Online hate is spilling into the real world, AFP warns
AFP Commissioner KrissyBarrett began her late-night appearance at the Senate estimates hearing noting “a heaviness that hangs across Australia” after the alleged attack on independent MP HelenHaines.
Lone actors are being motivated by a convergence of personal grievances, mental health vulnerabilities and ideological concerns …
What helped keep us safe in recent times, such as our geography, analogue systems and far away criminals, has been impacted by fully integrated technology, social media and artificial intelligence.
We hear about the devastating impacts of racism from communities every day. But many experiences go unreported or uncounted, and our systems often do not capture the full picture.
This is not about collecting more data to prove racism exists. We already know it does. It is about making inequality visible, holding institutions to account and giving communities greater agency over their data to drive real change.
An Alabama special needs teacher who was once "teacher of the month" is facing child abuse charges after allegedly pouring hot sauce on a student's tongue as a form of punishment.
Hungary on 27 October again refused to approve the screening results for clusters 4 and 5, the last two blocks of Ukraine’s EU accession talks that remain unopened, at a meeting of the EU Council’s enlargement working party in Brussels, European Pravda reported, citing several EU diplomats. It was Budapest’s second refusal in a week.
Ukraine is pursuing EU membership while fighting Russia’s full-scale invasion, and for years its path ran into vetoes from Viktor Orbán’s Hungary. Orbán lost power in April to Péter Magyar, who promised to bring Hungary back to Europe. His government is now the one blocking the last two clusters.
Brussels knew Budapest would say no
One of the diplomats said that “Hungary’s position has not changed.” Ireland, which holds the rotating presidency of the EU Council, knew in advance that Budapest would not move but put the item on the agenda anyway. Another diplomat described the repeat vote as a political move to raise pressure on Hungary rather than a real attempt to get a yes.
Hungary’s arguments were not disclosed on 20 October, when it first blocked the step. Cluster 4 covers transport, energy, trans-European networks, the environment, and climate. Cluster 5 covers agriculture, fisheries, regional policy, and budget rules.
Kyiv paid for two clusters, and the last two stay shut
Earlier this month, Ukraine’s parliament passed the minority-language schooling law Budapest had demanded, and the EU opened clusters 2 and 3 on 13 October. Magyar’s government has tied its support to Kyiv meeting 11 demands on the rights of the Hungarian minority.
On 16 October, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held his first one-on-one meeting with Magyar in Brussels and thanked him for opening the two clusters, adding that work was underway to open the remaining two by the end of the year, his office said. Ten days later, Zelenskyy set out why the timing matters.
“It is very important that the remaining two negotiating clusters for Ukraine are opened by the end of this year, and that during the Lithuanian presidency we could already close negotiating chapters,” he wrote.
Lithuania takes over the EU Council presidency in January.
Budapest’s next moves may also decide whether Ukraine and Moldova still advance together.
Moldova's President Maia Sandu and Hungary's President András Baka, Budapest, October 2026. Photo: Moldpres
Moldova’s President Maia Sandu discussed the opening of her country’s last two clusters with Magyar during a visit to Budapest last week, and in July Hungary already offered to move Moldova ahead on its own.
Last month, the Left Party took first place in Berlin’s state elections, and the party is seeking a coalition with the SPD and the Greens, both of which are already on board. The Left Party will announce its final decision on Oct. 31.
Now, Michael Hammerbacher, head of the Association for Democracy and Diversity in Schools and Vocational Training, is concerned that the new leadership will cooperate with organizations tied to political Islam and that funding for vital advisory projects, including his own, could be at risk, writes Junge Freiheit.
He is urging the three parties to establish a strict “firewall” against political Islam in schools, as religious extremism is increasingly threatening education policy and school safety.
According to Hammerbacher, schools—particularly those where 90 percent or more of the student body has a Muslim background—are experiencing severe pressure to conform to strict religious guidelines.
Issues include targeted bullying of liberal Muslims, homosexual students, and Alevi students; pressuring students to fast during Ramadan; and the refusal to attend co-ed physical education or swimming classes,
More and more Islamist material is also regularly popping up in class group chats.
And students are increasingly feeling pressure to join in on activities they would normally not consider, such as at Berlin’s Diesterweg Gymnasium, where students even held a large demonstration in the schoolyard, dressed all in black. Hammerbacher also points out that establishing school prayer rooms leads to gender segregation.
Perhaps most worrying is data from the June Berlin Conflict and Violence Barometer study. Out of 14,000 students and 2,500 staff surveyed, 29 percent of ninth-graders believe religious rules trump school rules. Among Muslim ninth-graders, that figure rises to 41 percent.
Some positive news came out of the Berlin Administrative Court earlier this month, when it ruled that Diesterweg Gymnasium in Wedding can legally ban demonstrative religious rituals to maintain school peace. This decision dismissed a lawsuit from the Society for Civil Rights (GFF), which had argued the ban discriminated against Muslim students.
Hammerbacher noted that the Diesterweg Gymnasium had previously faced severe conflicts, including students being pressured to convert to Islam and girls facing verbal abuse if they failed to wear a headscarf. He sharply criticized the GFF for targeting 20 schools with legal warnings over similar rules; 19 of these schools backed down, making Diesterweg Gymnasium the only one to stand its ground.
The expert warned that legal challenges such as by the GFF give political Islamist groups far too much leeway, further calling for the new Berlin government to be on guard against further opening the door to political Islam.
In August, Remix News wrote about one school teacher who bemoaned the impact of mass immigration, with 75 percent of students at her school having a migrant background, including many from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan or Ukraine. “It’s all blowing up in our faces,” she said. “We are happy if we can teach for a few minutes at a time. Sometimes the police have to come several times a week,” she added, due to incidents involving shouting, fights, and even drugs and prostitution.
France’s main student organizations have ratified their decision to continue protests and take part in the demonstration called for November 5, as the Government’s responses remain insufficient in the face of the demands raised by the sector.
The statement was backed by groups such as Fage, Union étudiante, l’Unef, Union syndicale lycéenne, Les Lycéens! and Renouveau lycéen, organizations that have played a central role in recent student protests in the country. Several measures aimed at responding to student demands were presented at the meeting.
During a public appearance, union spokesperson Sabrine Karbach valued some of the advances obtained through mobilization but said they remain limited. “We are achieving some advances through mobilization, but they are still crumbs,” she said.
🇫🇷 French Prime Minister Sebastian #Lecornu will meet with high school students Monday afternoon in a bid to ease tensions after nearly a month of protests across #France.
Among the measures announced by the Government is a partial reform of the university access system, which various student groups consider insufficient.
Disagreements also extend to educational infrastructure. The unions maintain that resources allocated to renovating teaching centers are far from covering existing needs and recall that numerous secondary schools have inadequate conditions amid high temperatures associated with climate change.
The Executive also reported reducing the maximum number of students per class to 28, creating 500 new teaching positions, eliminating 836 teacher posts and increasing scholarships annually in line with inflation. It also announced a multi-year program to modernize educational buildings and new financing lines for schools and secondary schools.
Despite these announcements, student organizations insist that mobilizations will continue until broader results are obtained.
Le gouvernement a annoncé ce 26 octobre une réforme de Parcoursup pour la prochaine campagne d'admission, avec un remplacement prévu en 2028. Les établissements devront justifier les refus et clarifier leurs critères...
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