French far-right leader Bardella denies anti-Semitism allegations

PRESS REVIEW – Tuesday, September 29: Jordan Bardella, the head of the far-right National Rally party, is accused of anti-Semitic comments dating back to 2013. But first: French high schoolers call for a nationwide strike to protest against teacher absences and dilapidated schools. The Washington Post looks at how AI data centres are transforming the US landscape. Plus, where are all the hunks? The Miss England pageant is struggling to recruit candidates!

We start with calls for a nationwide high school blockade in France this Tuesday. It comes as the public sector also goes on strike. According to Le Monde, the movement began last week at a school in the Paris region where several teachers were absent. The underlying grievances of students are varied: a failure to replace absent teachers, the decrepit state of some schools, lack of funding, overcrowded classes and demands to loosen the smartphone ban in schools. On Monday, a police officer reportedly fired a round from a grenade launcher at point-blank range and injured a student. Just over six months before presidential elections, the blockade has become ripe fodder for politicians, the Huffington Post notes. Far-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon defended the high schools, saying the blockades were "harmless". He also accused Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu's government of "repression". French Education Minister Edouard Geffray in turn condemned the violent instrumentalisation of young French people by "outside groups", saying it was irresponsible to incite high schoolers to participate in the blockade.

In other news in France, the investigative website Mediapart has published revelations of alleged anti-Semitic comments made by Jordan Bardella, the French far-right leader. He is the man tipped to become prime minister if Marine Le Pen wins the presidential election next year. He has also been at the forefront of the far-right National Rally party's image rebranding. Mediapart accuses him of making anti-Semitic comments a decade ago, at the beginning of his political career when he was a young far-right activist. The website accuses him of "obsessional anti-Semitism". Bardella has angrily denied the comments, saying he was a minor in 2013 when the alleged comments were made. Mediapart notes, however, that in previous interviews, Bardella has said he joined the party in 2012, which lines up with the timeline. The left-wing press has reacted swiftly. L'Humanité, the Communist paper, says these revelations are indeed proof that behind the far-right National Rally party's rebranding, "the ideology has not changed". It opts for a photo-morph image of Bardella and party founder Jean-Marie Le Pen, who was himself often accused of rampant anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial.

The Washington Post turns its attention to artificial intelligence and specifically how data centers are changing landscapes. In an interactive article, the paper looks at how AI data centres are transforming American landscapes – farmlands and desert are now teeming with the structures. What was once a warehouse surrounding by farmland today houses the US's largest operating data centre, Elon Musk's Colossus 2. This transformation is taking place across the US. 

Finally, call it the hunk shortage! The nationwide search to find the Mister who will represent England at the Mister World pageant has so far proven fruitless – just seven candidates signed up. Ahead of the October 7 final, organisers are getting desperate. They sent Miss England to a beach in the hopes of drawing some candidates – and are even asking Miss England semi-finalists to nominate their boyfriends or brothers! Where have all the hunks gone, the Guardian wonders!

You can catch our press review every morning on France 24 at 7:20am and 9:20am (Paris time), from Monday to Friday.