France gripped by school protests

0:00Hello and welcome to News Out from the BBC World Service. Coming to you live from London, I'm James Camarassani. And we begin in France where today hundreds of schools have been out, not for summer, but for protests. Well, after a summer we saw wildfires raging across the French countryside, autumn is seeing fires burning in the streets and at some high schools. Today riot police out in full gear as protests by teenagers about overcrowded classrooms and under-resourced staffrooms have grown in scale and taken on a more violent character. There are now growing accusations that the protests are being hijacked by outside forces, with the French government saying today that they had gone from high school student demonstrations to a public order disturbance. The BBC's James Waterhouse has been out on the streets of the French capital. In turn of corner in central Paris and find yourself in the bottle neck of what is this

1:05demonstration? Students are staring down right, 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. Students are saying our classrooms are in disrepair, they're on and our teachers. There's also the political homelessness that many people of this generation gen Z feel. They don't feel represented, but even though ministers are gone. Even though ministers have met their own mistakes, there is a real danger now. The government saying legitimate demonstrators are quickly being drowned out by those who want to turn out and cause damage and conflict violence. And that's in danger of happening. Things are in danger of spiraling right across France as hundreds more colleges are closed.

2:08The BBC's James Waterhouse in and among the protesters in Paris, well here's what some of the students in the French capital had to say. My French teacher wasn't here for three weeks and we don't know how to deal with it. Like this year I have exams at the end of the year. So it's really difficult for us and for the teachers. We want to be seen and listened. So if burning the schools is a thing to be for being listened, we have to. I'm out here today because high schools are really bad and they are falling apart. Obviously we are not thinking only about us. We are also thinking for the generation after us. We are here because the society of the school is not good in France and we want to change it. It's not normal to be 40 in a class. Angry. We are angry. Some students are in Paris, but it's not just students who have been protesting. Isabelle Vuillet is a teacher at a vocational high school near Lyon in the southeast of France.

3:11She's been on the picket lines with her students and I asked her whether she was worried about the levels of violence that some of the protests. I am concerned because there is a lot of violence from the police. Obviously when the police came, violence grew and grew and grew. We are very worried about that. You've put the blame very firmly on the police, but there are reports that some of those who have taken part in the protests. They may not be students. Maybe other people who have come in, but they have also played a role in the violence. Yes, you're right. That's the reason why we ask our colleagues, the overt teachers, to go with the young students because we know how to demonstrate and they don't know. It's the best way to prevent violence. When you're not satisfied, it's the kind of education that's a part of education.

4:16We have already this kind of protest many years ago and teachers then, when it was finished, try to go, I don't know the word in English, but... I'll say. To catch up with the lessons. Yes, that's it. We are professional, so we know how to catch up some lessons when we need to. You said this happened a few years ago. Are you making comparisons with past student protests? How would you compare what is happening now to what has happened in the past? In the past, there were several protests. The big one was in 1968 in France. And we've got some similar protests ten years ago, for exactly the same reasons.

5:20And we managed teachers managed to get our pupils succeed. But this time, though, the money is tighter, isn't it? That the government has less and less room for maneuver. That's another problem. We think that, yes, there is a financial problem in France, like everywhere in Europe. But we say the government that education is a question of future. We can spend more money for young people, because they are the future of our society. French teacher Isabel Vuyet there, as well as becoming more violent in character. These protests are also taking on more of a political one. The centrist government of President Emmanuel Macron has accused parties on the far left of stirring up tensions. And this is what she told NewsHour about the protests.

6:26My first reaction is that, of course, all grievances must be taken extremely seriously. And they are some legitimate requests that we can hear and respond to in a civilized manner. I can tell you that the budget has increased. I can tell you that the French budget for education is similar to that of virtually all of the similar European countries. They could give you figures, but when it comes to anger and movements and protests, it's not with figures that you can respond. But one thing is for sure, these kids are being instrumentalized by the far left. And there is a political party that is legitimating the use of violence, and that is totally unacceptable. Political elected mayors from La France-en-Soumise have been legitimating the use of violence. This is just unacceptable. And you've had Jean-Luc Mélenchon saying it was okay for kids to express their anger in any potential manner. And we need to stop every form of violence as soon as possible before this could potentially get out of hand.

