In short
The episode is a BBC NewsHour roundup led by southern Europe wildfires, plus other global stories. Topic: France and Spain’s wildfire crisis, including mass evacuations and cross-border firefighting support.
Guests
Eleanor Carrois, French Foreign Minister for International Partnerships; Chris Bachmann, Toulouse-based journalist; Christophe Revault, French father on a camping trip near Lacanau; Rebecca Papin, American tourist in Biscarrosse; Juan Navarro, Spanish journalist near Madrid; Matt Salinger, son of J.D. Salinger.
Key claims
France has 32 large fires and mobilized firefighters, the army, and 1.5 million FFP2 masks; the EU Civil Protection Mechanism is sending planes/aircraft; nighttime flying is restricted, so evacuations continue (over 200,000 in France). Spain declares a national emergency as fires threaten Madrid.
Notable examples
a family fleeing by the only peninsula road; evacuees sheltering in a Bordeaux trade congress center; a tourist told to shelter in place while roads remain closed; Spanish villages stuck in traffic jams and angry at delayed firefighting.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VOWildfires in Southern Europe
0:49 to 1:50
Discussion about the growing wildfires in France and Spain.
“scale of the destruction and the disruption is growing clearer.”
Mobilization of Resources
1:50 to 2:46
Overview of the mobilization of civilian and military resources in France.
“fight blazes which have caused the country's biggest ever loss of land to wildfires.”
Latest Updates from Toulouse
2:46 to 3:20
Chris Bachmann shares the latest updates on firefighting efforts in France.
“two air tractors from Portugal, two black helicopters from the Czech Republic and Slovakia.”
Evacuations and Personal Stories
3:20 to 5:39
Chris shares details of evacuations and personal experiences during the wildfires.
“Well, we heard there from the government.”
Christophe's Experience with Wildfires
5:39 to 9:27
Christophe recounts his family's evacuation during the wildfires.
“the stories of people who've been caught up in those french wildfires christophe revault was on a camping trip to Lacanau, that's just to the northwest of Bordeaux, with his wife and two children.”
Rebecca's Shelter-in-Place Situation
9:27 to 13:16
Rebecca describes her experience sheltering in place with her children during the wildfires.
“Well, now to someone else who is on holiday with her two children, but who hasn't managed to leave the affected area.”
Introduction to NewsHour
14:03 to 14:27
An introduction to the episode and upcoming segments.
“read The Catcher in the Rye because you're going to be asked about it and you don't want to have a dumb expression on your face and not have an answer.”
Impact of Fast Deliveries on Workers
14:27 to 19:20
Exploring the challenges faced by delivery workers in South Korea due to demanding schedules.
“You're listening to the BBC World Service.”
UNESCO World Heritage Status for Mount Olympus
19:20 to 23:16
Discussion about Mount Olympus's potential UNESCO status and its cultural significance.
“If the gods were going to smile on any application for UNESCO World Heritage status, this would probably be the one.”
The Rise of the Romanticy Genre
24:11 to 28:00
Exploring the emergence of the Romanticy genre and its appeal to readers today.
“Well, now the UK's first bookshop, especially devoted to romanticity, has opened in the city of Oxford.”
Show all 16 chapters
Young Indians Protest for Education Reforms
28:00 to 31:30
Learn about the protests in India demanding accountability and education reforms.
“for young Indians' frustration with the country's education system and which today claimed the scalp of a minister.”
Impact of Protests on Indian Politics
31:30 to 35:16
Explore the political implications of the recent protests and the government's response.
“and she brought me up to date with the day's developments.”
Wildfires in Southern Europe
35:16 to 40:34
Get updates on the severe wildfires affecting southern Europe, particularly Spain.
“So how significant a political moment is this for India?”
On the Ground: Wildfire Reports
40:34 to 42:00
Hear firsthand accounts from journalists covering the wildfire situation in Spain.
“You're listening to the BBC World Service.”
Wildfire Chaos in Castilla-La Mancha
42:00 to 44:30
Learn about the current wildfires in Spain and the challenges faced by firefighters.
“But during the day, I saw how in Casa Vieja, the wind changed.”
Reflections on The Catcher in the Rye
44:30 to 48:20
Discover insights from Matt Salinger about his father's impactful novel.
“Juan Navarro, the Spanish journalist at the Fire Zone there.”
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:00Éléonore Caroit:This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK.
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0:40Éléonore Caroit:Hello and welcome to News Hour, coming to you live from the BBC World Service and live from London with me, James Kamarasamy. And we begin with the wildfires in Southern Europe, where the scale of the destruction and the disruption is growing clearer. This is how the emergency has been reported in France and Spain.
1:23Éléonore Caroit:Tonight, with the smoke and the flames not far from the city of Bordeaux in the southwest of France, there has been a warning from the French Prime Minister that the next few hours could be difficult. In Spain, meanwhile, a national emergency has been declared with fires threatening the capital Madrid. More than a quarter of a million people have now been forced to leave their homes across the two countries in France. They're calling it the biggest peacetime evacuation since World War II. President Macron has said that all civilian and military resources are being mobilised to help fight blazes which have caused the country's biggest ever loss of land to wildfires.
