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Ukraine cuts more than 4,000 vacant government posts and trims deputy ministers by about 20% in the first stage of civil service reform

6 October 2026 at 21:47

prime minister serhii koretskyi

Ukraine is thinning its state bureaucracy. Central government bodies will cut more than 4,000 vacant positions in the first stage of a civil service reform, Prime Minister Serhii Koretskyi says, with the number of deputy ministers to fall by about 20% and deputy heads of other central bodies by nearly 18%.

The reform aims to build a professional state apparatus that can carry out tasks quickly and effectively, Koretskyi said. It comes as Ukraine faces an economic crunch, and about $20 billion in EU aid is on hold, blocked by reforms Kyiv has not completed.

The cuts are only the visible first step, and the final headcount is not set yet. The number of deputies will be tied to the volume of tasks each office carries, Koretskyi states.

"The most important thing is that we are running a functional diagnostic of the state apparatus," he continues.

The Ukrainian government will assess which functions the bodies have and whether they align with the state's realities and priorities, and only then will it define the structure and final headcount.

Training is tied to the job

Another track reshapes how officials learn. Training will be linked to the tasks of each specific post, with outreach and internships for young people and a separate program for veterans, Koretskyi says.

The Public Administration Council, which brings together officials, members of parliament, and experts, has resumed work, presenting a detailed plan on the task and assigning responsibility for each area.

The squeeze that forces the cuts

The reform lands in a tight budget. The war is costing Ukraine about $155 billion a year, and with Western aid running late, Kyiv has frozen almost everything except the army, pensions, and public wages.

On 1 October, the state suspended a veterans' gym subsidy that had cost about $13 million and drawn more than 800,000 users, for lack of funds.

As contradições de Lula finalmente cobram o preço

By: A A
6 October 2026 at 18:00

Mesmo uma vitória de Lula, hoje improvável, não fará mais que dar uma sobrevida e prolongar a agonia num falso senso de estabilidade.

Junte-se a nós no Telegram , X e VK.

Escreva para nós: info@strategic-culture.su

A perspectiva sobre as eleições brasileiras após o 1º turno é unânime: Lula e o Partido dos Trabalhadores foram varridos e humilhados, e as perspectivas de uma virada nas eleições presidenciais é mínima.

Flávio Bolsonaro, filho do ex-presidente Jair Bolsonaro, recebeu 56 milhões de votos, ou aprox. 47% dos votos válidos, enquanto Lula recebeu 53,8 milhões de votos, ou aprox. 45% dos votos válidos – o resultado leva ao 2º turno, a ser realizado no dia 28 de outubro. O problema para Lula é que o eleitorado dos candidatos que ficaram em 3º, 4º e 5º têm uma maior tendência para votar em Flávio Bolsonaro do que no próprio Lula.

Lula só tem como puxar votos tentando converter os que não foram votar, ou os que votaram nulo. São 30 milhões de eleitores nessas condições, portanto não é pouca gente. Mas historicamente, a tendência é que essa fatia do eleitorado aumente do 1º para o 2º turno, em vez de diminuir.

O revés de Lula, porém, não é apenas em sua própria disputa com Bolsonaro.

Em número de governadores estaduais, o seu partido, o PT, cai de 4 para 3 governadores. E o partido até conseguiu preservar seus assentos no Senado e somar 1 deputado federal a mais na Câmara, mas os seus rivais bolsonaristas do PL ganharam mais 13 cadeiras no Senado e 21 cadeiras na Câmara. Em outras palavras, mesmo que Lula ganhasse, não conseguiria governar.

A reação do partido de Lula e de seus militantes é a pior possível: responsabilizam o povo por “não saber votar” ou por “ser fascista”, os candidatos de micropartidos de esquerda por não terem desistido de suas candidaturas, alegam narrativas fantasiosas de “manipulação” por parte dos EUA e das redes sociais – tudo, menos admitir que o governo de Lula padecia de problemas sérios e foi incapaz de dialogar com a população e entender as suas demandas.

Pior: abraçam uma ilusão na qual o governo de Lula teria sido, na verdade, excepcional e no qual todos os índices econômicos seriam maravilhosos, e “os pobres” deveriam agradecer a Lula de joelhos e votar nele para sempre.

A realidade, porém, é que excetuando na região nordeste, onde Lula nasceu, o PT virou o partido da classe média progressista e dos centros urbanos, enquanto as cidades pequenas e médias e uma parte significativa dos setores populares abraçou o bolsonarismo. E por que?

No que concerne a economia, a percepção de melhora é falsa. O governo Lula criou ou aumentou mais de 30 impostos e taxas de todos os tipos, voltados em sua maioria contra a classe média e trabalhadora. Para piorar, apertou a regulamentação dos microempreendedores, dificultando a sua vida no que concerne questões tributárias.

Os empregos criados foram principalmente no setor de serviços e no extrativismo, para não falar nos trabalhos autônomos e precários. Em contrapartida, o governo multiplicou ao infinito os “benefícios sociais”, concedidos principalmente para a camada lúmpem da sociedade, parasitária e odiada pelos setores positivos. Aliás, apenas os setores mais ricos ligados às finanças receberam tantos benefícios quanto o lumpemproletariado no governo Lula. E não casualmente, as classes de apoio ao PT foram a classe A e a classe E, as duas pontas do sistema parasitário e improdutivo, que esmagam as classes produtivas (B, C e D) por cima (através da usura) e por baixo (através da criminalidade).

