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  • As Merz scrambles for support, Germany’s identity crisis is laid bare

    As Merz scrambles for support, Germany’s identity crisis is laid bare

    Two years after Friedrich Merz took the chancellorship of Germany, a wave of bruising regional election results has upended the country’s political order, pushing his fragile coalition government into open crisis and exposing deep-seated national anxieties that have been simmering for more than a decade.

    Long-held global stereotypes of Germany— a nation defined by consensus-driven, predictable politics, a globally dominant industrial economy leading automotive innovation, and a global benchmark for logistical efficiency— have been completely upended by the current state of play. Countless Germans now report that their country has drifted far from the core attributes that once defined its national identity, with no clear consensus on what path forward will restore that sense of stability. That pervasive uncertainty is now embodied by Merz himself, whose center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) has suffered a string of devastating defeats over the past two weeks.

    The scale of the CDU’s losses is staggering: the party was pushed out of first place in Berlin, trounced in statewide polls in Saxony-Anhalt, and ousted from the regional parliament entirely in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. While persistent whispers of a “Kanzlertausch”— or a last-minute chancellor swap— have circulated within CDU ranks, no lawmaker has yet launched an open challenge to Merz’s leadership. That small lifeline, however, does not erase the fact that the chancellor is treading on extremely thin ice: his approval ratings have hit record lows, with voters frequently criticizing him as arrogant and disconnected from everyday household concerns. Government insiders have framed this more politely as a critical “communication gap” between the leadership and the electorate.

    Supporters of Merz argue that replacing the chancellor would do nothing to address the structural challenges facing Germany, and that the government instead needs to double down on long-delayed domestic reforms in partnership with its center-left coalition partner, the Social Democratic Party (SPD), while refining its outreach to voters. “Anyone who took over would face the exact same set of challenges,” Jürgen Hardt, foreign policy spokesperson for the CDU/CSU parliamentary bloc, told reporters shortly after Merz addressed party lawmakers in a closed-door Bundestag meeting. Hardt noted that the CDU performed far better in earlier regional contests this year, adding: “Friedrich Merz is aware of his shortcomings. He is working to address them, and we as a party are working to get our message right. We hope we can convince voters in the coming months that we are on the right track.”

    Merz was elected to office in 2025 on two core promises: a hardline crackdown on unauthorized immigration and a comprehensive revitalization of Germany’s flagging economy. He positioned himself as a dynamic alternative to the chaotic three-way coalition led by his center-left predecessor Olaf Scholz, whose government collapsed amid infighting and unmet policy goals. Merz’s allies point to early policy wins to back their defense of his leadership: this week, leading independent economic institutes upgraded Germany’s 2026 and 2027 growth forecasts to above 1%, and unauthorized border crossings into Germany and the broader European Union are down year-over-year.

    Even so, these modest gains have done little to ease widespread public anxiety across both policy areas. German households and businesses continue to grapple with persistently high energy costs, a lingering aftershock of the end of cheap Russian gas imports that once powered the country’s export-led economic boom. Fears are also growing that China’s expanding automotive industry is eroding the global market share of Germany’s iconic auto sector, the historic backbone of its economic strength. On the immigration front, public debate has shifted away from controlling new arrivals to deep-seated concerns over public safety, strains on social welfare systems, and slow, uneven integration of immigrant communities.

    Voters are abandoning Germany’s two traditional governing parties, the CDU and SPD, in droves, clearing a path for the dramatic rise of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), a party whose Russia-leaning policy positions have alarmed German security officials, and whose regional branches are officially classified as right-wing extremist by domestic intelligence services. The AfD rejects these labels as unfair smears, and claimed its third ever state-level election victory in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania just last Sunday. “Friedrich Merz’s time in office is numbered,” AfD co-leader Alice Weidel stated in an interview this week.

    Despite repeated scandals over the past half-decade, the AfD has climbed to the top of national opinion polls, polling around 28% support nationwide, and has shaped the terms of national political debate. The party has successfully leveraged widespread nostalgia for Germany’s past era of economic stability and current voter anxiety to consolidate its power bases in the former East German states, running on a simple promise to restore the lost sense of order and national purpose. A campaign placard spotted by reporters in Berlin summed up this message: “Berlin braucht Ordnung”— Berlin needs order.

    The collapse of centrist support did not only benefit the far right: in Berlin, it was the far-left Die Linke party that topped the regional polls, delivering another major blow to Germany’s traditional big-tent centrist parties. Die Linke’s victory has placed the party under fresh scrutiny over ongoing allegations of antisemitism within its ranks, allegations that party leadership has rejected, reaffirming its commitment to protecting Jewish life in Germany.

    This round of regional elections has laid bare Germany’s deepest political fault lines in post-war history: the rapid erosion of support for centrist establishment parties and a deeply polarizing national debate over the growing influence of the far right. Rarely has a series of local ballots generated such profound political upheaval at the national level, or attracted such intense international attention, as Germany grapples with an uncertain future that bears little resemblance to the stable, prosperous order the country has long been known for.

  • Why is the Pope in France?

    Why is the Pope in France?

    One of the most highly anticipated papal visits to Western Europe in recent years has brought the Pope to France, with preparations in full swing for the centerpiece event of the trip. This coming Saturday, the French capital of Paris will play host to an enormous open-air Mass that organizers project will draw a crowd of more than half a million worshippers and visitors from across the country and beyond. The gathering is widely framed as the defining moment of the Pope’s time in France, drawing widespread public interest and logistical planning from local authorities, who have worked for months to accommodate the expected influx of attendees. Beyond the major Mass, the visit carries broader significance for interfaith dialogue, Catholic community engagement, and discussions around key social issues impacting France and the global Catholic Church, though all eyes remain fixed on the weekend’s historic large-scale gathering in Paris.

