Global News Podcast - First woman named as new Archbishop of Canterbury

Episode Date: October 3, 2025

For the first time in its five hundred year history, the Church of England has chosen a woman as its leader. Dame Sarah Mullally will be known formally as the Archbishop of Canterbury and will be the most senior bishop and spiritual leader of the Anglican Communion, which has more than eighty five million followers worldwide. Speaking after the announcement she said she intended to be a shepherd to all. Also, British police say that one of the two victims killed in Thursday's attack on a synagogue in Manchester appears to have been hit by police gunfire. Munich Airport in Germany has become the latest European airport forced to halt operations because of unexplained drones. Taylor Swift's highly anticipated 12th studio album, "The Life of a Showgirl", has been released featuring songs that are expected to top charts around the world. The Global News Podcast brings you the breaking news you need to hear, as it happens. Listen for the latest headlines and current affairs from around the world. Politics, economics, climate, business, technology, health – we cover it all with expert analysis and insight. Get the news that matters, delivered twice a day on weekdays and daily at weekends, plus special bonus episodes reacting to urgent breaking stories. Follow or subscribe now and never miss a moment. Get in touch: [e-mail]

This is the global news podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Janet Jaliel and at 16 hours GMT on Thursday the 3rd of October, these are our main stories. For the first time ever, a woman has been chosen to lead the Church of England. British police say one of the two people killed during an attack on a synagogue in the UK was hit by police gunfire. Drones spotted over Germany's Munich Airport, forced it to cancel flights in the latest such disruption to European aviation. Also in this podcast, the heir to the British throne, Prince William, gives a rare, candid interview.

I think it's safe to say that change is on my agenda. Change for good. And I embrace that and I enjoy that change. I don't fear it. Not overly radical change, but changes that I think need to happen. It's something that would have been inconceivable just a few decades ago. But now, for the first time ever, the Church of England has chosen a woman to lead it. Sarah Mulally has been named as the next Archbishop of Canterbury.

Nearly a year since her predecessor, Justin Welby, in challenging circumstances, was forced to resign over his failure to report a prolific child abuser associated with the church. Speaking at Canterbury Cathedral, the new Archbishop, said people suffering around the world were in her thoughts. Jesus Christ is the life-changing hope that brings us together as church, even in our own brokenness and messiness, and sends us out into the world to witness to that love. I long for that same hope, for all those around the world caught up in war,

for those living in extreme poverty, for those on the front line of the ever, ever-worsening climate crisis for our Palestinian Christian brothers and sisters. For all peoples of the Middle East, for the people of Ukraine, Russia, Sudan, Myanmar and the DRC. Our correspondent in Canterbury, Harry Farley, told me more about why her appointment is such a big moment for the Church of England. It is historic and it's difficult to overstate just how historic it is. This was the first time that there was an opportunity, a possibility even, for a woman to be appointed Archbishop of Canterbury. Legislation allowing women to become bishops only passed in 2014 after Sarah Malali's predecessor, Justin Welby, was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury.

So this was the first time that it was even an option for a female Archbishop of Canterbury, and that has gone ahead. The first time in the Church of England's 500-year history, the first time in the 1,500 years since the Archbishop of Canterbury. Archbishop of Canterbury position has been in existence that a woman will hold that. And it is a challenging time, as you mentioned, for the Church of England, but a challenging time also for the role of Archbishop, because as Archbishop of Canterbury, this role is not just for the church in England, not just for Anglicans in this country, but the Archbishop of Canterbury also has a symbolic role as the figurehead of that worldwide Anglican communion that represents 85 million or so Anglicans around the world. They also have a political role. They sit in the House of Lords,

the upper chamber in the British Parliament, and they are expected to comment and contribute to public debate on all sorts of social issues. For example, there is assisted dying legislation, legislation to allow terminally ill adults to take their own life going through the houses of Parliament at the moment. That will be something that Sarah Malawi will be expected to weigh in on, as well as social issues ranging from migration to education. So, a complicated, multi-dimensional role and a very, very significant day that for the first time in history

a woman will be the Archbishop of Canterbury. And tell us more about her because she has already been speaking today. She has, she has already been speaking, so she was actually a nurse for many decades. She then became chief nursing officer in England before becoming a priest. She was made a Bishop of London in 2014.