1:59Éléonore Caroit:It means that Sunday's final stage of the Tour de France is being shortened because security forces assigned to it are being redeployed. Well, earlier I spoke to Eleanor Carrois, the French Foreign Minister for International Partnerships.
2:12Jake Kwon:France is facing really an exceptionally intense fire season. This is really on scene. And as we speak, we have 32 large fires that are ongoing in different areas of the country. So to respond to that, of course, all the firefighters in the country have been mobilized. But in addition to that, the army was sent out to support firefighters and 1.5 millions of FFP2 masks, the ones that we were using for COVID, were sent out to populations that are affected by the smoke that are in surrounding areas. And we have also activated the European Civil Protection Mechanism, which allows for coordinated response with other European countries that are sending material devices, planes, so two water bombing carriers from Croatia, two air tractors from Portugal, two black helicopters from the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
3:06Jake Kwon:And this, of course, comes in addition to what we already have deployed. It's about 16 aircrafts in total. And we are testing and should be able to conduct very shortly, hopefully today, military aircraft turned into water bombers.
3:19Éléonore Caroit:Well, we can speak live now to Chris Bachmann, a journalist based in Toulouse in the southwest of France, with the latest. Good evening, Chris. Well, we heard there from the government. They are stressing they're doing everything they can. and we've seen these images of this military plane over the affected area. What is the latest on how they are trying to address this?
3:42Surbhi Kesar:Indeed. In fact, the problem is that this time of the evening, it's 10 o 'clock in France. The planes can't be flying at nighttime because it's too dangerous because they have to fly so low. So at the moment, it's just firefighters on the ground this evening who have taken over. And at first light in the morning, then the planes will get back mobilized into the air. So at the moment, you're still looking at, like I said, over 200 ,000 people being evacuated in France alone. There's between 5 ,000 and 6 ,000 who are staying in a big kind of a congress center, which is usually used for trade shows in Bordeaux at the moment.
4:13Surbhi Kesar:Many of them are holidaymakers, but a lot of them are people who actually live in that peninsula, the Cap Fere, which is sometimes referred to as the Hamptons of France. I mean, it's a really beautiful and quite luxurious part of the country. and many of them had to escape by water because they couldn't go up the one road which gets out of the peninsula. And so they've left behind their homes, their furniture, they've left behind their luggage if they're tourists and maybe even left their domestic pets and their cars. So they're waiting to be able to go back and who knows when they'll be able to go back.
4:41Surbhi Kesar:And the problem is that tonight, just the wind is degusting again. We're talking about 50 kilometers.
4:46Éléonore Caroit:I was going to ask you about that, the weather. That's the warning from the prime minister, isn't it? That relates to the wind.
4:52Surbhi Kesar:Yeah, indeed. we're having gusts of wind again it kind of ebbed a little bit and it's back again the only good news if there is any is that the temperatures and the temperatures down here have been horrific and bleak in well above the late 30s i was up there just a few days ago and it was 43 44 degrees every day now for the first time in i would say weeks it's below 30 which is the only kind of positive
5:14Éléonore Caroit:point but it won't last long and yes and more high temperatures next week forecast indeed i mean it's
5:21Surbhi Kesar:really grim this summer of course as the south of france people say it gets hot but this is a i mean i know this region pretty well this is particularly bad we're looking at a fourth wave of extreme heat we're looking at 43 degrees maybe by wednesday thursday so that's what the firefighters and the local community are up against over the coming days quite a challenge
5:39Éléonore Caroit:chris thank you for that update to chris bachman there in toulouse well i've been hearing some of the stories of people who've been caught up in those french wildfires christophe revault was on a camping trip to Lacanau, that's just to the northwest of Bordeaux, with his wife and two children.
5:54Surbhi Kesar:We arrived on vacation in Lacanau Lake on Sunday. On Wednesday, we saw some smoke on the other side of the lake. Everything was in control. And for the two next days, the fire turned into a gigantic wildfire. It was still like 10, 20 kilometers away, so we didn't feel threatened at any time. And on the Friday afternoon, the sky turned orange. The sun was like completely red. So we saw a lot of smoke and we freaked out and we left in a rush.
6:26Éléonore Caroit:And this is you and two children?
6:29Surbhi Kesar:And my wife and my daughter, six years old, my boy is four years old and we didn't know if we had two minutes and the fire was there or if we had more time. So we left our staff behind, bicycle, food, clothes. and we just took the car, put the kid in the car and tried to find like an exit road basically. There is only one road communicating from one town to another in Gironde which you need to be quite lucky to not have traffic jam and know another fire blocking the road.
7:01Éléonore Caroit:So you left everything behind, your clothes, your bicycles, you just got yourselves in the car and left?
7:09Surbhi Kesar:Yes, exactly, exactly. And we thought we were safe. We drove 30, 45 minutes to reach the west suburb of Bordeaux. It was like 4, 5 p.m. on Friday. And basically one hour after, we saw a gigantic cloud of hashes coming towards us. And it was starting to rain hashes. It really felt like we were briefing next to a barbecue.
7:34Éléonore Caroit:And the family that took you in, did you know them? Were they friends?
