Author: Frank Deux

New French Prime Minister François Bayrou on Thursday, December 19, said he hoped to name a government to lead the country out of its political quagmire at the weekend or by Christmas at the latest. The country was plunged into fresh chaos earlier this month after the far right and left wing joined forces to eject Bayrou’s predecessor Michel Barnier from office, making his the shortest stint as prime minister in the Fifth Republic’s history. Veteran former justice minister Bayrou’s cabinet picks will have to negotiate the divided parliament that brought down Barnier, whose time in office foundered on his…

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On Monday, December 16, at 9:55 am, the very first direct Paris-Berlin high-speed train departed from the Gare de l’Est station in the French capital for the German metropolis’ main station. It was a historic moment. A German white and red ICE train, the product of a partnership between the French SNCF national rail service and Germany’s Deutsche Bahn (DB) departed. Two hours later, another ICE train left Berlin for Paris, setting up a daily direct rail round trip between the two capitals. The service may seem modest. Although SNCF CEO Jean-Pierre Farandou and resigning Transport Minister François Durovray attended…

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The Government and the PSOE also express their satisfaction with the votes of the last plenary session of the courseThe final super plenary session of this period of sessions has ended up providing a bit of satisfaction for the two very different blocks that coexist in Congress. The PP and Junts have mutually voted for two amendments on different issues and this reality has made it easy for the popular leaders to appear almost exultant. The PP has thus supported an amendment by Junts, which has passed with 178 votes in favor compared to 171 against, to provide tax aid…

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Three weeks after the 41st Federal Congress that was held in Seville, the unknowns about the immediate future of the Andalusian PSOE remain intact. It should be added to the closing of this edition, as when the strict schedules of the newspaper did not wait for news, except for those that deserve it. This Friday, the 420 members of the steering committee, the highest decision-making body between congresses, are convened in Jaén to approve the calendar proposed by the Andalusian executive for its 15th Regional Congress. Juan Francisco Serrano, deputy to the Organization of the federal leadership and one of…

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Updated Wednesday, December 18, 2024 – 22:42Three contracts, all three rentals, hang over José Luis Ábalos like a sword of Damocles now that the Supreme Court has asked Congress, through the magistrate Leopoldo Puentethe request to continue investigating for four crimes – criminal organization, influence peddling, bribery and embezzlement – who was number 2 of the PSOE, main support of President Pedro Sánchez and minister of the budget portfolio. Become Premium from €1 the first month Take advantage of this limited time offer and access all web content I love you Ábalos’s double real estate firm pushes him to the…

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New heart attack Thursday for the Government. The majority of the investiture arrives at the last plenary session of the year with several cracks whose depth will be tested in a decisive vote in the afternoon in Congress. Both Junts and Podemos, for different reasons but both with the same idea that they do not consider themselves part of the majority of the Government and negotiate point by point, threaten to force several parliamentary defeats of the Executive that would reinforce the image of weakness, although in no case They would be definitive. The Government trusts above all that Junts…

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Updated Wednesday, December 18, 2024 – 22:42José Luis Ábalos has found ammunition in Óscar Puente’s ministry for his defense before the Supreme Court. Contrary to what happened with the mask issue, when Puente promoted an audit that unceremoniously pointed out Ábalos’ stage, it now becomes a lifeline with a double report favorable to the former number three of the PSOE. These are not conclusive data, in fact, the criminal investigation is advancing c Become Premium from €1 the first month Take advantage of this limited time offer and access all web content I love you Ábalos uses two internal reports…

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During Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to Brussels, NATO leader Mark Rutte urged member states on Wednesday to ramp up their military backing of Kyiv to improve Ukraine’s standing over the next month. Donald Trump, who will be sworn in as US President on January 20, has claimed he’ll end Russia’s war in 24 hours, raising concerns that he will force the struggling Ukraine to negotiate a deal from a position of weakness. As Trump looms, NATO chief Rutte stresses 'urgently needed' Ukraine support

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Although the Moon still holds many mysteries, there are two aspects of its origin that seem to be generally accepted by scientists: the satellite was born as the result of the collision between the Earth and a protoplanet they have called Theia. This is only a hypothesis, but several clues, such as the discovery of material from another planet in the Earth’s mantle, support it. The other thing on which there is relative consensus is that this collision must have happened somewhat before the 4.35 billion years that some of the lunar rocks brought back by the Apollo missions are…

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The fruit of a singular history of emancipation of the State from the Catholic Church, the French understanding of secularism, known as secularismis difficult for many foreigners to grasp. As the supreme guardian of the Catholic faith, the pope is obviously not in the best position to promote it. But he could be expected to give a fair reading of a principle and legislation designed to allow the cohabitation of all forms of belief and non-belief, and which sanctions any infringement of the freedom not to believe but also to believe. By choosing Corsica for his third trip to France,…