7:29Well, for our response to that, which was from Méliane-Occaro, French minister, we turned to Claire Légion, a French MP with that party on the populist left, La France-en-Soumise, or France Unboudre, whose leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon mentioned in that interview, is expected to be one of the leading contenders in next year's presidential election. So what does she make of the protests? They're basically trying to underline how the defunding of public education has created terrible situations for them. And I think there's a global impression for young people to stay in our country that they're not understood, they're not listened to, they're not respected. So all this has kind of boiled up in a legitimate anger. And so this has been expressed in these protests. So... Well, the anger may be legitimate, the reasons for it may be legitimate. But what do you make of the way this has not just boiled up, but boiled over now onto the streets, the levels of violence that we are seeing?

8:30I mean, they are not acceptable, are they? No, no, no, we're not minimizing, and each time there's forms of violence we do, we do condemn them and to start with, because this makes it more difficult for the students and for us to bring the political message to the fore of a conversation. In that context of condemnation, was it then a mistake for your colleague, the mayor of Sandini, Bali Bagayoko, to actually say violence can be legitimate in certain circumstances the other day? Bali Bagayoko has been basically with the students all week, has he has been putting out fires, I think he was referring to historically, and we've had forms of protests that have brought change, have used forms of violence, but we are political parties. So we believe in elections, we believe in peaceful protests, and indeed, indeed, but that is why that phrase is potentially damaging, isn't it?

9:31There's been a lot of insistence on that sentence, and not much on the peter times in which Bali Bagayoko and the whole of my colleagues, all of us, we've been saying all week about what we're calling to is peaceful protesting. And indeed, and your party leaders made it very clear, he said, with non-violence, he stressed that. One phrase of his though, and I must ask you this, because we spoke on the program to government minister. And she said, look, you had Jean-Luc Mélon-Schamp saying, it was okay for kids to express their anger in any potential manner. For a school kid who hears that, they might take that as a green light to do whatever they want. Do you not accept that? There's been a lot of insistence on the fact that Haber has been a few fires lit, and that we condemn, and we don't think it's a good idea, because it kind of detests the attention from the core issues that the students are trying to point to.

10:35We're talking about two sentences, taking an isolation of the whole of message we've been trying to get across, and the fact that the government are trying to insist on this sentence, and it isolates it from what we are trying to say to the students as a whole. So I don't think it's very interesting, and I don't think it's very useful. Since we did hear from the government minister, let me give you the chance to put your point of view across, because she insisted again that kids, she said, are being instrumentalised by the fire left referring to your party. What would your response be to that? To be honest, it's quite absurd. We've been present at the protest. We've been trying to also make sure that these protests did go well, because we've had very violent and violent intervention from the police, and sometimes the fact that you had MPs from our party has helped to make sure that no student got hurt. Sorry, you condemn the violence, do you?

11:36I know Jean-Luc Melanchard has said there should be non-violent protests, but there's been condemnation of what you have characterized as police brutality, and obviously the police have a different point of view. But would you condemn those supporters of yours or others who are using violence? And clearly, there have been cases of violence directed at the police. Would you condemn that? These forms of violence don't even come from the high school students themselves. For the first people, you should ask for solutions to try to calm the situation as the government. The defunding of high schools and public education is what has generated this situation and this protest. They have chosen to answer only by repression. The only way to avoid escalation is now to stop the own, for this unique response through repression, and to actually listen to what's going on. When you see your schoolmates being tear gas, when you see them being violently tackled by police,

12:40I think that gives you another reason to have even more sentiment of injustice. That was Claire Luzion, French MP from the left wing, La France Assumeuse party. You're listening to News Hour from the BBC World Service. Coming up, we're here from the heroic Indian pilot on the fly, Dubai flight on that attack, and he will be talking about his instinct for survival. Look, I have been flying for the last 17 years, and I've been a captain for the last 11 years. I can tell what is happening inside a plane with my eyes shut. So when I was lying on the floor, I could feel that the aircraft was plunging, and I said to myself, while I was getting beaten, this is the last push, Smith. Do it. The door is right there. They headlines at this hour. Now, there have been violent scenes outside schools across France as a dispute over learning conditions continues. And G7 group of industrialised nations have agreed to release a hundred million barrels of oil and diesel

