Irish novelist Sally Rooney's books will no longer be sold in Britain over her plans to use her royalties to support Palestine ​Action, a pro-Palestinian group banned as a terrorist organisation, Rooney and ‌her publisher said on Wednesday.

The bestselling author, known for novels including "Normal People" and "Conversations with Friends", has been a vocal supporter of Palestine Action, including after it was proscribed by ​the British government under terrorism laws last year.

Rooney previously said in ​a witness statement submitted to London's High Court, in support of ⁠a legal challenge over the ban on Palestine Action, that her plans ​could lead to her books being withdrawn from sale in Britain.

Her publisher Faber ​said on Wednesday that it had agreed with Rooney that "we can no longer supply her works in the UK in any format", though it would sell her works elsewhere.

"Current ​legislation in the UK has led to circumstances where Faber cannot pass ​on UK earnings to Sally Rooney for her work," Faber said in a statement.

"To sell ‌a ⁠writer's work and not be able to pass on earnings is an unconscionable situation for a publisher."

Rooney said in a statement: "I have made every effort to be honest with the public about my beliefs and intentions and I ​am wholly prepared to ​accept the ⁠consequences."

Palestine Action, which had increasingly targeted Israel-linked defence companies, was banned shortly after a June 2025 break-in at the ​Royal Air Force's Brize Norton base.

Last year, Palestine Action's co-founder ​Huda Ammori ⁠challenged the ban and the High Court ruled in her favour in February, before the Court of Appeal overturned that decision in June. The Supreme Court is due ⁠to ​hear an appeal next month.

More than 3,000 people ​have since been arrested for holding signs in support of Palestine Action and its proscription has ​been criticised by civil liberties groups.

See also:

• UK national security adviser under pressure over wife’s comment on supporting Palestine Action • Author Sarah Helm, married to Jonathan Powell, wrote to back novelist Sally Rooney’s support of proscribed direct action group (The Guardian)

Four children allegedly ‘mutilated’ by explosive weapons and lawyers say unprecedented number held in custody

French lawyers and rights groups have said that several teenagers have suffered war-like injuries from police weapons used during school protests, and an unprecedented number of children have been held in police custody, some of whom reported being hit or racially insulted.

France is in the fourth week of its biggest youth protest movement in decades, during which hundreds of high schools across the country have been blockaded as students demand the replacement of absent teachers and repairs to decrepit buildings.

Police have opened internal investigations into 36 allegations of officer violence against demonstrators, including four children allegedly being “mutilated” by explosive weapons, and six sustaining “significant injuries”, as well as other complaints over physical blows, insults or alleged sexual assault, the interior minister, Laurent Nuñez, told the senate.

Evan, a 15-year-old studying carpentry at a vocational high school, had a hand blown off in the explosion of a police stun grenade outside a school protest in Lens, northern France, on 5 October. His lawyer, Bertrand Wattez, said: “His injuries resemble war injuries.”

Wattez said Evan had gone to school to attend class and discovered a protest under way. He said Evan had not taken part in violence and denied the Béthune state prosecutor’s assertion that the grenade had been picked up from the ground. When the grenade exploded, Evan lost his left hand, several fingers from his right hand and suffered injuries to other parts of his body. He remained in hospital “in a very difficult condition” and his family had filed a criminal complaint, Wattez said.

Another boy, Eden, 14 – who had been near a school protest in Saint-Ouen-l’Aumône, north-west of Paris – suffered extensive facial injuries, including two fractures to his jaw, the loss of his bottom teeth and all his top teeth broken after he was allegedly hit by a shot from a grenade launcher.

His lawyer, Elsa Marcel, said the shot from a grenade launcher was fired at close range, from a distance of 1.5 metres. “This is the equivalent of war weaponry,” she said. The family has filed a legal complaint for attempted murder.

Eden’s parents said he had gone to school but found it blockaded and had wanted to go home. Video footage appeared to show him facing three riot police officers. One officer hit out in his direction with a truncheon and Eden kicked in the direction of the police before a grenade shot was fired. An officer has been suspended and placed under official investigation.

This week, a police officer in the western city of Tours was charged with aggravated battery after Maël, a 16-year-old at a vocational high school, lost the use of his eye allegedly after a shot from a form of rubber-bullet launcher. The officer denies the charges. The family’s lawyer said Maël had not been involved in any violent confrontation with police but had simply been present at a school protest, and that the family felt a sense of “injustice”.

