A series of drug-related murders in France's second-largest city has cast a spotlight on  gangs' increasing use of teenage hitmen recruited via social media.

Marseille's new public prosecutor, Nicolas Bessone, warned of the "unprecedented savagery" of a recent local attack in which a 15-year-old was stabbed 50 times and burned alive in an apparent turf war. The city recorded an unprecedented 49 drug-related homicides  last year, a 50% rise from 2022.

How did Marseille become a hotspot for drugs?
Marseille has been a major hub for the European drug trade since the 1960s, as a transit point used by the Corsican mafia in the so-called French Connection to smuggle heroin grown in Asia to the US. The historic port city still plays a key role in drug trafficking and is also a large market for narcotics. Some of Marseille's dealing spots turn over up to €90,000 (£75,000) a day. "Money that flows, corrupts and kills," said Bessone. 

But the levels of violence and the age of those carrying it out are changing. In recent years, a "turf war for control of the highly profitable drug market" has been raging "between various clans including DZ Mafia and Yoda", said France 24.

How are teenagers being recruited as hitmen?
A growing number of young people are "fascinated by organised crime like others are by jihadism", a police source told Le Parisien. Another police insider told local daily La Provence that gangs were recruiting increasingly young assassins and that a killer hired for €20,000 could more than double their rate if they generated enough publicity online. 

What is being done about it?
Marseille has "become the symbol of the challenges French law enforcement faces in combating drug traffickers as consumption rises nationally", said the Financial Times. Besson is targeting the heads of the networks, including those living abroad. The crackdown has resulted in a rise in seizures of drugs, criminal assets and firearms, and the dismantling of five to 10 selling points a day. Efforts are also under way to "rebuild trust between the police and the population", such as investments in sporting facilities in drug-plagued neighbourhoods. 

Keira Knightley is the latest in a long line of celebrities turning their hand to writing children's books – and to face the wrath of career authors. "I Love You Just The Same", which also features illustrations by the British actor, is due to be published by Simon & Schuster next October.

'Plotless monstrosities'
"I have no direct beef with Knightley," wrote David Barnett, author of "Calling Major Tom" and more than a dozen other novels, in The Independent. It's "unfortunate" that she's the "current celebrity author target" in the never-ending "grudge match between jobbing writers and famous people who write books". But what "rankles" with many of us is the "whirlwind of promotion" afforded to celebrities' books; the type of marketing budgets we can "only envisage in our wildest dreams".

Celebrities' efforts tend to be "formulaic" and "composed in haste", said author Philip Womack on The Spectator World. Perhaps the most "egregious" example is the comedian and actor David Walliams, "under whose name appear plotless monstrosities written with all the charm, wit and thoughtfulness of a battering ram".

Apologies for "pre-judging" but Knightley's "noble intentions" remind me of that other "great literary atrocity", Meghan Markle's "The Bench", said William Sitwell in The Telegraph. "Unfortunately, it became a bestseller, giving other celebrities encouragement to pen their own children's books. To which, I say, leave it to the experts."

A force for good?
Still, "quality celebrity children's books do exist", said Ella Creamer in The Guardian. Works such as Marcus Rashford's "Breakfast Club Adventures" series "help increase representation in children's fiction". Author Howard Pearlstein told the paper that the attention generated by famous names also helps to create a "rising tide that lifts the entire publishing industry".

As things stand, though, the advances for children's books are so small that only a "handful at the very top" are able to survive from writing alone, said Womack. Studies have shown time and again that reading at a young age has an array of benefits from expanding vocabularies to improving cognitive skills. So "it isn't just the children's literature shelves that are at stake", it is "our entire cultural future".

As ski season draws closer, now is the time to start planning the perfect winter break on the slopes. Whether you're looking for family-friendly fun or thrilling black runs, here are some of the best ski resorts in Europe.

Baqueira Beret, Spain
From lift passes to lessons, everything in Spain's biggest ski resort is "that bit cheaper than the big names in the Alps", said Rebecca Miles in The Telegraph. But quality isn't sacrificed; the Spanish royal family regularly visit their chalet at this resort in the heart of the Pyrenees. There are more than 100 miles of high-altitude slopes to explore, with ski runs suitable for all levels.

Selva Gardena, Italy
"Overlooked by the dramatic Dolomites", Selva Gardena is the highest town in Val Gardena, said Chris Wilson in The Independent. Expect "characterful Tyrolean buildings", with "Austrian-influenced restaurants", plus magical sunsets. "Adventurous" travellers can buy a pass for free rein to explore the "dizzying" 745 miles of runs in the Dolomiti Superski area, most of which are best suited to intermediate skiers.

Zermatt, Switzerland
The "vision of the Alps that every snow globe aspires to", Zermatt (pictured above) is "preposterously pretty", said Jen Murphy in Condé Nast Traveller. Visitors arriving after making the "incredibly scenic" Gornergrat train journey are greeted by stunning views of the Matterhorn peak – "a great slab of a mountain that has inspired more Victorian legends, chocolate bars and reveries than any other". Skiing here is "high, dry and cruisey" and the food "rivals that of any ski resort anywhere".

Why can't Keir Starmer apologise for slavery?
Melissa Sigodo in The Mirror
Slavery was "one of the most horrific crimes in human history", writes Melissa Sigodo, and "if you were to ask any decent human being if they felt any remorse that their forefathers committed such depravity, the simple answer would be yes". Yet persuading our government to formally apologise and pay reparations is like "trying to draw blood from a stone". Keir Starmer should "do the right thing" and "close the door" on these "heinous crimes of the past".

The cowardice of the Chris Kaba case
Niall Gooch in The Spectator
Fatal police shootings are "vanishingly rare" in the UK, writes Niall Gooch. But following the 2022 death of Chris Kaba, campaigners "have tried to insinuate that the British police are trigger-happy racial bigots". That's despite body-cam footage showing Kaba "refusing police commands to surrender, and driving his large, heavy car at officers". That Sergeant Martyn Blake was charged at all points to "good old-fashioned cowardice" by senior officers in "offloading the decision" onto a jury.

Despite his crime, Polanski's film needs showing
Melanie Phillips in The Times
A decision by the UK Jewish Film Festival to screen Roman Polanski's "An Officer and a Spy" is controversial, but "the qualities of the film are a separate issue from the demerits of the filmmaker", says Melanie Phillips. Convicted sex offender Polanski is among a long list of artists who "have done or supported appalling things". Yet we should not "impose upon" art the "moral judgment we use against" its creator.