Elapse at an iron ore mine in the state of Minnesota ice the company says 200 of its employees are unaccounted for but the fire brigade estimates the number is more than 300 Julia Carneiro is close to the disaster area this is a small city of around 40000 residents so everyone knew someone knows someone that is still missing still unaccounted for and I'm on this bridge where a lot of people are gathering today to look at the part of the river and the color it has turned with the sea of slides tenting it and the colors of iron ore extraction. The Taliban sources say they finalized an outline agreement with the United States deigns to end the 17 year old conflict in Afghanistan the b.b.c. 2nd to come on the reports they have now being 6 consecutive days of talks between Taliban representatives and u.s. Officials in the Gulf progress is believed to have been made on at least 2 key areas when American forces will be withdrawn from Afghanistan and the commitment by the Taliban not to allow the country to become a base for international jihad this groups such as Al Qaida the u.s. Special envoy for reconciliation in Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad is believed to be travelling from Qatar to Kabul to brief officials in the Afghan government about the proposals the Us secretary of state might pump members of the un Security Council to support the Venezuelan opposition leader. Now we have a new leader one guy though in Venezuela who has promised to bring elections and constitutional order back to Venezuela and security back to the region we cannot delay this critical conversation which has the world's attention for the sake of Venezuela and the region we must support the Venezuelan people and do so right now but the Russian ambassador. Accused Washington of plotting a coup against President Nicolas Maduro you're selling me but it's not any swelling does not represent a threat to peace and security has to Storybrooke started to go in if anything does represent a threat or if he is it is a shameless and aggressive actions in the United States and they are now rising very necessary for us we're single unceremoniously in an in which reaches all norms of international law an attempt by Washington to engineer a coup d'état in this country the president says negotiations with the Democratic Party over the u.s. Budget will start immediately has there expected to be difficult he said both his Republican Party and the Democrats were very dug in the bipartisan deal announced on Friday covers. 3 weeks Mr Trump indicated that after he that he might trigger another shutdown or declare a national emergency to secure alternative funding to build the wall on the Mexican border if Congress didn't meet his demands Well news from the b.b.c. The police and military in Cameroon have used tear gas and fired live ammunition to break up opposition protests in the city of dollar and the capital yeah one day there are reports that an opposition politician Celestin German and a prominent lawyer Michel undocking are in hospital getting treatment after being shot Italy's hard line interior minister met Ayo Salvini has insisted that he will not allow a German migrant rescue vessel to dock in Italy despite a church offer to take in the children on board Mr Salvini said it was up to Germany or the Netherlands to accept the migrants from the Dutch flag ship now off the Italian port of Syracuse Germany's coal Commission has recommended closing all the country's coal fired power stations by 2038 at the latest delegates from the industry had environmental groups spent more than 20 hours working out plans to give legal force to switch to renewables which over to coal is the country's major energy source for the 1st time last year. The French Oscar winning songwriter N.P.R.'s Michele Agron has died at the age of 86 David Sillitoe reports there's been a real bug a snowball down the good mills of your mind wasn't just an Oscar winner it was a song that defined a film The Thomas Crown Affair and it brought worldwide renowned for its French composer Michel across. The almost operatic film score tell a Power Point to share the Umbrellas of Cherbourg that established the reputation of the young Parisienne composer his songs became part of the soundtrack to the sixty's and seventy's. Is called jazzy romantic tunes helped create the mood of French New Wave cinema. Hollywood came calling he won an Oscar for Summer of $42.00 another fee until he composed conducted and was still performing to the end. B.b.c. News Hello this is the history hour with Max Pearson this week some dramatic cultural moments from the past 60 years we've got the Beatles last public performance the birth of the overtly feminist publishing house very raw go and the decidedly less feminist franchise the Carry On films. But we begin with a moment which was pivotal for the world's 1200000000 Catholics in the middle of the last century in January 1959 Pope John the 23rd called a special council of the Roman Catholic Church which would modernize Catholicism the decisions taken by that council have had a profound effect perhaps most notably in Latin America but the Roman Catholic Church has significant followings in Europe Africa and Asia as well Rebecca case be has been speaking to Monsignor Johnston Koski who was a student priest in Rome at the time of what became known as Vatican 2 Rome where this week they're open to the Vatican Council the largest and perhaps the most important of any of the conferences in the whole 2000 years of the history of the Roman Catholic Church Vatican 2 is probably the most important religious event of the 20th century it was absolutely revolutionary no question about that Monsignor Johnston Koski was a student of theology in Brooklyn New York when Pope John the 23rd made the somewhat surprise announcement just a couple of months after he was elected it had been nearly a century since the last Ecumenical Council while I was here in United States at that time I was a seminary and studying philosophy and of course the church us all up because there was never an expectation that there would be a council an Ecumenical Council is a rare occurrence in the church the reason it's called Vatican is because of its location the 1st Vatican council took place in $870.00 this now it's called the 2nd Vatican Council because of that when the pope called the council the world was in a period of rapid change the trauma of 2 world wars was still being felt and the political map of the world was changing as communist regimes flourished in Eastern Europe and the colonial powers of Western Europe were crumbling