Global News Podcast - 'France faces most severe crisis since the Second World War'

Episode Date: July 28, 2026

The French President, Emmanuel Macron, has promised to commit every available resource to contain the flames from the raging wildfires. In Spain, the prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, has warned of difficult times ahead with temperatures forecast to hit forty Celsius from Tuesday. Also, the United Nations body which fights AIDS has said the world risks a resurgence of ‌the HIV epidemic due to funding cuts. President Trump has told reporters that the US is in "very deep talks with Iran" but that he would be ready for "strong military action" if diplomacy failed. In Kenya, activists launch a high-profile legal case which claims hazardous pesticides and herbicides that are meant to make farming more efficient have been harming people's health. Gianni Infantino, the head of football's world governing body, FIFA, has told critics of his handling of several high-profile controversies at the recent men's World Cup that they had missed the joy and togetherness experienced by millions of fans. And the UN cultural organisation, UNESCO, has unusually awarded World Heritage status to a battle ground: the Normandy beaches used for the D-Day landings in 1944.The Global News Podcast brings you the breaking news you need to hear, as it happens. Listen for the latest headlines and current affairs from around the world. Politics, economics, climate, business, technology, health – we cover it all with expert analysis and insight. Get the news that matters, delivered twice a day on weekdays and daily at weekends, plus special bonus episodes reacting to urgent breaking stories. Follow or subscribe now and never miss a moment. Get in touch: [e-mail] Photo: A Military Emergencies Unit (UME) worker carries a hose during a wildfire in San Martin de Valdeiglesias, Madrid, Spain, July 26, 2026. Credit: REUTERS/Ana Beltran

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to manage your business. Visit Odu.com to book a demo. It's ODbolo.com. This is the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Nick Miles and in the early hours of Tuesday, the 28th of July, these are our main stories. Fires are burning out of control in parts of southwest France. Others are bearing down on the Spanish capital. We hear how the fires are so big, they're creating their own weather systems. The UN body, which fights AIDS, says the world risks a resurgence of the HIV epidemic after funding cuts. And could India's youth protesters return to the streets after accusing the government of breaching a deal to end the weeks-long dispute? Also in this podcast.

The question is, do Africans, do Kenyans deserve a clean and healthy environment and clean food as Europeans do, as Americans do? and our answer is to the affirmative yes. We find out why Kenyan activists are taking multinational chemical companies to court and is a battlefield an appropriate place to award world heritage site status. The fires raging in parts of France and Spain are some of the most intense in decades. They've caused commentators and politicians to issue stark warnings and make dark comparisons. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez of Spain called on all citizens to exercise extreme caution in the difficult complex hours ahead. President Emmanuel Macron of France went even further.

As he visited the worst affected area near Bordeaux in the southwest, he said it was his country's most severe crisis since the Second World War. Both men know their administrations will be judged on how they react to the crisis. Meanwhile, with temperatures expected to soar again in the country. coming days, there are fears that Bordeaux could be at risk. Gwyn Loda is nearby and sent this report. For days, wildfires have raged in the southwest of France. For weary firefighters here, Canadian aircraft provide welcome relief. Most towns and villages in this area are almost deserted. The blaze now burns within 10 miles of the city of Bordeaux. The fires are raging in this rural area, flames occasionally leaping several feet into the air,

Thick black smoke rising as well, sticking in the back of your throat. Wildfires aren't uncommon in this area near Bodo, where Merererred, has lived for the past 16 years. Then we're going to take the kids and move further north out of reach of the smoke and the polluted air. As far as we can, we're lucky enough to have somewhere where we can go, so that we just get, especially the kids, get them away and get them to some cleanery. French President Emmanuel Macron has today been meeting the team's fighting the flames, which could take months to put out. We must understand we are facing a completely unprecedented wildfire.

The situation we are dealing with today is the most severe we have ever recorded, the toughest since the Second World War. Across the border in Spain, too, the situation is dire. What's been called the biggest wildfire in the region's history burns near Madrid. There's no shortage of dry vegetation for it to consume, thanks to successive heatwaves after a wet winter. The pace of the flames have slowed in Valencia, but the fires are still very much active,

and the government says the next two days will be crucial on whether they can be brought under control. This is the new reality. Summers are becoming increasingly difficult, destructive and therefore deadly. In Spain, as in France, hot, dry weather is forecast for the coming days. The fear here is that an already difficult situation, could become catastrophic. Gwyn Loder near Bordeaux.

