PRESS REVIEW – Tuesday, September 29: Jordan Bardella, the head of the far-right National Rally party, is accused of anti-Semitic comments dating back to 2013. But first: French high schoolers call for a nationwide strike to protest against teacher absences and dilapidated schools. The Washington Post looks at how AI data centres are transforming the US landscape. Plus, where are all the hunks? The Miss England pageant is struggling to recruit candidates!
We start with calls for a nationwide high school blockade in France this Tuesday. It comes as the public sector also goes on strike. According to Le Monde, the movement began last week at a school in the Paris region where several teachers were absent. The underlying grievances of students are varied: a failure to replace absent teachers, the decrepit state of some schools, lack of funding, overcrowded classes and demands to loosen the smartphone ban in schools. On Monday, a police officer reportedly fired a round from a grenade launcher at point-blank range and injured a student. Just over six months before presidential elections, the blockade has become ripe fodder for politicians, the Huffington Post notes. Far-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon defended the high schools, saying the blockades were "harmless". He also accused Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu's government of "repression". French Education Minister Edouard Geffray in turn condemned the violent instrumentalisation of young French people by "outside groups", saying it was irresponsible to incite high schoolers to participate in the blockade.
