? No one is benefiting
00:13:38benefiting from this. What would would America lose, Abel, if Canada
00:13:42Canada was to go off and sign new
00:13:45new supply chains, defence industry industry contracts, payment systems
00:13:48systems with Europe instead of the the United States? Presumably that
00:13:52that would cost the. The US
00:13:56economy. I mean, I don't know what what we would lose. I think what what we would do, our economy would
00:14:00would get hurt. Our relationship relationship would be damaged. So
00:14:03So I just hope this is just a temporary.
00:14:06temporary. And as you stated, I think think he's doing what he needs to
00:14:09to do not only for his country but but for himself. I mean, he needs
00:14:13needs I mean, what does President President Trump say America first,
00:14:17first, Canada first. So we know that
00:14:20that the question is, is let's bring bring it. Let's back up the bus a
00:14:23a little bit. You're right, Secretary Secretary Napolitano. Let's back
00:14:26back up the bus. Let's be the neighbours neighbours that we are and let's
00:14:29let's be the strong neighbours that
00:14:32that we have been. We love this jolly jolly bipartisan spirit. On The Context
00:14:36Context USA. It's why we're here here bringing people together across
00:14:39across the Atlantic and across America.
00:14:42America. We'll have lots more agreement, agreement, maybe some disagreements
00:14:45disagreements in just a moment. So So stay with us
00:15:46expeditions in the Yorkshire Dales Dales to the Scottish Highlands meeting meeting people proving adventure
00:15:49adventure is far from offline. The
00:15:50The Travel Show on BBC iPlayer. Let's
00:15:59Let's stay with matters involving involving the US and the European European Union, because the US is
00:16:03is currently carrying out a review review of its military footprint footprint in Europe following the
00:16:07the decision at the beginning of of the year to withdraw 5000 troops
00:16:10troops from Germany. Now, in the the last hour or so, there has been
00:16:13been a development because President President Trump has announced that
00:16:16that the US., he says, is nearing nearing an agreement to build a new
00:16:20new US Army base in Poland. Yeah. Yeah. In a post on Truth Social,
00:16:24Social, he credited the bold leadership leadership of the Polish president president in getting them to this
00:16:28this position a location he said said would be announced very soon.
00:16:30soon. And it comes at a tense moment moment on Nato's eastern flank in
00:16:34in fact, Poland temporarily closed closed two of its airports today
00:16:37today after a Russian drone attack
00:16:40attack in nearby western Ukraine.
00:16:42Ukraine. The Nato Secretary General, General, Mark Rutte, has been speaking
00:16:45speaking to the BBC today, and he
00:16:47he said that the recent Russian activity activity shows that President Vladimir
00:16:51Vladimir Putin is becoming what he
00:16:53he called increasingly desperate desperate because, he says for Poland,
00:16:57Poland, a permanent American base base will be some reassurance. It's
00:17:00It's been the goal for several years.
00:17:02years. Warsaw spends more on defence defence than any other Nato member
00:17:06member and buys heavily American. American. In fact, the Polish have
00:17:09have just offered to pay for this this new base themselves, it seems.
00:17:13seems. Well, let's bring in our panellists panellists again. Abel Maldonado
00:17:16Maldonado and Janet Napolitano and and Janet. As I said earlier, you
00:17:19you were part of President Biden's Biden's Intelligence advisory Council.
00:17:23Council. When you look at what's what's been happening, the military
00:17:26military posturing in Europe over over the last few months, drawing
00:17:29drawing down those troops from Germany. Germany. Secretary Hague said the
00:17:32the ordering a major review and now
00:17:34now it seems building a huge base
00:17:36base in Poland. We know where Poland Poland is located. Is that again
00:17:39again linked back to what we were
00:17:41were talking earlier about Russia?
00:17:45Russia? Well it seems like it's related.
00:17:48related. And, you know, building building a permanent army base US
00:17:51US army base in Poland to me is a
00:17:54a good move. Poland, of course, is
00:17:58is right there on Russia's flank.
00:18:00flank. And having a permanent US US military army presence there will
00:18:04will be a deterrent to Russian expansion
00:18:06expansion both there and in the Baltics.
00:18:09Baltics. And so that seems to me me it's a very expensive thing to
00:18:13to do to support a permanent US military military installation as compared
00:18:16compared to a temporary deployment. deployment. But that seems to me
00:18:19me to be a good move in terms of
00:18:22of the overall force review in Europe.
00:18:25Europe. You know, every administration administration ought to do force
00:18:28force reviews from time to time just just because you have forces in a
00:18:32a country for, you know, 20 years years doesn't mean they should be
00:18:35be there in perpetuity. You ought ought to always be analysing are
00:18:39are they mission driven? Are they they doing what they need to do?
00:18:42do? Is it the best way to accomplish
00:18:44accomplish your end, your end goals?
