Suppressing free speech and free votes: EU intent on crippling democratic resilience
The EU is justly proud of the liberal democracies it nurtured as it expanded beyond its original founding members.
Society
Latest reporting and analysis on society.
Did Paris murder suspect target gay men?
French police have arrested a man suspected of being behind at least four Paris killings. The suspect, a migrant from North-Africa, allegedly targeted gay men.
France to sue Kick platform for ‘negligence’ after livestream death
France will sue the Australian streaming platform Kick for "negligence" after a user died during a livestream, a government minister said on Tuesday.
EU health risks from mosquito-borne diseases ‘unprecedented’
Tiger mosquitoes are spreading across Europe, bringing record levels of mosquito-borne disease — and Belgium shows how quickly the trend can strain public health.
Finland’s top court to revisit ex-minister’s free-speech case after seven-year legal battle
Finland’s Supreme Court has scheduled an oral hearing in a long-running free-speech case involving Christian Democrat parliamentarian and former interior minister…
Polish Catholic Church urges parents not to let their kids attend ‘health education’ lessons
Poland’s Catholic Church has appealed to parents not to allow their children to attend optional health education lessons that include sex education, due to be…
EU’s planned air-passenger rights reforms spur advocates’ backlash
The Association of Passenger Rights Advocates has come out against Brussels plans to reform air-passenger compensation rights.
Austrian authorities pursue young Croats who embrace ‘forbidden’ nationalism
Judging modern events using the moral framework of the Second World War is rather like using a Chopin nocturne to measure the speed of light.
US ambassador to France slams Macron over ‘lack of action on anti-Semitism’
The US ambassador to France has written to French President Emmanuel Macron to denounce what he said was the French Government's insufficient action against anti-Semitism,…
Death of online streamer: Former French PM wants to launch war on social media ‘addiction’
France’s former prime minister and current head of Emmanuel Macron’s party, Gabriel Attal, has announced plans to curb “screen addiction” among young people,…
Russia orders pre-installed app on all domestic mobile phones and tablets
The Russian Government announced that Max, a State-backed messaging app developed by VK, a Kremlin-controlled tech company, must be pre-installed on all mobile phones…
French left-wing LFI denies Le Monde journalists entry to political event
The French left-wing party La France Insoumise (LFI) has refused accreditation for journalists Olivier Pérou and Sandrine Cassini from Le Monde for its annual summer…
Israeli tourists attacked at Dutch holiday park
Two Israeli tourists in the Netherlands suffered injuries after being attacked in a holiday park were they were staying.
Germany’s Die Linke party calls for free beard removal for trans women
German left-wing party Die Linke is calling for taxpayers to pay for permanent beard removal for trans women in the State of Baden-Württemberg.
Macron vows to defend his honour and First Lady against ‘false trans allegations’
French President Emmanuel Macron has pledged to fight “to the end” to defend both his honour and that of his wife, First Lady Brigitte Macron, against false…
German neo-Nazi changes gender to serve sentence in women’s prison
Sven Liebich, a known neo-Nazi activist from Saxony-Anhalt, legally changed his gender last year and now can serve his jail sentence at a women's prison.
Zelensky: Not much of a democrat, is he? Denies Ukraine vote, West does not care
Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s wartime president, claims to embody democracy, but governs as a solo act.
Austria targets attendees of nationalist Thompson band concert in Croatia
Austria has targeted Croats living there who attended a mega concert by the nationalist Croatian band Thompson in their home country.
French streamer dies live after alleged relentless abuse and humiliation
Police in France are investigating the death of Raphaël Graven, known as Jean Pormanove or JP, who died online after he was constantly attacked and humiliated by…
UK drops push for Apple encryption ‘back door’ after US challenge
The UK Government has dropped its attempt to require Apple to create a "back door" in its encryption systems, following months of legal and diplomatic challenges.
Israeli PM Netanyahu slams France and Australia for ‘anti-Semitism’
A row between Israel and France over Paris' plan to recognise a Palestinian State in September escalated to crisis level when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused…
Germany’s Die Linke youth wing caught in anti-Semitism row
Linksjugend Frankfurt, the local chapter of the youth division of Germany's hard left Die Linke, has been vilified after tweeting on X that Jewish teenagers expelled…
The melancholy of modernity leaves too many of us unmoored, disconnected
Western civilisation still has not satisfyingly answered a key question that arose as a consequence of modernity and industrialisation: How do we reconcile the promise…
German Green party politician hired to run Polish Pilecki Institute’s Berlin branch
A German councillor of Polish extraction, Dr Joanna Kiliszek, has been appointed as head of the Berlin Branch of Poland’s state-owned Pilecki Institute. Dr.
London council demands British and English flags taken down from lampposts
A recent decision by Tower Hamlets Council in east London to remove the English flag St George’s Cross and the Union Jack flags from lampposts has ignited a fierce…
Hundreds dead in Bangladesh as social media becomes the new executioner
This is not just a follow-up report on a country spiralling out of control into the abyss of violence.
13-year-old ‘Islamist’ girl allegedly stabs caretaker on German psychiatric ward
A 13-year-old girl has allegedly stabbed and critically injured her 24-year-old caretaker in a psychiatric clinic in Paderborn in the German State of North Rhine…
Former UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s new party accused of antisemitism
UK politician and former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s newly launched hard-left party, provisionally named Your Party, is already mired in controversy over antisemitism.
Diplomatic uproar over Israeli football fans blaming Poles for the Holocaust
Israeli supporters of Maccabi Haifa Israeli football team have been slammed by the Polish authorities as well as the Israeli embassy in Poland for displaying a banner…
Exclusive: Heavy-hitting Congressmen tell us they are ‘shocked’ at EU speech censorship
Earlier this month, we led a delegation to Brussels and London to see how aggressive European speech regulations affect American free speech rights in the digital…