live from london, this is bbc news. in the heart of power in china's capital — president macron tells xi jinping — i'm counting on you to bring russia back to reason. further confrontation between israeli police and palestinians at the al aqsa mosque. buckingham palace is cooperating with an independent study into links between the british monarchy and the slave trade. president macron has told xi jinping that he's counting on the chinese leader to reason with russia and help bring an end to the war in ukraine. president emmanuel macron of france

urged the chinese leader, xijinping, to make president putin see reason. later, the european commission president, ursula von der leyen, encouraged china to promote what she called a �*just peace'. she warned beijing not to sell weapons to russia. the chinese leader said beijing was seeking a political solution to the war. rebecca choong wilkins is an asia government and politics reporter at bloomberg news. well, we have seen beijing really rolling out the red carpet for macron, scenes of that great fanfare in tiananmen square a and at the great wall wall of the people, and macron�*s endorsement, he earlier said that he expects china to play a major role in the resolution of the russian war in ukraine. his endorsement is significant for ukraine, because xijinping is seeking to restore ties with europe and portray china as a neutral mediator, a responsible world actor that can actually help to mediate and end

the the war in ukraine. and of course, the vague blueprint for peace that it has already put forward, and in part that is to resist these attempts by the us that we have seen to increasingly isolated china. the real question is whether this relationship with macron can mark a turning point for a ceasefire for russia and ukraine. what is more broadly being made in the region of china's 12 point plan when it comes to the war? well, asia tends to be a little bit more circumspect. we haven't seen a really explicit criticism and scepticism that we have seen, for example, from the us and many capitals in europe, but i think there is some doubt in some corners. we have seen, for example, us allies in the region, in asia, japan and korea, for example, tighten the allegiances with the us, and that is a response to the fracturing of the global world order — china on one side,

and the relationship with vladimir putin and xijinping versus the us. we know that president biden spoke to emmanuel macron before he left france, he would have words to say on this. how does china position itself within that dilemma, given how upset they are with the us at the moment around the meeting with the president of taiwan too? well, i think from the chinese point of view, the really critical goal, particularly with this meeting with macron is to some way divide or undermine this momentum that is building around these plan to contain china, particularly with those export controls and the economic stagecraft, with the us managing to enlist its partners, the netherlands and japan, to also roll out some

of those controls on key strategic tech like chips. so that is the really critical aspect from beijing, and beijing, in many ways, views macron as being an important politician in europe, particularly because he has already espoused and proposed this view of a third path between the us and china, emphasising, you know, that there needs to be a global, one single global world order, and refusing or declining to go along with us attempts to sort of contain china. i wanted to get your thoughts on the other big development we saw today out of beijing, the foreign ministers of saudi arabia and iran meeting for the first time in seven years, i mean, this handshake is on the front pages of many newspapers around the world, the meeting clearly facilitated by beijing, and what we heard from iran and saudi was that they reaffirmed their intention to open embassies and consulates within two months. they also agreed to resume bilateral visits of official delegations. they also discussed restarting flights between their countries as well.

how thrilled do you think people will be in beijing? at this moment, we are running those pictures, we are seeing china as being the peacemaker, elevating china's status as international diplomats. absolutely, i think it is really critical, this is a deal that emerged over a couple of years, it took a while to really come to fruition, and this is no doubt an absolute win for xi jinping, particularly at this critical moment, where he is trying to reset ties. it is also trying to put distance between him and russia at this moment, to really stress china's role as a neutralfigure here. and as you mentioned, xijinping, the peacemaker on the global world order, leading a responsible actor to these seismic decisions. so very much it plays to china's sort of favour, the image it is trying to protect of itself too.

and you mentioned the taiwanese president's visit to the us, in some ways quite a restrained response from beijing to that visit, quite muted when it comes to military exercises and drills and so on around the island, again speaks and bolsters that vision of china now re—shifting, projecting its image as a peacemaker. we can see these pictures now live from paris is another day of demonstrations begin. people have begun gathering in cities across france for another day of demonstrations, with reports that traffic has been disrupted at the main airport in paris. trade unions and their allies are protesting against changes to the pension system and the french president's decision to introduce them by decree. some commentators have suggested that opposition to the reforms is weakening, after nearly three months of industrial action. but many sectors are still affected,