Não se pode subestimar ademais, o problema da segurança pública, para o qual temos alertado há muito tempo. O discurso de Lula sobre soberania é vazio quando ¼ da população brasileira (segundo estudo da Cambridge University Press) vive em território controlado por organizações narcotraficantes. A tolerância do brasileiro por essa situação acabou.

Mas a leniência do governo não. Ao contrário, o Brasil vive a situação esquizofrênica de ser suave com criminosos perigosos e extremamente repressivo contra quem diz coisas politicamente incorretas na internet. Tornou-se corriqueiro no Brasil que pessoas comuns seja presas e condenados por “crime de ódio” ao recusarem a entrada de alguma pessoa “trans” num banheiro feminino.

E num erro de julgamento crasso, o PT decidiu associar a própria sorte ao STF, exatamente o núcleo de poder liberal que garante a implementação de todas as pautas globalistas no Brasil e que opera um aparato draconiano de repressão e silenciamento. Lula se esqueceu de que ele próprio foi perseguido e preso pelo Judiciário brasileiro, e decidiu se aliar a este setor para tentar impor a mesma sina a Bolsonaro.

O tiro, porém, saiu pela culatra. A disputa de Lula é com Flávio Bolsonaro. Mas quem venceu essa eleição, estando condenado, preso, adoecido e censurado é Jair Bolsonaro.

Especulações sobre “interferência estrangeira” nas eleições são fúteis e pueris posto que desnecessárias. Todas as causas da derrota de Lula estão em seu próprio governo.

Nem na política externa – área mais elogiada pelos colegas estrangeiros – escapamos das contradições: condenação da Nicarágua no Conselho de Direitos Humanos da ONU, veto ao ingresso da Venezuela nos BRICS e deslegitimação da reeleição de Nicolás Maduro, aliança tácita com a França de Macron, Acordo UE-Mercosul, colaboração da ABIN com as inteligências da França e da Alemanha, pressão para tentar desacelerar o crescimento dos BRICS, e poderíamos continuar longamente.

É por isso que dentro do Brasil, o elemento da política externa não pode ser visto, nessas eleições, da maneira “dualista” como ele é visto de fora para dentro (em que se tem o mito de um “Lula multipolarista” e um “Bolsonaro atlantista”). Na verdade, tanto Lula quanto Bolsonaro jogam com os dois lados do campo geopolítico, são apenas seus discursos que são levemente divergentes. Naturalmente, os propagandistas de ambos os lados jurarão que não é assim, mas é o que a análise fria dos fatos aponta.

No fim das contas, estamos às portas do “fim da Era Lula”, e dos momentos finais de uma carreira política que marcou a história do Brasil, que teve seus altos e baixos, seus pontos positivos e negativos, mas que termina de um modo agridoce, pela ausência de um projeto de nação e pela obsessão oportunista de se perpetuar no poder a qualquer preço – inclusive ao preço de trair os princípios da época da fundação do Partido dos Trabalhadores.

Lula deixará o PT órfão. Não houve preocupação com formar um sucessor à altura de Lula. Pior: a práxis do PT o levou a esmagar os partidos de esquerda menores e a absorver seus principais quadros para podá-los e controlá-los antes que eles pudessem se tornar maiores que Lula.

Nesse sentido, com o fim da carreira política de Lula morre a esquerda. Ou pelo menos UMA esquerda. A esquerda liberal-progressista da Sexta República e da Constituição de 88. Resta saber se o que triunfará na inevitável disputa por seu legado é uma esquerda ainda mais radicalmente progressista, ou se retornará uma esquerda nacionalista, tal como já existiu no Brasil em outras épocas.

Mesmo uma vitória de Lula, hoje improvável, não fará mais que dar uma sobrevida e prolongar a agonia num falso senso de estabilidade. Não só da esquerda, mas também do Brasil.

Seoul backs Ukraine, but sanctioned tankers carried fuel from South Korea to Russia

6 October 2026 at 16:37

Seven tankers made 14 trips from South Korea to Russia's Far East in July and August, carrying more than 176,000 metric tons of fuel, most of it diesel, the Guardian found in a 6 October analysis of port records and ship-tracking data. The UK and EU have sanctioned three of the ships, and one loaded its fuel from another tanker at sea off South Korea instead of at a terminal.

Ukrainian strikes have cut Russia's fuel output as Moscow scrambles for supplies, while fuel loaded at South Korean ports has flowed to Russia. Loadings began to surge in July, the same month South Korean President Lee Jae-myung pledged $100 million for Ukraine's reconstruction, the Guardian reported. That creates a tension in Seoul's policy toward the war: South Korea has provided Ukraine with humanitarian and non-lethal aid but ruled out sending weapons directly, while the fuel trade appears legal under South Korean law even though three of the tankers are under UK and EU sanctions.

Russia imported 368,000 metric tons of oil products by sea in August, 112,000 of them from South Korea, according to Kpler data analyzed by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) and cited by the Guardian. CREA's own August report gives 172,000 metric tons in total, including 18,000 from South Korea. Neither explains the gap.

