Wednesday, September 03, 2025

Israelis stage 'day of disruption' against reservists call-up for Gaza City operation

By Gavin Blackburn

Published on 03/09/2025 -

The IDF said last month that Defence Minister Israel Katz had approved plans for an expanded military operation into Gaza City and that 60,000 reservists would be called up to support it.

Protesters took to the streets across Israel for what they called a "day of disruption" on Wednesday, denouncing the call-up of tens of thousands of reservists for an offensive in Gaza City that critics fear could endanger the lives of the hostages still being held by Hamas.

Demonstrators have accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his cabinet of failing to secure a ceasefire deal and intensifying an offensive in Gaza instead.

"We have to take an extreme action so that someone will remember. There’s no such thing as a state abandoning its citizens," Yael Kuperman, a protester near the Knesset, told the Israeli public broadcaster Kan.

The IDF said last month that Defence Minister Israel Katz had approved plans for an expanded military operation into Gaza City and that 60,000 reservists would be called up to support it.

Demonstrators in Jerusalem stage a protest demanding the end of the war in the Gaza Strip, 3 September, 2025 AP Photo

An additional 20,000 reservists currently in the military are also expected to have their service extended.

Israel's military chief of staff, Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, told reservists on Tuesday that their mobilisation comes as the army prepares to "increase and enhance" its operations in Gaza.

"We are preparing for the continuation of the war, the continuation of the fights. We are going to increase and enhance the strikes of our operation, and that is why we called you," he said.

Israel says that Gaza City, the largest city in the Strip, remains a Hamas stronghold and that the group operates a vast underground tunnel network.

Israel has intensified air and ground assaults on the outskirts of Gaza City, particularly in western neighbourhoods where people are being driven to flee toward the coast, according to humanitarian groups that coordinate assistance for the displaced.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends the US Independence Day reception in Jerusalem, 13 August, 2025 AP Photo

Site Management Cluster, one such group, said on Wednesday that the prohibitively high cost of moving families, logistical hurdles and a lack of places to go are complicating evacuation efforts.

"Palestinians are also reluctant to move due to the fear of not being able to return or exhaustion from repeated displacement," the group said.

Displaced multiple times

The twin threats of combat and famine are growing more acute for families in Gaza City, Palestinians and aid workers say.

The vast majority of Palestinians have reported being displaced multiple times during the 23-month war.

Hospital officials said on Wednesday that the death toll kept climbing, with 24 people killed in airstrikes overnight into Wednesday.

The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry also reported on Wednesday that five adults and one child had died from malnutrition over the past day, bringing the total toll to 367, including 131 children throughout the war.

Israeli soldiers drive a tank inside the Gaza Strip as seen from southern Israel, 3 September, 2025 AP Photo

In a letter sent as members of the UK Parliament returned to work in the United Kingdom, three NGOs highlighted how more than 3,700 Palestinians were killed over the 34-day summer break.

The organisations demanded the British government take action, noting famine, a collapse of the health care system and the killing of Mariam Abu Daqqa, a visual journalist who had worked for APnews agency and Doctors Without Borders.

"This is not merely a humanitarian crisis — it is a full-blown and man-made human rights catastrophe," the statement said. "Expressions of 'deep concern' are not enough."

French education system in shock after headteacher’s suicide exposes failure to protect LGBTQ+ staff

By Sophia Khatsenkova

Published n 03/09/2025 -

After facing two years of harassment over her sexuality, a school principal in the central Cantal region of France took her own life on 1 September. In the aftermath of the tragedy, unions and rights groups are leading calls for greater protection for teachers.

The suicide of Caroline Grandjean, a headteacher in central France, has shocked the country’s educational community.

On Monday, the 42-year-old teacher took her own life, after nearly two years of harassment over her sexuality.

In response to her death, the French Ministry of Education launched an administrative investigation on Tuesday evening to shed full light on “all the facts and procedures” leading up to the tragedy.

A tragedy on the first day of school

On Monday morning, Grandjean contacted France’s national suicide prevention hotline to express her intentions.