with airlines forced if to reduce flights today, and schools expected to have large numbers of teachers off work. large numbers of teachers working today and hundreds of thousands of people aren't across the country today. a short time ago, i spoke to our paris correspondent, hugh scofield, who is following the protests in the city today. let's just say this is a test for the unions as well as macron. there is still public anger, and days of actions are still be called. but there will come a point where people are asking, what is it all for? we have lost. if the law goes through, and it has gone through parliament now, and if it becomes law, then, you know, many people who hate it will still be

saying to themselves, we have lost, it has happened, there is no point in going out any more. are we at that point yet? i don't know, but one does detect a little of that feeling of lassitude, of there not being much point in turning out again, on these endless days of action which certainly, you know, raised a lot of public indignation and expressed that but have not stopped the law. any word from those who attended the meeting with the prime minister today? what happened ? well, it was yesterday, the meeting, and as predicted, it was a failure, but there is no surprise in that. the unions went in as a united front, as they have through out this conflict, saying they only want to talk about one thing, and that was raising the age of pensions from 62 to 64. the government went in,

and elisabeth borne, the prime minister, said we are prepared to talk about anything considering labour relations, but what we will not talk about is raising the retirement age. so you can see from the start it was a hopeless case, both sides wanting to show willing, that they were not obstructing the possibility of talks, but in fact there is no common ground at all, on the one key issue which is the central point, raising the age to 64, so there was never any hope of that going anywhere. the government is certainly calculating that the will will go out of these protest once people realise that it is too late, there's changes coming. was there any worries about the protest turning violent? is there a big security operation? of course, of course, and more so, the protesters will tell you, most of us are perfectly peaceful but we understand, there is such frustration,

when the government pushes this through withpout a vote and when macron was so through without a vote and when macron was so stubborn, we understand there are people on the fringes who would take it into their hands. so there is a great deal of understanding about the potential for violence, and that is certainly there. as we saw at the last demonstration, there are ultraleft revolutionaries, anarchists, who theorise the use of violence in demonstrations and are quite prepared to put it into practice. and we are keeping across the protests and demonstrations across france as the strike action continues. here in the uk, former scottish first minister has pulled out of an event on climate change this evenoing after her husband, former chief executive of scottish national party peter murrell was arrested yesterday.

mr murrell has been released without charge by the police, pending further investigation into party finances. a police search resumed on thursday morning at the couple's glasgow home. let us cross live to our scotland correspondent alexandra mackenzie in glasgow. take us through what has been happening. this is the second day of the search outside the home of peter murrell, and his wife nicola sturgeon, the former first minister of scotland in the former leader of the scottish national party. the second day, the tent is still there, it was there yesterday, there has been a significant police presence here for a couple of days, quite a lot of coming and going, the curtains have been closed over the two days, there has been no sign of peter milo or nicola sturgeon. there is a tent in the garden, a ban inside the tent in the garage door has been opened, there seems to be quite a lot of activity within the

garage and also at the back of the house. the house is completely cordoned off. this is usually a quiet residential street on the outskirts of glasgow so it has been very different here for the last couple of days.— very different here for the last coule of da 5. ~ �* ., ., couple of days. we've heard nicola sturueon couple of days. we've heard nicola sturgeon has _ couple of days. we've heard nicola sturgeon has pulled _ couple of days. we've heard nicola sturgeon has pulled out _ couple of days. we've heard nicola sturgeon has pulled out of - couple of days. we've heard nicola sturgeon has pulled out of an - couple of days. we've heard nicola| sturgeon has pulled out of an event this evening that she was expected to attend. how she said anything about the ongoing investigation? nicola sturgeon was in the house, she said that through a statement last night when the arrest happened. we understand she had no prior knowledge of that but she did so through the statement that she would co—operate fully with police scotland if that was required. she was expected to be at a climate change event in edinburgh later today. we did hearfrom her this morning again through a statement that she was pulling out of that event, she wanted all of the focus

to be on the climate change event and not to be on her. obviously, if she had turned up there, people would the focus would have been very much on this story of peter murrell and nicola sturgeon and on the ongoing live investigation and she was worried that would detract from the importance of the climate change conference. . ~' , ., the importance of the climate change conference. ., ~ , ., ., ., , conference. thank you for “oining us from glasgow. * around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news. # somewhere over the rainbow...# it's the day we've all been waiting for. pumpkin the disabled west highland terrier is making her debut as toto on the big stage. pumpkin�*s owner tammy was watching nervously behind—the—scenes. she was absolutely amazing. she made me cry!