Where the tankers said they were going

The Layla, a tanker under UK and EU sanctions, made two voyages from Ulsan to Vladivostok, carrying a total of 57,000 metric tons of diesel. It left South Korea on 19 July and 10 August. On the first trip, it told South Korean authorities it was bound for Vladivostok; on the second, it declared Niigata, Japan, but sailed to Vladivostok again.

The Astoria, a Russian-flagged tanker under UK, EU, and Australian sanctions, loaded nearly 11,000 metric tons of fuel at Ulsan on 1 August. It declared Japan as its destination but sailed to Vladivostok.

The Chongchon did not berth at a South Korean port. Instead, it took about 26,000 metric tons of fuel from the unsanctioned Celeste I at an anchorage off Yeosu in early August. It declared Singapore as its destination but headed to Vladivostok. The owners and managers of the four tankers did not respond to the Guardian's requests for comment.

Map of sanctioned tankers' voyages from South Korea to Vladivostok
Source: Guardian analysis of port records and ship-tracking data; sanctions listings: OpenSanctions. Map: Euromaidan Press

Why Russia needs the fuel

Ukrainian drone strikes have severely disrupted Russia's refining capacity, the Guardian reported. In July, Ukraine's General Staff said the strikes had knocked out 42% of Russia's refining capacity, costing the industry billions of dollars.

Russian refinery throughput fell in June to its lowest level in more than 20 years, and diesel output is down nearly 30% from a year earlier, the International Energy Agency said, according to the Guardian.

Russia has also restricted fuel exports to protect domestic supplies, extending its diesel export ban until the end of October; on 2 October, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said Moscow could consider partially lifting the ban if there was overproduction, according to the Moscow Times.

Responses to the shipments

Seoul's non-lethal aid has included helmets, body armor, and demining vehicles, and in 2023 it pledged $2.3 billion in support, mostly in loans.

Isaac Levi, an analyst at CREA, told the Guardian:

"It is shocking that EU-sanctioned tankers loaded fuel at South Korean ports and carried it to Russia. This undermines the sanctions regime and South Korea's support for Ukraine."

South Korea's Foreign Ministry did not address the shipments or the sanctioned tankers. In a statement, it said the government supports international efforts to help end the war in Ukraine and bring about a peaceful recovery. The ministry said it was strictly enforcing its export controls and had expanded them to cover 1,402 non-strategic items with high potential for diversion to military use. The UK Foreign Office did not answer the Guardian's questions about UK-sanctioned tankers using South Korean ports, saying only that it remains committed to monitoring its sanctions.

Ties between Kyiv and Seoul are also strained over Ukraine's disclosure of its transfer of two North Korean prisoners of war to South Korea, which Seoul said should have remained private.

Spain: 14-year prison sentence for African migrant who raped a woman, threatened her with a machete and beat her with an electrical cable

6 October 2026 at 10:28

A Spanish court has sentenced a 61-year-old Sudanese man to 14 years in prison for raping a woman with whom he shared a home, after he threatened her with a machete and struck her with an electrical cable.

The third section of the Provincial Court of Valencia ruled that the May 29, 2024, attack was a sexual assault involving penetration, aggravated by the degrading and humiliating nature of the violence used. The court also ordered fines totaling €1,200 for two minor offenses of injury and threats, and it applied a simple mitigating factor of alcohol intoxication because the man’s volitional capacity was slightly impaired.

The assault occurred about 5 p.m. in a Valencia residence while the other two occupants were out, according to the ruling as reported by Las Provincias. The man ordered the woman into his room and forced her to drink several beers while brandishing a machete with a 57-centimeter blade.

“Come drink with me; if you don’t come, look what’s waiting for you,” he told her, the newspaper reported, citing the established facts.

When she tried to leave, he seized her by the hair and placed the blade against her neck, saying, “Now, the jokes are over.”

He tore off her shirt, lowered her pants, failed in an attempt at anal penetration, then raped her vaginally and ejaculated. He then whipped her back and legs with an electrical cable, covered her mouth and nose so her cries would not be heard, and told her he would keep going until he was “in prison or in the grave.”

She fled when he stood to retrieve tobacco, ran down the hallway and called for help. Neighbors who could not understand her language but recognized she was in distress then dialed for police. When National Police officers arrived, they found her half-naked and frantic. She immediately sought their protection.

In the man’s bedroom they recovered the machete, the cable and the woman’s passport, which he had burned.

The court rejected his trial claim that his own calls had brought police to the scene.

The judges found the woman’s account coherent from her first statement and supported by neighbors, officers and medical reports that documented injuries and an acute stress disorder. A forensic doctor testified that the absence of genital wounds did not exclude the reported assault.

Analysis of vaginal samples detected the defendant’s semen, and experts dismissed as implausible his assertion of consensual sex 16 days earlier. The panel also noted irregularities in the collection of the defendant’s DNA after he refused to provide samples following his arrest.

“The complainant’s statement meets the criteria to be considered sufficient incriminating evidence to overcome the presumption of innocence of the accused,” the court said. The judges added that “no relevant contradictions or inconsistencies were noted in her statement that could affect its reliability.”

The woman had been in Spain only a short time, did not speak the language, had little money, and had no family or support network. The court rejected the defense argument that she had reported the crime to obtain a residence permit, citing the objective evidence.

