Samsung workers secure $400,000 bonus deal on AI profits

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1:08You're listening to the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. Hello, I'm Oliver Conway. We're recording this at 15 hours GMT on Wednesday the 27th of May. Workers at Samsung secure bonuses of nearly$400 ,000. Have they set a precedent for sharing out the spoils of AI? A four-term US senator loses the Texas primary as MAGA exerts its grip of the Republican Party. And Spanish police have raided the headquarters of the governing Socialist Party. Also in this podcast, the Ghanaians fleeing racist threats in South Africa. Their lives were in danger. The economic activity that they were engaging in had come to a standstill.

1:51We felt unwelcome in this country. And? She even offered to pay for it when this was refused. saying that tap water should be just a standard part of the hotel service and she likened it to finding a bed with sheets and soap in a bathroom. A judge in Italy rules that hotels can refuse to give out free tap water.

2:15Should workers get to share in the profits of the AI boom? Well, employees at Samsung certainly think so and threaten to go on strike to make it happen. Now they've voted to accept a deal which will see about two-thirds of them get an annual bonus, averaging nearly$400 ,000 this year. Samsung accounts for about an eighth of South Korea's GDP and there were fears a strike could harm the economy. High demand for the firm's chips, which help power AI data centres, boosted its first quarter operating profit by 750%. But the pay deal has led to discontent in less profitable divisions of Samsung, with a smaller union trying to block the agreement.

2:56I heard more from our sole correspondent, Jake Kwon. They have decided to set aside 10.5 % of the operating profit every year as a bonus to be paid out in company stocks to the employees. The company's largest union has threatened to go on strike for 18 days, halting the production of memory chips, which would have had tens of billions of dollars in damage to the company and the economy as part of the lost revenue. And also, it was going to disrupt the global supply of these memory chips, which are a critical component in the AI database. Nearly 80 ,000 employees will be eligible for this bonus, nearly two-thirds of the company's workforce, but not everyone.

3:38How's that gone down? No, and I think what the vote had revealed is this internal conflict between the workers. About 73 % of the union has said yes to this deal, but that also means that there were a significant number of people who said no to this deal. These are people who are making smartphones and TVs, these other products from Samsung Electronics that we're very familiar with. These people who are not making memory chips, they're being given a few thousand dollars at the end of this year. Is it common for workers in Korea to get such big payouts? No, this is very uncommon. One theme that keeps coming up is how unequal this success is.

4:16While Samsung Electronics and SK Hynek, this major competitor, have passed$1 trillion in valuation this month, this is not the case for most other South Korean companies. These two companies comprise of about 40 % in the South Korean stock market. So I think a lot of people who are watching them are very envious. And there's a lot of conversation right now in South Korea. How does this benefit the society as a whole? How does this benefit South Korea's economy as a whole? Could it set a precedent for how the spoils from the AI boom are shared out? That debate is definitely going on. What we saw with Samsung, it was impacted by how SK Hynix, their main competitor, was paying out its workers about 10 % of the profit, similar deal to what Samsung employees got today.

5:03and the top policymakers here was saying that we need to start a conversation about what we're going to do with increased tax revenue that comes from this AI boom. Are we going to make a sovereign money pool that could be used to improve infrastructures or other national projects? Or are we going to start giving out as dividend to the rest of the citizens? I think it will be many years before we have a more concrete picture of what that equitable, fair deal will be. Jake Kwon in the South Korean capital, Seoul. Israel says it's killed Mohammed Oda, the new head of Hamas's military wing, just days after targeting his predecessor.

5:43He was one of at least 10 people said to have been killed in Gaza on Tuesday, despite the nominal ceasefire. The Israeli defence minister said he had been, quote, sent to meet his associates in the depths of hell. Our Middle East correspondent Yolan Nell has this update from Jerusalem. them. This man, Mohammed Oda, is just the latest Hamas leader to have been targeted by Israel. Israel is saying that he was one of the architects of the deadly attacks on Israel on the 7th of October 2023, at that time serving as the Hamas intelligence official, and that he had been promoted just in the past few days to become the leader overall of the Hamas armed wing.

6:25His family is saying that his funeral has just taken place after noon prayers, that he was killed along with his wife and his adult son in the apartment in Gaza City, where video footage came out showing this apartment ablaze, witnesses saying that it was targeted by several Israeli missiles. All of this really coming at a time when things seem so stuck in the indirect talks have been going on between Israel and Hamas on advancing to the next stages of President Trump's 20-point plan for Gaza. And it's been made clear by the US-led Board of Peace that unless Hamas disarms, there cannot be Israeli withdrawal of troops.

