Russia jails schoolgirl for four years for posters of pro-Kyiv fighters
A Russian court Thursday upheld a four-year prison term for a 17-year-old girl who hung posters of pro-Ukraine Russian fighters in her school, Russian independent…
Society
Latest reporting and analysis on society.
European Parliament votes against flight delay compensation reform
The European Parliament has voted overwhelmingly to preserve the existing three-hour threshold for flight delay compensation.
Austrian Right and Left team up to prevent government eavesdropping on private messages
The right-wing Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ) and the left-wing Greens Party are teaming up to thwart the government coalition’s plans for extended surveillance…
Bigamy charges next? Polish rule-of-law dispute creates chaos in family courts
A Polish judge has ruled that a couple’s divorce was invalid because it had been granted by a judge who had been appointed during the lifetime of the previous…
Barcelona train crash kills one in Spain’s second deadly rail accident in days
A commuter train near Barcelona ploughed into the rubble of a collapsed wall on Tuesday, killing one and injuring dozens in Spain's second deadly rail accident in…
US Republicans turn on Germany’s AfD after Weidel criticises Trump
US Republicans have attacked Germany’s right-wing AfD following party co-leader Alice Weidel’s criticism of US President Donald Trump over Venezuela and Greenland.
MEPs want independent EU social media to counter X after Grok scandal
European lawmakers are demanding the creation of a European Union social media source to counter the influence of X following the Grok scandal.
Hanover daycare centres get ‘queer book boxes’ to teach toddlers about sexual diversity
In a move to promote "diversity" among young children, the city of Hanover has allocated around €11,000 from surplus budget funds to distribute "queer book boxes"…
Western freedom is heading for the crocodile’s pantry shelf
The ailing English novelist Julian Barnes recently announced that he has written his last book.
Polish Government side-steps Constitution to comply with EU same-sex marriage edict
The Polish Government is planning to by-pass the Constitution by introducing gender-neutral terms to recognise same-sex marriages held in other European Union…
UK, France mull social media bans for youth as debate rages
Countries including France and Britain are considering following Australia's lead by banning children and some teenagers from using social media, but experts are…
PR disaster? UK ‘woke’ anti-racism campaign spawns right-wing icon
A controversial computer game in the UK, backed by the Home Office and designed to steer young minds away from the dangers of far-right extremism, has backfired,…
Exclusive: How left-wing NGOs emasculate Germany’s ruling CDU
The Prime Minister of the German federal state of Schleswig-Holstein was accused of calling for the censorship of the online platform Nius during a televised debate…
EU criticised for funding €1.6 million study on Muslim women’s hair
The European Union has come under fire from Italian MEP Silvia Sardone over its funding of academic research projects, which she deems "wasteful".
Compromise proposal on tobacco ‘is opposite of harm reduction’
A leaked compromise proposal from the Cypriot presidency on the European Union’s Tobacco Excise Directive has drawn sharp criticism for undermining harm reduction.
Berlin schoolchildren will no longer study Communist East Germany
The City of Berlin is reportedly planning to change the curriculum for schoolchildren in the German capital, removing the study the history of the German Democratic…
Berlin court acquits left-winger activist who forged AfD letters
A German left-winger who faked and sent out letters purportedly written by right-wing opposition party Alternative for Germany (AfD) had been acquitted by a court…
Dutch dog-owners’ shock at forest ban while wolves roam free
Dog owners in the Netherlands are in shock after a forest in Ulvenhout, in the province of North Brabant, was suddenly declared off-limits this week.
Iran tortures women but Western feminists only reply with ‘context’ and ‘relativism’
The latest events in Iran have once again exposed a familiar and uncomfortable pattern in Western politics. Women are beaten, imprisoned, killed.
More deaths than births in Europe for the first time since 1918
For the first time since the end of the First World War, more people are dying than are being born in Europe.
Embrace the chaos
It has generally been the tendency of every generation to think that its own times are somehow worse and/or more disruptive than those of the preceding age or even…
UPDATED: European court orders Slovenia to pay damages to magazine over Goebbels jibe
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ordered Slovenia to pay more than €15,000 in costs and damages to leftist magazine Mladina.
German parliament push to deny access and pay to ‘extremists’ working for MPs
The leader of Germany's Bundestag, or parliament, is pushing for stricter rules to deny both access and pay to “extremists” who work for German MPs.
UK investigates X and contemplates ban, US pushes back
The UK regulator for communications, Ofcom, has launched a formal investigation into X following reports that the US Grok AI chatbot account on the platform was…
Fast-food giant KFC to offer 24 halal-only restaurants in France
US fast-food chain KFC has announced that 24 of its restaurants in France will switch to offering exclusively halal-certified chicken from January 21.
Council of Europe wants to make questioning gender identity illegal
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) wants to make it illegal to question someone’s self-chosen gender via a new proposal criminalising 'conversion…
EXCLUSIVE: Steve Bannon moves to revive ‘gladiator school for nationalists’
US 'MAGA' strategist Steve Bannon is said to be close to launching a “gladiator school for nationalists” at a monastery in Italy.
Fading, forgotten Europe has been dropped from the world order
Metaphors mislead. What is going on in the world in the first month of the second quarter of the 21st century is unlike anything that has occurred before.
Vanishing civilisation: A nation has its own children or a nation disappears
I see that the headlines are filled with reports from Iran, Venezuela, and Greenland.
Polish President vetoes government’s attempt to implement EU’s digital regime
Poland’s President Karol Nawrocki has vetoed legislation passed by Prime Minister Donald Tusk's government that sought to implement the European Union’s Digital…