King makes history by praying with Pope

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0:30Find out more at polandyourplacetogrow.com. If journalism is the first draft of history, what happens if that draft is flawed? In 1999, four Russian apartment buildings were bombed, hundreds killed. But even now, we still don't know for sure who did it. It's a mystery that sparked chilling theories. I'm Helena Merriman, and in a new BBC series, I'm talking to the reporters who first covered this story. What did they miss the first time? The History Bureau, Putin and the apartment bombs. Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts. You're listening to the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service.

1:16Hello, I'm Oliver Conway. We're recording this at 15 hours GMT on Thursday, the 23rd of October. Five centuries after Henry VIII broke with Rome, King Charles formally ends the rift by praying alongside the Pope. The EU joins the US in announcing new economic sanctions on Russia over the war in Ukraine. And a court in Northern Ireland acquits a British soldier of killing unarmed civilians on Bloody Sunday in 1972. Also in the podcast... You have to stop the boats. Yes, it's madness. Madness. But could France do more to prevent migrants crossing the English Channel?

2:04Nearly 500 years ago, Henry VIII of England broke with the Roman Catholic Church, triggering centuries of religious strife in his kingdom. Today, his distant successor has signalled that that rift is well and truly over. King Charles III, head of the Church of England, went to Rome to pray with the Pope.

2:30O God, make speed to save us. O Lord, make speed to save us. You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honour and power. For you created all things that have existed and were created. The service in the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican focused on conservation and protection for the environment, a cause long championed by King Charles. He and his wife Queen Camilla also had a private audience with Pope Leo and exchanged gifts. In Britain, Catholics and Protestants have largely abandoned any historic grievances. But this was still an important moment, as I heard from our correspondent in the Vatican, Mark Lowen.

3:15I mean, when Henry VIII broke with Rome in 1534, the relationship between the Church of England and the Catholic Church began, and it has often been rocky, it has often been tense, there has been mistrust between the two denominations and it has warmed in recent decades but really today was sort of unprecedented in its symbolism of the Supreme Governor of the Church of England, the British monarch, praying alongside the head of the Catholic Church, Pope Leo XIV. It is thought that Charles' mother, the late Queen Elizabeth II, wanted to pray beside the then Pope John Paul II and when she visited the Vatican in the year 2000, but it was feared at that stage that it could upset factions within the Church of England.

3:58That has not been the case today. So beneath the splendid frescoes of Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel, this moment of real symbolism and unity and reconciliation. The King and Queen have left the Vatican. They've actually gone across Rome to a papal basilica called the Basilica of St Paul's outside the Wall. And that is where another moment of symbolism is happening, because King Charles is receiving the title of Royal Confrata, again, symbolising kind of the unity between the two wings of the Christian faith. And he will be given a seat inside that basilica with his coat of arms, and he and his successors as British monarch will be able to sit in that chair.

4:42Now, it is the basilica in which there is the tomb of St Paul, and the English crown for centuries, back to the Saxons, have been involved in the upkeep of the tomb of St Paul. And so it is also, there is a huge connection between Britain and that church and once again symbolising that unity today. I have to say that, you know, that is the kind of historical background to all of this and the historical moments to all of this. But of course there is another thing happening behind the scenes on this trip and that is the framework of what is happening in the UK as the scandal and controversy over Prince Andrew, the king's younger brother, deepens over his relationship with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and also, of course, the fact that he has been found to have been living rent-free in a 30-room mansion on the Windsor Estate.

5:30So that scandal and controversy over Prince Andrew deepens, but the palace, Buckingham Palace, very much hoping that that does not overshadow or distract from the importance and symbolism of this trip here at the Vatican today. Did you get a sense from the Pope and the King that they knew this was a moment of history? I think you couldn't escape that, really. I mean, the King wanted to pay a state visit to the Vatican for some time. They wanted to come actually during the papacy of the late Pope Francis, and they tried in April to come, but Francis was too ill and then died a few days later. They met him privately during their 20th wedding anniversary trip here to Italy.

6:09but you know there was so much importance placed by the royal family on this as a state visits to the holy see which is an institution you know the governance of the church which actually is involved in many issues that the royal family feel very deeply about you know climate change protection of women and and stopping women trafficking and the like but also that kind of religious importance i mean charles is a man of faith and clearly it was important for him and his wife to be involved in this moment of real theological and religious symbolism Mark Lowen in Rome. Since he returned to the White House, Donald Trump has given mixed signals about his attitude towards Russia.

