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Episode details

World Service,02 May 2026,54 mins

US withdrawing 5,000 troops from Germany

Weekend

Available for 29 days

The US says it will withdraw five thousand of its troops from Germany, as a rift widens between the two countries. The Pentagon said the troops would be removed over the next six to twelve months, amid a spat between President Donald Trump and the German Chancellor Friedrich Merz over the war with Iran. Also in the programme: a tribute to two young Sudanese intellectuals who died suddenly in April, and a look back on King Charles' historic visit to the United States. Presenter Julian Worricker is joined in the studio by Jill Rutter, senior fellow at the Institute for Government think-tank in the UK, and Joe Studwell, author and journalist and visiting fellow at the Overseas Development Institute global organisation based in London. (Photo: Badge of a soldier is seen during the 'Combined Resolve' exercise at 7th Army Training Command's Joint Multinational Readiness Center in Hohenfels, Germany, 30 April 2026. Credit: Photo by ANNA SZILAGYI/EPA/Shutterstock)

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