The French police have made more than 6,600 arrests since late September, when students, most of them under 18, began protesting to demand more education funding, according to the Interior Ministry. On Thursday, students barricaded the Lycée Hélène Boucher in northeastern Paris with garbage bins before police moved in with tear gas, according to the Associated Press. The Education Ministry said 375 schools were fully or partially closed on Thursday. Al Jazeera recorded the use of tear gas and water cannons against students in Paris.
The Donald Trump administration opened a historic investigation into J-1 visa fraud at nine US universities, with subpoenas already issued, according to the Department of Labor, in a report by the South China Morning Post. The announcement was made on Thursday by Inspector General Anthony D’Esposito, at an event alongside Vice-President J.D. Vance, and names Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Brown, the University of Pittsburgh, UC Davis, Caltech, Arizona State University and MIT. The administration singled out China as the focus, warning that Beijing need not break into US research labs if institutions leave their doors open.
High school students across France were preparing for a fresh day of protests on Thursday, with entrances blocked at hundreds of schools since late September, according to AFP, in a text published by Pakistan TV. The protests, on a second day of mass mobilization in the week, denounce missing teachers, overloaded timetables and dilapidated classrooms. More than 6,500 people, mostly minors, have been arrested since the mobilization began, according to AFP, in a text republished by The Standard.