One of her roles has been to share a body that was trying to find a way forward for the Church of England as it tried to decide what to do around same-sex relationships. And the Church of England, when it eventually decided in 2023 to allow priests to bless same-sex couples, she called it a day of hope for the church. So that will be something that I think will be a significant factor because there are many divisions that still exist on that subject

and many others in the Church of England and across the Anglican Communion. Harry Farley in Canterbury. A day after a deadly attack on a synagogue here in England, it's emerged that one of the two Jewish men killed was hit by police gunfire. Three other people remain in hospital with serious injuries. One of them also apparently hit by a police bullet. Police shot and killed the attacker within seven minutes of being alerted.

The British Prime Minister, Kirstama and his wife, visited the synagogue in the city of Manchester as part of the government's efforts to reassure Britain's Jewish communities that it's doing its best to protect them. The Interior Minister, Shabana Mahmood, told the BBC that she was dismayed that just hours after the attack, pro-Palestinian protests still went ahead in London. I was very disappointed that those protests went ahead last night. 40 arrests were made, including for assaulting police officers.

We will not tolerate that behaviour. those individuals will face the full force of the law. And I do think that carrying on in this way does feel un-British, it feels wrong. And I would ask people who are thinking about going on protests this weekend, take a step back, imagine it was you, and then just give this community a chance to grieve and to process what has happened. Our correspondent in Manchester, Danny Savage, told me more about the revelation that one of the victims had apparently been hit by police gunfire.

The Chief Constable's statement today says the Home Office pathologist has advised that he is provisionally determined that one of the deceased victims would appear to have suffered a wound consistent with a gunshot injury. It's currently believed that the suspect was not in possession of a firearm. It follows, therefore, that subject to further forensic examination, this injury may sadly have been sustained as a tragic and unforeseen consequence of the urgently required action taken by my officers. And it's believed that both victims were close together behind the synagogue door as worshippers acted bravely to prevent the attacker from gaining entry, the statement says. So the picture that you can build up from that is that as the attack unfolded outside the synagogue, they quickly locked up the building. And that included some people behind the synagogue door. Now, a few moments later, on the other side of that door outside the building, the police were on scene firing up the assailants. They fired initially at the man, put him on the ground, and then he tried to get up again, and there were more shots fired.

And it appears somehow some bullets either ricocheted or somehow went through the synagogue door, hitting two people the other side, killing one and injuring another. And at the same time, the British Prime Minister Kirstama has been visiting the scene of the attack as the government tries to reassure Britain's Jews that it is taking the threat against them seriously. We've had comments on the UK's chief rabbi this morning saying the attack at the synagogue is the tragic result of an unrelated wave of Jew hatred. he described it. The Prime Minister said yesterday he wants to wrap his arms around the Jewish community and promised that the country and the security services here and the police will protect

them. He came here with his wife this morning to see the scene for himself. He met with some of the emergency service personnel involved. It's a message of reassurance, if you like, from the Prime Minister, that he's taking the situation very seriously. We already know security's been stepped up at Jewish establishments, schools and synagogues across the country as a result of yesterday. and that will probably have to be kept going for a little while yet until police are confident that there is no further threat. But there is some concern that pro-Palestinian protests in the UK went ahead despite calls for them to be called off.

