The Guardian – Protesters turn on Netanyahu in fury over deaths of six hostages
Protests in Israel lead the Guardian, alongside the images of the six hostages also featured on the front pages of the Times and Financial Times. It reports that tens of thousands of Israelis took to the streets on Sunday and that a general strike had been called “amid an eruption of public outrage against the government”.
The front page also reports Labour has announced the end of high-stakes judgments in schools and instead they will be replaced by report cards that grade schools in four categories.
Germany’s far-right election win in the east of the country is also featured on the front splash. The paper notes that Chancellor Scholz has called upon all German parties to come together and exclude the far right.
Protests in Israel and strike called amid eruption of outrage over Gaza war
Tens of thousands of Israelis took to the streets on Sunday night and a general strike was called amid an eruption of public outrage over the government’s handling of the war in Gaza after the deaths of six hostages being held deep underground by Hamas.
The discovery of the hostages’ bodies in Gaza over the weekend threatened to bring deep divisions over the war to breaking point. An estimated 100,000 protested in Tel Aviv, while others demonstrated in Jerusalem as pressure on the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to reach a ceasefire deal to bring the remaining hostages home reached a new peak.
The first general strike since March last year is expected to bring large parts of Israel’s economy to a halt on Monday. Government and municipal offices were due to close, as well as schools and many private businesses. Israel’s international airport, Ben Gurion, is due to shut down at 8am local time (0600 BST) for an unknown period.
Ofsted single-word school ratings to be scrapped immediately
Single-word Ofsted judgments for state schools will be scrapped with immediate effect to be replaced by report cards aimed at improving standards and helping parents to better understand schools’ strengths and weaknesses.
The four headline ratings currently awarded by the inspections watchdog in England – outstanding, good, requires improvement and inadequate – will go as part of radical changes announced on Monday by the government.
In their place, state schools inspected this year will be graded on quality of education, behaviour, personal development and leadership. Independent schools, early years settings, colleges and children’s social care providers will follow.
Education unions and the teaching profession welcomed the changes to the school inspection system, first promised by Labour before the election following the suicide of the primary headteacher Ruth Perry.
Scholz urges German parties to exclude far right as AfD poised for state election victory
The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, has urged mainstream parties to exclude “rightwing extremists”, after preliminary results showed the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) had come top in a state election, while a new populist force on the left established a firm foothold in the country’s political landscape
Voters in two closely watched elections in the former communist east made clear their dissatisfaction with Germany’s mainstream political parties, putting the AFD in the top spot in Thuringia, with 32.8% of the vote, and second place in Saxony, with 30.6%, according to preliminary results.
Scholz called the results “bitter” and “worrying”.
“Our country cannot and must not get used to this. The AfD is damaging Germany. It is weakening the economy, dividing society and ruining our country’s reputation,” Scholz said, adding that the most dire predictions, that his centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) might fall out of a state parliament for the first time, had not materialised.
Today’s news summary – Paper Talk
If you are someone who reads every perspective of a story, here is a news summary of all of today’s front pages from today’s newspapers; summarised in a 2-minute read
Editorial 02 September 2024.
Monday’s front pages have a variety of domestic and international leads with the broadsheets slightly more focused on the latest happenings on the global stage. The bodies of six Israeli hostages have been found in Gaza, the latest from the Ukraine-Russia War and the German far-right’s election victory in the east are among the popular headlines on the front splash.
A little closer to home, the front pages report on the latest from Downing Street including Labour axing winter fuel payments and the shake-up of the Ofcom rating system following the death of a head teacher last year.
Oasis, Venice Film Festival and Man Utd’s humiliating loss to Liverpool are all pictured on the front pages. The weekend’s Premier League action dominates the back pages.