Hero pilot tells India PM Narendra Modi about alleged hijack and other stories | Global News Podcast

This is the Global News podcast from the. BBC World Service. Here's what's coming. up. The Indian pilot hailed a hero for. stopping an alleged hijacking tells his. story to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. I. felt like a flight was going down and I. knew for sure that this would be the. last push. President Trump mulls banning. diesel exports and is urging Europe to. release its reserves. Kenyan politicians. caught Gen Z voters. It's too soon to. say whether Edwin Safuna might shape the.

outcome, but he does carry the energy of. the youth movement and that means he's. given momentum to a new generation. demanding change. >> And French students clash with police in. protests over school conditions. >> They've been throwing shoes and rocks. and the police have now responded with. quite potent tear gas. I was not going to let others die. The. words of Captain Smith Machar from India.

who was the pilot of the flyby plane. which plunged more than 5,000 meters. during an attempted hijacking. He was. stabbed in the cockpit on Wednesday. morning by his co-pilot reportedly from. Aman. The plane was going from Dubai to. Tel Aviv with Captain Machar managing to. open the cockpit door so that passengers. could overpower his attacker and save. more than 170 people on board. most of. them Israeli. The captain has been. speaking to the Indian Prime Minister. Narendra Modi in a video call from his. hospital bed.

>> I had suffered so many injuries that I. had fallen down and at that time I said. to myself that if I did not get up and. sir I have been flying planes for 17. years. I have been a captain for the. last 11 years. I can tell what is. happening to the plane even with my eyes. closed. When I was down on the ground, I. felt like a flight was going down. And I. knew for sure that this would be the. last push. Just do it. The door is right.

there. And even then, I was still being. beaten. >> I just opened it, sir, and everyone else. came in. And everyone else had an. equally important role in it. But. consciously, sir, I was saying that I. was doing it for my own survival. But at. the same time, I also knew that I could. not let them all die. >> Meanwhile, investigators have been. looking into the alleged hijacking. Earlier, I heard the details from our. Middle East correspondent Yoland Nell in.

Jerusalem. >> The Emiratis lead the investigation. This was their plane uh that was. involved. And we're told that the. co-pilot um who was arrested when the. plane landed in Saudi Arabia was taken. back to the United Arab Emirates. The. chief prosecutor there said to be. looking into whether this was indeed a. terrorist attack, whether this man was. acting alone. The Israeli Prime Minister. Benjamin Netanyahu has come out saying. that um this was Islamist radical.

indoctrination that the man had been. through and said that he was clearly. suicidal from what was being said on. board. We know that the Israeli security. agencies have been speaking to the. passengers who are on board the plane, collecting their testimony and that. Israel is participating uh in this. investigation. President Trump um also. um was asked about this by journalists, you know, what was going on. And he said. if a RAM was found to be involved, then.

it would be hit hard. >> Across France, violent clashes between. protesters and police are continuing, sparked by a wave of student. demonstrations against conditions in. schools. The education minister says. more than a 100 schools have suffered. severe damage since the unrest began. last week. Authorities have arrested. nearly 2,000 people with the majority. still in police custody. As of Friday, more than 400 schools remain closed due. to the ongoing disruptions. Our. correspondent, James Waterhouse, filed.

this report from the streets of Paris. You can turn a corner in central Paris. and find yourself in the the bottleneck. of what is this demonstration. Students. are staring down riot police. They've. been throwing shoes and rocks and the. police have now responded with quite. potent tear gas. These demonstrations are only building. in momentum. At the heart of them is a. legitimate political debate. You know, students are saying our classrooms are.

in disrepair. There aren't enough. teachers. There's also. there's that excitement I mentioned. Um. at the heart of it, you know, students. feel that some of their schools. are lacking in funding and also there's. a political homelessness that many. people of this generation Gen Z feel. They don't feel represented.

But even though ministers even though. ministers. go. down here, even though ministers admit. there are mistakes, there is a real. danger now. I mean, the government. saying legitimate demonstrators are. quickly being drowned out by those who. want to turn out and cause damage, inflict violence. And that's in danger. of happening. Things are in danger of. spiraling right across France as.

hundreds more colleges are closed. >> Kenya could be at a crossroads as its. young population challenge the political. structures which have governed the. country for decades with 75% of Kenya's. population under the age of 35. They. have the numbers to make a difference. But can they really challenge the. embattled President William RTO? Barbara. Plata reports. THE rallying cry here is no.