  • Green Party leader Zack Polanski: ‘I’m an anti-Zionist’

    Green Party leader Zack Polanski: ‘I’m an anti-Zionist’

    On a heated Thursday evening hustings event focused on the upcoming Holborn and St Pancras parliamentary by-election, Green Party of England and Wales deputy leader Zack Polanski made British political history: he became the first leader of a major contemporary UK political party to openly declare himself an anti-Zionist. The event, co-hosted by two prominent pro-Israel groups—the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the London Jewish Forum— quickly grew tense as Polanski, who is himself Jewish and the Green Party’s candidate in the 8 October London by-election, laid out his unflinching views on the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict.

    When asked directly by event organizers whether he identified as a Zionist, Polanski did not hesitate to answer. “I’m an anti-Zionist, which I know is difficult for people in this room to hear… I think countries have always been ideas and I think things change over time,” he told the assembled audience, most of whom held pro-Israel positions. Pressed further on whether he views Zionism as a racist ideology, Polanski framed his stance around the on-the-ground impacts of the movement for Palestinians: “If you’re defining Zionism as the displacement and genocide of the Palestinians, which is how in practice Zionism has become in truth, then that is racist.”

    Polanski doubled down on his characterization of Israel’s ongoing military campaign in Gaza, which has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, telling the crowd that “Many genocide scholars around the world recognise it as a genocide, and calling it that is not antisemitic.” Minutes earlier, after he referenced what he called “apartheid and genocide” in the occupied Palestinian territories, his remarks drew loud boos from audience members. Polanski acknowledged the backlash immediately, saying “Well, I know that that’s not popular in this room.”

    As audience members shouted back that labeling Israel’s actions as genocide is indeed antisemitic, Polanski pushed back against the common framing that conflates criticism of the Israeli state with antisemitism, arguing that this conflation ultimately puts Jewish communities across the world at greater risk. “I think as the Jewish community we need to come together to recognise when we call that antisemitic, we are making ourselves as Jewish people less safe,” he said. He rejected the idea that all Jewish people bear collective responsibility for the Israeli government’s actions, stressing that “We cannot hold Jewish people responsible for what happens in Israel. And when we conflate those things, that’s when the danger happens.” These closing remarks won partial applause from the room. One audience member pushed back, noting that the term “genocide” was coined in the wake of the Holocaust, the systematic Nazi murder of 6 million European Jews.

    As local journalist Richard Osley documented, all candidates contesting the by-election were asked the same opening question: a direct yes-or-no request to state whether they are Zionists. Labour candidate Sagal Abdi-Wali, who is vying to succeed Labour leader Keir Starmer in the seat and drew criticism after skipping a Muslim community event earlier that week, declined to give a direct answer, only responding “I believe in a two-state solution.” Liberal Democrat candidate Patrick Stillman confirmed his identification as a Zionist, saying “As I understand it, it’s for a Jewish state and a right to exist, I think that’s important, so yes I am.” Conservative contender Ewan Cameron and Reform UK candidate Pete Newman, a former police officer, both also stated they were Zionists.

    After Polanski’s public declaration of anti-Zionism, multiple audience members pushed him with hostile questions, including “Where do the Jews go?” and “You’re not impartial if you’re an anti-Zionist, are you?” While some past leaders of major British political parties—including former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, and mid-20th century prime ministers Clement Attlee and Herbert Asquith—expressed opposition to Zionist goals in varying forms, Polanski is the first to explicitly embrace the label of anti-Zionist in modern British politics.

    To provide context for the debate, the Zionist movement emerged in late 19th century Europe, as Jewish communities faced violent, state-sponsored antisemitism and widespread pogroms across the continent. In 1917, the British government issued the Balfour Declaration, which publicly committed the UK to supporting the establishment of a “national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine, then a territory ruled by the Ottoman Empire since 1516. After Britain seized control of Palestine from the Ottoman Empire in 1918 during World War I, Jewish people made up just 5 to 6 percent of the territory’s total population. That number grew steadily in the decades leading up to World War II, as the British government supported the migration of Jewish refugees fleeing European antisemitism to British Mandatory Palestine. In 1948, the state of Israel was declared, realizing the core goal of Zionism—but this achievement came at a devastating cost to the Palestinian people, who experienced the Nakba, or “catastrophe”: an estimated 750,000 Palestinians were forcibly displaced from their ancestral land and homes to make way for the new Jewish state.

  • Zaidi calls for economic investment in Iraq as Salam urges Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon

    Zaidi calls for economic investment in Iraq as Salam urges Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon

    On the opening sidelines of the 79th United Nations General Assembly on Friday, the heads of government of two crisis-battered Middle Eastern nations — Iraq and Lebanon — took the global stage to outline their administrations’ policy agendas, laying out starkly different priorities shaped by their unique domestic and regional challenges. While Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi centered his address on anti-corruption crackdowns and a broad push to attract global foreign investment, Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam focused his remarks on demanding an end to Israeli occupation of sovereign Lebanese territory and addressing the catastrophic humanitarian fallout of months of cross-border conflict.