7:09There can't be real reconstruction taking place in Gaza. And the conditions there remain desperate. These are still very difficult times for people just at the moment celebrating the holiday of Eid al-Adha in this really dismal situation. Yelanel in Jerusalem. MAGA Republicans have once again shown their dominance of the party after the scandal-plagued but MAGA-aligned Ken Paxton beat the long-term Senator John Cornyn in the Texas Senate primary, despite being heavily outspent. Mr Paxton, who was endorsed by President Trump just a few days ago, will now face off against Democrat James Tallarico for the Senate seat in the midterm elections in November.

7:49Our North America correspondent David Willis has the details. It's a stunning defeat for a man who has served in Congress for close to a quarter of a century. John Corbyn had the backing of the Republican Party establishment, which spent close to$100 million seeking to ensure his re-election. It was not to be, however, after Donald Trump lobbed a missile into the middle of all of that by endorsing the Attorney General, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a man with a controversial record who has been the subject of charges including corruption, bribery and finance regulations, regulatory activities.

8:35activities. Now, what this does do, I think, is it underlines Donald Trump's ironclad grip over the Republican Party base. So this is not the first time that he has upended the apple cart in a Republican primary in recent weeks. We've seen similar things happen in Louisiana and Kentucky and significantly perhaps in his victory speech tonight. President Donald J. Trump. Ken Paxton described Donald Trump's endorsement as the most powerful force in American politics. When everyone in Washington told him to abandon me and abandon the people of Texas, he didn't listen. Instead, he gave his complete and total endorsement.

9:19This does open the field now for the Democratic candidate, James Tallarico, who has already issued a campaign video calling Ken Paxton the most corrupt politician in America. Democrats believe that this could help them to win a very rare Senate seat in the state of Texas. And, of course, that narrow Senate majority that the Republicans currently enjoy is up for grabs in those midterm elections in just a couple of months, November, here in the United States. David Willis and our Washington reporter Daniel Bush has more on the political fallout from the Texas primary on the BBC News YouTube channel today.

10:04Just search for Global News Podcast in the podcast section there. Spain's socialist government has long been dogged by allegations of corruption. Now police have raided the headquarters of the governing party. The former Prime Minister, José Luis Zapatero, is under investigation. and there are also accusations involving the family of the current Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez. Paul Moss has the latest. The scandals just keep expanding and expanding. The Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, his wife Begonia Gomez, she's charged with using her position to get a job she wasn't qualified for and using public cash for her own private interests.

10:41Then we have the brother of the Prime Minister. He's due to face trial accusing his connections to get a job with the socialist-run council. The former transport minister and an aide to the prime minister, they're currently on trial, along with a businessman accused of taking bribes when the government brought protection equipment to deal with COVID. And then, as you mentioned, the latest one is that the former socialist prime minister of Spain, José Luis Zapatero, has been told he's being formally investigated. That one is particularly complicated. It involves state money used to bail out an airline and whether those funds were used to help launder of money from Venezuela through France and Switzerland.

11:18I hope you managed to keep up with all of that. Yeah, lots to look into. So what's happened today? Today, we saw the police raiding the Socialist Party headquarters in Madrid. Now, financial scandals tend to be rather slow, you know, accountants pouring over budgets and balance sheets. It really was quite dramatic today. The police were from the Guardia Civil, which is Spain's national police force, a bit like the FBI, but more paramilitary. I mean, if they're coming in and you really are in trouble, They're looking for documents in another scandal, which involves the SEPI, that sort of Spain's sovereign wealth fund, a bit like that.

11:52And there's allegations of corruption there involving more than$100 million. That case has already led to several people being arrested. We're told that the Guardia Civil also went to two people's homes today. Now, I should say that all of the people involved in all of these scandals deny any wrongdoing. So are there any political ramifications from all this? There certainly are. I mean, Spain's opposition Conservative Party was quick off the mark on Wednesday. The party's leader, Alberto Ferro, said the government stank of corruption. He called for the prime minister to resign. Indeed, there were anti-government demonstrations in Madrid on Saturday.

12:26That saw more than 100 ,000 people on the streets also demanding the prime minister step down because of the scandals. The conservatives' problem, though, is that they've had a lot of scandals of their own. Indeed, the current prime minister came to power promising to clean up after their corruption. I think the political party that's really doing well out of this is Spain's far-right party, Vox. Now, they're known for their anti-immigrant stance, but like most insurgent parties in Europe these days, they tend to say, look at the mainstream parties, look at them, they're all corrupt, they're all useless, vote for us and you will get change.