Alerted, police attempted to locate her.

Her body was later found at a location some 10 kilometres from her school, authorities confirmed.

Grandjean’s ordeal began in December 2023, when she discovered homophobic graffiti in her school, where fifteen students are enrolled.

A few months later, in March 2024, more graffiti appeared, followed by a letter with death threats. Despite filing multiple complaints, the harassment persisted.

The academic inspectorate offered her a transfer, which she refused.

Just before the start of the 2024 school year, fresh insults led her to stop working again. She never returned to work.

According to those close to her, the teacher felt abandoned by the institution, which allegedly preferred to relocate her rather than protect her.

“Caroline’s decision to end her life on the first day of school is a message to the National Education system," said Christophe Tardieux, a teacher and graphic novelist, who recounted her story in an article published by French newspaper 20 Minutes.

"She holds it responsible for everything. She wanted people to know and to make noise. Because the institution thrives on silence and did everything to silence her,” Tardieux claimed.

Euronews has reached out to the academic inspectorate for comment on the claims put forward by Tardieux and those who knew Grandjean.

Widespread outrage in the educational community

Aurélie Gagnier, co-general secretary and spokesperson for a teachers’ union, said the tragedy exposed the deep structural failures within the French education system.

She highlighted the lack of concrete support for teachers in distress.

“In cases like this, it is clear that educational authorities must show firm and unwavering support," she said.

"For us, it is obvious that there should be visits from authorities and psychological care.”

In an interview with Euronews, Gagnier also denounced a critical shortage of resources.

“There is only one occupational physician for every 16,000 Education Ministry employees. There are virtually no occupational psychologists," she noted.

The union leader also pointed to the persistent taboo surrounding suicide within the institution.

“We developed a guide for suicide alerts in 2021, but it was never published. The reason? It mentions suicide, and the Ministry’s General Directorate of Human Resources does not want the word to circulate. There is enormous resistance on this issue," Gagnier said.

For unions, every tragedy should serve as a wake-up call.

An alarming trend for LGBTQ+ individuals

LGBTQ+ rights associations share the same outrage.

Julia Torlet, president of SOS Homophobie, believes Caroline Grandjean’s death could have been prevented.

“We protect harassed students, but we see that when it comes to staff, this is still not the case. They are simply transferred to another district," Torlet said.

The SOS Homophobie president also warned of a broad and alarming trend.

“Among LGBTQ+ youth under 25, there are four times more suicides than in the general population. And seven times more among young transgender individuals," Torlet said, noting that one in two people do not dare to disclose their sexual identity in the workplace.

“Just because there are rights does not mean mentalities have changed. Just because we have laws does not mean institutions protect people as a result. We want to highlight this stark contrast.”

Bulgaria's black panther on the prowl mystery continues with latest sighting

By Gavin Blackburn & Aleksandar Brezar

Published on 03/09/2025 -

A black panther was reportedly spotted in the Bulgarian village of Dupnitsa, sparking a police investigation and memes. The search for the elusive feline remains ongoing.

The saga of Bulgaria’s elusive black panther appears not to be over after a resident of the village of Dupnitsa filmed an animal he believes could be the potentially dangerous feline.

The village mayor, Desislav Nachov, told local media that he had inspected the location where the video was filmed together with the police.

The authorities are questioning the person who filmed the footage seen by Euronews, which shows what appears to be a large black feline moving through tall grass.

Nachov said no decision has been made yet about whether to open an emergency headquarters to start a search for the animal.

"This depends on the assessment of the police. The person who filmed the video described the animal he saw as resembling a large dog," he said.

Dupnitsa is located around 66 kilometres south of the capital Sofia and relatively close to the Serbian border. It is also more than 430 kilometres west of the Shumen plateau nature park, where the cat was first spotted.

That area was on high alert and locked down for nearly two weeks as a search took place to find the big cat. The search, ruled as inconclusive, was called off in mid-July.