    Both leaders share a diplomatic alignment generally viewed as favorable to Washington, and their mandates both prioritize consolidating state authority and strengthening independent judicial institutions, but their political backgrounds differ dramatically. Zaidi, a relatively young former businessman and banker with limited prior political experience, took office earlier this year amid ongoing efforts to reset Iraq’s post-occupation trajectory. Salam, by contrast, boasts a decades-long career in international law and diplomacy, including a term as a judge at the International Court of Justice, and assumed his post in 2024.

    For Lebanon, the immediate existential challenge remains the illegal Israeli occupation of more than 600 square kilometers of southern Lebanese territory seized since the escalation of regional conflict following the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks on southern Israel. Following the February 28 launch of the US-Israeli campaign against Iran, Israel expanded its military incursion into southern Lebanon, and a June report from *The Times of Israel* confirmed Israel has no plans to withdraw from the over 1,000 square kilometers of territory it has seized across Gaza, Lebanon and Syria. Since Hezbollah began rocket strikes in response to Israel’s Gaza offensive, Israeli military operations have killed nearly 9,000 Lebanese people and displaced more than one million southern Lebanese residents from their homes.

    Salam made clear that Lebanon cannot achieve full sovereignty and national unity until Israel withdraws all forces to the country’s internationally recognized borders, in line with the 1949 General Armistice Agreement and UN Security Council Resolution 1701. “Lebanon is affected by developments in its surroundings. That does not mean, however, that we accept its becoming once again an arena for the conflicts of others or a bargaining chip in their hands,” Salam told the assembled delegation in New York. “Lebanon’s future will not be decided on its behalf, nor may its security and stability become the price of settlements concluded in its absence.”

    In addition to full withdrawal, Salam outlined four core non-negotiable demands: the release of all Lebanese detainees held by Israel, the safe and dignified return of all displaced residents to their homes and communities, and full reconstruction of all infrastructure destroyed by Israeli bombardment. To advance these goals, he confirmed Lebanon has agreed to enter US-mediated negotiations with Israel led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, but stressed that tangible action matters far more than symbolic agreements. “The success of any agreement is measured not by declared intentions but by fulfilment of commitments,” Salam said. “What is required today, therefore, is to complete the translation of this framework into practical steps within a clear timetable and with a verification mechanism that ensures the implementation of all its provisions.”

    Addressing the longstanding issue of non-state military factions in the country, including the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement, Salam reaffirmed his government’s commitment to extending full state authority across all Lebanese territory, noting that only the Lebanese state should legally hold weapons. He also called for expanded humanitarian and development aid from the UN and broader international community, emphasizing that his administration has followed through on its domestic reform commitments to earn international support. “The war has left behind a vast humanitarian crisis in Lebanon,” he said. “We are shouldering our responsibility for reform… We are entitled to ask the international community to shoulder, in turn, its responsibility to ensure respect for Lebanon’s sovereignty.”

    Halfway across the regional political landscape, Iraq’s prime minister framed his address around a very different set of goals: transitioning Iraq away from its decades-long reliance on oil revenues and rebranding the country as a stable, attractive destination for global direct investment. Zaidi first laid out this economic agenda during a July appearance at the Iraqi American Chamber of Commerce in Washington D.C., and doubled down on that vision at the UN. “Here, from the United Nations, we say to the world: Invest with Iraq. Iraq has resources, markets, a good location, and the necessary will to build a new economy,” he said Friday.

    Since the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, oil revenues have accounted for roughly 90% of the country’s annual state budget, with all proceeds held in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York — requiring US approval for all cash shipments into the country, a dynamic that has limited Baghdad’s full economic sovereignty. To break this rentier economic model, Zaidi’s administration plans to expand private sector activity across key non-oil sectors: agriculture, manufacturing, technology, transportation, energy infrastructure and non-oil exports.

    To lay the groundwork for increased global investment, Zaidi’s government has already prioritized two critical domestic reforms: a sweeping nationwide crackdown on systemic corruption, and the disarmament and consolidation of Iran-backed militias that have long operated outside of state control. Zaidi framed the post-coalition era of Iraq’s relationship with Western strategic partners as a turning point: “With the end of the international coalition’s mission in Iraq, we are moving our relationship with our strategic partners to a new phase, moving from military cooperation to economic and development cooperation in service of our common interests.”

    Beyond economic diversification, the Iraqi government plans to expand crude oil production aligned with Iraq’s massive proven reserves, develop untapped natural gas fields, and expand domestic refining capacity for energy derivatives. Zaidi’s long-term vision for Iraq is to reemerge as a global energy hub, leveraging its geographic position to advance regional and global stability. He highlighted the ongoing development of a cross-regional energy corridor connecting Iraq to Turkey, Jordan and Syria, which would serve as a direct energy gateway to European markets. “Economic interests create prosperity,” he said. “When the countries of the region are connected through ports, railways, power lines, trade, and investment, they have a greater interest in preserving stability.”

    Without explicitly naming the seven-month US-Israeli campaign against Iran that has upended regional security, Zaidi expressed measured concern over the ongoing crisis impacting regional maritime navigation. He closed by laying out Iraq’s overarching regional vision, built on mutual sovereignty and cooperation rather than conflict. “Iraq’s vision is based on contributing to the region’s transition from conflict to integration, from competition to cooperation, from resource depletion to investment in development,” Zaidi said. “We extend our hands to everyone on the basis of respect for sovereignty, non-interference, good neighbourliness, strengthening mutual interests, and adopting dialogue as a means to address differences.”