6:47Last week, the US president appeared to side with Vladimir Putin in his demand that Ukraine surrender the whole of its eastern Donbass region. But in another U-turn yesterday, President Trump criticised his Russian counterpart, saying, every time I speak to Vladimir, I have good conversations, and then they don't go anywhere. And the US has announced plans for new sanctions on Russia's two largest oil companies. The former Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev, said it meant the US was now on the warpath against Russia. And this was the view of Kremlin advisor Andrei Fedorov. The situation is serious because Lukoil and Rosneft, it's about 80 % of Russian oil export, and these two companies are the main suppliers for India and China.

7:33So it means that it could seriously damage Russian income. And it's very important because this year, a budget deficit is three times more than it was expected. This situation is quite negative also for the dialogue between Russia and United States. And we can expect that there might be a very clear, visible escalation of negative tendencies in coming days. The Ukrainian president, Vladimir Zelensky, welcomed the US decision, saying it would increase the pressure on Vladimir Putin to end the war. This is a good signal to other countries in the world to join the sanctions. You know that not only energy, we need shadow fleet, etc.

8:18and continue and continue until Putin will stop this war. So these are decisions very important. Ceasefire is possible, of course. And I think all of us need ceasefire. But we need more pressure on Russia for ceasefire. Mr Zelensky was speaking at a European summit in Brussels, where EU countries formally adopted a 19th package of sanctions against Russia. The meeting is also discussing whether to agree a huge loan to Ukraine funded by frozen Russian assets. Our Ukraine correspondent James Waterhouse is in Brussels. I asked him first how important are these US sanctions? I think they're central to any Western hopes of pressuring Russia to stop this war in a non-military sense.

9:01Of course, Moscow has its own problems with the extraordinary cost in manpower its tactics have seen. Its offensive for this year has yielded relatively small returns in terms of seized Ukrainian territory. In this war of attrition, it's about who loses first, and at the moment that would be Ukraine. That is why the fighting continues. But it is widely accepted that America, and America alone really, alongside its allies, has the capability to put the squeeze on the Kremlin to make it think twice about continuing this invasion. Thus far, Donald Trump had resisted taking direct action. We saw President Zelensky leave empty-handed last week when he was looking to get the green light to use US missiles.

9:46And all of a sudden, ahead of this gathering of EU leaders, there's a renewed impetus, because you now have the US sanctioning two of Russia's biggest oil companies. That is concrete action. It's being welcomed by EU officials here. And now the talk is about propping up Ukraine in a financial sense. There seems to be consensus on supporting Ukraine and its hold in its finances for the next couple of years because Ukraine has got a black hole to the tune of tens of billions of pounds. Where there is less agreement is over the question of giving Ukraine an enormous loan,£122 billion, which will be funded by frozen Russian assets.

10:22At the moment, that very idea is illegal under international law, and it's that that is making some European members a little bit uncomfortable. Yeah, I mean, if that happens, that big loan, how would it work and how might Russia react to the use of its frozen assets? Well, you lead us to another area of disagreement. In theory, it would see Ukraine prop up its own public services, it would pay public salaries, but most of all it would continue its war effort in terms of the humanitarian work that goes on, in terms of military equipment and in terms of military contracts. contract. I mean, take your pick.

10:57When you're a country on the receiving end of a full-scale invasion, you bleed resources in just about every sense. So this will be welcomed by Ukraine. But I think if we're talking through a military lens, what Zelensky really wants are American air defence systems, these Patriot missile batteries, as well as long-range cruise missiles to strike deep inside Russia. There are reports that some of the restrictions on Ukraine are being lifted slightly by Western allies on using their missiles to hit inside Russia to frustrate its war effort, its supply lines, its oil refineries, for example. So there is a very slow direction of travel.

11:37But ultimately, if you look at the ongoing cycle we find ourselves in, this not-so-merry-go-round of Russia playing lip service in the eyes of the West on the idea of peace talks but not actually committing to anything, Donald Trump being reluctant to get tough with Moscow and Ukraine continuing to fight this war. This will be a welcome changing of the tide. James Waterhouse in Brussels. Well, the Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, said any action by the EU to confiscate Russian assets would result in a painful response. For more on the reaction from Moscow, I've been speaking to Alexei Kalmykov from the BBC Russian Service.

