Xi Jinping leads summit after Trump leaves

0:00This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. 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. This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service.

0:47I'm Alex Ritson and on Friday, the 31st of October, these are our main stories. Xi Jinping takes centre stage at the APEC conference in South Korea after Donald Trump's departure from the gathering of leaders of Pacific nations. Tales of horror from Sudan from those able to flee El Fasher after the takeover by the paramilitary RSF. No longer a prince, Andrew is banished by his brother, King Charles, in an effort to distance the British monarchy from scandal. Also in this podcast, why churches are helping the spirit of Halloween. Bats have been associated with churches for a very long time, really, and the timbers in the roof are like branches.

1:32Churches have become very important to bats historically.

1:39Donald Trump may no longer be at the APEC summit in South Korea, but many other world leaders are still there doing deals. And taking undisputed centre stage is China's Xi Jinping. He told an audience that changes unseen in a century were accelerating across the world. As part of his diplomatic offensive, Mr. Xi met a number of other leaders on Friday, including the new Japanese Prime Minister Sanei Takai-chi. He also sat down with the Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who echoed Mr. Xi's thought that this was a time of profound global change. Today, we're facing another hinge moment in history.

2:20Our world is undergoing one of the most profound shifts since the fall of the Berlin Wall. And that old world, the world in which APEC prospered but also helped to foster, that old world of steady expansion of rules-based liberalised trade and investment, a world on which so much of our nation's prosperity, very much Canada's included, that world is gone. I asked our correspondent in Seoul, Jake Kwon, what President Xi has been saying. Mr. Xi has addressed the world leaders today and the theme was one of collaboration and open economies. And this has been an opportunity for Chinese leader Xi Jinping to expand China's influence among these world leaders who represent some 60 percent of the world's GDP and 40 percent of the global population.

3:07We have expected China to approach these countries with the aim of keeping an open market for Chinese products. And that's exactly what he told them this morning. And Mr. Xi will also approach the middle powers and developing economies with an offer of investment in infrastructure so he can align them closer to China. and he can do all of this without his rival, President Donald Trump, in the room. And I think we also saw some of the language shift. We just heard, you know, Prime Minister Carney there. And the language had shifted after President Donald Trump has left South Korea. There was no more fawning over this new world that is great that Mr.

3:41Trump is creating. But the leaders are now addressing the elephant in the room, that there is a danger here as the world is now fractured and free trade has become a thing of the past. And we just heard the host of this APEC summit, President Lee Jae-myung, telling his peers that we are in fact in a crisis, that there is much uncertainty, that trade and investments are slowing down. The time of theatrics seems to be over and we are seeing the world leaders really getting down to the business. Yeah, as we've been saying, Xi met Mark Carney, the Canadian prime minister, also the Japanese prime minister, Sanei Takai-chi.

4:14Do we know what came out of those meetings? Well, both leaders had issues to iron out with Chinese leaders. So this was a very important opportunity for both leaders. And we understand they have met briefly. It was a very brief chat between these leaders. I think between Japan and China, I think Canada's situation has been perhaps more dire. And China is Canada's number two trading partner after the U.S. But their relationship with China really froze over since 2018 when Canada arrested a Chinese telecom executive on the U.S.'s behalf. And then China detained two Canadians on spy charges in retaliation.

4:50So this awful relationship has been continuing until today. And in recent months, two countries have been also putting up economic barriers against each other, namely the Chinese tariffs on canola oil, which is Canada's major agricultural export. So when it comes to Japan, they also have to address the somewhat cold air in the room when Prime Minister Takeuchi entered the office. She never congratulated her, which he has done for all her predecessors. Now, we won't know why she never sent a congratulation letter, but it was speculated that it was because she was considered a nationalist and a hawk when it comes to the relationship with China.

5:28So all these countries now all have something in common, that they're receiving the brunt of America's trade warfare. And Mr. Trump has further raised tariffs on Canada just last week. So, you know, these countries have reasons to find relief from this new trade war by cooperating with each other, seeking to upgrade the trade relationship, as well as ironing out any kind of security problems and cold problems that they had in the recent years. Jake Kwon at the APEC summit in South Korea. The horror is continuing in Darfur, says the United Nations, as aid agencies in Sudan express their fears that not enough people are being allowed to leave the city of Al-Fasha, which fell to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces at the weekend.