Well, Stav Dinesse from the BBC Weather Centre, told me how the arrival of more hot weather will affect the fires. Well, it's likely temperatures will reach, again, the 40 Celsius mark, maybe even more than that, across central northern Spain, southern France, in the areas where we have the fires blazing. So this is probably the worst outlook they could have expected with dry air and extreme heat with very little in the way of rain. There could be a few isolated showers and thunderstorms over the high.

Fireground, for example, the Pyrenees, maybe towards the Alps, central and eastern France, but nowhere close to where we have the fires at the moment. So quite apart from all this very warm, hot air coming in from northern Africa, there are also problems associated with the clouds that are formed in the areas where the fires are. Explain what's happening there. Pirate clouds, as they're known. Quite a feature of the extremely large fires that we get in North America and Canada and the US, where they almost form their own weather system.

Now because these fires are so large, they're burning so fiercely, they're actually producing their own clouds, all the heat, the smoke and water from all the vegetation. Despite it being tinder dry, there is still some moisture in the vegetation which is pushing up into the atmosphere, forming clouds. They're getting high enough to actually form updrafts and down drafts. So wind close to the ground as has been drawn up in the cloud begins to blow erratically. So it fans the flames, it changes the direction of the flames without any warning. And as the updrafts develop, we can, actually see flashes of lightning, much like you'd see in the ash cloud of a volcano that erupts that almost forms its own cloud. And how much longer are these increasing heat waves going to last in Europe? Do they tend to fizzle out at some point? It's difficult to say this year's been exceptional. A lot of it's attributed, some say, to the cold blob, which is sitting in the North Atlantic. It's steered the jet stream very far north of the UK and Europe,

dragged all this hot air out of North Africa, which usually stayed. across the Sahara and occasionally wobbles out into the Mediterranean to bring these heat waves. Often towards the eastern Mediterranean, Greece, Cyprus can be very hot, southern Italy, Sicily. This year, it seems to be a pattern where the eastern side of Europe seems to be under cooler, northerly winds as the jet stream has been dipping down. And for north-western Africa, Western Europe, we've been baited by repeated heatwaves. And it's difficult to say when this pattern will change. Stavdaneus.

The United Nations body fighting AIDS says the world risks a resurgence of the HIV epidemic. After global funding was cut by nearly a fifth last year, the number of new cases and AIDS-related deaths dropped to their lowest levels in more than 30 years in 2025. But new infections rose in more than 20 countries. With more details, here's our Global Affairs reporter Mimi Swaby. In a report to mark the opening of an international AIDS conference in Brazil, UN AIDS said funding fell to around $7 billion, its lowest in nearly two decades. It warned that political and financial upheaval threatened decades of hard-fought gains against HIV.

The report also repeated that the global goal to eradicate AIDS by 2030 was off track, due to reduced funding and other crises such as Ebola, hampering efforts. Roughly 1.2 million people contracted the virus last year. Washington had accounted for three quarters of international HIV funding, before President Trump's return to office in January 2025. Life-saving HIV funding is still in place, but he cut most prevention efforts. Mimi Swayby.

President Trump has told reporters that Washington is in very deep talks with Iran, but he warned that he would be ready for strong military action if diplomacy failed. A pause in the US bombing campaign on Iran is continuing as officials try to end the conflict through negotiations. Iran has also hauled. its attacks. Mr. Trump is considering his next move after reports of warnings from some of his military chiefs that the U.S. is running out of targets in Iran and is experiencing low stockpiles of key munitions. Our correspondent in Washington is burned to boostman. The stockpile itself

is classified, but just looking at estimates of how many of the particular munition were fired in this conflict and how many were believed to be in the pre-war stockpile, among some very critical munitions, long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles, for example, Patriot Air Defense missiles. That shortage could be down by half or a third. Not only is that a huge concern for the U.S. should the war with Iran heat up again, and the U.S. needs to defend its Gulf allies from Iranian drone and missile attacks, but also it comes at a very complicated time in which the U.S., the Pentagon, believes that China's increasingly able and potentially even willing to invade Taiwan. Besides that, there's also a concern, of course, about what can be provided to Ukraine, given U.S. shortfalls.