The post Spain: 14-year prison sentence for African migrant who raped a woman, threatened her with a machete and beat her with an electrical cable appeared first on Remix News.

To limit immigration, Japan raises residency application fee 20-fold, requires incomes higher than average Japanese household

6 October 2026 at 09:41

Japan has raised the fee for permanent residency applications twentyfold and imposed stricter income, pension and language requirements on foreigners seeking to settle long-term, as Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s government moves to curb growth in the foreign resident population.

The move is being presented as a tool to protect public finances and social cohesion.

The fee for permanent residency rose from 10,000 yen to 200,000 yen (about $1,270) on Oct. 1, the Immigration Services Agency reported. Charges to change or extend other residence statuses, long fixed at 6,000 yen, now scale with the length of stay and reach 75,000 yen for permits of five years or more. Reduced rates remain available for applicants facing severe hardship who also qualify for humanitarian consideration.

The adjustments arrive after the foreign resident population reached a record 4.12 million at the end of 2025, up 9.5% in a single year. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has framed the tighter rules as a way to keep acceptance orderly.

“The government acknowledges that some citizens feel anxious or a sense of unfairness due to the rising number of foreign residents,” Takaichi wrote on X. The changes, she said, are meant to “ensure order” and allow “both citizens and foreign nationals to live safely and securely.”

政府では、在留外国人数の増加に伴って不安や不公平感を感じる国民の皆様がいらっしゃることに向き合い、「外国人政策」を「秩序」あるものとし、国民の皆様と外国人の双方が安全・安心に生活していけるようにするため、本年1月、『外国人の受入れ・秩序ある共生のための総合的対応策』を取りまとめ、幅広い施策に取り組んでいます。…

— 高市早苗 (@takaichi_sanae) September 27, 2026

Under the revised guidelines, permanent-residency applicants must show continuous household income at or above the average for Japanese households of similar size — 5.75 million yen (about $36,500) in 2024 official data.

They must also demonstrate projected pension benefits comparable to 30 years of contributions to the employees’ pension system, a shortfall that can be covered by assets. From April 2027, applicants will need Japanese proficiency at the level of an independent user and a working grasp of local social rules.

The standard residence period remains 10 years; marriage-based pathways were lengthened as well.

The approach is straightforward. Settlement becomes available to people who can support themselves, contribute to the pension system, and function in Japanese society, rather than to anyone who simply accumulates years of temporary status.

Extra fee revenue is earmarked in part for language education and for removing people who overstay or break the rules. A related fivefold rise in visa fees took effect in July, the first adjustment since 1978, which Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi described as a correction “to reflect inflation and exchange rate fluctuations.”

Meanwhile, European states face larger and faster inflows of migrants, strained housing and welfare systems, and repeated public backlash over irregular migration and failed integration. Japan’s harder line comes at a time when the country already has far fewer foreigners to deal with, especially from troubled Third World countries.

The radically different approaches to immigration are made clear through sheer numbers. In Germany, the former government cut the standard residency wait from eight years to five on June 27, 2024. The largest practical change is dual citizenship: applicants no longer have to renounce their existing nationality. Since the changes, Germany granted about 292,000 citizenships in 2024 and about 333,000 in 2025.

In Japan, authorities generally approve citizenship after ten years in most cases. On top of more rigorous standards, Japan does not recognize dual nationality for people who naturalize. Approvals are modest — about 11,500 in 2025, and roughly 7,000 to 10,000 a year before that — against a foreign resident population of 4.12 million. Formal applications that are filed are approved more than 90 percent of the time, but many people are screened out before they apply.

European countries that already struggle to enforce returns or to require newcomers to reach median earnings could adopt similar thresholds to dramatically reduce immigration.

The post To limit immigration, Japan raises residency application fee 20-fold, requires incomes higher than average Japanese household appeared first on Remix News.

Asia’s growth now belongs to Silicon Valley

6 October 2026 at 11:11

Southeast Asia’s growth next year will be decided at meetings its finance ministers won’t attend. A few executives in California will soon settle next year’s spending on data centers. Their decisions will do more to shape growth in Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines than any budget those governments pass. The World Bank has just […]

The post Asia’s growth now belongs to Silicon Valley appeared first on Asia Times.

Saudi-Backed Forces Claim Control of Bab el-Mandeb Strait

5 October 2026 at 17:04
Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces have secured effective control of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, Yemen's Information Minister Moammar al-Eryani told Reuters on Monday, though fighting continues with Houthi forces in the area.

‘Mystery meat migrant rappers are calling to hunt me’ – Austrian remigration activist Martin Sellner faces ‘hunting’ threats in new rap video

5 October 2026 at 15:02

Austrian remigration activist and CEO of the Institute for Remigration Martin Sellner stated on Sunday that a rap video circulating on Instagram calls for him to be hunted. He contrasted the clip’s availability online with restrictions he says platforms have placed on the accounts of those on the anti-immigration right.

Sellner posted the roughly 26-second clip on X. In the video, several migrant men stand in a graffiti-marked underpass under colored lights and make a number of threats and statements opposed to Germany

Mystery meat migrant rappers are calling to hunt me.

This song is not censored, while we are deplatformed everywhere.