13:43to try to ease rising fuel costs more on that in just a moment. Your listening to the BBC World Service, this is News Hour, coming to you live from London, with James Camarra Sami. While French high school students have been out on the streets, the French president of manual MacRaw has been chairing a meeting of G7 leaders, which has agreed to release up to a hundred million barrels of diesel and cruise. And I'm sure that the whole world is in a way that has been a huge part of the world. And I'm sure that the whole world is in a way that has been a hundred million barrels of diesel and crude reserves over the next four months. We have all jointly committed to releasing these strategic reserves in the proportions I mentioned, with priority given to diesel. And we have all committed to ensuring that there will be no export bans. President Trump, in particular, was very clear on this point. And I think that is very positive, as it increases coordination between the various stakeholders.

14:45As you heard there from President MacRaw, European countries have been under pressure from President Trump to release their fuel stocks to counter-sawing energy prices, which have been caused by the US and Israel's war against Iran and Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries. Mr. Trump had been holding out the prospect of a diesel export ban. Well, in the past half hour, he said that Europe had done a great thing by releasing the reserves. Dan Briert was US Secretary of Energy during the first Trump administration. I asked him whether it was President Trump's threat of an export ban that had forced Europe's hand. I kind of think that was the only reason, but I think it's at least partially the reason. Europe uses an enormous amount of diesel each and every day, as does the United States and other nations around the world. Obviously, a ban of any type would remove that supply from the world market. And for your listeners, it's important to understand that diesel, much like crude oil, is actually traded globally, not locally, like natural gas. So any removal of supply from the world market,

15:47given the current level of demand, would continue to push prices up. Possibly also pushing prices up in the United States. So perhaps gasoline prices. That's correct. And the reasoning for that is, in order to refine crude oil, in order to make gasoline, you first have to make diesel. And while an import ban or an export ban, I should say, would temporarily raise the amount of product available to your domestic markets. At some point, especially in places like the United States, where we refine more diesel than we actually use, at some point you have to start storing that extra diesel. And once that storage runs out, the natural step for any refine or would be to cut production at that plant, which means if you're not producing more diesel, you're not producing gasoline either. Again, removing supply from the marketplace, raising prices for all consumers. So can we expect as a result of this move, diesel prices to come down immediately? Not immediately. No. Over the course of the next few days and weeks,

16:48perhaps if these reserves are allowed, or if you can release them into the marketplace in a very short amount of time, then you'll see a temporary downward turn in prices. But the market is very sophisticated and understands quickly that you cannot continue to release diesel indefinitely. At some point you just run out of those reserves. So the market typically comes back up in the long run. So then the answer to all these questions is, we need additional production, we need additional refining capacity, and we need additional infrastructure to serve a growing demand. There are two things going on here, though, aren't there? There are other markets and what that's doing to the prices. And there is the politics, the domestic politics of this. This is all happening just weeks before midterm elections, in which Mr. Trump's Republican party is forecast not to do very well to put it mildly. I mean, is this going to have an impact on those midterm elections, do you think? Well, you know, I've never held elective office and I've never run for office.

17:50So I don't really know what it takes to run a campaign. But is it just, yes, I would imagine that that is at least part of the calculus of the US White House and perhaps other policymakers around the world. I saw Mr. McRaw's comments and others. I'm sure it is a factor. Again, all of this depends on duration and timing. If the diesel can be released in significant volumes to reduce prices and it can be done very quickly, then perhaps it does have an impact on the upcoming elections. If not, then obviously no. Well, he may not have run for office or served in office, but he has served in government, Dan Briette, former US Secretary of Energy during the first Trump administration. Now, moving potted plants in your home can be a fiddly enough process, but just imagine moving 1300 tropical plants and trees, because that process is currently underway in the huge palm house at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Q in London.