Already, President Trump last year, declined to give Ukraine those very tomahawk missiles citing a shortage, and that was before the conflict in Iran. So it really does have very wide-reaching implications for U.S. military posture around the globe. Many of these systems have a very long timeline between when they're funded and ordered and when they're actually delivered, something that's measured in years. Now, I've spoken to a few experts who suggested that the lesson from the war in Iran and also from Ukraine's war with Russia, is that the U.S. could diversify its stockpile by manufacturing more cheap, quick-to-produce systems. But in a near-peer conflict with an enemy such as

China, for example, that doesn't make up for that shortfall. So in short, there's very little the U.S. can do in the short term to address that. But in the long term, it might change the way U.S. manufacturing looks at the defense industry and what exactly it's building. Burnt de Bootsman in Washington. For weeks, members of the Indian fledgling youth movement, the Cockroche Janta Party, took to the streets, angry over the leaking of exam papers. Well, the nationwide demonstrations led to their key demand being met,

the resignation of the Education Minister Demendra Pradne. It was seen as a victory for democracy by them. But hundreds of students who were detained in Delhi after police fired tear gas and used batons to disperse protesters, last Monday, remain in custody. The Cockrooge Janta Party is accusing the government of Norendra Modi of backtracking on its promise to release them.

Its spokesman is Ashton Ranka. If all the students, youth and protesters who have been arrested or detained in different states are not released, then the Cockroge Janta Party will once again be forced to protest. The BBC's Sumedipal is in Delhi and gave Rajini Vajanathan this update. Over the weekend and even today, we've been seeing a series of crackdown by the police authorities across Indian states, students who have been allegedly detained, and there is legal support now that they require. The Cockroch Jantha Party organized a press conference to address the fact that will the protests resume

or what will be the further course of action because there's a big demand of the cockroach Ranta party and its spokespersons was that all these charges will be dropped. The other demand was that all police persons who were responsible for attacking the students using sticks and batons against students will be identified and punished by the agencies. And today they held a press conference to state that the part of this agreement was not honored by the government because action against protesters is continuing across India. So they think that the government hasn't stuck to its side of the bargain, as it were. What's the government saying? They haven't responded to this yet because the Kokra Janta Party just did their press conference. I was at a press conference where the union minister, J.P. Nata, honored these promises when the deal was done.

When finally Dharmendra Prithan's resignation was accepted, he did admit that there will be action against those police persons who were involved in attacking the students. And, of course, that there will not be any action against the protesters. They have launched an online portal where they're trying to investigate. and identify those who were responsible for the violence against the protesters. They have not said anything about the movement reconvening. Police and the administration have, from the beginning, maintained that they had imposed Section 163 in this particular area, which meant that anyone assembling on the protest sites,

it was unlawful assembly. So I don't see that they will be responding to this or doing much about it. These are the signs as of now. what might come next from the Cockroach People's Party? As of now, the movement is also dealing with a lot of criticism. There are a lot of questions about the political aspirations of the spokespersons because videos surfaced online where they were seeing celebrating and partying after the resignation of Indian Education Minister.

So a lot of questions were being raised on these celebrations, on the actual support that the spokespersons and the leadership are providing to the students on the ground who are currently. facing police action. So it will be interesting to see what unfolds in the next few days to come. That was Sumaed-Dapa. Still to come in this podcast. It's an extraordinary 15-slide Instagram post.

This doesn't come via a well-worded statement from the governing body, but via a late-night Instagram post from the president. This is the behavior we've come to expect. Shock and awe as the FIFA president launches a blistering attack on critics of the recent football. World Cup. This is the Global News podcast. Let's bring you up to date now on the mass shooting at a food festival in the US

city of Seattle on Sunday, which left three people dead. Police now say they believe three people were involved. The shooting has been described by local officials as a horrible act of violence. Our North America correspondent, David Willis, tell me more about what happened. This was the third and final day, Nick, of the annual. your bite of Seattle Food Festival, and it regularly attracts more than 300,000 people. It was shortly after 6 o'clock in the evening, Sunday, just as this festival was winding down, that five or six shots rang out, and video footage shows terrified people, including families