>> No, they say to poverty, no to. corruption, no to the governing party, >> led by a senator, Edwin Safuna, who's. captured the attention of Kenya's youth. A digitally savvy generation, Gen Z. determined to challenge the old guard. Angry with political leaders they say do. not offer them a future. I'm here to. participate in a revolution change that. we want a a new Kenyan youth leader who. knows the common problems that are.

facing the young people. >> Many young people didn't bother to vote. last time. Now they're courted by the. opposition. >> This election in 2027 is when this. theory that the young people are. advancing will be put to the test. Our. challenge as a leadership is to ensure. you have a compelling message that then. uh encourages people to come out uh let. them see the vision for the new country. >> It's very early days yet in the run-up. to the election. So it's too soon to say. whether Edwin Safuna might shape the.

outcome. But he does carry the energy of. the youth movement and that means he's. given momentum to a new generation. demanding change. >> Two years ago that energy had a very. different feel. Gen Z protesters stormed. parliament to stop a controversial tax. bill. They were crushed by a police crackdown. that killed and injured dozens. But. Kenya's youth have found another way to. press for change. A trendy social media. campaign hopes to instead harness that.

momentum at the polls. >> These were people who had actually come. out to register that day. >> Admins is behind the drive urging youth. to register. There has never been a case. where. there is a block that is not affiliated. to any person or any party. They just. want to vote in the right leaders. And. this is what we created. It's more of a. swing vote. >> The party of President William R is. doing badly in the polls, but it is.

fighting back. Also making a pitch to. Gen Z. The party's youth leader insists the. president is already delivering for. young people. >> The president is a listening president. and he's been able to now come down to. the youth, listen to them, get what. their concerns are, give them jobs and. uh that has absolutely even for the. party given us a head start. >> Some are willing to give the governing. party another chance. The government is.

really doing well about the youth. They. are really concerned about the youth. Yeah. And we hope there will be changes. >> Less than a year to Kenya's election, it. feels like politics might be changing, but nobody yet knows what the energy of. Gen Z voters could mean at the ballot. box. >> Still to come, why South Korea has. fallen in love with a stranded shark. >> Forget about K-pop in this world right. now. So, the latest sensation in South.

Korea is not BTS. It's actually a shark. >> With problems over the supply of diesel. because of the wars in Iran and Ukraine. and prices soaring as a consequence, the. US is looking for other means of. increasing supplies. Washington is. considering banning diesel exports and. it wants European countries to start. using their reserves. Now, while it's. rejected the threat to ban diesel. exports, the European Union says it's. ready for collective action with the.

International Energy Agency on the. stocks of fuel. I heard more from our. business reporter in Singapore, Archana. Shukla. The United States wants European. countries to open up their diesel. stockpiles, release them in the market. to increase supplies, global supplies, and bring down rising diesel prices, which we've seen have hovered to record. highs in the recent days. Um and uh we. know that u you know the uh the the. European Commission has said that the. the UK has also spoken with some of the.

member countries uh in the European. Union about the situation about. releasing stockpiles and discussing. scenarios. Um this also comes at the. backdrop of the threat from President. Trump that he may look at stopping. exports of US diesel which has somewhere. in the recent past become uh a supplier. of last resort for this refined product. very crucial for transport uh farming. equipments and even for industries. >> Yeah, I mean how dangerous a moment is.

this? >> Well, it is crucial because you know. prices have gone up substantially in the. US. Diesel prices have uh gone up by 70%. since the beginning of the Iran war and. it is becoming a major political concern. and a talk point ahead of the midterm. elections and that is something uh where. uh President Trump may want some actions. happening uh and be seen as doing. something around that. Uh global. supplies are squeezed. We know the. straight of hormones while the supplies. through the straight of hormones has.

improved in the recent past but it. hasn't gone back up to the previous uh. levels. Um there have been Ukrainian. strikes on Russian refineries that has. also squeezed supplies and recently even. China has said that they would be. looking at their domestic market and. reducing exports of diesel and that. definitely is squeezing uh global. supplies. uh for UK and uh the European. Union, it is an even more uh uh you know. graver situation because both these uh. uh uh you know regions depend heavily on.

the United States for import of diesel. about a third for uh for Britain and. about half of what European Union needs. in terms of diesel requirement comes. from the US. So there is definitely a. lot of deliberations to deal uh with. prices uh you know supply in the market. and for the prices to come down. A US. congressman has criticized the decision. by the US coffee company Starbucks to. open two branches in the Chinese region. of Shinjiang where China has been. accused of human rights abuses. John.