  • The treasured ‘eternal snow’ on this tropical island is about to disappear forever

    The treasured ‘eternal snow’ on this tropical island is about to disappear forever

    Tucked just a few hundred kilometers south of the equator on Indonesia’s Papua island, the Sudirman Range has held an extraordinary natural and cultural legacy for hundreds of years. Unlike most low-latitude regions, its highest peaks were capped by permanent snow and ice, earning the title of “eternal snow” that stood the test of centuries. Today, that legacy is on the brink of erasing entirely: only tiny scattered patches of snow remain around Puncak Jaya, the range’s highest peak also known as Carstensz Pyramid, and climate scientists project these last remnants will vanish completely within the next one to two years.

    A century ago, all four major peaks of the 190-mile Sudirman Range supported year-round snow and glacial ice. At their peak in the 19th century, the region’s glaciers covered approximately 1,900 hectares (nearly 4,700 acres). Today, that cover has shrunk to just 16 hectares (around 40 acres), with nearly the entire glacial system disappearing within a single human lifetime. The loss carries profound implications for both scientific research and Indigenous cultural heritage, touching on the global impacts of anthropogenic climate change that are reshaping even the most remote corners of the planet.

    For the scientific community, Papua’s tropical glaciers are one-of-a-kind natural archives. Isolated by thousands of kilometers from any other glacial systems, they are the only remaining tropical ice formations between the Andes Mountains in South America and the Himalayas in Asia. Ice cores drilled from Puncak Jaya’s slopes preserve layered records of thousands of years of climate history, allowing researchers to reconstruct past atmospheric conditions and trace long-term shifts in the tropical Pacific and Western Pacific Warm Pool — the planet’s warmest ocean bodies, which play a critical role in regulating global weather patterns. Yet this irreplaceable scientific archive is vanishing before researchers can fully extract and analyze its data, says Marie Šabacká, a Czech glacier ecologist who traveled to Puncak Jaya in March 2025 as part of an effort to document the remaining ice before it is gone.

    Šabacká emphasizes that the melting of Papua’s glaciers is driven by the same human-caused climate warming that is triggering glacial retreat across the globe. Burning of fossil fuels — coal, oil, and natural gas — has steadily raised global atmospheric temperatures, pushing the freezing line higher and higher up mountain slopes. As a result, most precipitation in the region now falls as rain rather than snow, even at altitudes that once saw consistent year-round snow accumulation. Natural climate cycles such as El Niño can accelerate the melting process, while local conditions including cloud cover, annual snowfall variation, and mountain topography shape the exact pace of retreat. Because Papua’s glaciers sit so close to the equator, they can only survive within an extremely narrow range of climatic conditions at very high altitudes. Even a small temperature increase or shift from snow to rain is enough to push the system past the point of no return, Šabacká explains.

    Beyond its scientific value, the Sudirman Range is the spiritual heartland for multiple Indigenous Papuan communities that have lived alongside its ice-capped peaks for generations. For the Amungme people, the range is called Nemangkawi, or the “White Arrow,” a symbol of honesty, purity, and moral integrity that has anchored cultural traditions for centuries. “Parents and grandparents prayed their children would have hearts like the White Arrow, never straying from the proper path,” explains Elfrida Natkime, a young Amungme community member. For the Moni people, the peak is known as Mbainggela, and traditional belief holds that their ancestors watch over the sacred mountain. Adolfina Kum, an Amungme environmental activist, compares the loss of the ice-capped peak to the destruction of a site central to a major world religion. “How would Muslims feel if Mecca were destroyed? How would Catholics feel if Rome or the Vatican were destroyed?” she asks. “For the Amungme people, that is what it feels like when Nemangkawi is destroyed.”

    For many Indigenous Papuans, the disappearance of the glaciers is not an isolated environmental change, but part of a decades-long transformation of their ancestral lands driven by extractive industry. The region is home to the Grasberg mine, operated by Freeport and one of the world’s largest gold and copper mining operations. The discovery of massive mineral deposits in the 20th century triggered large-scale industrial development that reshaped the landscape: entire mountain faces have been excavated, new roads and industrial infrastructure have cut through valleys, and expanding mining operations have displaced many Indigenous families from their traditional lands. While community members acknowledge the development has brought tangible benefits including jobs, improved access to education, and new economic opportunities, it has also come at the cost of widespread environmental degradation and long-running social conflict. “Every time I see the mountains, I feel amazed, but I also feel sadness,” Natkime says. “Since the company came, I have seen the exploitation. But the development has also provided a livelihood for many people.”

    As the final fragments of ice melt, both scientists and local communities are racing to document what remains of the glacial system before it disappears forever. Klaus Thymann, a Danish researcher leading the climate documentation initiative Project Pressure, has worked with a team to create detailed 3D maps of the remaining ice using drone surveying. His data confirms that between the early 2000s and 2025, the glaciated area of the Sudirman Range has receded by 95%. “There’s almost no ice left. Those are the facts,” Thymann says. He notes that glaciers are uniquely powerful messengers for climate change, because the disappearance of ice that was called “eternal” for centuries cuts through abstract data to drive home the reality of a warming planet. For Indigenous communities, the loss reaches far deeper than environmental change: it erodes the cultural foundation that has sustained their people for generations. Adolfina Kum compares the destruction of sacred landscapes to pulling a tree up by its roots: “Once the roots are removed, the tree loses its foundation.”