00:18:46goals? Those kinds of reviews? If
00:18:49If honestly thoroughly done, can
00:18:51can be very useful. Is it unusual, unusual, though, to announce the
00:18:55the building of this large base which which will house a lot of troops troops while you are still in the
00:18:59the middle of that review? Well,
00:19:03Well, you know, I think they've been
00:19:05been on separate time tracks. I think
00:19:07think that the negotiation or the the discussion of having a US permanent
00:19:11permanent US presence at a base in in Poland has been under way for
00:19:15for several years. And the review
00:19:17review has not been under way for
00:19:19for that period of time. But you
00:19:23you know, you can't perfectly co-ordinate co-ordinate every single time track
00:19:27track that you're on. So if you're you're going to build an Army base
00:19:30base that takes time to act, you you can announce it. But to actually
00:19:33actually do it also takes time. And
00:19:36And during that time period, the the overall force review will be
00:19:39be being accomplished. I mean, there there is a unique relationship that that the President has forged with
00:19:43with Poland able, but it is somewhat
00:19:46somewhat surprising given that Pete Pete Hegseth and the Pentagon have
00:19:48have made it clear Europe is going going to have to defend itself. If
00:19:51If that is the case, why is Poland Poland getting a new base and more
00:19:54more troops? Well, this is not a
00:19:58a gift. It's not a gift to Poland. Poland. I think this is a tripwire
00:20:02tripwire for the Russians. I mean, mean, I think you watch him all of
00:20:05of a sudden the Lindsey Graham bills bills going through Congress, it's
00:20:08it's going to be passed. It's going going to be signed. And then he comes
00:20:11comes out and he tweets today of
00:20:12of a base in Poland. If this is not
00:20:16not a message to Putin and to the
00:20:18the Russians, then I don't know what
00:20:21what it is, but I can tell you, I
00:20:23I think President Trump has had his
00:20:25his he's up to his ends with President
00:20:28President Putin. And at this point
00:20:30point in time, he's moving forward.
00:20:33forward. And yeah, it's going to. to. Be able to. To be more expensive
00:20:37expensive to go defend Poland. Do Do you tie it to the visit of the
00:20:40the CIA director to Moscow? And the the concerns there have been more
00:20:44more generally that Russia is going
00:20:45going to test Nato. I don't know know if it's a direct correlation.
00:20:49correlation. Oh I'm sorry. Go ahead ahead Janet. Go ahead. I'll follow
00:20:52follow you up. I don't see it as as a direct correlation. I just see
00:20:56see it as President Trump. Trump Trump coming to an end to saying
00:20:59saying enough is enough. I mean remember remember what he said. He can end
00:21:03end the Ukraine war in a week or
00:21:05or two. How long has it been? So
00:21:08So I think it's finally saying, OK, OK, enough is enough. So that's kind
00:21:12kind of how I feel it. My take on on it. You were going to come in
00:21:15in on that. I was just going to add
00:21:18add that Russia has been testing testing the waters against Nato for
00:21:21for quite a period of time now with
00:21:25with drones, with cyber warfare.
00:21:27warfare. Etc, etc. Seeing what will
00:21:30will actually provoke a reaction. reaction. And so far there hasn't
00:21:33hasn't been a kinetic reaction. But
00:21:36But they're clearly testing to see see how far they can go and how far
00:21:39far and how much the United States
00:21:41States is willing to absorb. And
00:21:43And I agree with Abel. I think the the combination of the sanctions
00:21:47sanctions bill with the announcement announcement of the base in Poland
00:21:49Poland is sending a pretty clear
00:21:52clear message to Putin. Interesting. Interesting. That's co-ordinated
00:21:54co-ordinated indeed. Now we're going going to talk about battles of a
00:21:58a different kind, not military ones, ones, but sporting ones. And because
00:22:02because we have a panel with us who who are joining us from California, California, we're going to have a
00:22:05a little talk about the Olympic Games,
00:22:07Games, which of course will be in
00:22:11in LA in 2028, just over 600 days days to go. For those who are counting.
00:22:15counting. And we will be watching watching a triathlon on Venice Beach.
00:22:19Beach. That will be spectacular. spectacular. There will be some road
00:22:21road cycling past the Griffith Observatory
00:22:23Observatory and there will be squash squash at Universal Studios. I wonder,
00:22:27wonder, will anyone photobomb the
00:22:29the back of that? But today the Olympic Olympic headlines are coming not
00:22:32not from the United States but from
00:22:35from Australia and Brisbane. Brisbane Brisbane 2032. Because a technical
00:22:38technical committee has just given given the go ahead for the rowing
00:22:41rowing and canoeing to be staged
00:22:43staged on a Queensland river which
00:22:45which is home to around 500 saltwater
00:22:48saltwater crocodiles. If there was was ever an incentive to stay in
00:22:51in the boat house, this is it. Apparently
00:22:54Apparently when the assessors went went to see the Fitzroy River in
00:22:58in Rockhampton, crocodiles weren't weren't even on the checklist. What?
