Could the West Bank become the next Gaza?
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Metro
18 minutes ago
- Metro
Adult-only hotels that ban children 'like dogs' could be made illegal in France
Children cannonballing into pools, running through the lobby and spaghetti on the floor in the restaurant. This is the kind of youthful chaos that a growing number of adults are keen to avoid while going on holiday – Metro readers included. Yet French politicians are looking at ending grown-up escapes as venues treat children as 'troublesome pests'. Should adult-only hotels be banned, or should adults be able to book time away from youngsters? Email us at: webnews@ Former French families minister Laurence Rossignol was quoted by The Guardian as saying: 'We can't organise society by separating children off from ourselves in the same way some establishments don't take dogs.' The Oise senator has proposed a bill to make it illegal to ban children from venues by considering it age discrimination under the Penal Code. These child-free spaces, according to Rossignol, amount to 'organising society around people's intolerance of others'. They 'allow people to say, 'I don't like children and I don't want to see them',' she said. 'And that is not acceptable, because to not like children is to not like humanity itself.' Our readers aren't so sure about that. Gid Eon told us: 'Surely that's also a form of discrimination. Discriminatory for those who don't want to be around a load of screaming kids?' Bliss Natasha added: 'People who choose not to have children should be able to go on holiday and have some peace.' Arwen Carol, a part-time supply teacher, said not wanting to be around children isn't discrimination, it's wanting to relax. 'There's plenty of spaces that cater really well for families with kids and there's space for both without turning it into an issue,' she commented. It's not just Rossingnol mourning the loss of the hotels with kids' clubs, teen zones with pool tables and face-painting sessions. Sarah El Haïry, the French government's high commissioner for childhood, believes excluding families from accommodation is 'real violence'. Haïry has launched a 'Family Choice' campaign for parents to recommend businesses that offer child-friendly prices, events and facilities. 'A child shouts, laughs and moves… we are institutionalising the idea that silence is a luxury and the absence of children is a luxury,' she told the broadcaster RTL. Adult-only holidays are nothing new, being popular since the 1970s in hotspots like Greece, Thailand and the US. Adverts for these child-free hotels, cruises and camps often feature smiling adults clinking glasses of wine in complete and utter silence. An Expedia survey in 2023 found that guests at these resorts were 63% more likely to rate their time as 'exceptional' compared to those at mixed-age resorts. Some Metro readers, including parents and guardians of children, said they'd even be willing to pay extra for a child-free hotel, flight or cinema. They described how it's not so much children not being on the premises that they're willing to pay for, but it's not being around childish behaviour. Shannon Baird said: 'As a mother of two, no, I don't think they should be banned. Not everyone wants to deal with our kids screaming and running around playing all the time.' Alex Doody wrote that, if he's paying thousands of pounds for a holiday, he expects a certain level of service. 'That level of service cannot be achieved if there are packs of 'free-range' kids running around unchecked, creating mayhem and iPad kids having a meltdown every time they're parted from Minecraft for two seconds,' he said. Thomas Pennington said that a simple reason why adult-only venues shouldn't be banned is that 'not everyone wants kids'. One in 10 French people say they don't want children, more than twice the number from 2005. As fewer French people have children, researchers estimate that up to 5% of the holiday market in France is adult-only. Hotels like Saint-Delis in Honfleur in Normandy promise 'peaceful' experiences away from youth, while Camp Laurent in the sunflower fields of Poitou-Charentes brands itself as 'exclusively for adults'. French tour operators like Fram and Kuoni are also catering more to 'adult-only' holiday experiences. More Trending No family in France has ever taken legal action against a venue for hanging a sign reading 'no children', according to French legal experts. Article 225-1 says people who discriminate against someone 'based on age or family status' face three years in prison and €45,000 (£39,000) fine. As much as the majority of Metro readers disagreed with the idea of banning child-free hotels, Sue Dudley said she feels differently. 'Each to their own,' she commented, 'but I find adult-only very boring.' Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@ For more stories like this, check our news page. MORE: Virgin orders 12 new high-speed trains in biggest challenge to Eurostar yet MORE: Manchester Airport flights grounded after easyJet planes 'clip wings' on runway MORE: Four bodies pulled from the same spot in the River Seine in Paris