12:14So far, Russia has dismissed any economic impact from any sanctions from the West. And And meanwhile, it's been building a parallel universe of trade, which allows it to continue shipping its main expert product, oil and oil products, to different customers like China and India. So, so far it's not affected. Because Trump gave both the companies that were sanctioned yesterday, they gave them four weeks to wind down their business. And we'll see if the sanctions stick after these four weeks. So should this be seen more as the US trying to put pressure on Vladimir Putin to come and negotiate rather than a serious attempt to damage the Russian economy?

12:55Absolutely. Trump wanted to apply more pressure on Putin. There are many, many more things available. As we know, as you've just mentioned today, the European Union has adopted a new package of sanctions. And so far, Trump hasn't done a single thing during his second term. And this is the first time. His first warning shot. He's going after two Russian oil companies. But he could have, say, joined the oil price cup, which the European Union and the United Kingdom, by the way, lowered in September. He didn't. He could have gone after the shippers. He could have done after the buyers of the Russian oil, especially in China and India.

13:34He didn't. So all he's done now, and he's just, he's warning. Maybe it is a negotiating tactic, as it's often the case with Trump, or maybe it's a genuine intention to pressure Russia economically. But again, there are better ways to do that. If Trump would give weapons to Ukraine, that would basically be a more coherent and a more impactful move from him. Now, despite the fact that President Trump has given Russia a four-week period before these sanctions come into effect, oil prices have risen. So what might be the impact on the global economy? Yeah, it's a very good question. For Russia, the rising price of oil obviously promises more revenue if it can export its oil.

14:21But the main beneficiary here will be the United States because, as we know, the world is heading towards a glut of oil supply. Everybody on the market is warning that there's more and more barrels coming into the market. And three main oil producers in the world, the United States, Saudi Arabia, and Russia, have to decide which barrels to take off the market. So by sanctioning Russian oil industry, Trump is pursuing his own agenda as well. He's supporting American oil industry because as soon as the price goes down, at some point, American oil industry will stop producing things unlike Saudi Arabia and Russia.

14:59So there's many factors in play and Trump is playing these cards for a while. We'll see how it works out. Alexei Kalmikov of the BBC Russian Service. Next, it was one of the darkest moments of the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

15:20On the 30th of January 1972, civil rights demonstrators in Londonderry came under fire from British soldiers. 13 of them were killed, a 14th died later. For years, families of the victims have been demanding justice. Only one veteran has ever been prosecuted, a British paratrooper known as Soldier F. Today, he was cleared of murdering two people that day. Michael Kelly died on bloody Sunday. His brother John attended the trial. It even puts me back to where I was that day, and to where I ended up with Michael. Because I helped carry Michael on the day afterwards and place them in the ambulance.

15:58Even going through that, again, it's worthwhile to me. Northern Ireland's First Minister, Nationalist Michelle O 'Neill, condemned the verdict as a denial of justice, but it was welcomed by military veterans. Paul Young is from the Northern Ireland Veterans Movement. Veterans across the whole of the United Kingdom that served in Northern Ireland with honour and courage will be pardoned by this verdict today. Well, I spoke to the BBC's Sarah Gervin outside court in Belfast. The events of Bloody Sunday are absolutely synonymous with Northern Ireland's troubles. I mean, that was 30 years of violence during which three and a half thousand people were killed, which ended in 1998.

16:43Now, this morning, we've been hearing from the judge. It took a long time to deliver his findings, his verdict, which again, I think demonstrates just how complicated this case has been. This has been a five week trial. We've heard a lot of evidence from people who were there on Bloody Sunday, some of them recounting what it was like to be shot and to see people killed in front of them, others telling the court that they actually pretended to be dead so that they wouldn't be shot again by British paratroopers. There was also evidence heard from two soldiers called G and H. their anonymity orders protecting their identity as there is with soldier F.

17:26Now they had served with him that day in 1972. They had recalled in their evidence shooting at civilians on that day. They claimed those individuals had been armed, something the judge said today that previous inquiries have found was not the case. And the defence had argued in court over the past few weeks that the statements from those soldiers simply couldn't be relied upon. They were 53 years old and they were inconsistent. But the prosecution argued that they were consistent when it came to soldier F. Now, I've just made a note of some of the judge's comments that I guess stood out to me.