  • Black woman found hanging from tree was dead before body was ‘staged’ – US media

    Black woman found hanging from tree was dead before body was ‘staged’ – US media

    A shocking development has emerged in the high-profile death investigation of 29-year-old Tasia Fortune in Jackson, Mississippi, where a law enforcement official has confirmed authorities believe the Black woman was already deceased before her body was staged and left hanging from a tree on the property of an abandoned residence.

    According to reporting from the Associated Press, the revelation was made under oath in court this Friday by a investigating detective on the case. Multiple US media outlets have also confirmed the detective told the court investigators suspect Fortune’s killing stemmed from a drug-related dispute between the victim and her attackers.

    Fortune’s body was first discovered by members of the public back in August, hanging from a tree on the overgrown grounds of a vacant Jackson home. The grim discovery immediately ignited intense fear and outrage across Jackson, a city where more than 80% of residents identify as Black. The state of Mississippi has a violent, well-documented history of lynchings and racial terror against Black people, leading many local residents to immediately fear the killing was a modern-day racially motivated attack, a tension that has stretched on for weeks amid limited official information.

    After weeks of public speculation, growing protests and repeated demands from the community for transparency, Jackson law enforcement made multiple arrests in connection with Fortune’s homicide. The BBC reached out to multiple relevant parties, including the local court, the state medical examiner’s office, and Fortune’s mother, Christy Spivey, for comment on the new court disclosure.

    In an official statement provided to the BBC on Friday, Jackson Police Chief RaShall Brackney pushed back against the new narrative, saying: “Our language has been consistent…Ms Fortune was found in a hanging position. We have not released any information contrary to that statement.” Brackney has not responded to follow-up questions seeking clarification on the discrepancy between her public statement and the detective’s sworn court disclosure.

    To date, top state and local officials have not publicly confirmed the exact cause of Fortune’s death, nor have they shared detailed evidence supporting the claim that the hanging was staged after her killing. Earlier this month, the state medical examiner’s office officially classified Fortune’s death as a homicide and confirmed authorities would pursue murder charges against the suspects.

    So far, two people have been taken into custody in connection with the case. The first, 51-year-old Jarques Ratliff, has already entered a plea of not guilty to all charges and remains being held without bond in the county jail. This week, authorities arrested a second suspect, 25-year-old Earnest Lloyd Jr. Law enforcement have confirmed they are still actively searching for a third person of interest connected to Fortune’s killing, though no additional details on the third suspect have been released to the public.

  • Who gets to be Italian? The rise and rise of Islamophobia in Italy

    Who gets to be Italian? The rise and rise of Islamophobia in Italy

    On a recent Sunday in Rome, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni stood before hundreds of young activists from her Brothers of Italy party, framing a heated debate over national identity around the country’s public school classrooms. Drawing a sharp line between who she considers insiders and outsiders in Italian society, Meloni told attendees at Fenix, the annual youth gathering of Brothers of Italy, that it was unacceptable for native Italian children to feel marginalized as minorities in their own schoolrooms.

    Just three days later, Meloni’s right-wing administration turned rhetoric into policy: the government approved a full ban on face-covering Islamic garments including burqas and niqabs in all Italian schools, and imposed a binding 30% cap on non-citizen students or students with limited Italian proficiency enrolled in the first year of primary, middle, and high school. Meloni defended the new rules as pragmatic, common-sense measures designed to support integration rather than divide communities. The policy announcement lands as Italy prepares for a 2027 national general election, with immigration, the role of Islam in public life, and national identity already emerging as defining flashpoints for the country’s political right.

    The new rules immediately spark urgent practical and ethical questions: how exactly do Italian authorities distinguish between “foreign” and “Italian” students, and who bears the brunt of these new restrictions? Italy already had non-binding guidance recommending a 30% ceiling for non-citizen pupils, and the country’s classification of students relies entirely on citizenship status rather than place of birth or long-term residence. Unlike many European nations, Italy’s citizenship system is rooted primarily in jus sanguinis, or citizenship by blood descent, meaning children born and raised in Italy to non-Italian parents almost never automatically gain Italian citizenship at birth. As a result, thousands of third-generation immigrant youth who have never lived anywhere else remain officially classified as foreign citizens on school records – a fact that critics say makes Meloni’s cap inherently discriminatory.

    Meloni’s policy shift is not occurring in a vacuum. Tensions over immigration and the presence of Islam in Italy have escalated rapidly in recent weeks across the country. Just one week before the prime minister’s announcement, a hostile banner reading “Your integration is our ruin” was hung outside a public school in Mestre, the mainland district of Venice that is home to a large Bangladeshi community. Nearby, at a public park where local Muslims gather for weekly Friday prayers, graffiti reading “No Islam” alongside Christian crosses was painted on the ground and a local wooden structure.

    The vandalism coincided with a bitter, ongoing dispute over plans by Mestre’s Bangladeshi community to build a permanent mosque and Islamic cultural center on the site of an abandoned sawmill. The community has already purchased the land, but the project requires formal planning approval from local authorities, and opposition from right-wing politicians has turned the proposal into a national culture war flashpoint.

    Anna Maria Cisint, a right-wing Lega party Member of the European Parliament and one of the mosque project’s most outspoken opponents, has repeatedly campaigned against the construction of new Islamic places of worship across Italy. In February, at a Lega protest outside the proposed Mestre site, Cisint vowed that the mosque would never be built if right-wing parties retained power. On the same Sunday Meloni announced her school policies, Cisint spoke at Lega’s decades-old symbolic annual rally in the northern Italian town of Pontida, where she shared the stage with four activists from Nemesis, a French far-right group that identifies as feminist. The activists arrived wearing full-face Islamic veils, removed them on stage as the crowd chanted “take it off”, and Cisint used the moment to frame Islam as an existential threat to Italian identity. “We will never allow them to Islamise our home. Never,” she told the assembled crowd.