18:50The Victorian structure is undergoing a complete refurbishment from next autumn. That's because the hot and humid conditions have taken their toll on the iron work and the glass. And our science editor Rebecca Morell has been to see how the palm house plant move is going. I'm inside the world famous palm house at Q Gardens. It's more than 175 years old and it's about to go a makeover on a massive scale. But standing here at the moment, it's looking a bit more sparse than usual. And that's because the 1,300 plants that are in here are all going to have to be shifted for the renovation. So we started actually containerising plants in the palm house a little over a year ago, now and we're roughly cleared about half of the collections in here. Tom Pickering is head of glass house collections at Q and he's looking after this huge plant move. It's a really daunting task emptying the collections from the palm house.

19:54Some of them are historically really significant so they're actually older than the glass house. It's self while other plants are kind of really important conservation species. How are you going about the process? So at the moment we're really focusing on the smaller herbaceous and medium sized woody plants. Those are going to be cleared first and then hopefully we'll have the space in which to work where we're going to be using heavier lifting equipment in order to contain right some of the really big plants. One of the plants being moved today is a cycade. It looks like a sort of short palm. It's not that huge but it's still taking a team of three to move it. The plant is taken about 50 metres away to a temporary greenhouse. It's about a quarter of the size of the palm house. We've had to reshuffle a lot of times as you can see it with limited on space so we're having to put certain plants next to each other just to maximise the amount of space we have here. Leafsdarky is a horticulturalist at Q. The renovation which will start in autumn next year

20:57could take up to four years so the plants will be in here for a while. We're in here every morning watering the plants, checking the condition. We're trying to limit the sort of growth as we're dawning it and too big before they move back into the palm house. How do you do that? Treat them me. Well yeah try and keep them in relatively small sized pots. But as anyone who's attempted to move a plant knows some really don't like to be shifted with so many precious species Q isn't taking any risks. I've come behind the scenes to the propagation glass house where the team here have been busy growing back ups of all of the plants. Basically if any of them don't survive the move it means there's a botanical plan B. It's quite challenging because we have to propagate around 1,300 species with very different characteristics. Angelica Gentile leads the propagation team for the palm house project. Some species have proved very tricky particularly Ebony. We have been trying so many

21:58cuttings. How many cuttings did you take? Hundreds of cuttings and so far this is the only one that threw it. That was the most exciting moment for us. I can still remember the morning when I spotted two tiny black roots coming out of the pot. So we'll take a bed in a section. Back in the palm house in Tom Pickering and the team still have a lot to do. In the next six months everything that's left is going to have to be removed. But as the bed's thin out Tom says it's revealing the glass house in a new light. It's quite incredible to see the structure as you remove the plants and you open up this basic this incredible feat of engineering. I think it will feel more like a cathedral. Tom Pickering of Cughardens ending that report from our science editor Rebecca Morrell. You're listening to News Out from the BBC World Service. Welcome back to News Out. Throughout this week we have been hearing from a Ukrainian

23:03teacher called Liza Tkachenko in the southern town of Zattokka near Odessa about how the war is affecting school life. Well today she also sent us a voice note from one of her students. I keep studying. I keep learning languages. I keep applying for opportunities. I keep building my future because for me studying any grand during the war is not only about getting a degree. It's about continuing to leave. Crow and prepare for the day when we can finally build the future we have been dreaming about. The thoughts of one of Liza's students. Well now here's her final audio entry this week. This week Odessa region had over 60 year-old about 40 of them happened in the middle of the night. Nearly 20 happened in the first half of the day right during our lessons and across Ukraine. Never which alert this week lasted about an hour. They interupt our classes

24:06just as routinely as trauma and the grief. One of my students told me today that learning in Ukrainian school feels like a constant battle with exhaustion. Sometimes they barely sleep at night because of the sirens but they still have to get up for school. They come to class so sleep deprived that it's hard to focus but they say that they try to stay positive. Actually when I was asked to record this diary about how the war affects education of Ukrainian children I could have spent every episode talking about the devastating education losses or the PTSD and anxiety that so many children here are now forced to leave with. And you know we do talk about war a lot with children but beyond the war there are dreams. Every single child I know has one dream for the war to end so Ukraine wins. They dream for their parents to return home alive for their friends to be near them again. Children have dreams but we as

