Eurotopics.net

A petition initiated by a student against a new French agricultural law two weeks ago has already gathered 1.7 million signatures, upping the pressure on the government. The "Loi Duplomb" relaxes environmental regulations governing the use of pesticides, including acetamiprid. The product has been banned in France for several years, but not in any other EU country.

American influencer IShowSpeed has made appearances in Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania as part of a PR campaign for the Baltic states. In Riga he met with politicians and former president Raimonds Vējonis, with whom he jumped around on the platform of the country's Freedom Monument, before appearing with officials in Lithuania. Commentators who are not among his 40 million YouTube followers are baffled.

Twenty-five 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 ponder the consequences of the appeal.

Every year, German public broadcaster ARD invites the German Chancellor and the leaders of the parties represented in the Bundestag to a summer interview on a terrace in Berlin's government district. This year the exchange with AfD leader Alice Weidel was disrupted by a group of loud demonstrators. Commentators criticise both the discourse on German television and the approach to countering the rise of the far-right party, which was classified as right-wing extremist by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution in May.

The coalition government of Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has lost its majority in the House of Councillors, the upper house of the National Diet. His Liberal Democratic Party has had a majority in the house almost without interruption for 70 years. Now for the first time it is in the minority in both chambers. Meanwhile two right-wing populist parties have gained ground. The press focuses on Sanseitō, which went from two to fourteen seats.