    The parallel rhetoric from Meloni in Rome, Cisint in Pontida, and anti-Muslim vandals in Mestre underscores a growing convergence of hardline anti-immigrant, anti-Islam messaging across Italy’s right wing. At the same time, a new far-right faction is pushing the entire political spectrum further to the right, intensifying competition for right-wing voters ahead of 2027.

    Roberto Vannacci, a former Italian army general who rose to national prominence after publishing a book attacking immigration, feminism, and LGBTQ+ rights, won a seat in the European Parliament in 2024 running as a Lega candidate. He soon split from the party to launch his own far-right movement, Futuro Nazionale, which has made “remigration” – the forced expulsion of existing immigrants from Italy – a core policy pledge. Recent opinion polls show Futuro Nazionale polling at around 8% ahead of the 2027 election, while Salvini’s Lega, the party Vannacci left, has fallen below 6%. The shifting poll numbers have amplified competition for right-wing voters, pushing all parties to adopt harderline positions on immigration and national identity.

    Against this backdrop, Vannacci made one of his most explicit arguments yet about immigration and citizenship during a September 18 urban security conference in Turin organized by a police union. He argued that Italy should never relax its strict citizenship rules to make it easier for immigrants to naturalize. “We cannot allow an immigrant to become an Italian citizen so easily because then this citizen votes,” Vannacci said. “And when he votes, he does not vote for the good of Italian citizens but for his own good.” When pressed on whether he was simply concerned that naturalized citizens would not support his party, Vannacci doubled down: “I’m not afraid that they won’t vote for me. I’m afraid that they won’t vote for Italy.”

    Vannacci’s comments lay bare a core contradiction at the heart of the current debate: how can a child born and raised entirely in Italy be classified as a permanent outsider to the nation? Advocates for immigrant rights say the new policies are deeply harmful to youth who have never known any other home. Fioralba Duma, an Italian-Albanian activist with the campaign group Italians Without Citizenship, says Meloni’s framing erases the reality of thousands of young people who are Italian in every way except for a legal technicality. “It is sad, because you realise how little responsibility those in power take when dealing with such important issues, and how little they do to protect children and guarantee them equal opportunities,” Duma told Middle East Eye. “Our struggle started 10 years ago – and for many people even earlier – but instead of reducing the number of people who are foreigners only on paper, that number continues to grow every year. We used to talk about newly arrived migrants. Today we are talking about third generations: the grandchildren of immigrants, born in Italy.”

    A 2025 referendum aimed at reforming Italy’s strict citizenship rules highlighted the divide over this issue. The ballot measure would have cut the required period of legal residency for non-EU adults seeking citizenship from 10 years to five. While roughly two-thirds of voters who cast ballots supported the reform, overall turnout hit only 30% – far below the 50% threshold required for the result to be legally binding, leaving the existing restrictive rules in place.

    Critics, including Italian Muslim community leaders, argue that the current focus on school caps and niqab bans is little more than political propaganda that distracts from pressing economic issues and targets a marginalized community over a non-existent problem. Ahmed Vall, president of the Islamic Community of Rome, said that there are virtually no cases of school-aged girls wearing niqabs in Italian classrooms. “Petrol is approaching three euros a litre, and she is talking about girls wearing the niqab at school when there are no girls wearing the niqab at school,” Vall said. His organization has already pledged to challenge the new measures through legal action, noting that it has already filed a complaint against Lega MEP Silvia Sardone for confronting and filming a woman wearing a niqab in Turin.

    Rula Mohamed, another activist with the Islamic Community of Rome, said that anti-Muslim sentiment in Italy has reached extreme levels after years of being normalized by political rhetoric and media coverage. “What we are seeing today is the extreme result of something that has been cultivated for years,” she said. “This climate has been built not just by the right wing, but through years of Muslims being portrayed in the media as dangerous and incompatible with Italian society. That has been compounded by the failure of much of the centre-left to seriously confront Islamophobia.”

  • What is kratom, the ‘gas station heroin’ alarming officials in the US?

    What is kratom, the ‘gas station heroin’ alarming officials in the US?

    For millions of Americans living with unmanaged chronic pain, the herbal product kratom has emerged as a controversial, unregulated lifeline — but a recent incident involving two deceased college students has reignited long-simmering debates over its safety and legal status across the country.

    Jeffrey Deaver, a 58-year-old retired timber cutter from Washington state, is one of many kratom users who swear by the plant’s pain-relieving effects. After years of severe, unrelenting hip and knee pain that failed to respond to conventional medical treatments, and while he waited for scheduled joint replacement surgeries, Deaver turned to kratom on a recommendation. Wary of its unknown effects at first, he began with small doses, gradually increasing his intake until his pain subsided. Describing the outcome as nothing short of a miracle, Deaver said the herb allowed him to sleep through the night and return to daily function, adding that he cannot imagine managing his condition without access to it.

