Latest news with #under15
News.com.au
3 days ago
- Politics
- News.com.au
France eyes social media ban for under-15s after school stabbing
French authorities have announced plans to ban social media for under-15s and the sale of knives to minors after the murder of a teaching assistant by a 14-year-old boy plunged the country into shock. A secondary school pupil was arrested on Tuesday after killing a 31-year-old school assistant with a knife during a bag search in Nogent in eastern France. Friends and well-wishers left flowers and messages of support in front of the secondary school struck by the tragedy. "We share your pain," read one message. Laurence Raclot, who knew the teaching assistant, Melanie, said she was "stunned". "She was great with kids," Raclot said. "In a quiet little town, we never would have thought this could happen." A former hairdresser, Melanie had retrained and worked at the school since September. She was the mother of a four-year-old boy and a councillor in a village near Nogent. "There are no words," added another local, Sabrina Renault. "It's really sad for her whole family, for that little boy who's left without his mum." Pupils and parents were seen entering and leaving the school, where a psychological support unit has been set up. The suspect will remain in police custody for a further 24 hours, until Thursday morning, a police source told AFP on Wednesday. Little information has been released about his motive. - 'Cannot wait' - In the wake of the attack, authorities promised a raft of measures to tackle knife crime among children. "I am proposing banning social media for children under 15," President Emmanuel Macron said on X on Tuesday evening. "Platforms have the ability to verify age. Let's do it," he added. Backed by France and Spain, Greece has spearheaded a proposal for how the EU should limit children's use of online platforms as evidence shows that social media can have negative effects on children's mental and physical health. Macron said on Tuesday that if no progress was made within several months, then France would go ahead with the ban unilaterally. "We cannot wait," he told broadcaster France 2. France has in recent years seen several attacks on teachers and pupils by other schoolchildren. In March, police started random searches for knives and other weapons concealed in bags at and around schools. On Wednesday, Prime Minister Francois Bayrou's office said a ban on the sale of knives to minors will be implemented by a decree issued within the next two weeks. Speaking to broadcaster TF1 on Tuesday evening, Bayrou said that the measure would come into force "immediately". The list will include "any knife that can be used as a weapon", he said. He also said parents and educators should be watching for "signs that a teenager is not doing well", while acknowledging that there was a shortage of psychologists. Bayrou has also called for a trial of metal detectors in schools. Education Minister Elisabeth Borne called for a minute's silence to be held in all French schools at midday on Thursday to honour the memory of the teaching assistant. "The entire educational community is in shock, as is the whole nation," she told France Inter radio on Wednesday. Borne said she was "open to anything" to improve safety but added that ceramic blades would be invisible to metal detectors. She also said that young people should be protected from "overexposure to screens". But trade unions said they were not sure how these proposals would be implemented and enforced. "Teaching assistants have primarily educational duties within the school environment," said Sophie Venetitay, general secretary of the SNES-FSU teachers' union. But, she added, "little by little, we have seen attempts to turn them into security guards." Remy Reynaud of the CGT Educ'action union criticised the government's decision to introduce bag searches outside schools. "They increase tensions," he said.
CBC
11-05-2025
- Sport
- CBC
Undefeated N.B. girls volleyball team 'devastated' it can't compete for national title
A group of undefeated female volleyball players from Moncton trained for two years, won every tournament, outperformed older athletes and became the best in New Brunswick. But it wasn't enough to earn a shot at the under-15 national championship this year. Volleyball Canada regulations place the Cyclones in the third tier for the nationals in Alberta this week. The best the team can finish is 17th. Coach Jon Clinch said team members trained hard to fulfil their dream of playing at the tournament's highest level, or within the top two tiers. It wasn't an unrealistic goal. The team won the Canadian under-14 championship last year. Progressing to under-15 this year, the team went undefeated and won the Atlantic title. "Nobody can believe that a provincial champion doesn't get to compete for a national championship," Clinch said in an interview. "On top of the fact that we won the national championship the year before." Volleyball Canada's ranking system allocates points to each province. The Cyclones say they maxed out the number of points they could have earned over the past year for New Brunswick and still don't qualify for the top two tiers at nationals. Clinch said the points system is hard to understand, but the team didn't expect to receive the ranking it did. "It was a surprise to us because of the fact that we won the nationals the year before and the resume we had this year," he said. Volleyball Canada told the Cyclones that guidelines are based on a weighted point system. It allots points based on a team's ranking going into provincial championships and its rank coming out. Each age/gender also has a unique point scale based on the past six to 10 years of data of how each province or territory performed at previous national championships. This is where Clinch wants more information. He wonders how it is possible that a team ranked 12th in Ontario gets to play in the top two tiers, but a team ranked first in New Brunswick doesn't? "We understand that seeding can be complicated to explain, given the many factors involved," Sandra de Graaff, Volleyball Canada's director of domestic competitions, said in a statement to CBC. "Cyclones couldn't have done anything to change their situation, as seeding is base on historical data, as per the current guidelines. "The 15U girls category has 312 teams participating from across many parts of the country, so this NB team (15UG Cyclones) is still ranked well ahead of the majority of the teams in this category." De Graaff said New Brunswick has not placed higher than 14th at the under-15 girls level, earning that rank in 2015. The appeal When Clinch found out how the Cyclones were ranked, he and executive director Amy Clinch, who is also his partner, appealed the decision. Volleyball Canada denied it, stating all seeding rules were followed. "No information was provided to indicate that seeding was performed incorrectly or outside of the National Seedings Guidelines," Volleyball Canada wrote in its decision. Amy Clinch said she understands that Volleyball Canada didn't break its own procedures. "What they're failing to see is their rules and policies are not just and fair," she said. "I find it heartbreaking, especially for these kids because they trained so hard," she said. "It's hard for the coaches, it's hard for the parents. A lot of money was invested, you know, it's in Alberta. It's just really, really frustrating the fact that New Brunswick is just off the radar." One athlete stayed up crying all night, Amy Clinch added, when she realized there was no chance her team could play at the higher levels. She said for some of the girls, it's the first time they're experiencing barriers in sports. "They're just devastated, devastated," she said. "There's already a lot of barriers in sports for girls, for girls sports, and I just feel like adding another one is just so heartbreaking." Jon Clinch said the athletes are still planning to represent New Brunswick as best they can. But he said the team will never know how well it could have done at a higher level.