The search, which began on 19 June, was prompted by a widely circulated video and paw prints that initially led to fears that a dangerous predator was roaming free.

However, zoologists from the National Museum of Natural History raised doubts, with Dr Stoyan Lazarov saying the paw print likely belonged to a large dog.

A report from fellow zoologist, Professor Nikolay Spasov, supported this claim, also stating the print was not feline in origin.

Despite days of tracking and deploying camera traps and baited stations, no apparent sightings or physical traces were found.

The animal’s movements appear “erratic and unpredictable," said Georgi Krastev, director of the Central Balkan National Park, who helped coordinate the search.

Further rumours about the cat actually being a couple and the female feline being pregnant or with cubs in tow were also dismissed.

Panther inspires memes

While the mystery of the elusive black panther may have been an anticlimactic, albeit still open-ended conclusion, it sparked a wave of humour across the country and the wider region.

Social media has been flooded with memes and AI-generated images of the big cat, as well as folk songs about the black panther or puma from Shumen, jokingly renaming the city to "Pumen".

Businesses were also quick to capitalise on the unexpected publicity, adding references to the panther in their marketing, with restaurants creating images of the panther enjoying local delicacies such as beer and grilled meat.

One of the jokes came from Romania's emergency services, who posted an AI-generated photo of firefighters rescuing a black panther from a tree, a post that quickly went viral with thousands of likes and shares.

It is not the first time a big cat has been reported to be on the loose in Europe. Residents reported seeing a panther around the Italian province of Bari in 2021, leading authorities to warn the public to avoid the countryside.

Authorities in eastern Slovakia also urged residents to exercise caution after a tiger was spotted in an area near the border in 2022.

There have also been several stories in the UK concerning rumoured sightings of panthers roaming the countryside in recent years, though some experts have disputed the veracity of these claims.

China to build land-based 'Suez Canal' to connect Europe and Asia, bypassing shipping routes

By Euronews

Published on 02/09/2025 -

China is quietly building alternative routes to help it export goods to Europe, without passing through its South Sea, to avoid tensions with the United States and its allies in the region.

The mountainous city of Chongqing in China has become a major hub for an overland trade route that some say could become the new Suez Canal.

The route is served by rail, and is expected to become Asia's most important logistics hub.

The South China Morning Post said the city has quickly emerged as a strategic fulcrum in China's trade network, and its model—if it continues to succeed—could inspire the government to go for similar investments in the west of the country.

Every day, the city manages hundreds of shipments, connecting Southeast Asian countries such as Vietnam and Singapore to Europe, including Germany and Poland, using high-speed freight trains.

Short shipping time

The delivery time over land is 10-20 days shorter than traditional sea routes, and considerably simplifies customs issues. The launch of the ASEAN bullet train in 2023 cut the shipping time between Hanoi and Chongqing to just five days, from which goods will reach Europe in less than two weeks.

In addition to its strategic location, Chongqing is a major production powerhouse, responsible for manufacturing about a third of the world's laptops, a major base for the production of electric cars, and a major export centre for a quarter of China's cars.

Geopolitical dimensions

Some observers believe that China's motives for using this city do not only have logistical dimensions, but also have geopolitical dimensions. The trade war with the United States under President Donald Trump has shown the danger of relying on international sea lanes under Western influence such as the Suez Canal and the Straits of Hormuz and Malacca. The coronavirus pandemic exacerbated the risks, exposing the fragility of maritime supply chains.

With the ongoing war in Ukraine and some Chinese shipments subject to seizure in 2023, passing through Russia has become more risky, even though bilateral trade between the two countries reached 240 billion euros in 2024. Therefore, Beijing is pushing for the development of a "Middle Corridor" through Kazakhstan and the Caspian Sea to avoid Russia and the sea straits.

However, Beijing faces many challenges in terms of customs delays, high costs, poor infrastructure, and financial sustainability. Many routes, especially within the Belt and Road Initiative, have relied on government subsidies to make them easier for exporters.