The Guardian
19 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Israeli plan to displace 1m Palestinians spreads fear in Gaza
Palestinians were gripped by fear and anxiety on Sunday after the Israeli military said it was preparing for the forcible displacement of 1 million people from Gaza City. The announcement came days after Israel said it intended to launch a new offensive to seize control of the enclave's largest urban centre, in a plan that raised international alarm, and ahead of the IDF's latest attacks in the Palestinian territory which Gaza's health officials said had killed at least 40 people on Saturday including a baby in a tent and people seeking aid. 'Based on the directives of the political leadership, and as part of the Israel Defense Forces' preparations to transfer civilians from combat zones to the southern Gaza Strip for their safety, starting tomorrow (Sunday), the provision of tents and shelter equipment for Gaza residents will resume,' read a statement by the Israeli Coordination of Government Activities in the Palestinian Territories (COGAT). 'The equipment will be transferred through the Kerem Shalom crossing by the United Nations and international relief organizations, after undergoing thorough inspection by the Land Crossings Authority of the Ministry of Defense,' it added. Meanwhile, new recordings broadcast by an Israeli TV station showed the Israeli general who headed military intelligence on 7 October 2023 saying that 50 Palestinians 'must die' for every person killed that day, and 'it does not matter now if they are children'. The channel said the undated conversations were recorded 'in recent months'. And in the US the state department announced that it would stop issuing visas to children from Gaza in desperate need of medical care after an online pressure campaign from Laura Loomer, a far-right influencer close to Donald Trump who has described herself as 'a proud Islamophobe'. Following Israel's announcement, Palestinians in Gaza – displaced repeatedly, forced to live in tent camps or amid the ruins of their homes, stricken by hunger and deprived of medical supplies – are bracing for another humanitarian disaster as a new offensive would force them toward the south of the territory and an uncertain future. 'We are already destroyed and exhausted, physically and psychologically, from repeated displacement, from the lack of food and water,' Akram Shlabia, 85, told the Guardian from the Shuja'iyya neighbourhood of Gaza City. 'And now they want us to go to the south! Into nothingness, into the unknown, into a place without shelter or the basic means of life, even safety.' 'We will face many problems in displacement,' said Mazen Hasaneh, 40, from al-Tuffah neighbourhood, who has been displaced six times during the war. 'First, securing a way to transport the necessary items like a tent and other basics, and of course many drivers will exploit people's desperation and raise prices, while people have no money to pay. 'The second problem is finding a place to set up the tent and settle, along with the difficulty of finding and providing water and food. Everything about displacement is suffering, especially in our current conditions.' Some families have already begun moving south to secure shelter in anticipation of possible evacuation, while others are contacting relatives to ask about available space should the relocation plan proceed. Yet many say they will remain in Gaza City, declaring they would rather stay than face the hardships of displacement. 'If the plan is carried out, I will look for a safe place for myself and my children within Gaza, and I will not consider moving to the south of the Strip,' said Asma Al-Barawi, 34, from al-Tuffah, the mother of seven children. 'I didn't leave the first time, and I won't leave this time. The experiences and suffering I heard from the displaced who went south were harsh and unbearable.' 'I lost everything because of this war,' she added. 'I lost two of my brothers, two of my maternal aunts with their families, my cousin, and my father-in-law. And, I lost my new home, which I only left with some clothes.' In recent days, heavy explosions have echoed from areas east of Gaza, where Israeli forces have intensified operations, including artillery barrages and the start of an incursion on the outskirts of the Sabra neighbourhood. On Saturday a baby girl and her parents were killed when an Israeli airstrike hit a tent in al-Muwasi, previously designated a humanitarian zone by Israel, in southern Gaza, Nasser hospital officials and witnesses said. 'Two and a half months old, what has she done?' a neighbour, Fathi Shubeir, asked. 