i'm just so, so proud of her, so happy, just very emotional, very teary. her onstage companion says she was a natural. she was absolutely loving the audience as well. i could see her looking out. she'sjust a natural. no place like home. there's no place like home. it is like the real story, like having a little best friend there onstage with you. it doesn't make you feel alone, either, because obviously, i open the show on my own, but i don't really, because i have little pumpkin with me. you're live with bbc news. buckingham palace says it is cooperating with an independent study into the links between the british monarchy and the slave trade in the 17th and 18th centuries. the research is being carried out by the university of manchester with historic royal palaces. full access will be granted to the royal archives with the study completed in 2026. earlier, we spoke to the royal

historian and biographer robert lacey and i asked him about the significance of this change by buckingham palace. it shows how obviously aware he is, we already know there is, he has actually spoken in the past in quite emotional terms about the distress that memories of slavery because him and prince william has spoken in the same way as slavery being something that he was personally ashamed of. he actually said he wished it had never happened. in this project is of course a phd thesis, we understand that will address this issue precisely. cynics of course would say it's much better for the monarchy to collaborate with the study than to appear to block it. certainly, to give full access to the royal archives is a very real

thing, the royal archives are closely protected, particularly when it comes to the personal letters of the monarch and what they might have thought about something like this. certainly it shows the new king opening the door in a very firm way and being willing to look back at the past. and being willing to look back at the ast. , ., , ., the past. historically, robert, what are the links _ the past. historically, robert, what are the links between _ the past. historically, robert, what are the links between the _ the past. historically, robert, what| are the links between the monarchy and slavery? ii are the links between the monarchy and slavery?— and slavery? if we go back to the beginning. _ and slavery? if we go back to the beginning, romantically - and slavery? if we go back to the beginning, romantically we - and slavery? if we go back to the beginning, romantically we were | beginning, romantically we were taught at school about queen elizabeth the first knighting sir francis drake, welcoming sir walter raleigh in the exploration of the new world. that was what led directly to the slave trade. and the development of our empire was very much based on what is called the three—way trade with ships coming down from england to pick up slaves from west africa, take them across to our economy in both what became

the united states and the caribbean and then coming back to england with the profits of it all so right from the profits of it all so right from the beginning, the british monarchy was involved. the british empire was created in the name of the british monarchy. it's only recently that the slavery aspects of this have been realised. but it is interesting that king charles and also the prince of wales have jumped straight on to show their awareness and willingness to help any investigation.- willingness to help any investiuation. ., ., ., investigation. you mentioned how unusual it is _ investigation. you mentioned how unusual it is for _ investigation. you mentioned how unusual it is for full _ investigation. you mentioned how unusual it is for full access - investigation. you mentioned how unusual it is for full access to - investigation. you mentioned how unusual it is for full access to be l unusual it is for full access to be given to the royal archives and the royal collection. would king charles had been able to make that decision unilaterally or would he have had to consult government?— unilaterally or would he have had to consult government? when it comes to access to the — consult government? when it comes to access to the royal _ consult government? when it comes to access to the royal archives _ consult government? when it comes to access to the royal archives that - consult government? when it comes to access to the royal archives that is - access to the royal archives that is entirely a matter for the access to the royal archives that is entirely a matterfor the king access to the royal archives that is entirely a matter for the king that you are quite right to raise the question of the government. this whole delicate issue would not be addressed by the head of state without him consulting with the

government and so we can take it that this is notjust a royal initiative, but that it has got downing street backing as well. robert lacey. a huge amount of interest in this story. our correspondent yetunde yusuf has more on this story. we know this is an independent study being done but what more do we know about the research? we being done but what more do we know about the research?— about the research? we know it is takin: about the research? we know it is taking place _ about the research? we know it is taking place between _ about the research? we know it is taking place between the - about the research? we know it is i taking place between the university of manchester and the historic royal palaces which is a charitable organisation that looks after the palaces across the uk and we know it will be looking into the monarchy and what involvement it might have had with the slave trade in the 17th and 18th century. we know this research has started, started back in october so a month before the king came to the throne and it set to continue into 2026 and the soul basically started because the palace