Celebrated and trailblazing ‘Dances With Wolves’ actor Graham Greene dies aged 73

REST IN POWER A GREAT CANADIAN ACTOR

By David Mouriquand

Published on 02/09/2025 -

Best known for his role as Ziŋtká Nagwáka (Kicking Bird) in 'Dances With Wolves', Graham Greene's talent helped shift perceptions and address stereotypical representations of Indigenous talent in mainstream Hollywood.

Canadian actor Graham Greene, who helped shift perceptions about Indigenous talent in Hollywood, has died after long illness.

His death was confirmed by his agent Michael Greene, who told Deadline: “He was a great man of morals, ethics and character and will be eternally missed. You are finally free.”

Known for his roles in Maverick (1994), Die Hard With A Vengeance (1995), The Green Mile (1999), the Twilight Saga and Wind River (2017), Greene is most fondly remembered for his portrayal of Ziŋtká Nagwáka (Kicking Bird) in Dances With Wolves – a performance which earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

The role in Kevin Costner’s 1990 film also helped shift perceptions and address stereotypical representations of Indigenous talent in mainstream Hollywood productions.

Graham Greene in Dances With Wolves Majestic Films International

In a 2024 interview with Canada's Theatre Museum, Greene said: “When I first started out in the business, it was a very strange thing where they’d hand you the script where you had to speak the way they thought native people spoke. In order to get my foot in the door a little further, I did it. I went along with it for a while. You gotta look stoic. Don’t smile. You gotta grunt a lot. I don’t know anybody who behaves like that. Native people have an incredible sense of humour.”

Oscar-nominated star Lily Gladstone (Killers of the Flower Moon) paid tribute to Greene on Instagram. “Graham Greene was one of the best to ever do it. He lived on the screen in an absolutely unparalleled way. He made everything he was in better. Funnier. Deeper. Memorable.”

Gladstone added: “It’s hard to find any suitable words to express what his work meant, but his impact is unparalleled and expansive. I wish I could have met him. I probably would have thanked him.”

Born on 22 June 1952 on the Six Nations reserve in Ohsweken, Greene started his acting career in theatre, before making the transition to screen acting in 1979 in the Canadian TV show The Great Detective.

Other TV credits include The Outer Limits, Riverdale, American Gods and The Last Of Us. Greene also provided motion capture and vocals for the character Rains Fall in the video game Red Dead Redemption 2.

Greene is survived by his wife Hilary Blackmore, daughter Lilly Lazare-Greene, and grandson Tarlo.

CANADIAN PROVINCE BANS FAMOUS CANADIAN AUTHOR

'Public book burnings': Margaret Atwood comments on 'The Handmaid's Tale' Alberta book ban

OOPS

By David Mouriquand

Published on 02/09/2025 - EURONEWS

Margaret Atwood is taking aim at Alberta’s new rules on school libraries and has even posted a new short story which satirizes the censorship at play.

Celebrated Canadian author Margaret Atwood is speaking out after her award-winning dystopian novel “The Handmaid’s Tale” was included on a list of more than 200 books removed from public school libraries under the Canadian province of Alberta’s new school restrictions.

In July, Alberta's education ministry ordered school libraries to remove "materials containing explicit sexual content" by 1 October.

In response to this equally dystopian ruling, Atwood wrote on X, “Get one now before they have public book burnings,” and released a new short story online that satirizes the book ban.

The story focuses on two "very, very good children" named John and Mary, who “never picked their noses or had bowel movements or zits” and who “married each other, and produced five perfect children without ever having sex.”

John and Mary ignored "forgiving your enemies and such; instead, they practised selfish rapacious capitalism". Atwood added: "The Handmaid's Tale came true and Danielle Smith found herself with a nice new blue dress but no job."

This is a reference to both the blue garb worn by the wives of the high-ranking commanders in “The Handmaid's Tale” and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, who has backed the new directive to keep out sexually explicit content.

However, Smith has recently stated that Edmonton's public school board was practising a form of "vicious compliance" and had gone over the top in following the directive. She told reporters late last week that the province was happy to reissue its directive to the school boards which misunderstood it.