25:12adults must have a goal to do absolutely everything in our power to make those dreams come true. To be honest I think that for now our kids probably don't fully realize that simply sitting in a functional school right now is an incredible privilege and it's a miracle that we still have this opportunity in Ukraine. Of course it happened because there are teachers who refuse to stop working. It happens because of the Ukrainian soldiers who protect us. Most importantly it happens because of the children themselves. They are smiles, they are desperate desire to be together, they are energy, they are college. Simply they are very presence is what inspires us to keep holding on because these children are completely innocent. Yet they are the ones who suffer the most. The reflections of Liza Tkachenko who's been recording her audio diaries for us throughout this week from the town of Zatokka in the Odessa region of southern Ukraine.

26:17You're listening to News Out from the BBC World Service. This is News Out from the BBC World Service. We're coming to you live from our studios in central London with me James Kamara Sarmee. The family of René Good, the American woman who was shot dead in Minneapolis in January by an immigration agent from ICE have announced two lawsuits against the US government and members of the Trump administration. Now you may remember that René Good's death came at a time of heightened tension and protests over the ICE operation in the state of Minnesota. This was a report from CBS News following a shooting. We're coming. We're coming. Protest this morning outside of federal building in Minneapolis where residents are demanding justice after 37 year old René Good was shot and killed by an ICE agent Wednesday. It's all the video. I just totally thought it was murder. Plain and simple.

27:22That video shows good backing up in her car as an agent tries to open the driver's side door. That should begin to pull away. Another officer draws his gun and fires multiple rounds killing her. It was an act of domestic terrorism. The Trump administration blames Good. The DHS Secretary Christie Knome claims Good had been stalking agents all day. State and local leaders say ICE should leave Minneapolis and its presence is what led to the violence. I'm speaking publicly for the first time since the shooting René Good's partner Becca Good had this to say at a news conference on Thursday. Last January. The whole world had to watch as my entire universe was destroyed. As the sunshine was my amazing René was robbed from us from her children and from her community that loved her. In this past August I got ready to put our son in first grade. I bought him new shoes and a backpack and notebooks pencil case, whole nine yards.

28:23And I went back to school night on my own. She never missed a single moment. I don't hate the people who took René from us. But what I want them to understand. Every single day they get to look at their children and their wives and their sisters and know what they took from our family. They took a mother away from her children. They know that and they will carry it forever. An statement a White House spokeswoman called the lawsuit's baseless. President Trump had initially blamed the René Good's own actions for her death. But weeks later he called her death a tragedy and he said agents were sometimes going to make a mistake. The administration did make a number of operational and personnel changes following the deaths of René Good and another protest at Alex Pretti at the hands of federal agents in Minneapolis. Antonio Ramanucci is René Good's family lawyer.

29:24So why has it taken almost nine months since her death for these lawsuits to be filed? Well, there's no doubt that the reason for the lawsuits is basically one answer, a one word answer, and then it goes on from there. But it's accountability. Since we have spoken and since René's death in January of this year, the federal government has not responded to our claim for the wrongs that happened on January 7th. So this is now the only opportunity that we have to seek accountability and that's through the legal system and the filing of these lawsuits. Well, let's perhaps ask about that because what have you been trying to do in the meantime before this? Well, that's a very good question because our federal government does not allow us to sue them until we fulfill what's called a claims process. We have to fill out the forms and we have to wait six months and within that six month period, the government can do one of

30:24three things. They can respond that they will accept the claim. They can respond that they will not accept the claim or they can choose to not respond at all. And we received the latter of the response. There was no response. Once the six month period expires, we are then free to pursue litigation against the government. So they could have had it this off if they'd wanted to? Well, there's no doubt. I mean, they could have had they conducted their own investigation and determined that the shooter had unjustifiably used deadly force. They could have stopped this process. But because as far as we know, there was no investigation. They can't even determine accountability from their own end. So they've left us no choice. So let's turn to the lawsuits. What is actually in them? What are the contents? Well, again, that's very important because there were two lawsuits filed yesterday. One is the one directly against the United States