Muinar, chairman of the Select Committee. on China in the House of. Representatives, said an American. company should not be doing business in. Shinjiang over the last 10 years. It's. thought hundreds of thousands of mostly. Muslim weaggguers have been put into. re-education camps been imprisoned or. have been subject to forced labor. The. UN Human Rights Office previously said. China's actions in Shenzhen could amount. to crimes against humanity. The BBC's. Mickey Bristo who spent many years. reporting on China told me more about. why the decision to open these coffee.

shops is so controversial. >> Firstly, it's who's involved. Starbucks, big American company. They were one of. the first American firms to open up in. China. 1999 was the first time they had. a coffee shop. They even had one in the. Forbidden City in Beijing. I've been in. it myself. And so they seem to. encapsulate the sort of Americans. acceptance of China on the international. world stage really. That was a time. China joined the World Trade. Organization. And secondly, it's taking. part or these shops have been open in.

Shing Jang, a really contentious region. For the last few decades, China is being. accused of carrying out human rights. abuses there. Particularly 10 years ago. when hundreds of thousands of people. were put in re-education camps. This is. ethnic minorities, mostly Muslim. weaguers who live in Shing Jang. Uh the. Chinese authorities were accused of. engaging in forced labor, separating. parents from their uh children, putting. them in orphanages. So a whole raft of. abuses which um the human rights UN.

human rights council uh said uh could. amount to human rights uh serious human. rights crimes against humanity. And so. um that's really why this has been such. a serious incident. >> What's China saying about this? >> Well, China says all along essentially. it's trying to fight religious. extremism, separatism, and terrorism in. Shing Jang. That's always been its. justification on this particular issue. It says that essentially the criticism. is just naked lies that you look at. Shinjang now there's stability, economic.

growth, racial harmony, unity among. ethnic groups. Uh they say everything's. fine. Interestingly, human rights groups. say well that's because of repression. Everything seems fine because nobody's. allowed to do anything. And and. Starbucks by going to Shing Jang, opening two coffee shops, one in the. airport in Arumchi, the capital, the. other one in Arumchi's Grand Bazaar. Essentially what Starbucks is doing is. endorsing that repression. >> and that's what they say. But what is. the situation like in Shing Jang now?

>> Well about six years ago Shing Jang was. was in the world news for for a good few. years essentially because of that. re-education camps that China opened. that I mentioned. People put into them. without doing any comm crime essentially. being sent there just to be better. Chinese citizens. a lot of those closed. uh and so the events in Shing Jang have. fallen off the international agenda to a. certain extent but there's a lot of. surveillance restrictions on religious. freedom restrictions on what weaguers.

can do there just like there always has. been and just like there is to a certain. extent in the rest of China so life is. certainly hard they face a lot of. repression in Shing Jang so that's not. really changed. >> a fresh attempt to free a large shark. trapped in a canal in the South Korean. city of Busousan has been halted after. problems with the net being used to. guide the fish. Rescuers were attempting. to gently steer the creature towards the. sea before the net got caught on the. bottom of the waterway. The 3 and a half. meter long shark nicknamed Bukangi has.

attracted hundreds of thousands of. curious spectators as we heard from the. BBC's Sophie Jung. >> Forget about K-pop in this world right. now. So, the latest sensation in South. Korea is not BTS. It's actually a shark. So this three and a half meter shark got. stuck in a canal uh two weeks ago in the. port city of Busousan in this tiny. waterway. So it got stuck in what's. called Northport in Busousan. So in. Korean that's Pukang. So that's where it. got its nickname Pukangi from. So.

experts believe it is a type of a copper. shark and that it got stuck while. chasing its prey into the waterway and. couldn't find its exit and ended up. being stuck there for two weeks. So, the. shark has gathered national attention. So, over 600,000 people have flocked to. see the shark uh along the waterfront. park and it has gained um attention of. the city as well. The city has named the. shark an honorary ambassador for the. city um saying that um the online poll. actually showed strong support for this.

idea and it's helping the local. businesses as well. They have seen a. huge boom in customers and sales. And. just to show you how far that has gone, there's a meme coin launched after. Bukangi online. Now you can trade those. as well. So what started initially as a. you know just a wildlife incident has. turned Bukangi into a national celebrity. in South Korea. >> And that's all for this edition of the. Global News podcast. If you'd like to. get in touch, our contact details are. below. Until next time, goodbye.