7:37Surbhi Kesar:So not close friends, acquaintance. They let us stay for a night, but actually we stayed only a couple of hours. We fell asleep at maybe 11 p.m. And at midnight, they woke up us because they knew that the city was going to be evacuated in the next hours. And because it was like really start to be dangerous for our health and it was hard to breathe. Basically, we decided to take the car and drive two hours north. with first stop on the gas station trying to get some sleep one hour north of bordeaux and we found someone at 3 a.m and a couch to just get some some rest we are now in la rochelle wow so quite a journey how are the kids doing i think they're okay they were really freaked out because they saw we were super i don't know stressed with my wife they were very very stressed for their belongings especially their bikes right now they are playing and they are fine and we explain a lot of things to us about the sky about the smoke about the fires yeah i think they just didn't
8:40Éléonore Caroit:realize how close we were do you know what whether your things are okay are safe i'm monitoring on
8:47Surbhi Kesar:several websites where the fire is and actually the camping is like four kilometers away from the fire so far yes will we be able to get them i have no clue um we'll know very soon so are you again staying with friends or we found the airbnb actually on the road yesterday we were calling maybe 20 hotels and we were not looking at you know fancy one and and great cities we're looking really on on the countryside the receptionist told me everyone is calling every minute for the last three hours trying to find an accommodation. So yes, re-educating 100 ,000 inhabitants in a night is quite something.
9:26Éléonore Caroit:Christophe Reveau. Well, now to someone else who is on holiday with her two children, but who hasn't managed to leave the affected area. American Rebecca Papa is in the town of Biscarros. It's about two hours drive to the south of where Christophe and his family were originally staying. And there has been a mass evacuation there because of a nearby wildfire.
9:47Surbhi Kesar:I am in Biscarose, France, in my vacation home that I own here. And I am alone with my children in a city that has been fully evacuated. We have not been evacuated.
9:58Éléonore Caroit:And why not?
9:59Surbhi Kesar:Because I was asleep when they came through to do the evacuation and I didn't hear it. I had my earplugs in. And when I woke up in the morning, the evacuation had already happened. And a police officer came by and told me it was too dangerous for me to evacuate at that point. And I must shelter in place. So I am sheltering in place with the children.
10:18Éléonore Caroit:So there are police there. There are people who are aware you are there and are keeping an eye on you.
10:25Surbhi Kesar:They're aware that I'm here. I spoke to a police officer at 7.30am on Friday morning and no one has returned since then. So I'm remaining in the house. The police officer told me not to leave until she or another police officer returned. I'm forbidden to leave the house.
10:41Éléonore Caroit:And if you look out of your window, what do you see?
10:45Surbhi Kesar:So we had rain last night, and it's nothing like it was when we had the beginning of the huge, huge forest fire on Thursday night, which was like a wall of fire from my window. It was terrifying. And right now I see no smoke, I just see clouds. But I know that there is a raging forest fire to the northeast and to the southeast of Biscaros, and that the main roads remain on fire and closed.
11:08Éléonore Caroit:When you woke up and realized what had happened, what did you think?
11:12Surbhi Kesar:A bit terrified. This isn't my hometown. I only come here every summer for two months at a time. And when I realized that we had basically been abandoned in the city, and my first concern was, how much food do we have? So we have about another day's worth of food. And so I've tried to be very calm for them while being aware that we're in an extremely dangerous situation.
11:34Éléonore Caroit:And how are they?
11:35Surbhi Kesar:They're fine. They keep asking me if they're safe, and I say, you're safe with mommy. me. So as long as I say that, they believe me and they return to reading books and playing games. And they're not enjoying staying in the house because the air quality is very poor outside. And so I've had to put towels underneath the edges of the doors to keep the smell of the smoke from coming through. But already it's still coming through. They're getting a bit antsy in the house, but there's nowhere that we can go right now.
12:02Éléonore Caroit:Before you effectively became trapped in the house when you were outside did you see the fire coming were you aware of how bad things might get
12:11Surbhi Kesar:yes I was aware when I saw the water plane flying directly into the fire I was aware when I saw the firefighter helicopter hovering overhead and when I could actually see the flames in the far distance when I could see the fire coming up from the forest I was aware how extremely serious it was
12:31Éléonore Caroit:what are you planning to do Rebecca are you going to stay there or you do you think you'll
Read the full transcript
12:35Surbhi Kesar:take your chances at some point so the roads are shut and they're controlled by the police so there is no exit I can't go anywhere because the roads are on fire so I'm remaining at the house the road to the beach is open but there is fire in the forest there as well so extremely dangerous if I could even get through so I'm staying in the in my home I have the children's passports and my passport's ready. I have my wallet. I have everything ready to go if we need to. If I see the fire coming to my neighbourhood, then I will leave with the children and I will tell the police that I understand they've asked me to shelter in place, but that I'm going to go ahead and leave anyway because it's unsafe.
13:15Surbhi Kesar:But until that happens, I stay in the house.
13:18Éléonore Caroit:Rebecca Papin speaking to me from the French town of Biscarros. You are listening to the BBC World Service and this is NewsHour coming to you live from London with James Kamarasamy.
13:37Éléonore Caroit:Coming up later on in the programme it is 75 years since J.D. Salinger's modern classic The Catcher in the Rye was published. We hear how his son Matt Salinger first became acquainted with it.