12:59I think the Vox party leaders, after today's events, will be grinning even more. Paul Moss. For the first time since the start of the war in Iran, People there have been able to go online to speak to family and friends outside the country. Internet access was tightened by the authorities over fears that it could be used by protesters, though some people were able to get round the restrictions by using expensive VPNs or satellite technology. Our world news correspondent, Joe Inwood, has been listening to people reconnect. Separated by an ocean and the longest ever internet shutdown, and aunt and her niece speak for the first time in three months.

13:50Switching to English, they let us record their conversation. How are you feeling being connected? I feel like I'm coming out of prison and I feel like I'm born again. And after I connected to you and you called it to you, I feel like I'm travelling to the 21st century from the 15th century. It's like you time travelled. Reunions like this will have been taking place all over Iran as slowly the crippling shutdown of the internet is partially lifted. This was the announcement being made by an Iranian government spokeswoman. We hope that in the coming days we will quickly be able to restore these legitimate rights to the people, she says.

14:44But as of last night, there did not appear to be a flood of videos being posted. The lifting of restrictions seems to be happening slowly. and many on the streets of Tehran and elsewhere had managed to stay online but using expensive VPNs or illegal satellite connections. For many this was not an option. Hantia is a computer sciences student. As she sits on a hill overlooking the capital she scrolls through her Instagram feed. For her a return to legal internet means a return to making a living.

15:24I'm very happy that the internet is going to be restored because businesses can get back to normal. I had an online shop for a while and sold products. Definitely it will benefit us. But the only problem is the censorship. If they come up with a good solution and correct solution to this, many problems would be solved. I'm very happy to speak to you after so long. But for the aunt and niece, it is all about finally being able to talk to each other. And it was really good to hear your voice again after so long time. I'm so happy. That report by Jo Inwood. And still to come on the podcast... This is the most expensive Eid on record.

16:08Shia prices have simply never been this high. How the high cost of living is affecting Eid celebrations for Muslims around the world.

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17:21Restrictions apply. See the website for full terms and conditions. There's a rare type of Ebola spreading in Central Africa, and it has no vaccine. The WHO has declared a public health emergency of international concern, and the U.S. has restricted entry for people coming from some African countries. What does this deadly outbreak tell us about how prepared or not we are for an international health crisis? For more, check out The Global Story on BBC.com or wherever you listen.

17:56Much of Bolivia has been brought to a halt this week as a result of roadblocks by trade unions and supporters of the former left-wing president Evo Morales. Police use tear gas to disperse protesters in the administrative capital, La Paz. They've been calling on the government to resign and for an end to austerity. He has discriminated against us. This hunger-inducing government has treated us like vandals. because it wants to take our natural resources, but we are not going to let him extract them. We're not asking for dialogue. There's no room for dialogue anymore. Even if they beg, the people don't want that anymore.

18:36Bolivia's Congress has now approved legislation which would give the authorities more power to disperse such protests. I heard more from our Online America's editor, Vanessa Buschlutter. The emergency measures allow the president to curtail the freedom of movement and the freedom of assembly of people if he sees fit. One of the key things is also that allows him to deploy the army, soldiers, to break up protests if he thinks that is needed. Now, that was possible before, up until 2020 under the Bolivian constitution. But then a new law was brought in tying the hands of the president, some lawmakers would say, by curtailing those powers.

19:19And that law has now been repealed. Why is the government facing so much criticism? Rodrigo Paz, the president who's been in power for six months, is really between a rock and a hard place because he was elected as a centre-right leader. And there were candidates to his right and also candidates to his left. And both of those camps are attacking him. The right thinks he's not doing enough to implement austerity measures and that he should crack down harder on these protests. And the left says that he's not negotiating enough with them, that he's not involving sectors of society such as the miners, the indigenous community and farmers enough in his decision making.

20:03And how bad is the disruption in Bolivia? It's massive because a lot of these protests have been taking place in La Paz, which is a key city, and their shortages of medicine, of fuel, of food and water have been really severe, to the point that the government has asked foreign nations to help with humanitarian aid. And also the First Lady, for example, asked for people in other regions of Bolivia to send bottled water to La Paz to help the people affected there. Vanessa Buschlutter. Over the past two decades, South Africa has experienced waves of violent xenophobic attacks. Last week in Durban, several hundred people from countries like Rwanda, Somalia and Congo sought protection, saying locals were going door to door telling them to leave.