'They are civilians in an area designated safe.' Israel's military said it could not comment on the strike without more details. Al-Muwasi is now one of the most heavily populated areas in Gaza after Israel pushed people into the desolate area. But the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said last week that Israel planned to widen its coming military offensive to include the area, along with Gaza City and 'central camps' – an apparent reference to the built-up Nuseirat and Bureij refugee camps in central Gaza. According to the civil defence agency, at least 13 of the Palestinians killed on Saturday were shot by troops as they were waiting to collect food aid near distribution sites in the north and the south. There were also another 11 malnutrition-related deaths in Gaza over the past 24 hours, the health ministry said on Saturday, including at least one child. That brought malnutrition-related deaths due to the Israeli blockade on aid to 251. Meanwhile in Israel police blasted crowds with water cannons and made dozens of arrests on Sunday as thousands of protesters in Jerusalem demanded a deal to free hostages in Gaza. The demonstrators aimed to shut down the country with a one-day strike that blocked roads and closed businesses. Groups representing families of hostages organised the demonstrations as frustration grows in Israel over plans for the new military offensive, which many fear could further endanger the remaining hostages, about 20 of whom are believed to still be alive. 'We don't win a war over the bodies of hostages,' protesters chanted in one of the largest and fiercest protests in 22 months of war. Protesters gathered at dozens of places including outside politicians' homes, military headquarters and on major highways. They blocked lanes and lit bonfires. Police said they arrested 38 people. Israel's military offensive has killed at least 61,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry, most of them civilians. The figure does not include the thousands believed to be buried under rubble or the thousands killed indirectly as a consequence of the war.
STV News
an hour ago
- STV News
Swinney calls on UK Government to enable Gaza students to travel to Scotland
Scotland's First Minister has called for 'urgent action' from the UK Government to ensure students from Gaza can take up their places at Scottish universities. John Swinney said that other countries have successfully evacuated Gazan students to enable them to continue their studies. And he called on the UK Government to do 'everything in its power' to enable students to travel from Gaza to Scotland. The UK Government has said it is doing everything it can to find a solution. Mr Swinney spoke out after the Sunday Mail reported on a Palestinian student who has a place at Edinburgh University, but has not been able to leave Gaza to start her course next month due to visa processing issues. Mr Swinney said: 'I am appalled at the situation the students from Gaza are facing. We must see urgent action from the UK Government to support them in taking up their university places in Scotland. 'The people of Gaza are already suffering unimaginably at the hands of the Israeli government – the idea that these students could also be denied the chance to take up the university places in Scotland they have worked so hard to attain is not acceptable to me. 'I am aware that other countries including France, Ireland and Italy have managed to successfully evacuate students, so the UK Government cannot simply duck its responsibilities here. 'Where there is a political will, a resolution can be found – and failure to act is quite literally putting these people's lives at risk.' Scotland's Education Secretary Jenny Gilruth has written to the UK Home Secretary and UK Secretary of State for Education calling for action to support the students impacted and for urgent discussions. Mr Swinney said: 'I am clear that the international community must put a stop to Israel's killing in Gaza and that we must see the immediate recognition of a sovereign, independent Palestine. 'But until that point, the UK Government must do everything it can to ensure ordinary Gazans are not punished further. 'Scotland looks forward to welcoming students from Gaza seeking to take their places at our universities – the UK Government must do the right thing and do everything in its power to allow them to get here.' A UK Government spokesperson said: 'We are aware of these students and are actively considering how we can best support. 'Of course, the situation on the ground in Gaza makes this extremely challenging but we are doing everything we can to find a solution.' The normal arrangements for non-British nationals requiring a visa are to make an online visa application and submit their biometrics at a Visa Application Centre, prior to travel to the UK. The UK Government said biometrics are an essential part of the immigration process as they enable it to confirm the identity of the person and assess whether they pose a risk to public safety. Where an applicant cannot travel to a Visa Application Centre (VAC) to enrol their biometrics, they can contact the UK Government to explain their circumstances, so it can consider all the options. Get all the latest news from around the country Follow STV News Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country