13:50Surbhi Kesar:I was 12 and I was going away to school for the first time. And my sister, who's four years older than I, said, Matthew, you should really read one of daddy's books. You should probably read The Catcher in the Rye because you're going to be asked about it and you don't want to have a dumb expression on your face and not have an answer. So I did. I read it in the car on a long drive to the Adirondacks and I laughed pretty much the whole way.
14:21Éléonore Caroit:And didn't get car sick by the sound of things. More from Matt Salinger in about half an hour here on NewsHour.
14:37Éléonore Caroit:You're listening to the BBC World Service. This is NewsHour coming to you live from London with James Kamarasamy. Consumer convenience can come with costs and not just financial ones. In South Korea, where online shoppers are guaranteed that any items ordered before midnight will be delivered by 7am the next morning, there is growing concern about the impact of these super fast turnarounds on delivery workers. Following the death of one employee, the unions have been calling for overnight deliveries to stop. Our correspondent in Seoul, Jake Kwon, has been out and about with one nighttime worker.
15:14Surbhi Kesar:It is 11pm and I'm riding in the passenger seat in Kim's delivery truck. The 35-year-old weaves his truck around the narrow alleys here in Incheon City west of capital Seoul.
15:28Surbhi Kesar:I walk from 9pm to 7am. What are you thinking? Nothing. I just want it to end soon. I think, please, no five-floor walk-up. I hope it's a lower floor and no heavy stuff.
15:50Surbhi Kesar:This is how convenience arrives. Kim is carrying everything from toilet paper to fresh fruit. In the hyper-connected South Korea, anything ordered before midnight will arrive by 7 a.m.
16:05Surbhi Kesar:His pace is absolutely frantic. Every minute or so he makes a stop, and he's never walking. He's running everywhere.
16:17Surbhi Kesar:The 300 parcels must arrive in time, or he could lose this territory to a competing driver.
16:26Surbhi Kesar:You said this isn't a four-ever job. Why is that? This job eats away at your body, so it's not something you do for the rest of your life. But the money makes it worth it for Kim. He earns$4 ,600 or 3 ,400 pounds each month. That's double the national average. And during the day, he can spend time with his wife and soon-to-be-born child.
16:52Surbhi Kesar:However, in recent months, his work became the topic of a national debate when a nighttime delivery worker died after his truck hit a pole. Oh Seung-yong drove more than 11 hours overnight, six days a week. His schedule barely left him time to attend his father's funeral days earlier. Soon after, the delivery workers' union called for an end to nighttime deliveries. They pointed their finger at the online retailer Kupang that had subcontracted him. The company carries out most of the nighttime deliveries in the country.
17:28Surbhi Kesar:We met Park Misook in front of Kupang's Seoul office. She's fighting to end the nighttime delivery. Her 27-year-old son died after a night shift at Kupang's warehouse five years ago.
17:43Jake Kwon:That day, he entered the shower but didn't come out. So we went into the bathroom and found him hunched over in the tub.
17:52Surbhi Kesar:Jang Deok-jun lost 33 pounds of weight during the 16 months he worked overnights.
17:59Jake Kwon:We lost our son, but I hope no one else repeats our mistake and suffers like we did.
18:09Surbhi Kesar:In December, Park and Oh Seung-yong's sister confronted the CEO of Kupang in a parliamentary hearing.
18:19Jake Kwon:I am so sorry.
18:22Surbhi Kesar:The company said deaths among their direct employees are near zero, and it strictly limits work hours to 52 hours a week. It also pointed out that nighttime workers suffer fewer deaths than those working daytime. But Park and the union argued that the nighttime work harms workers' health over a long time. But the most vocal supporters of the overnight delivery are the workers themselves.
18:51Surbhi Kesar:We chose to deliver overnight for money. It doesn't make sense for me that I can't do this because of my health. And despite the controversy, the demand for overnight delivery has barely slowed, says Kim. The shoppers have tasted the convenience and they're not going back.
19:13Éléonore Caroit:And that was Jake Kwon reporting from Seoul.
19:20Éléonore Caroit:If the gods were going to smile on any application for UNESCO World Heritage status, this would probably be the one. Greek officials will discover in the next few days whether Mount Olympus, the highest mountain in Greece, the place which was the mythological home of Zeus and the 12 gods of ancient Greece, is to be added to the list as a mixed cultural and natural site. The discussions about whether to add it to the list begin on Sunday and the UNESCO meeting concludes on July the 29th. I've been speaking to one interested party. Stavroula Vourou is the owner of the Enepeos Rooms. It's a hotel in Litochoro at the foot of Mount Olympus.
19:59Jake Kwon:Mount Olympus is very special from 1913 where Christos Kakalos, Bombovi and Frederic Bousnas climbed for first time to the peak. All the people that are coming here come to explore our mountain. They know about mythology, the 12 gods, and they want to reach every peak because Mountain Olympus has 55 peaks with different names and different history. Every footpath is very interesting, very wonderful, and very refreshing for everybody. There are some points that they have no signal in mobile phones, so they can remake themselves and land everybody themselves.
20:45Éléonore Caroit:Away from all the social media and all the messages.
20:49Jake Kwon:Yes.