The only thing more embarrassing than their "rap" is, that their corny radical chic is platformed by all media and indirectly funded by state money.

— Martin Sellner (@MartinSellner_) October 4, 2026

English text overlaid on the rap video includes, “Martin Sellner is in danger from today,” “We are shootin’ with AKs” and “I am hunting Martin Sellner.”

In addition, the rappers claim that “Germany has no right to exist,” 

Other on-screen text refers to streets burning and to bombs “like in Dresden ’45.” Dresden was firebombed by the Allies at the end of the Second World War, resulting in at least 25,000 German civilians losing their lives.

In response to the video, Sellner wrote: “Mystery meat migrant rappers are calling to hunt me. This song is not censored, while we are deplatformed everywhere. The only thing more embarrassing than their ‘rap’ is that their corny radical chic is platformed by all media and indirectly funded by state money.”

German criminal law treats certain public threats as offenses independent of whether they are carried out. Artistic freedom may not serve as a defense in this case when the threats are specific, directed at an individual, and describe violent acts.

Section 241 of the German criminal code related to threats penalizes threatening a person with a crime against sexual self-determination, bodily integrity, personal freedom or property of significant value. The penalty rises if the threatened act is a felony or if the threat is made publicly or by distributing content, with maximum terms reaching three years in the aggravated public cases. 

Section 126 penalizes threatening specified serious crimes, including murder, aggravated assault or certain explosives offenses, in a manner capable of disturbing the public peace, with a maximum of three years’ imprisonment.

Austrian law contains a parallel offense of dangerous threat under Section 107 of the Austrian Criminal Code when a person is menaced with death, serious injury or other grave harm in a way that is capable of causing reasonable fear.

In recent years, German public figures and politicians have brought thousands of Germans into court for various statements online that were not direct threats, but instead mere insults. In some cases, these social media users only sharply criticized these politicians. 

Sellner, 37, led the Identitarian Movement of Austria for years and has promoted large-scale returns of migrants. Most recently, he founded the Institute for Remigration. Germany and Switzerland have at times imposed entry bans on him tied to public-order concerns. Some of those measures were later limited or overturned by courts. 

The post ‘Mystery meat migrant rappers are calling to hunt me’ – Austrian remigration activist Martin Sellner faces ‘hunting’ threats in new rap video appeared first on Remix News.

‘Under siege’ – Rioters set fire to the entrance of Vauquelin High School in Paris and block the exit with 100 students and staff inside

5 October 2026 at 13:15

Masked attackers set fires at the doors of a Paris vocational high school Monday, confining about 100 students and staff inside, as nationwide student protests over school conditions entered another week with thousands already arrested and hundreds reported injured.

At the Nicolas-Louis Vauquelin High School in the 13th arrondissement, Principal Carole Zerbib said a group of about 10 people in hoods, masks and black clothing arrived around 7:50 a.m. as students were arriving. She told BFMTV they looked “very determined, very fast,” and that staff “immediately understood that we were not going to be able to talk with them.”

Zerbib said the group threw full trash bins and other flammable material in front of the entrance, brought a sofa and bicycles to barricade the door, smashed glass with a pair of crutches, and set fires outside using a flammable liquid. A staff member was struck in the face by a shard of glass, BFMTV reported. Firefighters and police were met with mortar fire. Courses were canceled for the day.

A video team from BFMTV recorded flames at the entrance and described staff being blocked as they tried to use an extinguisher, with the principal heard telling confined students to move up to the first floor.

🇫🇷🚨 BREAKING: Rioters set fire to the entrance of Vauquelin High School in Paris and blocked the exits when staff tried to put the fire out.

A film crew recorded the terrifying attempted murder.

“The school staff was unable to put out the fire. The rioters blocked them just as the extinguisher nozzle came out; they blocked the exit.”

“The fire continues. You see all the silhouettes moving behind it; they continue to feed this fire, making it stronger and stronger. The school staff is not even going to try to put it out anymore; they can’t manage it. We can hear the principal here asking the hundred confined students to step back and move up to the first floor.”

The building was full of staff, students, and journalists, but these rioters appear ready to kill anyone still inside the vocational chemistry school.

Follow: @RMXnews

— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) October 5, 2026

In the video sequence, a BFMTV host stated: “The school staff was unable to put out the fire. The rioters blocked them just as the extinguisher nozzle came out; they blocked the exit.” The staff speaking from inside the building confirmed they were “under siege.”

Principal Carole Zerbib said, “It was terrible for the students and the staff, who witnessed an outburst of violence…I think we had rarely seen violence this strong in front of us.”

She said the attackers “were quite organized and had prepared their move,” and that she had been warned by students and teachers of calls on social media to burn the school. “These aren’t my students. These are groups.”

Junior Interior Minister Jean-Didier Berger, speaking on BFMTV after the fires were put out and the school evacuated, called the images “particularly shocking” and said, “These are criminal acts that fall under the law and must be repressed in the harshest way.”

Outside the damaged school, Zerbib took questions from reporters, then stopped when she saw a CNews microphone.

“Which outlet is that?” she asked. When she was told it was CNews, she said, “Oh no, I had said no.” When the journalist replied that it was the press, she said: “I don’t agree. Because I don’t agree with CNews’s editorial line. I think you don’t do any good. You don’t do any good for young people.”