And we've had the Interior Minister, the Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, talking about her disappointment that they went ahead. Protests were planned for last night and went ahead anyway. And there's been some reports in the papers about anti-Semitic comments made by some people at those protests. what the government is saying is that they know that there are more pro-Palestine protests planned for this weekend, I think in London especially, and they are calling for those protests to be called off, to be postponed at the very least, because the security service and police needed to actually look after those protests are actually needed elsewhere at the moment, say the governments and the police and the metropolitan police in London, saying that they need to be elsewhere actually guarding and keeping an eye on Jewish sites. So that's what the message they're trying to get across. But at least one group involved in the protest tomorrow

who said, look, it's our right to protest. As things stand at the moment, we're going to carry on and go ahead and do it. So there is a bit of a standoff, if you like, at the moment, between people saying they're exercising their democratic right to protest and the police saying, look, we actually need our resources somewhere more useful than policing a protest, please don't do this. And it'll be interesting to see what shakes out over the next 24 hours.

Danny Savage in Manchester. It's been a tense few weeks for European air travel. Last month, the airports of Copenhagen and Oslo were forced to close temporarily after multiple drones were spotted flying overhead, all while Poland, Estonia and Romania reported deliberate airspace violations by Russia, accusations the Kremlin denies. Now, Germany has become the latest European country to shut down air travel after drone sightings. Munich Airport was temporarily closed,

late on Thursday and 17 flights cancelled, with nearly 3,000 passengers affected. A search to identify the origin of the drones has been launched. But the question remains, what should Europe do to prevent future drone incursions? Alarika Franca is a senior policy fellow at the European Council of Foreign Affairs, specialising in German and European security and defence. This is part, I would argue, of a larger kind of hybrid warfare that Russia is waging against Europe. And here, you know, the answer is kind of bigger about resilience, about sanctioning Russia, things like that. But on the drones itself, honestly, counter drone measures are there and should be acquired.

A correspondent, Bethany Bell, told us more about the disruption at Munich. Flights have resumed this morning at Munich Airport. The closure was temporarily there overnight, as you said, 17 flights unable to take off. 15 other flights were diverted to other places, including Vienna, Stutt. Newmberg and Frankfurt, and all of this coming ahead of a public holiday in Germany. The authorities have not said who they believe are behind these drone sightings, but in a statement the airport said that the safety of passengers was paramount, and that was why the decision had been taken to close the airport overnight.

And do the German authorities have a lead on their investigation into the origin of these drones? The German authorities have said nothing about who they believe were behind these drones. The investigation is continuing at the moment, but it's clearly a time when there have been a number of unexplained drone incidents across Europe. So, of course, this is being treated with great care at the moment. Yes, because they have been a series of incidents, as I was outlining, many people pointing the finger at Russia. But there's already a sort of state of heightened security in Munich. if you like, because of a recent bomb scare related to Oktoberfest, the Beer Festival? That bomb threat didn't materialise. There was an incident in Munich with a family dispute.

A letter was found suggesting what they called, the authorities called an unspecified bomb threat against October 1st. October 1st was closed temporarily for much of one day, but then police said that they hadn't been able to confirm any link. They had found nothing at the October 1st site. and that is there again. But yes, as you say, a sense of tension in Munich. Meanwhile, in terms of drones again, we've also just getting in media reports from Belgium saying that 15 drones were spotted near a military site of Elzenborn, which is an army training camp near the German border. Now, those media reports say the authorities are investigating that incident. The drones are believed to have flown over the Belgian military site and then gone back

into Germany. Bethany Bell. A new report says the algorithms of the social media platform TikTok recommend pornography and highly sexualized content to children's accounts. More details from Angus Crawford. Researchers from the Campaign Group Global Witness were able to set up four children's accounts on TikTok using false dates of birth, pretending to be 13 years old. They activated the app's safety settings, but were immediately recommended sectioned. suggestive search terms, which led to explicit posts, including pornographic videos. TikTok says it investigated the claims, removed the content and made improvements to the search function. In July this year, the Online Safety Act's Children's Codes came into force.