responded to an article that the guardian had written showing documents that shares had been transferred from the royal africa company by edward coulston to william iii and we know that edward coulston was a prominent slave trader, part of the royal africa company which was responsible for the trait of 80,000 men, women and children from africa to the americas. children from africa to the americas-— children from africa to the americas. �* ., ., americas. has buckingham palace said an hint americas. has buckingham palace said anything more — americas. has buckingham palace said anything more about _ americas. has buckingham palace said anything more about this? _ americas. has buckingham palace said anything more about this? the - americas. has buckingham palace said anything more about this? the palacel anything more about this? the palace has responded _ anything more about this? the palace has responded saying _ anything more about this? the palace has responded saying it _ anything more about this? the palace has responded saying it will _ has responded saying it will cooperate with research and allowing full access to the royal archives. they have also said they king is profoundly... he takes this issue profoundly... he takes this issue profoundly seriously and since his accession to the throne he has continued to pledge to deepen his understanding of the impact of slavery with vigour and determination and we know as well to

date the runnymede trust which is a think tank group looking into race equality across the uk, they welcome the access to the royal archives. but they said it is wonderful the king is supporting publicly funded research but it is calling for a royal commission to unearth what they say is the complex history of colonialism. this comes on the day where there is scrutiny looking into the finances of the crown by the guardian newspaper todayjust the finances of the crown by the guardian newspaper today just a month before the coronation on the 6th of may. month before the coronation on the 6th of ma . ., ., month before the coronation on the 6th of ma . ., ~ i. month before the coronation on the 6th of may-— london's metropolitan police says it has moved officers from tackling serious crime and terrorism to boost efforts to clean up its own workforce. last month, a major review branded the force institutionally sexist, racist and homophobic. speaking to bbc radio london earlier today, the head of the met was asked if he would dismiss any officers found guilty of wrongdoing. to a nswer to answer the question in short, yes of course i want to sack them.

actually in a lot of cases, in all cases, i do not have the final say appears in the metropolitan police. i know that sounds mad, i am the commissioner, you are holding me to account with this question because you want me to run a good police service. there are independent legal tribunal is who can decide that we have to keep some day even though we want to sack them. that is one of the powers that has to be changed by the powers that has to be changed by the home secretary and she is doing a review which will be published at the end of the month that i think if you expect me to sort out the cultural issues in the met and get rid of people, give me the powers to do it. can you imagine if you were sitting here with the chief executive of a big organisation and they said they were not allowed to sack certain people? it seems to me to be nonsensical, i have to be transparent, these hearings are public and the fact i do not have the sign of them final say as problematic. we have made bad decisions, i am problematic. we have made bad decisions, iam not problematic. we have made bad decisions, i am not trying to off—load responsibility but we have

people who we have sacked and independent tribunals have reinstated them, people with criminal convictions. live now to nusrit mehtab, former scotland yard superintendent and police officer for over 30 years. iam not i am not sure if you heard those comments, the cultural issues that need to be fixed says the commissioner but do you agree with him or do you think he is trying to pass on the responsibility? he is absolutely right, _ pass on the responsibility? he is absolutely right, he _ pass on the responsibility? he is absolutely right, he does - pass on the responsibility? he: 3 absolutely right, he does not have the powers and what is needed as he quite rightly said is national vetting standards need to change and that has to be done by bringing in new legislation. home secretary after home secretary knows this, that they have not given the support to what is needed to root out and cleanse the metropolitan police. what is happening now is there is a process starting of cleansing but the problems are more fundamental and deep—rooted and they have got a

mammoth task ahead. firstly it starts with the home secretary giving new powers and this is a national issue, notjust an issue for the met. national issue, not 'ust an issue for the nah national issue, not 'ust an issue for the meth national issue, not 'ust an issue forthe met. . . , for the met. what was your response and what do — for the met. what was your response and what do you _ for the met. what was your response and what do you think _ for the met. what was your response and what do you think the _ for the met. what was your response and what do you think the public - and what do you think the public response in london should be to hearing the news this morning that almost 100 officers will be taken away from looking at things like terrorism in order to look at that issue? do you think people should be worried? i issue? do you think people should be worried? ., issue? do you think people should be worried? ~ , ., ., , worried? i think we should all be worried? i think we should all be worried because _ worried? i think we should all be worried because this _ worried? i think we should all be worried because this leaves - worried? i think we should all be worried because this leaves a - worried? i think we should all be i worried because this leaves a gap. london is a london is 1&00 officers short, should be dealing with other things like domestic abuse, sexual assaults but they are used to police themselves. the issue here is if priority is to build trust and confidence than those 90 officers have to be used to give confidence