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France’s highest appeals court on Wednesday, December 18, confirmed a verdict against former president Nicolas Sarkozy for corruption and influence peddling, ordering him to wear an electronic tag for a year, a first for a former head of state. Sarkozy, who had earlier been found guilty of illegal attempts to secure favors from a judge, will “evidently” respect the terms of the conviction after the Court of Cassation’s verdict, his lawyer Patrice Spinosi said. But he will take the case to the European Court of Human Rights within weeks, Spinosi added. This move at the Strasbourg-based ECHR will, however, not…

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Tomás Merina (Córdoba, 69 years old) savors the honeys of success this Wednesday morning. A little over twelve hours ago he won the elections to preside over the Madrid College of Physicians and he sits down to talk to this newspaper at the same table where he followed the results the night before with his campaign team. He has several plates in front of him with Werther’s candies and Kit Kat chocolates that he does not touch during an hour of conversation, perhaps because he already has enough sweets with his victory: “For me this is a chocolate that offers…

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Génova maintains that he cannot attend for “agenda reasons” since there is a vote in Congress, but in Brussels they focus on the internal criticism that the EPP leader is receiving for supporting the PP Read Feijóo’s first absence from the EU after the ‘Ribera case’: his ally Weber discussed and Mitsotakis approaches Sánchez

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky held talks with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and other European leaders on Wednesday, aiming to get immediate help to bolster Kyiv’s war effort and discuss longer-term security guarantees. The talks took place with Ukraine on the defensive on the battlefield and uncertainty hanging over future US support, as President-elect Donald Trump pushes for a quick end to the war.

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Nicolas Sarkozy arrives at the Bygmalion appeal trial in Paris on November 24, 2023. GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT/AFP For the first time in the history of the Fifth Republic, a former French president has been definitively sentenced to prison for breaking the law. On Wednesday, December 18, the Cour de Cassation, France’s highest court of appeals, rejected Nicolas Sarkozy’s appeal in 2023 for corruption and influence peddling. He was sentenced to a three-year jail term, two of which were suspended and one that was to take the form of home detention with an electronic tag allowing his movements to be…

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On November 16, 2016, a couple, she in sunglasses and leather pants, he in a slim-fitting black suit and thin matching tie, slipped incognito under the central gate and archways of the Basilica of Saint-Denis. Just after declaring his candidacy for the presidential election in the nearby Paris suburb of Bobigny, Emmanuel Macron, accompanied by his wife Brigitte, slipped away to secretly visit the tombs of the 43 kings of France. In the winter light filtering through the rose window of the south arm, the future president caressed the white marble of the recumbent sculpted figures. For all those who…

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Montero reproaches the PP for lowering taxes on the rich to “cut the welfare state for workers”The first vice president of the Government and Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero, has reproached the PP for lowering taxes on the richest while “cutting the welfare state of workers”, in response to the accusation of the general secretary of the PP, Cuca Gamarra, that “no one has ever raised taxes so much and so many times” as the current socialist government. Furthermore, Gamarra has hinted once again that Montero’s chief of staff is involved in the Koldo casechallenging her to put her…

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French-Algerian novelist Boualem Sansal, imprisoned by Algerian authorities on national security charges, was again hospitalized on Monday, December 16, according to his French editor, raising fears about the 75-year-old’s health in detention. Sansal, a major figure in modern francophone literature, was arrested on November 16 at the Algiers airport at a time of growing tensions between France and its former colony. “We have just learned, this morning, that at his request he was today again taken into a penitentiary care unit,” Antoine Gallimard, head of the Gallimard editing house, told several hundred people who attended a support meeting at a…

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Survivors wandered through streets littered with debris, searching for water and shelter, after Cyclone Chido leveled entire neighborhoods on December 14, 2024. AP France said it will impose a nighttime curfew on the Indian Ocean island of Mayotte starting on the evening of Tuesday, December 17, after the French overseas territory was devastated by a cyclone feared to have killed hundreds. The French military said it is sending four to five planes a day with up to 50 tons of assistance, including food, water and medicine. Hundreds of military personnel have arrived since the weekend in Mayotte, an island group…

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The Prosecutor’s Office has decided to support an investigation into the management of the damage, which caused the death of 223 people and tens of thousands of victims in Valencia on October 29. This decision also represents his support for investigating the actions of the president of the Generalitat, Carlos Mazón, and his possible criminal responsibility.What is the origin of the investigation request?The actions of the Valencian Government, with its leader at the helm, reached the courts as a result of the presentation of several complaints and lawsuits. Collectives, associations, unions and even individuals went to court to investigate the…

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