🇫🇷🔥 BREAKING: Another major school arson attack at Blaise Pascal High School in the French city of Rouen. The entire entrance is currently in flames. School staff can only stand and watch it burn. Follow: @RMXnews https://t.co/CZ8h1aDO3U

— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) October 1, 2026

She had earlier told other reporters that as long as police remained outside, “I tell myself it will be all right,” while adding it was “not impossible that they come back, since they want to strike at the symbols of the state.”

The clash came as Education Minister Édouard Geffray said classes would be fully or partly suspended Monday at 400 to 500 of France’s roughly 3,700 high schools because safety conditions were not met. He said 24 schools had been burned or ransacked since the protests spread from the Paris region in mid-September. Organizers have called a further day of action Tuesday, which student unions have labeled “act III.”

Geffray said Sunday that 78 education staff members had been injured since the unrest began, including “some of them by high schoolers.” In addition, 170 students had been hurt. He said far-left activists had “hijacked” the movement. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez has said more than 5,000 people have been arrested since last Monday, about 85 percent of them minors, and that more than 300 officers and gendarmes have been injured. Police recorded 1,747 arrests on Friday alone, he told TF1.

Among the cases already opened include a 17-year-old was arrested on suspicion of attempted homicide after a police officer was beaten in Belfort, and a 16-year-old was detained Sunday over the assault of a 59-year-old teacher in La Ciotat who was struck and doused with gasoline.

In Tours, prosecutors said a young protester lost sight in one eye while battling with police.

Students and the Union syndicale lycéenne say they are protesting against reduced teaching staff, overcrowded classes, long schedules, the Parcoursup admissions system and buildings in disrepair. The government has called some of those complaints legitimate while condemning what Nuñez has described as a slide into “riot and urban violence.”

🇫🇷🔥 BREAKING: A French physics teacher was doused with gasoline today (Oct. 2) while trying to put out a fire students had lit near a tree in La Ciotat. The teacher was reportedly temporarily blinded, according to French news reports, when the gasoline was thrown into his eyes. Youths then began kicking the physics teacher. The main suspect was reportedly arrested. Yesterday in Marseille, youths are being investigated for attempted murder after dousing a principal and a vice-principal with gasoline during an attempted arson outside a high school administrative office. Follow: @RMXnews

— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) October 2, 2026

The post ‘Under siege’ – Rioters set fire to the entrance of Vauquelin High School in Paris and block the exit with 100 students and staff inside appeared first on Remix News.

Does the anger of high school students contain the seeds of Macron’s downfall?

4 October 2026 at 13:59
In the East, Macron declares a war of words on Putin, without firing a shot. In the West, his own high school students declare a war of schoolbags, with blockades and calendars. Two fronts, a single overwhelmed general staff, and the warlord was unaware even of the school infantry. Outside, the military commander, in his […]

Saudis Plan Assault on Houthis to Break Red Sea Chokehold

2 October 2026 at 18:07
Saudi Arabia is planning an offensive against Iran-backed Houthi militants in Yemen, with options being considered including a coastal push to secure the Red Sea shipping route or an assault on multiple fronts, regional and Western officials told Reuters. 

France: White female burned with homemade flamethrower, another White female school supervisor beaten by mob during student riots

2 October 2026 at 13:44

Two shocking incidents reveal how White women are also being targeted in the French school riots. In one incident, a woman who tried to stop vandalism on the edge of a high school protest was struck in the face by flames from an aerosol can used as a makeshift flamethrower. In another video shared online, a White female school supervisor was surrounded and punched during a blockade in Seynod, as student unrest over school conditions spread across France this week.

The Marseille attack with the homemade flamethrower occurred Thursday afternoon near Place of the 4th of September in the city’s 7th arrondissement, according to police sources. Images authenticated by BFMTV network show a White Frenchwoman attempting to stop students from smashing the bus stop with an iron bar.

An individual dressed entirely in black, with a hood over his head, then “used a spray can with a lighter to turn it into a flamethrower, directed at the head of his victim,” BFMTV reported. The flames hit the woman’s face as the crowd screamed in the video. 

She filed a complaint Friday in Marseille, but the extent of any injuries remain unknown.

🇫🇷🔴 A woman had her face burned in the French city of Marseille during student blockades.

A hooded far-left rioter set the spray from an aerosol can on fire and used it on her face like a flamethrower.

Follow: @RMXnews

— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) October 1, 2026

A separate video shows a White female supervisor at Baudelaire High School in Seynod, near Annecy, during a blockade. The woman is completely surrounded when a Black male punches her in the face multiple times.

🇫🇷🔴 A White female supervisor at Baudelaire High School is beaten by a mob of multicultural students during a blockade in Seynod.

The woman is completely surrounded when a Black male punches her in the face multiple times.

Follow: @RMXnews

— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) October 2, 2026

The incidents come amid days of blockades and clashes at French high schools that serve students roughly ages 15 to 18. While the protests were presumably about poor teaching conditions and poorly maintained schools, they have since expanded into mass rioting, arson attacks, and attempted murder cases, including another incident in Marseille where gasoline was splashed onto a principal and vice principal during an attempted arson outside a high school administrative office.