Platforms are required to have robust age verification to prevent children seeing pornography and must alter their algorithms to protect them from other harmful material. Angus Crawford. The heir to the British throne, Prince William, has said he intends to bring change to the monarchy when he becomes king, in what palace sources describe as his most open interview to date. The Prince of Wales was speaking to the Canadian actor Eugene Levy at Windsor Castle. Here's our senior royal correspondent, Daniela Ralph. Forget state bentley's and horse-drawn carriages. For this future king, it is the electric scooter, that is a preferred mode of transport around the castle. Eugene, good morning. Your Royal Highness. The Prince of Wales was a Eugene Levy fan in the American Pie films.

And in a Windsor pub, it was pints all round as the prince and the actor discussed his future role as king. I think it's safe to say that change is on my agenda. Change for good. And I embrace that and I enjoy that change. I don't fear it. That's the bit that excites me, is the idea of being able to bring some change,

not overly radical change, but changes that I think need to happen. There was a bespoke castle tour for the Canadian actor and an insight into the pressure Prince William sometimes feels. Stuff to do with family overwhelms me quite a bit. You know, worry or stress around family side of things, that does overwhelm me quite a bit. But in terms of, you know, doing the job and things like that,

I don't feel too overwhelmed by that. For Eugene Levy, there was surprise at how candid the prince had been. To me, it was more a conversation. You know, I wasn't thinking of it in my own mind as, you know, any kind of, you know, scoop. We were able to have a little, you know, back and forth. You know, it was totally a surreal day for me. There were no direct questions about Prince Harry, But there was a reference to him and the intense media scrutiny of their childhood.

I want to create a world in which my son is proud of what we do. I hope we don't go back to some of the practices in the past that Harry and I had to grow up in. This was a relaxed and open, Prince William, a future king laying out his vision of modern monarchy. Daniela Ralph. Still to come on the Global News podcast, a vaccine breakthrough that will help to protect young elephants from a deadly disease. We've actually lost seven calves over the last kind of 15 years or so. So it's something that has affected us quite strongly and that really kind of gave us the motivation to make sure we were doing as much work to tackle it and to research as much as we could about the virus. Cuba has long been reliant on its tourism industry to generate much-needed foreign currency reserves.

But despite an ambitious hotel building plan, tourism on the communist-run island has dwindled in recent years under pressure from Washington and the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic. Today, Cuba finds itself in the grip of its worst economic crisis since the Cold War amid rolling blackouts in severe food shortages. The government estimates that the U.S. embargo has caused $170 billion worth of damage to the economy, but many also blame mismanagement. Will Grant reports from Havana. History in the making, President Obama is about to land in Cuba.

When President Obama stepped off Air Force One onto Cuban soil in 2016 in a historic trip, He was also just one of around 4 million visitors to the island that year. For the next two years, Cuban visitor numbers continue to grow to a high of almost 5 million people a year. Since then, however, the collapse in Cuban tourism has been precipitous. Battered by twin issues of the coronavirus and harsher travel restrictions imposed by the Trump administration, the tourism industry on the island has struggled to get back to pre-pandemic conditions.

The BBC had the rare opportunity to discuss the health of the industry with the island's tourism minister, Juan Carlos Garcia Granda. I'm not a doctor, but what I can say is tourism in Cuba is alive and kicking. From the intensity and the pressure of an economic war launched by the main source of tourists in the world, the United States, we face obstacles unlike any of our competitors. We will enforce the ban on tourism. We will enforce the embargo. Broadly, he's referring to the decades-long U.S. economic embargo on Cuba.

But specifically, he means a range of newer sanctions under the Trump administration. In Trump's first term, they took 263 measures against Cuba, the majority designed to destroy Cuban tourism. Take, for example, the ban on cruise ships. What would Cuban tourism look like if we could still count on the cruise ships? We'd perhaps have a million more visitors a year. A more draconian step came in January 2021, when the US put Cuba back on the list of state sponsors of terrorism. The classification had a knock-on effect.