with small children, running for their lives after those shots rang out. Now, officials initially thought it involved an exchange of gunfire between two young men, one of whom a 19-year-old is thought to have been among the three people who died. A 15-year-old boy is being held in juvenile detention for investigation of firearms violations and first-degree assault. But officials in Seattle appealed for the public's help in identifying a third suspect, who they say fled the sixth. shortly after. Detectives are reviewing security footage, they say, from nearby buildings. A 44-year-old man and a 56-year-old woman also died, and at least four other people are known to have been injured,

among them a two-year-old boy who remains in hospital as we speak. This appears to be a firefighter, if you like, amongst heavily armed young people. How much of a problem is gang violence in Seattle? Officials believe that this does appear to have been gang-related, Nick, and that the 15-year-old who is in custody at the moment and the 19-year-old who died knew each other. Two guns were recovered from the scene. Officials in Seattle said it was just the latest in a string of violent incidents

involving young people, and indeed the third major shooting there in several days. Overall, however, violent crime is actually down in Seattle. It is in many American cities at the moment. The figures show a drop of more than 30% in the number of homicides in the first half of this year compared to the same period last year. But gun crime amongst young people has increased. And the mayor of Seattle, Katie Wilson, has announced plans to launch a campaign, specifically aimed at curbing youth violence.

David Willis. To Kenya now, where activists and lawyers are bringing a high-profile legal case against multinational chemical companies, the Kenyan government and regulators. They claim that hazardous pesticides and herbicides designed to make farming more efficient are in fact harming the health of people across Kenya.

Josephine Cassely reports from Nairobi. Do Africans, do Kenyans deserve a clean and healthy environment and clean food as Europeans do, as Americans do. Our answer is to the affirmative yes. Outside the law courts in Nairobi, TV cameras are huddled around, an activist and a lawyer. Thousands of Kenyans have been affected by the use of these pesticides. And what we see is really shocking.

It's November 2025, and they're here because this court in Kenya's capital is hearing a case about the use of chemicals in farming, brought against the Kenyan government and several multinational chemical companies. Kelvin Kaby is one of the lawyers leading the case. These manufacturers were taking advantage of the vulnerability of these people, harming people who have no ability to fight back.

The court agrees that the lawyers and their team can go out into communities and find people who believe their health has been affected by pesticides and potentially enlist them in the case, making it akin to a class action. Like a tingling feeling, as she said. Yeah, tinkling on the feet on the hands. Kelvin and the other lawyers have brought on board two scientists to help them build evidence for their case. Most of them seem to have lost their sensation because of the nerves breaking down. They're particularly interested in exposure to a herbicide called Paracuat.

It's a powerful weed killer that's been at the centre of thousands of lawsuits in the US from farmers claiming that they've developed Parkinson's disease as a result of their contact with Paracquat. Although there's no conclusive proof that the herbicide causes Parkinson's, the degenerative neurological disease. It has been linked to the condition in several epidemiological studies. The substance is banned in the EU and UK because it's toxic if ingested.

Nurse Priske-Mannua is working with the lawyers bringing the case. It's a violation of the human rights because if it's unsafe for the people in the European countries, it is even more unsafe for the Africans who don't even have their protection. They assess 14 patients who've been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and more who they believe are exhibiting symptoms,

all of whom they think have been exposed to Paracquat. However, proving that any health condition is caused by exposure to pesticides will be challenging. Diagnosis rates and literacy are low. And additionally, many farmers don't know what products they're using. We've just pulled over by the side of the road, and I can see two people spraying the field next to me. I can also see two young boys carrying pesticide rucks with the sprayers.

What's most striking is that none of them are wearing any sort of PPE. If you look at the labels of a lot of these pesticides and herbicides, they often advise with accompanying diagrams that gloves, goggles and coveralls must be worn. One of the demands in the court case is for the government to provide more education to farmers on how to use products safely. Frederick Machiri is the CEO of the Kenyan regulator, the Pest Control Products Board. Here in Kenya, we have a regulatory mechanism, which ensures that the pesticides we have allowed for use

are safe to humans and also the environment if used according to labour instructions. Frederick Moorchiri ending that report by Josephine Cassidy. The president of FIFA, Gianni Infantino, has hailed the 26 Football World Cup, co-hosted by the US, Mexico and Canada, as a celebration of humanity at its best, while accusing critics of spreading hate and false rumours.