6:21The RSF has acknowledged that violence against civilians has been committed by some of its fighters, and several of them have been arrested, including Abu Lulu, who's been accused of summary executions. Tom Perriello was the last US special envoy to Sudan. He left the post when President Trump returned to the White House this year and has not been replaced. Mr Perriello said that the RSF needed investigating. It's crimes against humanity and an active campaign of ethnically cleansing and committing genocide in that area. This is a moment where I think the world, which has been ignoring these horrific atrocities in Sudan, needs to say very clearly that these must end and that there are going to be immediate consequences for those who are part of the RSF leadership or connected to supporting it.

7:08Our Africa correspondent Barbara Plett-Usher has heard from some of the people who've managed to escape Al-Fashir by walking to the town of Tawila, 80 kilometres away. A nurse is probing for bullets in the broken flesh of this man, his bare torso showing he was shot several times as he fled Al-Fashir, now getting treatment at this camp in Toila. The men are often a target. The paramilitaries who've captured the city suspect they belong to the army. That's what happened to this patient.

7:42By God, brother, someone coming from Al-Fasha says to you, you're a soldier. You say to him, I'm not a soldier. And they say, no, they threaten you with a weapon to your head. What does that mean? We don't understand anything. They beat us badly. And the thirst, the thirst. They took our water and one of them says to the other, I will kill him. And the other replies, let him die of thirst. Yusra Ibrahim Mohamed is in the same tent at this clinic run by the medical charity Doctors Without Borders. She describes making the decision to leave the city after her husband, a soldier, was killed. We left three days ago, moving to avoid the artillery areas, she says.

8:23The people guiding us didn't know what was happening. If someone resisted the RSF fighters, they were beaten or robbed or even executed. I saw dead bodies in the streets.

8:35Ahmed Osman Ibrahim got shot three times when the group he was with tried to escape. But he was one of the lucky ones. There were seven of us who left together. Four of them, the RSF killed them in front of us, bit them and killed them.

8:55On the road from Al-Fashr, there is danger of being attacked and robbed by militias. Many people already weak or injured walk most of the way. At this last checkpoint, finally getting a ride to the camp.

9:10The fall of Al-Fashr is a major victory for the RSF and a turning point in Sudan's civil war.

9:19But it's the evidence of atrocities that has captured world attention. The paramilitary is posting videos showing mass killings of unarmed people. In a recent speech, the RSF's commander, Mohamed Hamdan Degalo, admitted some violations and promised investigations. A day later, the group reported to the UN it had arrested some suspects. Al-Fashir is only one battlefield in a terrible war that's killed tens of thousands, displaced millions and driven half the country into crisis. Those who made it to Tawila have survived against the odds one of the darkest chapters in this conflict. But with the RSF determined to consolidate its gains, no one here feels safe.

10:02Barbara Platt Usher The name of King Charles' brother Andrew is no longer on the role of the peerage, the official record of the highest ranking and titled in Britain. He lost his right to be called prince on Thursday after the King took the honour away from him because of allegations that he had sex with Virginia Giffray, a teenager who was trafficked by his friend, the child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, as he must now be known, denies the claims. My colleague Nick Robinson has been speaking to a friend of the King, the broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby. He said King Charles has thought hard about his decision to strip his brother of his titles, but it was well deserved.

10:47Arrogant, boorish, entitled, an embarrassment for a long time to the institution of the monarchy and to the king. I think that today he will be feeling a measure of relief that after going through due process, constitutionally, legally, being in touch with his family, keep in touch with Number 10, that he has made this decision, his own personal decision, a very big decision, as you've identified, and hope that for him and for the monarchy, it will now go away, although it won't, of course, for Andrew. I think the culmination of a whole series of things, that he had clearly lied. You know, in New York, when he was with Epstein strolling, he said that he'd gone there to break with him.

11:38He was lying. He did not break with him. He continued the relationship. And I think that was the culminating factor. And I think and hope that he will now be given a measure of relief from the focus being on him, who does important public work, and insofar as he continues, will be on the person who has been effectively banished to the private estate at Sandringham. But why, some are still arguing, why did it take so long to deal with this? The monarchy, the institution has to go through due process. It has to, it has to, if the man was saying and still says, I'm innocent of any offence, and he as the head of state and she, the queen beforehand as head of state, jumped from the allegation to the conclusion that by inference, they supported the view that he was guilty.