    Kratom, a tropical tree native to the rainforests of Southeast Asia including Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia, has a centuries-long history of traditional use as a natural stimulant, typically brewed as a tea for workers to combat fatigue. It was first introduced to the U.S. consumer market as a dietary supplement around 2016, and its popularity has skyrocketed over the past decade, with users purchasing over-the-counter kratom in pill, powder, or concentrated liquid form from convenience stores, gas stations, vape shops, and online retailers.

    This week, new public warnings have been issued after investigators found packaged kratom in the possession of two deceased University of Mississippi students. While authorities have not linked the herb directly to the students’ deaths, the discovery has drawn renewed attention to the risks of unregulated kratom consumption. Unlike pharmaceutical drugs, kratom is not overseen by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and its legal status varies widely across the country, with 11 states having enacted full bans, including Massachusetts, which issued a temporary emergency ban just last month.

    Medical experts warn that the unregulated nature of the U.S. kratom market poses the greatest threat to public health. Dr. Shane Speights, dean of the New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine at Arkansas State University, explained that unlike the low-concentration loose-leaf kratom used traditionally in Southeast Asia, most products sold in the U.S. are highly concentrated formulations. Because they are classified as dietary supplements rather than controlled substances, there is no federal oversight of ingredients, dosing, or manufacturing standards. “There’s no way to know exactly what you’re getting,” Speights said. “An unregulated producer could mix any compound into a product, market it as kratom, and no authority would check its contents before it reaches consumers.”

    Kratom’s active chemical compounds, such as 7-Hydroxymitragynine, interact with the brain’s dopamine system to produce effects similar to narcotic opioids. At low doses, it acts as a stimulant, producing a caffeine-like energy boost, which has led some users to turn to it to wean off of harder opioids like fentanyl. At higher doses, it produces intense euphoria and a sense of being high, and can also trigger hallucinations. The most serious risk, Speights noted, is central nervous system depression at high doses, which can lead to cardiovascular collapse and respiratory failure — the primary cause of kratom-related deaths.

    Addiction treatment specialists add that dependence and withdrawal are common side effects of regular kratom use. Jana Wu, director of clinical integration at Mountainside addiction treatment center, explained that users quickly develop a tolerance to kratom, requiring increasingly larger doses to achieve the same effect, leading some to consume up to 20 pills per day. “Kratom addiction destroys personal relationships and careers,” Wu said. “I’ve seen patients lose their jobs and spend thousands of dollars a month to support their habit.”

    Efforts to enact a federal ban have stalled for years. In 2016, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) moved to classify kratom as a Schedule 1 controlled substance, the same category as heroin and LSD, citing “an imminent hazard to public safety.” But the agency abandoned the plan months later after the Department of Justice received tens of thousands of public comments opposing the ban from chronic pain patients and advocacy groups.

    Since the failed federal ban, regulatory action has been left to individual states. Recent efforts include a lawsuit filed by Arizona against a company selling kratom-infused beverages, and anti-kratom advocacy groups are pushing for more state-level bans, calling unregulated kratom a “gas-station drug that is poisoning American communities.” On the other side of the debate, pro-kratom groups such as the American Kratom Association support bans only on synthetic products mislabeled as natural kratom, rather than a full ban on the herb itself.

    Internationally, regulatory frameworks also vary: kratom is fully illegal in the United Kingdom, legal status differs across European Union member states, and even in its native Malaysia, sale and consumption have been banned under the country’s 1952 Poisons Act. For users like Deaver, however, the debate over regulation leaves their access to pain management in limbo, highlighting the deep divide over how to balance individual access to alternative pain treatment with public health safety.

  • Emirati influencers celebrate UAE sitting for Netanyahu’s speech to UN amid walkout

    Emirati influencers celebrate UAE sitting for Netanyahu’s speech to UN amid walkout

    On Thursday, during the opening of the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York City, a widespread act of diplomatic protest unfolded moments after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stepped to the podium: delegates from dozens of nations exited the assembly hall en masse, marking the second consecutive year that global representatives have staged a collective walkout during his address to the UN body.

    While most delegations exited in protest, a small cohort of representatives, largely from Western nations, remained seated throughout the speech. During his remarks, Netanyahu launched sharp verbal attacks on a broad range of critics, including international media outlets, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and left-wing commentator Hasan Piker. He also issued a forceful denial of international accusations that Israel is carrying out genocide in the Gaza Strip.

    One notable presence that quickly drew global social media attention was the delegation of the United Arab Emirates, which chose to remain in the chamber for the full duration of Netanyahu’s speech. The decision split public opinion online immediately: while most global commentators condemned the UAE’s choice to stay, pro-government Emirati social media influencers framed the move as a courageous act of diplomatic statesmanship that advanced peace efforts.

    Prominent Emirati pro-Abu Dhabi activist Ahmed Khalifa posted on X alongside a photograph that showed the empty seats surrounding the UAE delegation, writing, “THE UAE IS IN THE HALL. We show up. We don’t run😎.” He later expanded on his stance, arguing that walking out was an immature act of avoidance, writing, “It’s not our problem if you run! Be Brave. Face it. Listen. Argue point for point. Fleeing is childish. It only proves you’re incapable! 😉” Another Emirati commentator, Rauda Altenaiji, echoed this framing, writing, “We stay and we listen. That’s how bridges are built. We don’t do it teenager-esque style. We Dubai It, even in politics 🇦🇪🇦🇪.”