18:05He acknowledged the quiet dignity of the Bloody Sunday families and said that they'd had to listen to absolutely harrowing details. And he said that what had happened that day had done so. 13 people were killed, he said, in a time span measurable in seconds. He said one voice was missing during that trial. It was that of Soldier F, he said, and he said he could only assume because there was nothing he could say that would help his case. And he had some very strong words about the actions of the soldiers of those days. He said that they should hang their heads in shame. But in the end, he found that the Crown case, you know, they couldn't prove beyond a reasonable doubt.

18:45And as you've been explaining, he found him not guilty on seven charges. That's two of murder and five of attempted murder. And tell us why it's taken so long for this to come to trial. I mean, it's 50, more than 50 years since Bloody Sunday. I know it seems incredible that it should take 53 years for this to come to trial. Look, with things that concern Northern Ireland's legacy, its violent past, it is really complicated. It was only in 2010 that an inquiry found that on the balance of probability, soldiers had fired first and those who were hit didn't pose any threat. And it was only then that the police investigation began.

19:28And that's taken us through to today's trial and that verdict of not guilty on those seven charges. Sarah Gervin outside court in Belfast. And still to come on the Global News podcast. Once they try it, they end up talking more, laughing more, and you can actually feel the difference in the atmosphere. How one cafe owner is trying to make his customers connect by locking away their phones.

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20:41But even now, we still don't know for sure who did it. It's a mystery that sparked chilling theories. I'm Helena Merriman, and in a new BBC series, I'm talking to the reporters who first covered this story. What did they miss the first time? The History Bureau, Putin and the apartment bombs. Listen on bbc.com or wherever you get your podcasts.

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22:32Are we living in a new world of strength, power and force? Well, that's what President Trump's advisor, Stephen Miller, says. The recent U.S. intervention in Venezuela suggests we may be moving into a new world order. So every day this week, The Global Story is joining forces with our BBC podcast friends around the world who have unmatched reporting expertise in their regions. What is a sphere of influence? Who's got one? And if you're not a predator these days, does that mean you're a prey? Listen to The Global Story on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.

23:14Since Mao's time, China has followed a series of five-year plans, including the Great Leap Forward, which left tens of millions dead. The latest blueprint has just been approved by the Central Committee of the ruling Communist Party, even as China faces economic headwinds and a trade dispute with the US. There were also some political changes at the four-day meeting, with 11 members replaced, the most since 2017. And just before it started, nine generals were sacked for corruption. I heard more about the new five-year plan from Stephen McDonnell in Beijing. The document that's been released after the four-day closed-door session, it's a big sweeping document.

23:54This is not the sort of thing where you get specifics, but it's the vision thing, I guess is one way people would put it. And what it's all about really is tackling China's massive economic challenges. And central to this is this emphasis on scientific and technological self-reliance. Now, why would they be talking about that? Because the Trump administration continues to restrict and threaten more restrictions on access to computer chips, advanced software and the like. And so this is the Communist Party's way of saying, look, we need to up our game in terms of being able to produce all this stuff ourselves in a time of uncertainty.

24:32I mean, it also speaks about making up for lost export revenue by boosting domestic consumption. Same reason. It's all about this time of political uncertainty. If you can't keep exporting as much stuff, you need to rely on this huge domestic market. That said, China has been doing a pretty good job of finding other export markets. following a drop-off in sales to the US, and recent export figures are still looking pretty good. You know, it's all about technology and this type of thing. Talking about the military, it's the same thing. Boosting military, cutting-edge technology. And also, I suppose, trying to steer the country into a sort of more modern path.

25:13I mean, the broad shift in China has been turning this country from a place that produces cheap sneakers and what have you, to a high-tech powerhouse. And it has gone a long way along the road to achieving that. But the priority is going to be even more of this, according to this five-year plan that's been approved by the party. Of course, one of the problems China is grappling with at the moment is high unemployment. What are those sackings of generals and the replacement of members of the Central Committee? What do they say about the politics of all this? Yeah, well, in terms of the military, there are a lot of unemployed officers.

25:52after just days ago this anti-corruption drive which has been sweeping through the military over recent years I should add especially through the rocket force which has seen a lot of people purged well just the end of last week prior to this meeting happening number three in line in the People's Liberation Army was purged and they've approved a new vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, General Zheng Shengmin. He's now number three in the PLA behind another General Xi Jinping at the helm. And so yes, there have been new appointments to make up for those lost positions. But some would wonder why Xi Jinping sees the need to keep sacking all these top military officials.