31:25government for the actions of Jonathan Ross, which was the shooter of Renee Good. We are holding them responsible. But the second lawsuit is a bit more complex. And certainly one that we think is extremely important to send a message that nobody is immune from accountability when it comes to their actions. And we have taken the steps of suing individuals such as Steven Miller, Christie Knome, Corey Lewandowski, Todd Lions, Tom Homan, Greg Bovino. Those are all the individuals who we say were either part of inside or outside the administration's conspiracy that created the environment for this to happen. So in case people don't know who those people are, we're talking about senior figures inside the White House, like Steven Miller, former Homeland Security Secretary Christie Knome, other people who have been or are still in senior positions in this administration dealing specifically with questions of immigration.

32:30You are absolutely correct. Steven Miller is considered one of President Trump's right-hand man. You will have seen the response from the White House to this. They say these are baseless civil lawsuits. They have sent out a comment from President Trump about Renee saying, I love all of our people. I would bet you that she, under normal circumstances, was a very solid, wonderful person, but her actions were pretty tough. How do you view the response from the White House? Well, I view the response from the White House as really as a non-response. They did not respond, because they did not investigate or evaluate the actions that Jonathan Ross took on that day, how he placed himself in danger, how he shot from a 90-degree angle into an open car window. But I wonder, do you think her death has had an impact, has had a positive impact on society?

33:31Well, I think it has, because when you look at what happened with Renee coupled with Alex Prede's also tragic death, the operation Metro Surge stopped very shortly afterwards. There was positive change in Christy Knome in the Department of Homeland Security Chief. She's gone. Corey Lewandowski is gone. Greg Bovino was banished. So in terms of a positive change for our country, yes, that's a positive change. I do want to ask about one thing. At the time President Trump said that he'd been told that Renee's parents and specifically her father were tremendous Trump fans. Is that still the case? Was that the case? I think there's a big difference between the exaggerations of the president calling them great Trump fans and people who voted for Republicans. So what I can't say in the family has confirmed that they voted Republican. They voted for Trump.

34:35Does that make them great Trump fans? You know that, I'm not sure. That question's never been asked. That is something that the president has deduced himself. That was Antonio Romanoche, lawyer for Renee Good's family. Now the former Venezuelan leader, Nicholas Maduro, is due to gone trial in New York next year. His capture by American forces at the beginning of this year is one of the signature events of the second Trump administration. Today in Miami, though, the sentencing has been taking place of a former Republican Congressman David Rivera, who has found guilty earlier this year of conducting a secret lobbying campaign on behalf of the Maduro government during the first Trump administration. Let's cross now to Miami. We can speak to Christina Vasquez of WPLG local 10 television news, who is in the courtroom today. Hi, Christina. And the name of your television channel gives a clue as to the sentence that was handed down. That's quite clever. Yes, indeed. So essentially, with the judge, he decided he was to impose a sentence of 10 years to break that down a little

35:40further. There were several counts on this indictment. And her sentence was 10 years on some of the counts, five years and other. But ultimately deciding that he would serve them concurrently, because in her view, a lot of the offenses here are dovetail with each other. So where it lands, is that 10 years? Tell us a bit more about the offenses. Okay, so this is a really interesting case, because and let's start right off the bat to say David Rivera, who spoke to the judge today during his sentencing. In his view, he remains innocent, right? His view is that this is a paper work issue that he didn't file the right paperwork. And I just want to make sure that's clear that that continues to be the defense position. What a jury found after weighing the evidence on trial was in line with the charges he faced with the prosecutors had said, which is that he was acting as a co-covert Venezuelan agent. The judge explained this a classic money laundering case. So he is,