20:50Éléonore Caroit:Now, tell me about climbing it. How difficult is it to walk up the mountain?
20:57Jake Kwon:It's not difficult. If you respect that mountain, mountain respects you. And if you have the right leader, you can climb to the peak with very easy steps. You feel the tired, but the tired is sweet.
21:11Éléonore Caroit:It is. And tell us about your hotel. It's at the foot of the mountain.
21:16Jake Kwon:Yes, it's on foot of Olympus. It's a special spot from here. We can see the highest tops.
21:24Éléonore Caroit:so people stay in your hotel and off they go to hike up to the top of the mountain
21:32Jake Kwon:yes it's the beginning of the climbing and when they are coming down they are understand
21:39Éléonore Caroit:look where we are now what about this unesco world heritage status would it be a good thing for you
21:50Jake Kwon:It's an extra certificate here. They ask every year certificate and certificate for extra things. But now it's one of the best certificates to be in UNESCO.
22:02Éléonore Caroit:So you are hoping that finally it is given the UNESCO status?
22:08Jake Kwon:Yes, why not?
22:10Éléonore Caroit:And you have grown up there. This has been your life, Mount Olympus, has it?
22:15Jake Kwon:Yes, yes, yes, that's true.
22:17Éléonore Caroit:I hear that your mother-in-law was still climbing in her 80s.
22:22Jake Kwon:Yes, that's true. Before Corona is the last time that she climbed up to the peak.
22:27Éléonore Caroit:That's not a myth.
22:28Jake Kwon:No, no, it's real. You can ask Michalis Tillas. He was her leader for last time. And last year at 8th August, we celebrate her birthday in my property here. and he comes from the peak and says hello. And she asks her, why? Why are you here? Would you like to climb again now? And we laugh all together, 80 years old.
23:00Éléonore Caroit:And that was Stavroula Vuru, owner of the Enipeos Rooms, a hotel at the foot of Mount Olympus, which is being considered for UNESCO World Heritage status. status. It will find out whether it's got it in the next few days. You're listening to the BBC World Service and this is NewsHour coming to you live from London with James Kamarasami.
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24:10Éléonore Caroit:Welcome back to NewsHour Up next we'll have the latest on those protests in India which have led to the resignation of the Education Minister First though, there is a new genre of fiction it's called Romanticy it's a fusion of romance and fantasy where both elements are essential to the story online recommendations particularly from young women readers on social media platforms such as TikTok or BookTok have turned romanticity into one of the most widely discussed literary genres. Well, now the UK's first bookshop, especially devoted to romanticity, has opened in the city of Oxford. It's called Bad Girl Books, and my colleague Simran Sohal has been to visit.
24:48Surbhi Kesar:The city of Oxford, known for its ancient colleges, dreaming spires and centuries of history, but tucked between the cobblestones and castle walls, is something decidedly more modern. Customers queue outside the bright pink doors of bad girl books, the UK's first bookshop dedicated entirely to romanticy. It was once a niche online craze, but the genre has become one of publishing's biggest success stories.
25:18Jake Kwon:Inside, readers escape into magical wells where dragons, destiny and love stories all compete for attention. Starlin Marlet is the owner.
25:28Surbhi Kesar:Here's why she opened up the shop. I spent years on Reddit, BookTok, Instagram, trying to chat to people about like my favorite books, ask for recommendations. And it was so wonderful and fulfilling. But I love to chat in real life as well. And so I wanted to find these people to connect with. And some of the people I've been like BookTok friends with, they came and they brought me flowers. Oh, it was just so cute. It'll make me emotional talking about it because I just love the community so much. People might be curious about why romanticity is so popular now. And I think just the world can feel so bleak and I think romanticy is such a great way for people and particularly women who are experiencing oppression in lots of different countries all over to feel like women's stories are being told in a woman's perspective.
26:14Jake Kwon:In normal bookshops the sections may be divided into crime thriller fiction and non-fiction but here the shells are labeled
26:22Surbhi Kesar:unhinged, monster smut and LGBTQ. What's smut? So smut is spice or known as like hot scenes. So that term spice originated online to describe how hot a scene was. So if there was a lot of tension or explicit scenes, it would have multiple chili peppers. And so it just sort of evolved over the years to become a spice scale.
26:54Jake Kwon:I'm Meg. So what draws you into romanticity? It's like pure escapism. It's just, you know, you can have like a really naff day. You can go home and you can get lost in a book and it can be worlds away from where you are, which I love.
27:08Éléonore Caroit:I am James. I'm 28 years old.
27:10Surbhi Kesar:Do people kind of judge you as a male reading these books?
27:15Éléonore Caroit:Probably. Also, who cares, right? Like if you've got a book you like read it if someone's stigmatic that's their problem and i think i think that's why we need more guys being openly reading of romantic books james a guy who is a fan of romantic books so he was ending that report from oxford by the bbc's simran sohal
27:40Éléonore Caroit:you're listening to the bbc world service this is news hour coming to you live from london with james kamarasami
27:52Éléonore Caroit:The sound of cockroaches celebrating in Delhi tonight. They are supporters of the Cockroach Janta Party or CJP, a satirical movement which turned into a deadly serious vehicle for young Indians' frustration with the country's education system and which today claimed the scalp of a minister. After weeks of protests over the leaking of papers for the top medical entrance exam, the CJP supporters were undeterred by last Monday's heavy-handed police intervention and unswayed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent social media outreach. And on Saturday afternoon, their persistence paid off.