Despite acknowledging some shortcomings, he said there had been too much focus on the negatives. Mr Infantino's scathing attack came in the form of a lengthy social media post. The football writer Daniel's story told us more. I mean, it's an extraordinary 15-slide Instagram post. This doesn't come via a well-worded, cogent statement from the governing body, but via a late-night Instagram post from the president, this is the behaviour we've come to expect.

His key point is that he believes that people told him that FIFA and he and America and Trump wouldn't be able to put on a great show, which was never the point being made by any of the critics. The critics pointed out that the humanitarian and the geopolitical complexities of putting on that show had brought FIFA closer towards Donald Trump and had abandoned what they are supposed to stand for as a governing body, which is being apolitical. And he says things like, you talk about the people who didn't get visas. Well, I'm talking about the millions who did. Yes, Gianni, but the point is, is we have to talk about those that didn't, because FIFA is supposed to be, as you keep telling us, standing up for all and standing up for what's right. It's a screw the haters message.

It's a you told me I couldn't do this and look what I just did, but actually it doesn't really answer any of the points that people were making both before and during the tournament. This is another play of self-promotion and self-preservation and a power play, and we know already that that is the positioning that Infantino is taking. The reason he announced, his plans for a 64 team World Cup was because it's fair to say during the tournament that his PR took a bit of a hit, certainly around the Trump intervention with the Philharian Balagan

Red Card. And so he announced these changes to appease his support bases largely in Africa and South America who will do better out of a 64 team World Cup than anyone else. This is the, my fingers are in my ears. I don't care what anyone says about me. I'm walking off into my 2006 sunset, happy that I've done the best job in the world because I'm Gianni Infantino. And I think we just have to let him get on with that. I think we start taking everything he says seriously, we'll drive ourselves mad. Daniel's story. The Normandy beaches in France used for the D-Day landings in the Second World War have been added to the UN's World Heritage Site list. Allied forces landed on the beaches in June 1944 to fight Nazi troops and go on to liberate France. Becoming a

UNESCO World Heritage Site means an area has been recognised as having outstanding universal value and has given special legal protections. All of those who died in the fighting will be commemorated, including around 200,000 German soldiers. It's unusual to make a battleground a world heritage site, so why here? The BBC's Rebecca Kesby spoke to the Second World War historian Kate Weigers about why UNESCO made this decision. They originally thought of them as symbols of division, you know, where something bad happened, people were against one another. They're now saying that the way that the sites have developed, the way we're looking at them, there's a message of freedom, peace and unity among the nations.

And I guess that's reflected in the numbers of people who visit these sites from all over the world for various reasons. So the rule has changed and I, for one, I'm very pleased about it. And how significant is it that German soldiers are also going to be properly commemorated now here at the same site? I think it's a very interesting decision. And as a historian, you know, it's a slightly contentious one in that the battle was only fought because Europe was under an enemy occupation. That said, the soldiers on the beaches were your ordinary fellows. You know, they weren't fanatical. They weren't SS.

these are your normal soldiers and actually the more I've thought about it, the more it's right that they are commemorated in this number. They lost their lives too. And many would have been conscripts, of course, as well. Yes, that's right. I mean, a lot of these people had absolutely no choice whatsoever in what they were doing or who they were fighting for. So officials have said that they're going to improve the information and also signage around the sites. Why is that important? I think that's important for anyone going to the site

who maybe doesn't have a broad knowledge of it and when you know where you're standing and what happened there, it can have such a profound impact on you. So to improve that signage and visitor information is absolutely phenomenal that they're going to be doing that. And there are so few remaining veterans of that particular battle still with us.

I guess that makes the preservation of this site more important and do we know how they feel about this new status that these sites will be getting? Their numbers are dwindling massively now. You know, we're talking dozens rather than thousands. I think the veterans will feel that this is a really important thing. There's going to be no more development in the area. Nothing can spring up now. These beaches will be preserved as a site of history and peace and commemoration.

Kate Vigas. And that's all. from us for now, but if you want to get in touch, you can email us at global podcast at BBC.co.com. You can also find us on X at BBC World Service, use the hashtag Global NewsPod. And don't forget our sister podcast, The Global Story, which goes in depth and beyond the headlines on one big story. This edition of the Global News podcast was mixed by Nick Randall and the producer was Emma Joseph. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Nick Mars, and until next time. Goodbye.