The Interior Ministry said 1,027 high schools had been affected by demonstrations, with blockades at 222 of them. On Thursday alone, authorities recorded 1,949 arrests and 305 injured police officers, the ministry said.

Education Minister Édouard Geffray said 65 education staff members had been injured, including 40 headteachers, and that there had been “significant damage” to school facilities. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said 625 people, mostly young, were detained Wednesday and that 83 officers were hurt that day. Government figures put student and staff injuries over the days of protest at 159, including one student who lost part of the use of a hand after setting off a firework.

🇫🇷🔴 JUST IN: A school principal was struck directly in the face by a firework mortar during ongoing violent student blockades in France.

The incident happened at Blaise Pascal High School in Rouen.

Later, the entire entrance of the school was set on fire.

Follow: @RMXnews pic.twitter.com/wTnjXo5dzx

— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) October 1, 2026

Other attacks on staff have been reported. In La Ciotat, a principal was doused with gasoline and beaten, and in Belfort a police commander was thrown to the ground and beaten unconscious, which Remix News also reported on. That case is also being treated as an attempted murder investigation.

The Education Ministry said 564 schools had been disrupted since Friday morning. More than 400 high schools were closed preventively that day. Prime Minister’s office officials, after a crisis meeting Thursday, described the movement as “a maneuver organized by France Unbowed and its ultra-left proxies.”

Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the leader of the party, urged young people to use “only methods of nonviolent struggle.” However, intelligence reports cited by French government allege the party is backing the violence covertly.

The post France: White female burned with homemade flamethrower, another White female school supervisor beaten by mob during student riots appeared first on Remix News.

France: Attempted murder investigation opened after plainclothes police officer beaten unconscious during student riots in Belfort

2 October 2026 at 12:54

A senior police officer in civilian clothes was beaten unconscious on Friday, Oct. 2, after he was chased down and violently kicked in the head by a multicultural mob during high-school protests in the city of Belfort. Belfort prosecutors have opened an investigation for attempted voluntary homicide of a public official in response to the incident.

🇫🇷🔴 JUST IN: French high school students knock out a police officer and begin kicking his head with full force in the city of Belfort.

The health status of the officer remains unknown.

This is a developing story.

Follow: @RMXnews pic.twitter.com/AAt34K8xe7

— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) October 2, 2026

The attack happened Friday morning as the nationwide high school riots continued. The video shows several people in a smoky field standing over a man on the ground and kicking him. BFMTV identified him as a high-ranking officer who was not in uniform and reported that he lost consciousness due to repeated blows. The youths kicked him multiple times in the head after he was on the ground in the video.

“A high-ranking police officer in civilian clothes was set upon,” BFMTV reported. “He lost consciousness under the blows. An investigation has been opened for attempted voluntary homicide.”

🇫🇷🔴 BREAKING: Migrant student youths have set fire to multiple buses and even fire trucks in the French city of Marseille as chaos spreads.

The Marseille transport authority, RTM, said several of its buses "were targeted near high schools in the north and east of Marseille,"… pic.twitter.com/hv8tilIB3B

— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) October 1, 2026

The officer’s name and condition were not released. BFMTV did not say whether anyone had been arrested in the attack.

The charge is among the most serious available in a case of violence against a public official. If the suspects are found and convicted, they potentially face life in prison. However, due to their likely young age, they would likely face a far less severe penalty — if police even manage to find them.

The crisis in France has reached a breaking point. Today, Oct. 2, the French Interior Ministry announced it has deployed the BRAV-M unit in Paris, a motorized elite police force specialized in heavy repression during mass rioting and other emergency situations.Across the country, authorities are reporting 305 officers were injured just yesterday alone.

The beating of the plainclothes officer also came after several days of clashes around Belfort’s high schools. ICI Belfort-Montbéliard reported that projectiles were thrown Thursday near the Follereau and Courbet high schools and that police answered with tear gas.

Prosecutor Paul-Edouard Lallois said 16 people, mostly minors, were detained.

He stated that “all the mobile phones of the people arrested have been seized with a view to judicial confiscation.” The prefecture said five members of the security forces were lightly injured.

This incident in Belfort also comes after a female officer was chased down by a mob and kicked in the head multiple times yesterday, which was condemned by National Rally leader Marine Le Pen and the Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez.

L’image de cette jeune policière, poursuivie par une meute qui hurle sa haine, projetée à terre et molestée, est insoutenable.

Ces faits méritent des peines exemplaires. Qu’elle sache que ce soir, des millions de Français lui apportent un soutien chaleureux. pic.twitter.com/3yt96dydeH

— Marine Le Pen (@MLP_officiel) October 1, 2026

Nationwide, the Interior Ministry said 1,949 people were arrested Thursday. Education Minister Édouard Geffray said the student movement had been “taken hostage by ultra-violent small groups,” and that 235 people in the education sector had been hurt, including 65 school staff members. In addition, 400 schools were closed Friday.

🇫🇷🔴 A White female supervisor at Baudelaire High School is beaten by a mob of multicultural students during a blockade in Seynod.

The woman is completely surrounded when a Black male punches her in the face multiple times.

Follow: @RMXnews pic.twitter.com/GGrDgjV4YL

— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) October 2, 2026

The post France: Attempted murder investigation opened after plainclothes police officer beaten unconscious during student riots in Belfort appeared first on Remix News.