UK tourists and some Europeans who visited Cuba after the 12th of January 2021 are no longer eligible for an Ester visa. That's the electronic system for travel authorization to enter the U.S. Given the potential headaches for those travelers in trying to subsequently visit the U.S., many have been put off from traveling to Cuba altogether. The thousands of British tourists who come to Cuba must reach us via Spain, via France, and some even via Canada. Yet not via Miami, says Mr. Garcia-Granda.

Explain to me why a Brit, completely free and independent, can't travel to Cuba via Miami, he adds rhetorically. But not all the decisions affecting the health of Cuban tourism have been taken in Washington. At the corner of 23 and L in Havana is a new landmark, the K-Tower, the tallest building on the island, a 42-floor five-star hotel meant to define the cutting edge of the tourism experience in Cuba, For many local residents, it's simply a gaudy and expensive symbol of the revolution's economic mismanagement. There are plenty of other hotels in Havana and it doesn't fit in with its surrounding,

says student Dianis. I'd have used the money for other ends for things we really need, like new hospitals. I put to the Cuban Tourism Minister, if he could appreciate that people are growing increasingly frustrated, and made nationwide blackouts at seeing new five-star hotels in Havana with their lights blazing. There may be some indignation on the streets, but people are not frustrated. They're still fighting. They're still working. They're still trying to help. I have come here to bury the last remnant of the Cold War in the Americas.

There remains a key question about Cuba's tourism strategy, where the Cuba was misled by the Obama. administration, in essence, sold a vision which never materialized of a new era of warmer political ties in which the island could count on a steady flow of US visitors for decades. Will Grant there, reporting from Havana. Now to an exciting vaccine breakthrough. Not for you or me, but for baby elephants. It's hoped the vaccine will prevent a dangerous disease caused by a virus known as EEHV, which is currently a leading cause of death in young Asian elephants.

In trials involving adult elephants at a zoo in England, the vaccine was found to safely activate the part of their immune system that helps to fight viruses. Here's our science correspondent, Victoria Gill. Good, steady. At Chester Zoo, where this trial was carried out, the zookeepers already work regularly with the elephants. They train the animals to present themselves for veterinary checkups and medical care.

to reduce the stress of any procedures that are needed. And that meant that three healthy, calm and trained adult elephants were the ideal candidates to receive a new vaccine against a deadly disease. It's very, very rapid and very, very severe. That's Dr Katie Edwards, lead conservation scientist at Chester Zoo. We've actually lost seven calves over the last kind of 15 years or so. So it's something that has affected us quite strongly and that really kind of gave us the motivation to make sure we were doing as much work

to tackle it and to research as much as we could about the virus. One of the researchers who developed the vaccine is Professor Falco Steinbach from the UK's Animal and Plant Health Agency in the University of Surrey. He said that when he and the team analysed blood samples from the zoo elephants that they inoculated, the results were even better than they had hoped for. The vaccine was able to stimulate the so-called T-cells that are very crucial to fighting viral infections.

It also shows that you can design and apply vaccines to help endangered species. The next step is for scientists to test the vaccine in younger elephants, which are the animals most vulnerable to severe disease from EEHV. Ultimately, scientists want to use this vaccine in all elephants that are at risk, including in the wild. And this, they say, is the first step towards using it to protect these endangered giants. Victoria Gill. Asahi is one of the world's largest brewers.

Its products, including the flagship super dry beer, originated in Japan and are enjoyed all over the globe. But a major cyber attack, first reported on Monday, has severely disrupted the operations of most of its Japanese factories, prompting warnings that the Asahi Group could be just days away from running out of its most popular beer. Shama Khalil reports from Tokyo. Most of the Asahi Group's factories in Japan have been at a standstill since Monday. After the attack hit its ordering and delivery system, Asahi, a household brand best known for its super dry beer, said earlier this week that the system failure is limited to its domestic operations.