28:31Surbhi Kesar:We have done it! We have done it!
28:36Éléonore Caroit:We have done it! That is the founder of the CJP telling the crowd that India's Education Minister Demendra Prudhan had tendered his resignation. their number one demand. Well, a short while after that, the CJP spokesperson said that their remaining demands had also been met and they were calling off the protests. These young people in Delhi gave the BBC their reaction to the day's events.
29:00Jake Kwon:I'm going to be very, very honest.
29:03Surbhi Kesar:I've been coming here for a while, protesting here for a while, but I honestly was not expecting the government to, you know, bow down to the people so quickly. But it happened. Our constitution won. our voices were heard and I feel incredible right now. Today is a testament to the fact that government has to be answerable to its citizens and there will come a day where people will realise that enough is enough and they will give their 100 % to hold the government accountable.
29:31Éléonore Caroit:Ratna Singh is a spokesperson for the Cockroach Janta party. We had difficulty because of problems with the internet to speak to her over the phone But in a voice note, she told us what the CJP makes of the education minister's resignation. Right now, our reaction is that we are all very happy.
29:52Jake Kwon:From past 1.5 months, we have been at Jantar Mantar. We have been protesting across, you know, the country. People have been protesting. So it's a victory for all of us in a government which has never developed a culture of accountability. today dharmedra pradhan's resignation has you know given us hope that accountability matters and it can be demanded when it's needed the government had agreed to all of our other demands as well and within one month they are going to make sure that all of that is also met with respect to you know protest over for good the motive of the protest was to seek accountability and to have reforms in education.
30:40Jake Kwon:So we have already, you know, given whatever changes that we need to see in the education system. So for now, the purpose of the protest for which everyone had gathered, where our first demand was resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan, that has met one crore compensation that the government will let us know how much compensation have they agreed to, but they have assured that it will be somewhere close to one crore. And our third demand, which is with respect to reforms in the education system that also the government has agreed to. So I think the purpose of protest for now is over. And as in when later we see that a need arises again, we'll go ahead and see what needs to be done.
31:26Éléonore Caroit:Ratna Singh, spokesperson for the Cockroach Janta Party. Well, before we got that voice note from her, I spoke to our correspondent on the noisy streets of Delhi, Azadeh Moshiri. and she brought me up to date with the day's developments.
31:39Jake Kwon:I'm a little further away from the protest site right now because a lot of the internet is still spotty and still hard to manage closer to the site, but there are still police officers and paramilitary forces all around me because even though the Cockroach Junta Party has gained this major concession from a politician who isn't used to making them, and even though they're saying all their demands have been met and the protesters can go home. I was in that protest site just moments ago and it is a full-on celebration because this was, in their minds, a very hardened victory and they want to savour it.
32:19Jake Kwon:It isn't something anyone had expected up until this week.
32:23Éléonore Caroit:Are the protesters then saying, this is it? We've had this official word from the party, but what about the people on the streets?
32:32Jake Kwon:So the party has said that all the demands have been met And the education minister did announce his own resignation. But they certainly don't see their protest movement as over. Because this is now a movement that has managed to unite so many young Indians. It's drawn thousands of Indians to this one authorized protest site every single day. And the appeal for so many of the people I've spoken to is the fact that it's apolitical. And so they feel that after years of mounting frustration, after high rates of unemployment, a feeling like they've simply been ignored by those in power and mainstream politics, that they've finally found a way to channel their own voice.
33:16Éléonore Caroit:So what has the government been saying today?
33:19Jake Kwon:Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in the last few days, has released multiple Instagram vertical videos. He has said that he cares about the welfare of the youth. He has talked about the reform that he is putting in place when it comes to fast-track courts that would prosecute anyone who would be responsible for exam leaks. Remember, that is one of the key issues here that protesters are very incensed about. But as far as the specifics about every single demand that the Cockroach Junta party has put forward, We haven't heard the specifics of that from the government.
34:00Éléonore Caroit:It's still early days, but what is your sense of the impact of all this on Narendra Modi? He's not used to having to give up something like this, in this case a minister, and indeed on the BJP itself.
34:13Jake Kwon:No, he's not. He's not only a good politician, he's considered one of the most effective politicians India has ever seen. He's been in power for more than 12 years. A lot of that time, his power has seemed impenetrable. But so this has been a wake-up call to the prime minister that while he has been winning elections and the BJP has had resounding success across the country, he has not been resonating with a lot of India's youth who are very disillusioned by mainstream politics in India. When I've spoken to protesters here, I have heard from a couple people who have said They don't see the doors closed.
34:56Jake Kwon:They believe the trust can be rebuilt with the prime minister. But overwhelmingly, when I've spoken to the people here, they have said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi doesn't understand them and that the trust is gone.
35:11Éléonore Caroit:BBC's Azadeh Moshiri speaking to me from the very noisy streets of Delhi. So how significant a political moment is this for India? Yes, Siorbi Kesa is Senior Lecturer in Economics at SOAS University of London and an expert on India's labour markets and economy.