12:30That would, from their perspective, and I think from the perspective of a constitutional lawyer, lawyer would be an inappropriate ground for denying him the status that he has. And as you've identified correctly, of course, this is a huge step that has been taken. Spell out why so huge, Jonathan, because there are some people listening this morning who think it's an obvious step, a step only taken in response to opinion polls and pressure from MPs who are getting closer and closer to what has happened. It is a huge step constitutionally. I understand those sentiments as a natural sentiment to have.

13:05Of course, he should get rid of that title. Of course, he should no longer have been a duke. Of course, he should no longer be prince. Of course, he should be out of the scene. But our constitution, our way of government, our way of governance, and he's at the apex of it all, does not work like that. And you can't just impetuously say, if you're the king, and I have no doubt at all that he has been consistently embarrassed and frustrated by and angry about the way in which his brother has behaved. At the same time, he is a brother. He has to be mindful of that person. He doesn't act, as I say, impetuously.

13:48He considers, he decides, this is what has to be done. It's major in constitutional terms because you tell me the last time that his entitlement to be a prince was removed from him. Jonathan Dimbleby. The Jamaican government says Hurricane Melissa killed at least 19 people when it struck this week. Aid assistance is now starting to arrive as the authorities increase efforts to clear roads and reach people in isolated and cut-off areas. Our correspondent, Nedda Torfik, reports from Santa Cruz in the western part of Jamaica.

14:28Scrambling for supplies at the local market in sweltering heat. Residents in Blackwater are still partially marooned. Days after Hurricane Melissa tore through, fears are growing about food, water and gas running out. In nearby White House, Trevor White says the community feels abandoned and many need medical attention. A female got hit in her head by a big piece of lumber and it's bleeding and she can't get to the hospital. and then another person who passed away in White House got a church slashed by up sink from the roof. There's so many things happening in the storm right now and there's no help.

15:15And all those people who passed away, they're still there. Can't get to the morgue or wherever they're meant to bring their bodies and stuff. And I don't really see any help coming in. It's like we're on our own. That's the biggest problem. There's no help. Officials say the Jamaican Defence Forces have dedicated a helicopter to locate and collect bodies of anyone who has died. His update. The Information Minister, Dana Morris-Dixon, confirmed additional fatalities as the search effort continues. So I know there are so many people in Jamaica all over the world that I know your heart is breaking because you've not heard from your families.

15:58And so please know that the government is doing everything we can to get to them. And that's why our soldiers, and they were working with regular civilians, just came out and said we want to help. And they're going by foot trying to clear the roadways. And so we are going to get to them. We're going to get to every community. It may take a little time, but we're going to do it as quickly as we can and get aid and food to all those who need it.

16:32Further east, the situation isn't as dire in Santa Cruz, but residents are starting the long process of cleaning up and rebuilding. Stores and homes remain without power, and the town is covered in a thick mud left behind from the receding floodwater. The Jamaican Red Cross drove through here and surrounding areas to deliver hygiene kits and tarps given the extensive roof damage from the ferocious winds. Esther Pinnock described the conditions. We were hindered by trees in the roadways, mangled wires. So, and what is critical also is that we're unable to communicate because there is no internet access, no electricity, no water.

17:16So those are some of the factors at play right now. For people trying to understand what Jamaica is going through, give us a sense of the scale of the need. It's overwhelming. It's distressing. It's going to be hard to quantify. We include the psychosocial aspect of things, so we brought persons in to give them tips to encourage them because we realise that there's a sense of despondency, anxiety that is prevailing in these communities that have experienced severe loss. Relief flights and aid have begun to flow into Jamaica's airports. Across the western part of the country, the help can't come soon enough.

17:59That report from Neda Torfik. Still to come, claims that Western society is facing a crisis of masculinity, with men listening to the wrong people. Their message is one of nationalism and blaming others, blaming women for your romantic problems, blaming immigrants for your economic problems.

18:26If 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.