For several years, France has faced scrutiny over police use of explosive weapons, particularly after serious injuries were reported during the 2018-2019 gilets jaunes (yellow vests) street demonstrations, including allegations that people had lost eyes and had their hands and feet mutilated.

The current wave of protests has also led to lawyers raising concerns that an unprecedented number of children have been arrested and placed in police custody, with some lawyers reporting that teenagers said they were hit, humiliated or verbally abused during arrests.

Since the school protests began in mid-September, a total of 6,773 under-18s have been taken into police custody after they were arrested, the justice ministry said. For more than 1,000 of those children, no charges were brought; 2,190 are facing legal action and almost 2,000 were handed an alternative to further legal action, such as a citizenship course, without their case being heard at trial and without a conviction.

Lawyers said accusations against children included gathering with violent intent, violence against police and damage to property.

Nathalie Tehio, a lawyer and the president of the French Human Rights League, said the fact that only a minority of children’s cases would end up before a judge raised concerns that arrests could be unfounded. She said: “There are a record number of arrests … Often, the legal dossiers are empty. In reality, this is more about stopping people from demonstrating. I think there is a sense of hitting hard to try to dissuade people and scare them.”

Europe keeps promising solidarity with Ukraine. What should that look like in practice? 🇪🇺🇺🇦

Hey everyone! 👋 We're EUobserver, following the European Council summit in Brussels.

Zelensky is meeting EU leaders today, asking for more money to support Ukraine and tougher sanctions on Russia.

European solidarity has been a central message since the beginning of the full-scale invasion. But as the war continues, the question is how Europe can turn that solidarity into reliable, long-term support.

And beyond the political discussions, these decisions affect millions of people whose lives have been shaped by years of war.

What should Europe be doing differently to make its support for Ukraine more effective and sustainable?

Launch of Russian ballistic missiles on Ukraine, with no US warning, coincides with outage of Starlink managed by Musk’s SpaceX

Ukraine’s military has suddenly had its access to Starlink satellite internet terminals restricted as the Trump administration has increased pressure on Ukraine to halt long-range strikes on Russia’s oil industry immediately.

The terminals, which are produced by Elon Musk’s SpaceX but managed by the US government, are a key component of Ukraine’s military operations and the sudden restrictions on the terminals travelling at high speeds on Tuesday evening led to the failure of several combat missions, said an adviser on military technology to Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The sudden outage came as Russia launched ballistic missiles at Ukraine without any advance warning from the US for a second night. For years, the US has provided Ukraine with intelligence when strikes were about to take place.

Donald Trump has denied that his administration has cut intelligence sharing with Ukraine. Zelenskyy also indicated that the US was continuing to share intelligence with Ukraine in an interview with NPR aired on Wednesday, but confirmed that military advisers had received threats from the US that intelligence sharing could be limited.

Musk said that Starlink is not licensed to clients who are using weapons, and that the Ukrainian military was linked to a separate network called Starshield, which is operated by the US government. “This is not under SpaceX control,” Musk wrote.

Limiting Starlink’s access speeds would have a significant effect on Ukraine’s air defences because it is being used, according to Beskrestnov, in “the most current effective solution”: interceptors that target the jet-powered Shahed drones now deployed in large numbers to bomb Ukraine.

Musk has supported Trump’s calls for Zelenskyy to be replaced as Ukraine’s leader – an extraordinary act of political interference against a wartime ally – as a personal feud between the two presidents has burst into the open.

The reports that Starlink was being throttled on the frontlines were interpreted by some as further pressure on Ukraine to end the fighting and make a deal with Russia at any cost.

Trump has demanded that Ukraine stop striking Russian oil refineries, which he has blamed for the high cost of diesel, although most analysts say that the closure of the strait of Hormuz has had a far larger impact on global energy prices.

See also:

• Elon Musk says Trump is ‘ultimately’ responsible for any curbs on Ukraine’s Starshield systems (CNBC)
• Order to limit Starshield for Ukraine came from inside White House, sources say (Reuters)
• Can Europe step in as Ukraine struggles with Starlink and US satellite data? (Reuters)
• Ukraine has resumed its attacks on Russian refineries after Zelenskiy voiced his anger at a "dangerous" withdrawal of US intelligence. • He warned that Ukraine would not suspend its own attacks indefinitely if Russia did not reciprocate (Reuters)