It also said there had been no confirmed leakage of personal information of customer data. Asahi is the biggest brewer in Japan. It also owns Fullers in the UK, and global brands including Peroni and Pilsner-Orkwell. Japan accounts for about half of its total sales. sales. Major Japanese retailers, including Family Mart and Lawson, have warned customers to expect shortages of Asahi goods. Family Mart said that Asahi has suspended orders and shipments of its products with no prospect of resumption. Lawson, another major Japanese convenience store, also

said it expected some Asahi products to be in short supply. Shai Michaelil in Tokyo. Now, here on the Global News podcast, we don't normally cover the release of an artist's new album, partly because of rights issues. But then Taylor Swift is not just an artist. She's a global phenomenon. Her previous albums have appealed to her legions of mostly younger fans with their songs about heartbreak and messy breakups. So now that she's happy and in love with the American footballer, Travis Kelsey, will the highly anticipated The Life of a Showgirl live up to the hype. In an interview with the BBC's Greg James, the singer said she had had concerns that this more upbeat album wouldn't be so appealing to her fans.

It's a full picture of like the full life experience, which for me is like there's always some element of drama that someone is forcing into my consciousness, which is fun to write about too. But by the way, I love being sickeningly in love. Yeah, it's so nice, isn't it? It's wonderful. I used to kind of have this dark fear that if I ever were truly happy

and free being myself and nurtured by a relationship, like what happens if the writing just dries up? What if writing is directly tied to my torment and pain? And it turns out that's not the case at all. And we just were catching lightning in a bottle with this record. Our music correspondent Mark Savage told me more about the new album. Taylor Swift actually recorded this album on her days off from the record-breaking eras to her last year.

When she was in Europe, she would play three shows, three and a half hours every night over the course of a weekend. And then on her days off and Monday and Tuesday, she'd fly to Sweden and work with Max Martin, who is the biggest hit songwriter in US chart history after the Beatles. He's had more number ones than anyone else except the Beatles. And they crafted this suite of songs. It's 12 songs very short about the excitement and the exuberance of that tour, but also capturing the early days of her romance with Travis Kelsey.

And there are a lot of love songs in this album, which is a big change for Taylor Swift. It is because albums have capital. on songs about heartbreak and loss and being miserable while you're in love. But this is very different, isn't it? It is. And it's actually quite nice as a listener and a fan of Taylor Swift, having sat with her through all of that heartbreak and the betrayals and the public castigation she had during that big feud with Kanye West to hear her happy. There's something quite moving about it.

And that's not the only theme on the album. You know, there is still some score settling because Taylor Swift is Taylor Swift. And there's a song about an old school friend who passed away in 2023, and she flies home from the tour to attend their funeral. And that's, it's an incredibly heart-wrenching song. So she's not just talking about Travis Kelsey, and there is a song, a bedroom song, let's put it that way. It's probably the most explicit Taylor Swift has ever been. But there's a lot of breadth to the record. I mean, her songs are very catchy.

She writes great lyrics. She's a very appealing personality. But what is it about her in particular that inspires such devotion more than, top stars normally get from their fans? I think it's that openness. The way that she writes, which is very poetic, she's very good at drawing illusions and imagery and metaphors in her lyrics, and they speak directly to people and young women in particular who are going through the same things that she has gone through. Those men that don't turn up on your 21st birthday when you're expecting them to, the betrayals of old school friends and the backbiting between the girl gangs. The

audience has grown up with her. So a lot of them will be entering that phase of thinking about settling down, talking about having kids, and this album will relate to them in exactly the same way that the previous ones have done. And I think that's why she sells so much. Mark Savage. And that's all from us for now, but there will be a new edition of the Global News Podcast later. If you want to comment on this podcast, you can send us an email. The address is Global Podcast at BBC.co.com. This edition was mixed by Abbey Wiltshire. The producers were Ariankochi and Oliver Burlough.

The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Jean-Aulele. Until next time, goodbye.