Christianity had been one of their main export could Catholicism survive the end of colonialism. Europe was still you might say recovering from the 2nd World War Hala. Cost and then ultimately also nuclear bombs countries in Africa and Asia we're now becoming independent as the great empires fell apart within the church itself is a lot of new research in terms of the ology in terms of the Bible so this immense ferment both in the church in the world and I think it was the genius of John the 23rd to say well the best way to address all of this is to bring all the bishops of the world together to respond to these challenges of a new world more than 2000 cardinals and bishops from all parts of the wow I arrived here in the p.r. The 1st session of the 2nd Vatican Council began in October 1962 by which time Johnston Koski was in Rome continuing his studies to become a priest is afforded him a front row view of the spectacular events and I got to. Find that well the opening day we were in St Peter's Square and we watched this perception of bishops into the Basilica of St Peter how many of the great issues every week in the world the bishops were wearing the white copes and their miters the symbols of their office so you talk about 2500 bishops it was a rather lengthy procession and then at the very end it came Pope John the 23rd that is the Holy Father to fill the 30 thirtieth's but he felt very right the crowds were chanting singing it was a very exciting day so hundreds of bishops and cardinals from all over the world had descended on Rome I think special arrangements had to be made to house them all then they were observant theologians from other denominations and face they were also invited by the pope the city must have been a buzz of activity Well it was quite an experience I remember one time getting on a bus with a couple of other students friends of mine and we met a bishop from Brazil we chatted with him and he was telling us his hopes later that same day we were visiting a church and there we saw our the archbishop called much for civil war so accomplishing scheme going to a restaurant. And you would see business from France or from Spain. And there'd be a lot of spontaneous conversations so it was quite an experience to be exposed to all of these different nationalities at different parts of the church and around the world the council ran until December 965 commissions of elected and appointed bishops looked at specific issues relating to church life and practice informal let Jones in seminars were happening alongside and millions of Catholics around the world were watching including John we were able to follow the council because some of our professors were consultants for the various commissions but also every day there was a bulletin from the Vatican press office that was summarize the events of the day and lunch began with the reading of had bulletins and there would be occasional hisses of disapproval if a particular Cardle Bishop says something we don't like but if it's what we liked then there'd be a ripple of plausible dining room because we're on their side we realized that they needed to be a change we knew that this is going to be a very significant event the student priests weren't the only ones with strong opinions about what was happening in the council there was a tension between those who wanted to keep things the way they were who John the 23rd called prophets of doom you know who saw everything just in a very negative way and those who felt that we needed a new language a new approach to things new directions so as a result some of the debates could get quite sharp there are a lot of human tensions Jims you might say a lot of human dynamics one of the major reforms that came out of the 2nd Vatican Council was the decision to conduct the celebration of the mass in the local languages of the people up until that point wherever you were in the world services would be conducted in Latin. The. For the vast majority of people there was no understanding whatsoever that was dangerous because it could mean stagnation so we. Moved to the liturgy being celebrated in the in the language of the particular country but also the way in which the priest related to the people no longer with his back to the people but now facing the people the awareness that the church is not simply the hierarchy the pope this is what the church is all of the faithful Pope John the 20 third's plan wasn't just to make church more user friendly for Catholics he wanted to extend the hand of friendship to other faiths rivals within Christianity the rather arrogant attitude of the Vatican as many outsiders saw it was changing the horrors of the Holocaust had awakened the Catholic conscience to a new relationship with the Jewish people the recognition that we ultimately are descended from the Jewish faith I mean need to work on a positive relationship as well as also with the other major organs of the world so all of this seems quite revolutionary really but of course there were no women involved in the formal discussions that it can to with the notion of that seem to be just too radical Actually no there were some women who were observers I think they did it to size something for and on a more informal level obviously if a counselor to be held today I think that would be quite different and to be a much greater sensitivity to the need to have been present their ideas their views . Priests did become more engaged in the issues of the world it was because of the council that there were many priests and nuns in the forefront of the battle for civil rights marching with Martin Luther King Jr for example the council gave that you might see that permission in Latin America priests began to become more activist because of the poverty of their people that sometimes but to some extremes there were some who adopted Marxist philosophy but they were very few along with the changes to the practice of worship and the abandonment of some of the more medieval outfits one by nuns for example the roles of the bishops and the pope himself will modernize. But it was all too much reform for some there were some traditionalist who were very upset by the changes taking place and so a split did take place and that's what continues until this day what would have happened without the council I think we would have found ourselves more and more irrelevant stagnant and out of touch the before the completion of the council Pope John the 23rd died of cancer but his legacy lived on the John the 23rd served only a few years a very brief time but what he did in terms of opening up the church to