France: Principal shot with firework mortar directly in face, then his school is set on fire in Rouen

1 October 2026 at 16:01

The principal of a French high school in Rouen was struck by a firework mortar and the school’s entrance was set on fire, resulting in a massive blaze, on Thursday. The arson attack is one of many targeting schools today, Oct. 1, which also saw mass violence, buses and fire trucks set on fire, and even a case being treated as attempted murder.

The latest incident in Rouen saw a student aim a firework mortar and hit the principal of the Blaise Pascal High School at the school gate shortly before 8 a.m., Paris Normandie reported. A video of the incident showed the principal being hit directly in the face and retreating into the school.

🇫🇷🔴 JUST IN: A school principal was struck directly in the face by a firework mortar during ongoing violent student blockades in France.

The incident happened at Blaise Pascal High School in Rouen.

Later, the entire entrance of the school was set on fire.

Follow: @RMXnews pic.twitter.com/wTnjXo5dzx

— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) October 1, 2026

Burning trash bins were placed outside the entrance around the same time, producing heavy smoke and causing major fire damage at the doorway. Video of the blaze has also spread on social media.

🇫🇷🔥 BREAKING: Another major school arson attack at Blaise Pascal High School in the French city of Rouen.

The entire entrance is currently in flames.

School staff can only stand and watch it burn.

Follow: @RMXnews https://t.co/WN8wYfNGZl pic.twitter.com/CZ8h1aDO3U

— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) October 1, 2026

Classes were canceled due to the violence. About 30 police officers were nearby, and at least one person was arrested at the school.

The Normandy education authority said the Blaise Pascal principal and the principal of Elisa Lemonnier High School in nearby Petit-Quevilly were both injured in the morning unrest and quickly treated by emergency services.

The authority condemned “inadmissible attacks of unprecedented violence” against the two school leaders “on the sidelines of the mobilizations.”

The Seine-Maritime prefecture said five people were hurt in the department and that intrusions occurred at several schools. Authorities reported 14 arrests in Seine-Maritime on Thursday, which are included in the figure of 23 total arrests since Tuesday.

🇫🇷🚨 BREAKING: Nelson Mandela High School is currently on fire in the French city of Nantes.

Schools across France are being set on fire as student protests and blockades rage on.

This story is developing.

Follow: @RMXnews pic.twitter.com/pOgOO4w0HQ

— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) October 1, 2026

Fires and blockades were also reported at other schools in and around Rouen, including Marcel-Sembat High School in Sotteville-lès-Rouen, where bins and barriers burned and mortar shots were heard, and at Flaubert High School and Camille Saint-Saëns High School. In Le Havre, fires damaged entrances or streets outside several high schools, and at least two cars burned near one campus.

The clashes are part of high-school protests that began last week in the Paris region and have spread nationwide. However, what began as protests over overcrowded classes, missing teachers and poor facilities, has come to be described as race-fueled rioting predominantly in schools with large migrant populations.

Critics say the students’ response of burning down schools is especially contradictory when the students are supposedly claiming their schools are in poor condition and not well-maintained.

🇫🇷🔥 BREAKING: Schools are burning across France as violent student blockades grow. The mayhem shows no sign of slowing down despite 625 arrests.

Oct. 1
🔺 Nelson-Mandela high school in Nantes burned, façade and hall destroyed. The school is expected to be closed for several… pic.twitter.com/v1fxbNuWfH

— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) October 1, 2026

Earlier this week at Blaise Pascal, student Malo Leleu-Marret told Paris Normandie, “There is a lack of staff, we end up with 35 students per class in rooms that are too small.”

It is unclear how shooting the principal with a mortar and burning the school will help deliver a better teaching experience for students.

Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has said fireworks, fires, and violence near schools cannot be justified. Interior Ministry figures from earlier in the week showed over 650 arrests across France, most involving minors, along with injuries to officers, students, and school staff. Up to 50 officers were wounded and multiple teachers and staff were assaulted, including an incident today in Marseille, Oct. 1, in which saw students doused school leaders in gasoline. Police are reportedly treating the case as attempted murder.

Police continued to investigate the Rouen-area attacks Thursday as blockades persisted at multiple campuses.

The post France: Principal shot with firework mortar directly in face, then his school is set on fire in Rouen appeared first on Remix News.

Political Spite Won’t Keep the Lights On

2 October 2026 at 11:00

So, this is Andy Burnham's solution to soaring energy prices: nationalisation and relitigating the 1970s. It's just a shame, says Ben Pile, that energy was far cheaper under Thatcher than in our Net Zero era.

The post Political Spite Won’t Keep the Lights On appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Why China is missing the big AI rally

2 October 2026 at 10:04

TOKYO – China gave global investors one of 2026’s biggest AI thrills. Yet the country that helped ignite excitement about artificial intelligence is home to one of the worst-performing major stock markets. While AI fever has propelled Seoul, Taipei and Tokyo higher, Chinese shares are stuck in reverse.

So what gives? Several forces, actually. Weak household demand, for one. Consumer spending continues to disappoint, weighing on the earnings potential of mainland internet companies, automakers, and retailers.

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The post Why China is missing the big AI rally appeared first on Asia Times.

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