00:23:00What? What? Instead, the committee committee said it was looking at
00:23:03at a range of conditions, including
00:23:05including weather patterns and water water levels. ISS crocodiles will
00:23:08will make you go a bit faster, would would they? The three time Olympic
00:23:12Olympic gold medallist rower Drew Drew Ginn has been commenting on
00:23:15on this today. He was on BBC Radio
00:23:18Radio and he said I am sure all the the athletes will row faster. There
00:23:22There you go. Of course they will. will. You don't want to be hanging
00:23:24hanging around for that Snap Snap Snap Snap. I don't think it's the
00:23:28the highest priority, he said. But But it was certainly cited very early
00:23:31early on. Yeah, I've just been looking
00:23:36looking at how fast crocodiles swim. swim. Saltwater crocodiles 20 mile
00:23:39mile an hour in short bursts. So So you're going to be pretty quick
00:23:43quick in that canoe. What are we we going to see? Lane number one,
00:23:47one, Great Britain. Lane number two.
00:23:48two. Australia. Where is number three?
00:23:51three? Eye contact. I thought, well,
00:23:55well, there must be. Are there any any risks? Janet. I thought in Venice
00:23:58Venice Beach and I asked I asked asked Claude about this since I is is the theme of the night. And he
00:24:02he said the shallow coastal waters waters around Los Angeles, including
00:24:05including Venice Beach, are recognised recognised by marine researchers
00:24:09researchers as a nursery area for
00:24:10for great white sharks. You know,
00:24:14know, there are risks everywhere. everywhere. I think we're going to to see some rowing world records
00:24:18records set, quite frankly. Suddenly
00:24:23Suddenly the field for squash at at Universal Studios has gone through
00:24:27through the roof. Nobody wants to
00:24:29to be in the water. It will be, though,
00:24:33though, quite the spectacle, Janet, Janet, won't it? The Olympic Games
00:24:36Games at Los Angeles. What are the the highlights we should be looking
00:24:39looking out for there? Well, I'm I'm looking. I'm excited. We saw
00:24:42saw what happened to Fifa. People People were coming to the US and
00:24:46and they were talking about all the the things that we do here, like
00:24:49like Popeyes and Costco and Walmart.
00:24:52Walmart. And I'm hopeful that the the US Olympics in Los Angeles does
00:24:56does the exact same thing and brings brings and welcomes people with open
00:24:59open arms here in LA. Shark free
00:25:03free shark free. Absolutely. Yeah.
00:25:08Yeah. Don't forget ranch dressing.
00:25:10dressing. Comes with ranch dressing. dressing. Ranch dressing? That is
00:25:14is a controversial one. We might might have to have a full hour long
00:25:17long debate on ranch. Dressing. It's
00:25:20It's so good. Just does it feel. feel. I mean, was I was intrigued,
00:25:23intrigued, actually, I must admit admit in my ignorance, I sort of
00:25:26of lost sight of the fact that it it was in LA. Does it feel. I mean,
00:25:29mean, when you go to LA, does it it feel that it's coming? It's still
00:25:32still what, about 600 days away? If you're asking
00:25:35away? If you're asking me if you're
00:25:38you're asking me. Yeah, it's still still quite a ways, Christian, but
00:25:42but we're getting ready. The 405 405 is already been fixed, so we're
00:25:46we're getting ready. The rings are are already out. The flags are already
00:25:49already out. Yeah, yeah. That traffic,
00:25:51traffic, that's a big deal. Well,
00:25:54Well, we'll talk about Olympics at at length. I'm sure for many of those
00:25:58those years to come, but we'll have have to leave it there for the moment.
00:26:01moment. Janet Napolitano and Abel Abel Maldonado, thank you for the
00:26:05the pleasure of your company. That That is it from Christine and myself. myself. Do stay
00:29:43MUSIC
00:30:16Hello, I'm Christian Fraser.
00:30:17This is The Context on BBC News.
00:30:20News. The headlines King Charles Charles warns of the existential
00:30:24existential dangers of AI systems systems falling into the wrong hands
00:30:27hands as he gathers the giants of of artificial intelligence at a summit
00:30:31summit in Scotland. Those in our
00:30:34our world who value deeply our humanity
00:30:37humanity and its vital moral component
00:30:39component are anxiously seeking your
00:30:42your reassurance that we will not
00:30:43not lose control of our destiny or
00:30:47or our souls. The head of Nato tells
00:30:49tells the BBC. There has to be a
00:30:51a credible path towards the UK meeting
00:30:54meeting targets to increase defence defence spending and the United Nations
00:30:58Nations warns of a serious decline decline in the amount of