35:28Jake Kwon:I think it's quite a big deal. Let me start by saying that because, you know, India has been experiencing a very high economic growth for nearly three decades now and which was led by, you know, a lot of privatisation and liberalisation and stuff. And we did see that there were segments of the population like the farmers and like informal workers who have protested, but either they were very long-run protests or it hadn't delivered what people were asking for. And this has been a protest that has been relatively short-lived, but produced an impact of the kind of a resignation of a minister, which India has not seen before.
36:11Jake Kwon:And I think middle class has always been a very important political actor for the country. And today for this protest to deliver what it did, and for the government to actually take one of the strongest steps that we've seen in this particular ruling party's actions, does mean quite a big deal for India's democratic functioning and accountability.
36:33Éléonore Caroit:So what was it then? You say it's a middle class movement. It's a broad one as well, isn't it? the demographic is pretty large. Is that what has made the government realise that they couldn't hold out, if you like, that they had to give the protesters something?
36:50Jake Kwon:Well, yes. But also, I think there is something more that it says about India's economic model that we'll have to wait and see how it plays out. Because the growth, as I was saying, did percolate to a large extent of different segments of the population. But the growth has also been very unequal. India is now one of the most unequal countries in the world, and particularly did not produce good, sustainable jobs at a broader level. So up until now, what we were seeing was like resistance against liberalisation of agriculture, because you know, the farmers didn't quite have an alternative form of livelihood that they could get, which was the last farmer protest that we saw for like 18 months.
37:30Jake Kwon:And then recently, just a few months ago, we did see the manufacturing workers, sporadic protests were people earning, you know, less than£100 a month. And now what we have seen is that this is a problem of the economy that is now no longer confined to farmers and informal workers in terms of jobs, but rather it's affecting the educated youth and sections of the middle class, also some working class who did have expectations of upward mobility. And it has been central to the political legitimacy of India's post-90s growth model. And that now seems to be changing because what we are seeing is a figure of, you know, graduate unemployment of 40%.
38:12Jake Kwon:And that is really indicator of how the interests of the educated youth and this particular 10 % or middle class of the India's population beginning to sort of diverge from those of corporate capital.
38:25Éléonore Caroit:So an education minister has gone. But what do you think the government will do to try and address these underlying issues that have led to these protests?
38:36Jake Kwon:I think a lot of that still remains to be seen, because I think immediately and especially seeing the response that's coming where they've agreed to not just, you know, the demand of resignation of the education minister, but also not filing FIRs and like police reports against the people on the protest, etc. and not taking action has been quite an interesting acceptance. So I definitely think there's this move towards wanting to appease this population and the segment of the population.
39:06Éléonore Caroit:What about the politics of this? Does Narendra Modi come out of this looking weaker? Or does he look like an astute politician who sort of realised that these were different protests, and he's done what was needed to quill them?
39:20Jake Kwon:One thing that comes out quite strongly is that especially, you know, it is seen as this Gen Z movement, and the whole social media was taken by a storm, where a politician who's always been seen as this very strong patriarch was kind of dealt with in the social media in ways that was almost very non-serious. And that is quite a significant shift for a political leader in India currently. So in that sense, this definitely does show a weakening in terms of the government. It is something, of course, I think that has gone beyond any singular political party, right? It's a much more broad-based and a much more organic movement.
40:03Jake Kwon:But I do think the fact that there have been different political parties across like a wide spectrum that have come together does mean that there is some finding of common ground, even if in opposition to how things are working right now.
40:19Éléonore Caroit:And that was Sourbir Kessa, Senior Lecturer in Economics at SOAS University of London. and they're reflecting on the developments in India over the course of the day. You're listening to the BBC World Service and this is NewsHour, coming to you live from London with James Kamarasamy. You're listening to the BBC World Service. This is NewsHour, coming to you live from London with James Kamarasamy and we're going to return to our main story, the wildfires in southern Europe. Earlier in the programme we heard from France. So let's turn now to Spain where the government has declared a national emergency as the fires get close to the western outskirts of Madrid.
40:57Éléonore Caroit:Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez visited the fire zones and had this to say.
41:04Surbhi Kesar:The situation continues to be complicated. The forecast from the State Meteorological Agency and from the wildfire experts is that we have ahead of us some complicated few hours because the temperature has fallen and we don't know what the progress of the winds will be, their intensity, and whether they will produce dry thunderstorms because of the wildfires. But what is certain is that we have a window of opportunity during this weekend to fight the fire, and we will dedicate a good part of our resources towards that end.
41:35Éléonore Caroit:We can speak now to Juan Navarro, Spanish journalist. He's currently in Talavera de la Arena, which is a town just to the southwest of Madrid. Juan's been traveling around the region. We spoke to him on an earlier edition of News Hour, and he's back again. good evening Juan just tell us about your day you're moving around a lot what are you seeing tonight?
41:55Surbhi Kesar:Good night my friends now it's it's terrific it's horrible because I started the day in the province of Avila and now I'm in Castilla-La Mancha because I've been driving all along crossing fires crazy wildfires because at the early morning it looked like a good morning in a good context, like President Sánchez said, in a window for working, a good work for the professionals. But during the day, I saw how in Casa Vieja, the wind changed. And it started the madness because the firefighters were overwhelmed because of that. People of the village were very nervous, trying to help, but there was no way of doing an efficient work.