the larger world it's invaluable an incredible act of courage on his part there's no question that he is one of the great pope's of all time and how as you I'm not influenced by oh yes my experience of the council made me even more deeply committed to life in the church as a priest I'm glad that I had that experience and I would not trade it for anything else. Monsignor Johnston Koski was talking to Rebeca can speak and if you go to our website you can see Monsignor John along with some remarkable archive footage of those events in Rome 60 years ago just search online for b.b.c. Witness films and to get a fuller flavor of the impact of that council known as Vatican 2 I'm joined now by the B.B.C.'s former religious affairs correspondent Jane Little Jane as we had this was not just some sort of Easter Terek theological exercise the decisions that were taken with the opening about akin to had real practical effects on the lives of millions of people very much so I mean this really did as Pope John the 23rd said threw open the doors the windows let the fresh air of the Spirit blow in say it was very much part of the ferment of the times and the you know the civil rights activism social activism people felt and powered within the church to go out and join these marches including bishops and priests there was a real space of renewal and engagement with the modern world and suddenly people could understand what the heck was happening in mass priests who used to face a way. From congregations face towards them which was very symbolic because basically it wasn't a downgrading of the role of the priesthood but it was very much saying hey the people of the church and you going to face towards the people there was a more of a collegial atmosphere bishops at Vatican 2 felt able to publicly question church teaching on the ban on artificial contraception for instance a lot of theologians felt empowered to go out and question church teachings there was a sort of real shift massive shift in the times it really was and you can argue that it had a wider impact than just within the Catholic Church as well because things changed with every day lives for Roman Catholic faithful and you could argue they wouldn't have had the liberation theology which became such a factor in that in America in the 1960 s. And seventy's of course that drew in the USA and other factors as well absolutely Leonardo Boff was one of those reformist theologians who very much helped carry the liberation theology movement of way of course later there was a backlash but you know there was a really radical new spirit but we also saw big changes in interfaith relations and again Pope John the 23rd was a huge believer in getting rid of this day aside charge the empty Judaism that ran through Christianity that the Jews killed Jesus he got rid of the phrase in the Good Friday prayer about perfidious Jews This was huge it led to Nostra a tart a an encyclical which really did help Catholic Jewish relations Protestants had been invited in to Observateur other denominations to observe the 2nd Vatican Council and also basically said this church does not believe it is you know supremum above all other churches that annoyed a lot of traditional Catholics but it very much shifted things on that front was that the essential issue that Pope John the 23rd felt had to be addressed the sense of isolation the Catholic Church is becoming more and more isolated I think he very much felt that it needed. To engage with a world that was shifting dramatically and that's what the Vatican 2 was called to do to engage with the world and this pope for the 1st time invited an elevated bishops from other parts of the world made the 1st cardinals from Africa and Japan and the Philippines and so it was really an attempt to engage with many many things happening in the world after World War 2 But as with any major reform really for many in the church Vatican 2 did not go far enough or went too far in loosening some doctrinal diktats absolutely there was her quite a fierce backlash against this renewal movement reformist theologians were out there working and were later censored and silenced and Pope John Paul the 2nd and then Benedict the 16th who was Cardinal Ratzinger was head of the Vatican office that used to be called the Inquisition the dock trial enforcer they very much presided over what was called the restoration as sort of a backlash against movements to modernize and liberalize in some ways a split in the church was symbolized by Cardinal Ratzinger by Ratzinger and by Hans küng who with the a logins together a young reformist theologians who were at the 2nd Vatican Council and one went in one direction and became this traditionalist an enforcer of traditional church teachings and the other was stripped of his teaching license and censored by the church for questioning the doctrine of papal infallibility so there was very much of a split and in fact some of the more extreme end of Catholicism of the traditionalist wing regarded Vatican 2 as heresy and refused to recognize the reforms or future popes and this split in the church continues that's Jane Little The B.B.C.'s former religious affairs correspondent as we heard women played only a very live. Did roll in the discussions and decisions surrounding Vatican 2 even now women cannot be ordained as priests in the Catholic Church but 60 years ago attitudes towards women in general were very different and our next key moment from the past plays into that whole question of how men and women see each other in the early 1970 s. Carmen Callil along with many other women at the time felt like a 2nd class citizen she decided one way to challenge this was to set up a company which would publish books by and about women she called it very raw go and she's been talking to clip shows. And. The expectation for somebody like me was just to have tea parties and get married you know and I knew perfectly well I just couldn't do any of that common Callil and her sights set far higher I always wanted to change the world I didn't think the world was good enough I mean then that I am intensely childish and I didn't think the way a woman lived with good enough. Whether she works or whether she doesn't is the woman who is expected to look after the House of plenty of men who don't think that's work at all Britain in the ne 970 s. Was grappling with all sorts of questions about women's lives which had been raised by the new live resurgent Women's Liberation Movement the u.k. It only just passed an Equal Pay Act in 1970 and debates a begun about the sex discrimination but how the hard the wife wo