to the public. the public will not be pleased because if they cannot get a police officer to come round or solve a burglary or solve other crimes, they are not going to be happy with that but we have to build trust and confidence in one of the things that needs to be done is that in terms of a complaint coming in, it needs to be investigated quicker. and the casey review has been updated but takes 400 days for an internal complaint of misconduct to be taken to the end and public complaints take longer so by bringing in these 90 officers, it can wholly the escalation of the process and make those out that need meting out and i think that gives some reassurance to the public, not a lot but it will give them some. 50 a lot but it will give them some. so mark has done a question and answer session today on lots of media, he is being very open about the skill of the problem but how damaged is the force at the moment, particularly amongst women? do you

think it will go some way, how open he has been to restore trust and confidence? i he has been to restore trust and confidence?— he has been to restore trust and confidence? i have said it before, the met is — confidence? i have said it before, the met is in _ confidence? i have said it before, the met is in crisis. _ confidence? i have said it before, the met is in crisis. it _ confidence? i have said it before, the met is in crisis. it really - confidence? i have said it before, the met is in crisis. it really is - the met is in crisis. it really is coming towards a mexican stand—off. will women and girls be reassured by this? no. if you think of the fact in the last four months, there's been over 1000 calls to the anti—corruption hotline and of those, 350 have been actioned and officer suspended, those, 350 have been actioned and officersuspended, it those, 350 have been actioned and officer suspended, itjust goes to show the extent of the problem. trust and confidence has been lost amongst women and girls over a period and the black community, that will take a long time to build. one of the things that so mark could do and he has missed his watershed moment is actually acknowledge institutional systemic failures, not just about institutional racism,

it's about institutional misogyny and homophobia. if he wants to bring trust and confidence one of the first things he can do is accept that label. first things he can do is accept that label-— first things he can do is accept that label. ~ , ., that label. weight must leave it there with a _ that label. weight must leave it there with a powerful _ that label. weight must leave it| there with a powerful statement that label. weight must leave it - there with a powerful statement but thank you so much. you are with bbc news. it may be hard to believe that there is going to be a first across many parts of the country tonight. it follows the rain over most parts of the country, just clearing in england but this ridge of high pressure will tend to build, killing the showers, giving us clearer skies and dropping temperatures. these are the temperatures as we head towards the temperatures as we head towards the early part of the evening, nothing to write home about. still some showers around across the east of the uk, a lot of those tending to fade but we will keep some cloud pushing down some of the eastern coasts into east anglia, keeping temperatures higher but elsewhere,

clear skies and light winds so for the rest especially in northern ireland we will have a slight frost, temperature is —2 minus three degrees. a chilly start to good friday, we start sunning in most places. as temperatures rise through the date that will generate some cloud, especially across eastern parts of england with club coming from the north sea, could bring one or two spots of rain in the north—east of england and temperatures typically around 11-13 , temperatures typically around 11—13 , near normal. heading into the weekend, the high—pressure keeping these weather fronts at bay for the time being, the second push will be more significant as we head towards easter monday. for saturday, i think we start chilly, there will be sunshine around, probably seeing the club developing through the day. probably more of a southerly breeze especially in the west of the uk but those temperatures are not changing a great deal, it could make 14 degrees in glasgow and a top of 15

in london. easter sunday we started to write with a good deal of sunshine, again we see some cloud developing through the day and maybe some rain coming towards northern ireland by the end of the afternoon. it could be that easter sunday is the warmest of the next few days with temperatures around 15—17 . easter monday, the rain that we have coming into northern ireland pushes eastwards, it may well hang on across east anglia and the south—east for a while but otherwise, it will be followed by sunshine but also some showers, a breezy day and temperatures likely to be a little bit lower.

talking tough over ukraine — can trade relations between the eu and china help apply the right kind of pressure? hitting the pause button — the reserve bank of india keeps interest rates on hold in a surprise move. is this the right step? welcome to world business report, i'm ben thompson. french president emmanuel macron has urged his chinese counterpart xijinping to use his influence to help stop russia's war in ukraine.

mr xi said their two countries had the "ability and responsibility"