Eurotopics.net

Portugal's conservative government has announced that sex education will be removed from the curriculum of the subject citizenship and development, leaving it unclear how the topic is to be taught at schools. Critics accuse the government of shifting to the right on socio-political issues and adopting the positions of right-wing populist party Chega.

According to a recent survey, two-thirds of Romanians have a positive image of Nicolae Ceaușescu, the dictator who was overthrown in December 1989 after ruling the country with an iron fist for 24 years. With the help of the much-feared secret police, the Securitate, he systematically eliminated his political opponents. The national press looks at where this positive image hails from.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned of widespread starvation in the Gaza Strip. According to the organisation, the lack of aid deliveries and violence and chaos during food distribution are leading to an increasing number of deaths. The dire situation was also sharply criticised in a statement published on Tuesday in which 30 countries now call on Israel to put an immediate end to the war. Commentators ask if circumstances warrant more than appeals to Israel.

Protests have broken out in Ukraine against a new law that slashes the independence of the country's top anti-corruption bodies, the Anti-Corruption Bureau and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office, and puts them under the control of the Prosecutor General's Office. Observers criticise President Zelensky and see Ukraine on a dangerous path towards authoritarianism.

Twenty-eight states - including France, Italy, the UK, Spain, Canada, Australia and Japan - have published a joint statement calling for an end to the war in the Gaza Strip and demanding that Israel fulfil its obligations under international humanitarian law. Germany and the US were not among the signatories. Commentators discuss whether the appeal is aimed at the right addressee.