36:40was accused and the jury found them guilty of secretly lobbying for the Venezuelan government. In this case, what does that mean? That means the jury found that he took in the millions a contract from the Maduro regime. So we're talking about former socialist dictator Nicholas Maduro and Venezuela in order to improve US Venezuelan relations. Something again that the defense has vehemently denied. One intriguing point about him is he is a longtime friend of the current US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. A thousand percent. And that is something that came up during sentencing hearing today on several occasions. According to the government in this case, they say, look, this is one of his friends. He's very politically connected here. We saw just an amazing show of support really from so many community members. And we're talking about letters being written on his behalf in advance of sentencing. And it was standing room only in that courtroom. I mean,

37:42there was literally one point where I was just standing along a wall, right? Trying to take notes on my knee because there were so many people in support. And one of those was his friends, you know, Marco Rubio. So the government said that's the whole point here that he leveraged his trusted reputation and that he traded the names of his friends to include. They said, now Secretary of State Marco Rubio, for his own quote, greed that he enriched himself by trading that in. And the judge at one point, even making reference to the show of support saying, I see you, I hear you, you are pillars in the community, but the jury found him to be guilty. And we have to make it absolutely no suggestion that Marco Rubio has done anything wrong here. No, no, not at all. It's his name. It was a point where he did a very brief testimony during the trial about a meeting that he may have tried to arrange. And that, but the point is that it's just one of the most high profile

38:42names. When we talk about letters of support, where people say, hey, he did great work. He's done great for the community. And the judge really had a stinging moment where she said, I do think that you have had a lifetime of great service, but apparently it took 50 million dollars. And that when that money was dangled in front of you, you violated that trust. Christina, many thanks for that. Christina Vasquez of WPLG, local 10 television news, speaking to us live from Miami, she was in the courtroom today for that sentencing of the former Republican Congressman David Rivera. You're listening to the BBC World Service. This is news hour coming to you live from London with James Camarassami. You're listening to the BBC World Service. This is news hour coming to you live from London with James Camarassami. The Indian airline pilot who was stabbed by his co-pilot during a flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv has been describing how he managed to get the door of the cockpit open,

39:44allowing passengers to get in and take control. Smith Macharon has told the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi that he was determined not to let others die. He was speaking from his hospital bed in Abu Dhabi. The co-pilot is also being held in the UAE. From Jerusalem, his Lucy Williamson. The prayers and messages of passengers on flight 1073 show how close they came. Mummy, they're saying there was a stabbing this woman says, it will be okay, it will be okay. A tale of horror replaced by a tale of heroism. Their wounded pilot opening the cockpit door as his co-pilot stabbed him, allowing passengers to help. His wounds clearly visible as he was carried off the plane. In a call with India's Prime Minister today, Smith Macharon gave his first public account of

40:45those crucial seconds. I was fighting for my life in that moment. It was a moment when I thought, because I'd fallen on the floor, I was wounded and I'd fallen down. Look, I have been flying for the last 17 years and I've been a captain for the last 11 years. I can tell what is happening inside a plane with my eyes shut. So when I was lying on the floor, I could feel that the aircraft was plunging and I said to myself, while I was getting beaten, this is the last push, Smith, do it. The door is right there. Somehow I opened the door and everyone came in and everyone had an equal role in that rescue. I was trying to save myself, but I also knew that I couldn't let anyone die. I'm not thinking about my wounds as if they were normal wounds because that would hinder my recovery. I'm taking these wounds like a journey which will progress slowly and it will take time, but I am very confident that this recovery will happen and I will be absolutely healthy.

41:52Passengers including two reserve pilots then stabilized the plane, plumber Yaneev Hayun, pulling on the controls to stop its nose dive. And telling Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he knew what to do from watching TV. Tonight Mr Netanyahu said Yaneev and his heroic companions prevented a disaster on the scale of 9-11. The attacker underwent Islamist radicalization, he intended to crash the plane with all passengers on board. We are investigating whether he was sent and whoever sent him will pay a very heavy price. In India today, prayers for the pilots' recovery, if his attacker was backed by Israel's enemies, this tale of heroism could still spark conflict in the Middle East. And that was Lucy Williamson reporting and that brings us to an end

42:52of this edition of News Hour from me, James Kamar Asami and the rest of the team here in London. Thanks very much for listening.