Other classics that the Edmonton Public School Board announced were being removed from school libraries include Maya Angelou's "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings", George Orwell's "1984", Alice Walker's "The Colour Purple", and Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World".

JUST SAY NO, BOOK BANS!

Alberta rewriting order banning school library books to protect classics: Smith

Story by Jack Farrell and Lisa Johnson
SEPTEMBER 2, 2025

The Canadian Press

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, right, stands with new Minister of Education and Childcare, Demetrios Nicolaides, following a swearing in ceremony in Calgary, Friday, May 16, 2025.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh© The Canadian Press

EDMONTON — Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says her government is rewriting an order directing school divisions to ban books with sexually explicit content to ensure classic books stay on library shelves.

The order is being changed, Smith says, to only target books containing sexual images.

The government's initial order, issued in July, covered books with images, illustrations, audio and written passages with sexually explicit content.

"It's images that we're concerned about, graphic images," Smith said Tuesday at an unrelated news conference in Medicine Hat, southeast of Calgary.

"We were hoping that the school boards would be able to identify those on their own and work with us to try to make sure that pornographic images are not being shown to young children."

The revision comes after Edmonton's public school division put together a list of more than 200 books it planned to remove from libraries to comply with the initial order.

The list includes Margaret Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale," Maya Angelou's "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" and "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley, as well as books by Alice Munro, Ayn Rand, Margaret Laurence and Stephen King.

Related video: Alberta government suspends new rules on explicit books in schools (CBC)

Dozens more books were set to be inaccessible to students in kindergarten through Grade 9, including George Orwell's "Nineteen Eighty-Four" and F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby."

Smith accused the division Tuesday of purposely misunderstanding the order.

"We are not trying to remove classics of literature," Smith said. "What we are trying to remove is graphic images that young children should not be having a look at.

"What I would like for the school boards to say is: 'We agree! Children shouldn't see pornographic images. We'll work with you on that.' And that's what I hope the spirit going forward will be."

The inclusion of Atwood's celebrated novel prompted the author to condemn Smith online over the weekend. Atwood penned a satirical short story that she said could replace her most famous work in Alberta school libraries.

The satire is about two 17-year-olds who "grew up and married each other, and produced five perfect children without ever having sex."

In a blog post Tuesday, Atwood questioned why Alberta laid the blame on the Edmonton school board, referencing Smith's accusation that the list of banned books was "vicious compliance."

"Compliance with an order the government itself issued and that school boards were compelled to implement? Whatever do they mean?" asked Atwood.

Smith said Tuesday that Atwood played no role in the decision to change the order and encouraged the author to look at the four graphic novels the province cited in May as the reason for the policy.

"It includes oral sex. It includes threesomes. It includes a child having their pants pulled down by an adult," said Smith. "That is what we are trying to remove from the school libraries."

Earlier Tuesday, Alberta's education minister instructed school divisions in an email to pause efforts to comply with the order until further notice.

Demetrios Nicolaides said later in a statement the list from Edmonton Public Schools prompted the government to change the order, and that it would happen "immediately."

His office did not confirm when the revised order would be issued.

The initial order directed schools to remove books with sexually explicit content — for students in all grades — by the end of September. Those in Grade 10 and higher would have access to books with non-explicit sexual content.

Nicolaides had said the policy was spurred by four graphic novels with illustrations of sexual acts — most with LGBTQ+ themes — found in some school libraries.

The four books, including "Gender Queer" by Maia Kobabe and Alison Bechdel's "Fun Home," were on the Edmonton Public Schools list of books to be removed.

Other divisions were expected to come up with similar lists, though multiple divisions said they stopped those efforts because of the email from Nicolaides.

A spokesperson for the Calgary Board of Education, the city's public school division, said its review of more than 500,000 titles was paused.

Julie Kusiek, the Edmonton Public Schools board chair, said the division's trustees believe the government revising the order is a response to concerns by parents, families and educators.