42:44Surbhi Kesar:The main idea was protecting the village and probably means forgetting about the forest of the countryside because the most important is no suffering deaths or destroying the houses. So I think this situation has happened not only in Casabija but in many villages of the centre of Spain, close to Madrid, close to Ávila and in many other places.
43:10Éléonore Caroit:And are there enough firefighters there? Are they getting reinforcements that they need? There are never enough firefighters.
43:20Surbhi Kesar:I wish I could say they have a very good conditions, but they have been fighting for a long time, asking for more resources, more formation, more money, and there's no way of getting it. Every community, every region is responsible of having a good or solvent team for the wildfires, but we can see that it's not enough. The most important is prevention.
43:47Éléonore Caroit:Prevention, yeah. And what about the people? Are there huge lines of people leaving the area or are they trying to stay behind to save things? What's happening?
43:56Surbhi Kesar:In fact, I was, before, one hour ago, I was in a traffic jam leaving the little village of Casa Vieja because everybody had to leave it. People are, people is angry. People is very angry because they have not enough information. In many villages, they have seen how there was not firefighters. So when the firefighters appear, sometimes they get some bad words because they say, you weren't here yesterday when my house was burning. And it's disgusting for them.
44:28Éléonore Caroit:Well, Juan, thank you so much for that update. Take care. Juan Navarro, the Spanish journalist at the Fire Zone there. Now, 75 years ago this month, a disillusioned American teenager called Holden Caulfield hit the consciousness of readers across the English-speaking world. He was a protagonist of The Catcher in the Rye, a novel by the American author J.D. Salinger, which depicted Holden's growing disillusionment with the world as he approached adulthood. With its themes of teenage angst and alienation, the novel transcends its affluent New York setting and continues to inspire generations of new readers.
45:00Éléonore Caroit:Matt Salinger is J.D. Salinger's son. He spoke to NewsHour's Julian Warwicker from Connecticut. So when did he first read his father's iconic novel?
45:08Surbhi Kesar:I was 12 and I was going away to school for the first time. And my sister, who's four years older than I, said, Matthew, you should really read one of Daddy's books. You should probably read The Catcher in the Rye because you're going to be asked about it and you don't want to have a dumb expression on your face. and not have an answer. So I did. I read it in the car on a long drive to the Adirondacks in upper New York State. And I laughed pretty much the whole way. He was not in the car with me. My mother was driving. But it felt like he was with us because I was reading his words and his thoughts and getting to know his characters.
45:53Surbhi Kesar:As a 12-year-old, were you immediately seeing elements of your life in there? Well, here and there, yes. The amazing thing I think about Holden is you can read the book at different ages and get a totally different understanding of who he is and what he's going through. I didn't understand or want to understand some of the grief he was dealing with and some of the isolation he was feeling, having lost his brother. I just found the humour at that age. When I've read it at different ages I've had a totally different experience.
46:33Éléonore Caroit:You're going to read us a little excerpt I think, a reminder of what some of us should return to. Which particular passage have you picked and why?
46:43Surbhi Kesar:It's towards the end of the book. It's when Holden has sought out probably the one and only teacher in his various schools that he'd been kicked out of that had given him good advice and that he felt a real kinship with, Mr. Antolini. So this is Mr. Antolini speaking to Holden. Once you get past all the Mr. Vincents, you're going to start getting closer and closer, that is, if you want to, and if you look for it and wait for it, to the kind of information that will be very, very dear to your heart. Among other things, you'll find that you're not the first person who was ever confused and frightened and even sickened by human behavior.
47:29Surbhi Kesar:You're by no means alone on that score. You'll be excited and stimulated to know. Many, many men have been just as troubled morally and spiritually as you are right now. Happily, some of them kept records of their troubles. You'll learn from them if you want to. just that someday, if you have something to offer, someone will learn something from you. It's a beautiful reciprocal arrangement, and it is an education. It's history. It's poetry. He stopped and took a big drink out of his highball. I'm not going to drink from my highball, but that's the section.
48:08Éléonore Caroit:And that was J.D. Salinger's son, Matt Salinger, there reflecting on his father's iconic novel, The Catcher in the Rye, which is turning 75. And that is it for this edition of News Hour. From me, James Kamarasamy and the rest of the team here in London, thanks very much for listening.
From the publisher
Military transport planes have been sent into the worst affected regions as ash clouds loom over Bordeaux. We hear from two families who have been caught in the fires on holiday, and get a response from the French foreign minister for International Partnerships, Éléonore Caroit.
India's education minister has resigned after weeks of protests. Surbhi Kesar, a Senior Lecturer in Economics at SOAS University of London and an expert on India's labour markets and economy, told us why there is so much youth dissatisfaction in India.
Also in the programme: the BBC's Jake Kwon goes out with a delivery driver in South Korea on an overnight shift to see what working conditions are like.
Image: A firefighter works as flames burn during a wildfire at Ares, Grionde, amongst worsening drought conditions following a heatwave and water shortages across much of France, July 25, 2026. REUTERS/Stephane Mahe