19:05Police in France have arrested six people suspected of carrying out another high-profile broad daylight robbery. This time the target wasn't the Louvre in Paris, but a gold-refining laboratory in Lyon. The thieves used explosives to break into the building. Alice Adderley reports. Video said to have been captured by a worker at a neighbouring company and shown on French TV shows several men armed with military-grade weapons and a ladder appearing to blow a hole in the perimeter wall of the gold refinery on Thursday afternoon. An eyewitness heard a loud boom then called the police, saying a burglary was in progress.

19:45Several staff were slightly injured in the explosion, with three receiving hospital treatment. This man is a delivery driver who often collects merchandise from the factory. He said he'd spoken to some employees. When the windows were blown in, lots of debris fell on people in the factory. In the video, after a matter of just a few minutes, the robbers emerge with gold bars, later estimated to be worth 12 million euros. They calmly load them into a van. But a short time later, the suspects and a woman believed to be an accomplice were arrested in the nearby town of Venetia. According to the French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez, who posted on X, They'd been caught red-handed.

20:29He praised the police for their firmness, speed and control. This is reportedly the second time in recent months this site has been attacked. The latest heist occurred as French police on Thursday arrested five more people over this month's brazen Louvre Museum robbery in Paris when the French crown jewels were stolen. Alice Adderley. Western society faces a crisis of masculinity that is dangerous not just for young men, but for society as a whole. That is the view of Scott Galloway, better known by his online moniker, Prof G, a best-selling American author, marketing professor at New York University, entrepreneur, and host of various podcasts, including Pivot.

21:14Next week sees the release of his new book, Notes on Being a Man, which claims to be an operator's manual for being a man today. My colleague Nick Robinson spoke to Prof G to describe the crisis his book seeks to address. Data reflects that a big segment of our population is really struggling, and no group has fallen further faster than men in the West. Four times more likely to kill themselves, 12 times more likely to be incarcerated, three times more likely to be addicted or homeless. And in the UK, we have what's called NEATS, and that's neither employed in education or training, and that number has doubled in the last 10 years.

21:52One out of seven men in the UK now, working age, are not really doing anything. So it's bad for the economy. It's bad for households. And quite frankly, it's just really tough on our young men. And one reason for this is actually the thing which you are so successful at, social media. You not only present very successful podcasts, you're very big on Instagram too, but you said in an extraordinary quote that for a 14-year-old to have an Instagram account, you said it was more dangerous than a bottle of Jack Daniels and some weed. Somewhere between 6 % and 8 % of teenagers are considered clinically addicted to drugs or alcohol.

22:23It's 24 % of social media. I think your daughter has a much greater likelihood of cutting herself and engaging in self-harm if she experiments with social media than with alcohol. So I stand by that statement. We age-gade pornography, the military, weapons, alcohol, but yet we've decided not to age-gade social media, which has shown to take a terrible toll on the mental health of young girls and also self-harm among young men. Some of the people who are most powerful on social media are hugely successful with young men. I think of Andrew Tate. I think in this country, Tommy Robinson. What influence do you fear they're having?

23:00They're having a negative influence. And to their credit, they recognize the problem earlier than anybody. The problem is that their answer is to take us back to the 50s where non-whites and women had less equality. And their message is one of nationalism and blaming others, blaming women for your romantic problems, blaming immigrants for your economic problems. I think it's a very negative message that has filled, unfortunately, a void that we avoided. So unfortunately, some very negative voices have filled the void. My biggest supporters are, quite frankly, mothers who recognize the problem in their household.

23:30And I think we're finally moving to a more productive dialogue around changes in our economic policy, our society, and just making young men more comfortable coming forward with the issues they're facing. Your new book, Notes on Being a Man, is full of the sort of advice that you post online as well. I'm looking at one of your Instagram posts in which you say that man's most secret weapon is kindness. Do you think you're getting an audience other than from people who already agree with you? I think so. I coach some young men, and ultimately, Nick, they turn to they would really like to be in a relationship.

24:01They'd really like to have a girlfriend. And there are studies showing that there are three primary reasons that women are attracted to men. One, their ability to signal resources. That's not just having a Range Rover now, but having a plan, being seen as someone who's going to be able to be a good provider. Someone who is intelligent. The fastest way to communicate intelligence is humor. And third is kindness. Women instinctively know there'll be periods in their life likely during gestation when they are vulnerable and they want a partner who is at a very base level, a kind person. Women are attracted to men who demonstrate kindness.