"Our board remains committed to keeping lines of communication open with the minister as we continue to work collaboratively with families and the government in support of student learning," Kusiek said.

Opposition NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi said if the United Conservative Party premier wasn't so adversarial, the issue of removing age-inappropriate books from school libraries would have been solved without much trouble.

"The UCP decided to try to ignite a culture war, and it's backfired on them exceptionally badly," Nenshi said.

"Instead of just saying, 'Hey, we found a couple of troubling comic books with some troubling images, let's take those off of shelves,' they wrote a ministerial order.

"Then this is what happened. People actually complied with the order."

Jason Schilling, president of Alberta's teacher union, agreed and called on the province to back down completely.

"We urge the government to stop playing games with teachers and students and put a full stop to policing school library materials."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 2, 2025.

-- With files from Matthew Scace in Medicine Hat, Alta.

Jack Farrell and Lisa Johnson, The Canadian Press

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment

Wednesday, September 03, 2025

Israelis stage 'day of disruption' against reservists call-up for Gaza City operation

The IDF said last month that Defence Minister Israel Katz had approved plans for an expanded military operation into Gaza City and that 60,000 reservists would be called up to support it.

Displaced multiple times

French education system in shock after headteacher’s suicide exposes failure to protect LGBTQ+ staff

After facing two years of harassment over her sexuality, a school principal in the central Cantal region of France took her own life on 1 September. In the aftermath of the tragedy, unions and rights groups are leading calls for greater protection for teachers.

A tragedy on the first day of school

Widespread outrage in the educational community

An alarming trend for LGBTQ+ individuals

Bulgaria's black panther on the prowl mystery continues with latest sighting

A black panther was reportedly spotted in the Bulgarian village of Dupnitsa, sparking a police investigation and memes. The search for the elusive feline remains ongoing.

Panther inspires memes

China to build land-based 'Suez Canal' to connect Europe and Asia, bypassing shipping routes

China is quietly building alternative routes to help it export goods to Europe, without passing through its South Sea, to avoid tensions with the United States and its allies in the region.

Short shipping time

Geopolitical dimensions

Celebrated and trailblazing ‘Dances With Wolves’ actor Graham Greene dies aged 73

Best known for his role as Ziŋtká Nagwáka (Kicking Bird) in 'Dances With Wolves', Graham Greene's talent helped shift perceptions and address stereotypical representations of Indigenous talent in mainstream Hollywood.

'Public book burnings': Margaret Atwood comments on 'The Handmaid's Tale' Alberta book ban

Margaret Atwood is taking aim at Alberta’s new rules on school libraries and has even posted a new short story which satirizes the censorship at play.

About Me

Wednesday, September 03, 2025

The IDF said last month that Defence Minister Israel Katz had approved plans for an expanded military operation into Gaza City and that 60,000 reservists would be called up to support it.

Displaced multiple times

After facing two years of harassment over her sexuality, a school principal in the central Cantal region of France took her own life on 1 September. In the aftermath of the tragedy, unions and rights groups are leading calls for greater protection for teachers.

A tragedy on the first day of school

Widespread outrage in the educational community

An alarming trend for LGBTQ+ individuals

A black panther was reportedly spotted in the Bulgarian village of Dupnitsa, sparking a police investigation and memes. The search for the elusive feline remains ongoing.

Panther inspires memes

China is quietly building alternative routes to help it export goods to Europe, without passing through its South Sea, to avoid tensions with the United States and its allies in the region.

Short shipping time

Geopolitical dimensions

Best known for his role as Ziŋtká Nagwáka (Kicking Bird) in 'Dances With Wolves', Graham Greene's talent helped shift perceptions and address stereotypical representations of Indigenous talent in mainstream Hollywood.

Margaret Atwood is taking aim at Alberta’s new rules on school libraries and has even posted a new short story which satirizes the censorship at play.

Best known for his role as Ziŋtká Nagwáka (Kicking Bird) in 'Dances With Wolves', Graham Greene's talent helped shift perceptions and address stereotypical representations of Indigenous talent in mainstream Hollywood.