Kakuma protests: Study paints bleak picture of aid cuts
31/07/2025
Kakuma: Violent protests erupt at Kenyan refugee camp over aid cuts
31/07/2025
Zelensky, moving to defuse crisis, restores power of anti-graft agencies
31/07/2025
Feeding babies in Gaza: Palestinian mothers out of resources
31/07/2025
Israel: Reactions to Germany's shift on recognising a Palestinian state
31/07/2025
Germany: Process to recognise Palestine state "must begin now"
31/07/2025
War in Gaza: Washington's support for Israel is dividing the MAGA camp
31/07/2025
Arab nations call on Hamas to disarm and relinquish control of Gaza
Middle East
31/07/2025
Trump's tariff policies: US consumers face price hikes
31/07/2025
Russian air strikes pound Kyiv, 6-year-old boy among dead, Zelensky says
Europe
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France 24
2 hours ago
- France 24
Are French cities' youth curfews effective in curbing drug-related violence?
The city of Nîmes in southern France is famous for its Roman arenas. Yet it has recently become the theatre for a series of shootings linked to the drug trade. First there was a shooting in a public square in the neighbourhood of Pissevin which left bullet marks on a nearby building and elevator door. Then there was the gruesome discovery of the partially charred, bullet-riddled body of a 19-year-old man in a nearby village. This violence, along with other shootings in broad daylight, led authorities in Nîmes on July 18 to enforce a curfew on young people. In doing so, they are following the example of French towns like Saint-Ouen-sur-Seine north of Paris and Villecresnes in the capital's southeastern suburbs. The ban, which prohibits anyone under 16 from being outside between 9pm and 6am in the most-affected areas of the city, is meant to prevent youth from 'being exposed to violence' and to 'contain tensions', according to a press release. These curfews – whose effectiveness is difficult to assess – are regularly challenged via the justice system, particularly by French rights group LDH (Ligue des droits de l'homme). Cinderella policy fails to stem urban violence Yet resorting to curfews fails to address structural issues like the police's inability to operate in some of France's most troubled neighbourhoods, some experts say. They claim the measure is more of a communication strategy for the authorities rather than an effective social policy. The problem of 'applying the law in certain poor neighbourhoods like Pissevin in Nîmes remains', Thomas Sauvadet, a sociologist and expert on youth delinquency at Paris Est Créteil University, says. 'The level of delinquency and criminality, whether economically motivated or not, makes police action difficult." Béziers, 120 kilometres southwest of Nîmes, also imposed a nighttime curfew for children under 13 last year. Its far-right mayor Robert Ménard decided to extend the measure last March to anyone under 15 in certain areas. "No 10-year-old out on the street at 2am is up to anything but mischief," Ménard said in 2024. Despite the ban, Béziers is still witness to scenes of shocking violence. In July, some 50 individuals in balaclavas lured police into a sensitive neighbourhood and then attacked them with fireworks, local media reported. The curfew is of course 'a communication strategy on the part of the public authorities', Laurent Mucchielli, a sociologist and research director at France's national reseach centre (CNRS) specialising in delinquency and security policy, says. 'They need to show they are doing something.' 'A curfew is not easy to enforce in neighbourhoods where the police only intervene in an offensive mode, and in urban configurations where their presence is quickly spotted by lookouts who alert the drug dealers,' Mucchielli says. Lack of perspectives Among the many factors that push young people into delinquency are a lack of perspectives, inter-familial violence, and difficulties at school which later lead to problems in accessing the job market, experts say. 'Let's not forget that it's easier for drug dealers to involve young people in their business because there are many teenagers in these poor neighbourhoods who left school early and have no qualifications,' Mucchielli says. 'Their parents are part of the 40 percent of the French population who can't afford to leave their homes to go on vacation, and they see this activity as 'a way out', or at least as a way to live a little better.' The adolescents and young adults who work as petits mains, or runners, in the illegal drug trade take enormous legal and personal risks. They prepare and deliver illegal drugs in exchange for modest payments while risking their lives and exposing themselves to legal action if they get caught. Their superiors higher up the ladder, on the other hand, can make hundreds of thousands of euros per day through their drug-dealing operations. After staking out their turf, they defend it tooth and nail from both the police and any competitors they perceive as a threat to their business. Mucchielli thinks that the police should be reinforced in order to better pursue those at the top of the drug-dealing chain, rather than going after petty drug-dealers. He also recommends rapidly resolving homicide attempts. 'The level of impunity is truly worrying. It terrifies inhabitants – and rightly so. And the youths who possess firearms and use them are generally over 16' – meaning the curfew does not apply to them.
France 24
5 hours ago
- France 24
Trump says to name new labor statistics chief this week
In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump reiterated -- without providing evidence -- that Friday's employment report "was rigged." He alleged that commissioner of labor statistics Erika McEntarfer had manipulated data to diminish his administration's accomplishments, drawing sharp criticism from economists and a professional association. "We'll be announcing a new (labor) statistician some time over the next three-four days," Trump told reporters Sunday. He added Monday: "I will pick an exceptional replacement." US job growth missed expectations in July, figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed, and sharp revisions to hiring figures in recent months brought them to the weakest levels since the Covid-19 pandemic. Trump ordered the removal of McEntarfer hours after the figures were published. "We had no confidence. I mean the numbers were ridiculous," Trump told reporters Sunday. He charged that McEntarfer came up with "phenomenal" numbers on his predecessor Joe Biden's economy before the 2024 election. Hiring slowdown Even as he called for more reliable data Monday, White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett conceded that the jobs market was indeed cooling. But Hassett maintained in a CNBC interview that this softening did not reflect the incoming effects of Trump's flagship tax and spending legislation -- signed into law early last month. US employment data point to challenges as companies took a cautious approach in hiring and investment while grappling with Trump's sweeping -- and rapidly changing -- tariffs this year. The United States added 73,000 jobs in July, while the unemployment rate rose to 4.2 percent, the Department of Labor reported. Hiring numbers for May were revised down from 144,000 to 19,000. The figure for June was shifted from 147,000 to 14,000. These were notably lower than job creation levels in recent years. During the pandemic, the economy lost jobs. Over the weekend, Hassett defended McEntarfer's firing in an NBC News interview: "The president wants his own people there so that when we see the numbers they are more transparent and more reliable." But Trump's decision has come under fire. William Beach, who previously held McEntarfer's post, said the move set a "dangerous precedent." The National Association for Business Economics condemned her dismissal, saying large revisions in jobs numbers "reflect not manipulation, but rather the dwindling resources afforded to statistical agencies." German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil on Monday emphasized the importance of supporting "independent, neutral and proven institutions." He said: "It is right that independent institutions remain independent and that politics do not interfere with them."
France 24
5 hours ago
- France 24
'Expulsion: There's no such thing as the emigration of Palestinians out of the Gaza Strip'
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