20:54Now Ghana is repatriating around 800 of its citizens. The BBC saw dozens checking in for flights to Accra at Johannesburg's international airport. Also there was the Ghanaian High Commissioner, Benjamin Kwasi. We felt that their lives were in danger. We felt like the economic activity that they were engaging in had come to a standstill. We felt unwelcome in this country. And it is the responsibility of every government to ensure that its citizens are taken care of both home and abroad. Our correspondent in Johannesburg is Mayeni Jones. It's quite a confusing story, really. The Ghanaians say that their citizens have been targeted in these latest protests.

21:32They've been asked to leave. they don't feel safe here. The Ghanaian citizens were reluctant to talk to the media. Some said that they had been told by the High Commissioner not to speak to journalists. So we couldn't get much clarity on why they were leaving. The South African authorities have said that they're trying to crack down on this issue of illegal migration. But there are growing calls from South African citizens who blame migrants for a lot of the pressure that they're feeling on public services. So at the moment, yes, it's a murky situation and quite unclear what's really going on.

22:04Might other countries follow Ghana's lead? Yes, Nigeria has said it wants to repatriate its citizens. South Africa, as you mentioned in your introduction, has had these flare-ups of xenophobic violence in the past. And so lots of people, lots of African countries are concerned that this current wave of anti-immigration protests could end up escalating to the type of violence we've seen in the past. And do people continue to go to South Africa even though they face such hostility? It's Africa's most industrialised nation and one of its biggest economies. So it's certainly been a draw for migrants, particularly from Southern Africa.

22:40And that's what's infuriating a lot of South Africans. They say that at a time when unemployment is high, they've got one of the highest rates of youth unemployment anywhere in the world at around 40%. They say it's time to prioritise South Africans, particularly young South Africans, for jobs and to make sure that illegal migrants aren't coming here and undercutting them, taking jobs, accepting lower wages. And it's also worth mentioning that this is a local election year, so lots of politicians are capitalising on this feeling to try and push an anti-immigrant agenda and try and suggest to their electorate that they are the right party to vote for.

23:18Mayeni Jones in Johannesburg. Muslims around the world are celebrating Eid al-Adha this week. The holiday honours the tradition of the Prophet Abraham, who was ordered by God to sacrifice a ram. Families typically purchase a sheep or goat, sharing the meat with loved ones and giving some to the poor. But this year, the high global cost of living and soaring sheep prices mean many can't afford to take part. Mark Lobel heard from Jehan Rahou from the Moroccan news website Balaman Today. Estimates suggest that this is the most expensive aid on record. Sheep prices have simply never been this high.

23:57For example, in Sudan, a country that historically has been able to provide enough local supply to cover demand during aid, energy prices have soared for over 100%. And the average cost of sheep is more than what the average public employee gets paid. A monthly wage just to pay for one of these sheep, which is so important to people at this time. I mean, how vital is Eid to local economies across the Muslim world? I would dare say it's one of the biggest spending holidays across Muslim countries. Data shows that Muslims buy over 15 million heads of sheep during this holiday. And it's not just livestock.

24:41For example, this holiday has a ripple effect across the broader economy. as spending increases on stuff like travel, shopping, and of course, indirectly through industries like the leather industry. And in some countries, for example, in Somalia, livestock is literally the backbone of the economy, as it accounts roughly for 40 % of the local GDP. What we're seeing is that many families are either opting out, or the worst alternative, which is that families are resorting to, in extreme cases, bank loans to be able to celebrate this holiday, as it's not only about religion anymore. It also has a very important cultural dimension, as choosing to celebrate Laid or not can be also a reflection of social status.

25:33Jehan Rahou talking to Marc Lebel. Finally, should you have a right to tap water when eating a meal in a restaurant or hotel. Italy's highest court of appeal says no, rejecting a claim for compensation from a tourist unhappy that the hotel where she was staying would only give her bottled water. Chantal Hartle takes up the story. It's a case that goes back a very long time, actually, several years. 2019 was when the woman spent a week at this five-star hotel in a ski resort in the Dolomites area, which ironically has some of the purest water around. Now this woman, she was on a half-bought deal with dinner included except for her drinks and Italian media are saying that she repeatedly asked for tap water with the meal, so much so that she even offered to pay for it when this was refused.

26:23Now each night when she went down for dinner she found that she had an eight dollar bottle of water on the table despite her requests. So she took legal action saying that tap water should be just a standard part of the hotel service. And she likened it to finding a bed with sheets and soap in a bathroom. Her case was dismissed, so she then appealed. And now the Italian Supreme Court has confirmed what always stood really, that there is no law in Italy obliging restaurants or hotels to provide tap water and that the decision to serve it is up to individual venues and indeed what sort of brand of water as well.