    The Emirati posts were met with immediate waves of anger and ridicule from social media users across the globe, who widely interpreted the UAE’s decision to remain as a public endorsement of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. One user replied directly to Khalifa’s post, writing, “You showed up for Netanyahu. You ran from every child bleeding in Gaza.” Other critics drew attention to the UAE’s widely documented involvement in Sudan’s ongoing civil conflict, where Abu Dhabi backs the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group that has been accused of widespread human rights atrocities including mass civilian massacres, systematic sexual violence, and systematic torture. “Why would you run? You’re doing the exact same thing in Sudan that Israel is doing in Gaza,” one critic wrote. While the UAE has repeatedly denied providing weapons or military support to the RSF, multiple independent investigations have confirmed its ongoing backing for the paramilitary group.

    Critics also turned Netanyahu’s own rhetoric against the UAE: during his opening remarks, Netanyahu called any delegations that planned to walk out “moral cowards” before he began his speech. Critics flipped this label to condemn the UAE, with one user writing, “Netanyahu: ‘Before I even start, any MORAL disgusting COWARDS still sitting in this hall can get up and leave now.’ The UAE stayed. They are the most disgusting cowards.”

    Another notable absence from the chamber during the speech was Iran’s delegation. Rather than leaving empty seats, Iranian representatives placed a portrait of Qassem Soleimani, the slain former commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force who was killed in a 2020 US drone strike, at their empty seats. “The Iranian delegation is not present for Netanyahu’s speech. Instead they’ve left a picture of Qasem Soleimani,” one X user posted alongside a photo of the display.

    The diplomatic walkout came alongside large-scale grassroots protests across New York City coinciding with Netanyahu’s visit. Earlier the same day, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas delivered a pre-recorded address to world leaders after the United States denied him a visa to enter the country to attend the General Assembly in person – marking the second year in a row the US has barred Abbas from attending the gathering in person. Several hundred demonstrators gathered near UN headquarters to protest Netanyahu’s visit, chanting slogans including “Stop arming Israel, let Gaza live.” According to the New York Police Department, around 100 protesters were arrested, including well-known actors Susan Sarandon and Hannah Einbinder.

  • Israel quietly lifts block on night flights at Syria’s airports

    Israel quietly lifts block on night flights at Syria’s airports

    Two major Syrian international airports, located in the capital Damascus and the country’s second largest city Aleppo, have resumed accepting nighttime commercial flights after months of restrictions, following an unpublicized shift in Israeli policy that removed its long-standing blockade on the activation of critical air navigation infrastructure, multiple regional officials confirmed to Middle East Eye in recent briefings.

    Last Thursday, Syria’s General Authority for Civil Aviation and Transport publicly announced it had finalized installation of new air navigation systems, including ILS/DME and DVOR/DME technology. These tools are designed to support precision aircraft landings during nighttime operations and low-visibility conditions, such as heavy fog and extreme storms, expanding the airports’ operational capacity beyond their previous daylight-only restrictions.

    What the public announcement did not disclose, however, is the months-long diplomatic and security standoff that delayed the activation of the already-installed equipment. Regional diplomatic sources told Middle East Eye that to bring the new navigation systems online, technicians were required to conduct calibration test flights across a 50-kilometer radius surrounding Damascus International Airport — a requirement Israel repeatedly blocked for more than six months. One senior regional official familiar with the negotiations said Israeli authorities issued an explicit ultimatum: they would shoot down any small aircraft conducting the calibration flights within that zone.

    The shift in Israeli control of territory around the Syrian capital following 2024 military operations changed the security calculus for the standoff. Prior to 2024, Israel’s formal border area was located roughly 60 kilometers from Damascus, putting the entire required test flight zone outside of direct Israeli occupied territory. After Israeli forces seized and occupied Mount Hermon earlier this year, they extended their area of control to within just 25 to 40 kilometers of the Syrian capital, putting the original calibration flight zone directly within range of Israeli military positions.

    A breakthrough was ultimately reached through a technical adjustment rather than a formal diplomatic agreement. Engineers and aviation technicians determined that calibration tests could be completed successfully within a reduced 25-kilometer radius, rather than the originally planned 50-kilometer zone. Syrian authorities officially notified Israel of their plan to conduct the restricted tests, and the Israeli government chose not to issue a formal objection or response, effectively allowing the work to move forward, a second regional official confirmed.

    This quiet compromise comes amid broader regional diplomatic efforts to de-escalate tensions between Israel and neighboring powers, after a series of provocative Israeli moves raised alarm in Western capitals. Earlier this year, Israel already opposed the deployment of a new civilian air traffic control radar system, the HTRS-100 manufactured by Turkish defense firm ASELSAN, at Damascus International Airport. Israeli officials argued at the time that the system would limit their military’s freedom of operation in Syrian airspace, despite the Syrian government confirming the radar was intended solely for civilian air traffic management.

    Regional diplomats assess that Israel’s decision to step back from its blockade on the navigation systems is a deliberate move to reduce tensions after a controversial Israeli airstrike last month targeting a Syrian airbase near the Turkish border. That strike drew sharp criticism from U.S. officials, who warned that the strike raised the risk of an accidental military confrontation between Israel and Turkey, a NATO member.

    In response to rising cross-tension risks, U.S. special envoy Tom Barrack has led recent diplomatic efforts to establish a formal trilateral deconfliction mechanism to prevent unintended clashes. Following these diplomatic pushes, Israel took steps to restore bilateral ties with Turkey, appointing a new charge d’affaires to its embassy in Ankara. While the envoy will remain based in Israel for ongoing security concerns, Israeli officials confirmed he will make regular trips to the Turkish capital to hold consultations with Turkish government officials.