Emmanuel Macron

Cecile Kohler, 41, and her partner, Jacques Paris, 72, had been jailed on charges of spying for France and Israel.

Iran has released two French nationals imprisoned for more than three years on spying charges their families rejected, French President Emmanuel Macron has said, though it remains uncertain when they would be allowed to return home.

Expressing “immense relief”, Macron said on X on Wednesday that Cecile Kohler, 41, and her partner Jacques Paris, 72 – the last French citizens officially known to be held in Iran – had been released from Evin prison in northern Tehran and were on their way to the French embassy.

He welcomed this “first step” and said talks were under way to ensure their return to France as “quickly as possible”.

The pair were arrested in May 2022 while visiting Iran. France had denounced their detention as “unjustified and unfounded”, while their families say the trip had been purely touristic in nature.

Both teachers, although Paris is retired, were among a number of Europeans caught up in what activists and some Western governments, including France, describe as a deliberate strategy of “hostage-taking” by Iran to extract concessions from the West.

Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said they had been granted “conditional release” on bail by the judge in charge of the case and “will be placed under surveillance until the next stage of the judicial proceedings”.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told France 2 TV they were in “good health” at the French ambassador’s residence but declined to give details on when they would be allowed to leave Iran.

Their Paris-based legal team told the AFP news agency in a statement that the release had “ended their arbitrary detention which lasted 1,277 days”.

The release comes at a time of acute sensitivity in dealings between Tehran and the West in the wake of the US-Israel 12-day war in June against Iran and the reimposition of United Nations sanctions in the standoff over the Iranian nuclear programme, which the country insists is purely for civilian purposes.

Some Iranians are concerned that Israel will use the sanctions, which are already causing further economic duress in the country, as an excuse to attack again, as it used the resolution issued by the global nuclear watchdog in June as a pretext for a war that was cheered by Israeli officials and the public alike.

The French pair’s sentences on charges of spying for France and Israel, issued last month after a closed-door trial, amounted to 17 years in prison for Paris and 20 years for Kohler.

Concern grew over their health after they were moved from Evin following an Israeli attack on the prison during the June war.

Kohler was shown in October 2022 on Iranian television in what activists described as a “forced confession”, a practice relatively common for detainees in Iran, which rights groups say is equivalent to torture.

Her parents, Pascal and Mireille, told AFP in a statement that they felt “immense relief” that the pair were now in a “little corner of France”, even if “all we know for now is that they are out of prison”.

France had filed a case with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over their detention, saying they were held under a policy that “targets French nationals travelling in or visiting Iran”.

But in September, the ICJ suddenly dropped the case at France’s request, prompting speculation that closed-door talks were under way between the two countries for their release.

Iran has said the duo could be freed as part of a swap deal with France, which would also see the release of Iranian Mahdieh Esfandiari.

Esfandiari was arrested in France in February on charges of promoting “terrorism” on social media, according to French authorities.

Scheduled to go on trial in Paris from January 13, she was released on bail last month in a move welcomed by Tehran.

Barrot declined to comment when asked by France 2 if there had been a deal with Tehran.

Among the Europeans still jailed by Iran is Swedish-Iranian academic Ahmadreza Djalali, who was sentenced to death in 2017 on espionage charges his family vehemently rejects.

Oct. 19 (UPI) — A group of thieves broke into the Louvre Museum on Sunday morning and stole priceless jewels before fleeing on motorcycles, the famed institution confirmed to UPI.

A representative for the Louvre said that several people broke in through a window in the Apollo Gallery, which houses many of France’s royal jewels, around 9:30 a.m. local time after the museum had already opened its doors to the public.

Inside, the thieves stole jewelry from their display cases. French media later reported that they made off with seven jewels owned by Napoleon Bonaparte and his wife, Empress Joséphine de Beauharnais.

“An investigation has begun, and a detailed list of the stolen items is being compiled,” museum officials said in a statement. “Beyond their market value, these items have inestimable heritage and historical value.”

After the theft, the museum was evacuated “without incident” and no injuries were reported among the public, museum staff or law enforcement, the representative said.

The museum shared on social media that it would be closed Sunday for “exceptional reasons.”

“At the Louvre Museum this morning to commend the exemplary commitment of the staff mobilized following the theft,” Culture Minister Rachida Dati shared on social media after visiting the site.

“Respect for their responsiveness and professionalism. Together with President Emmanuel Macron, we extend our sincere thanks to them.”

Dati told French TV channel TF1 on Sunday that one of the jewels was later found and that the entire heist lasted only four minutes. She called the thieves “professionals.”

French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said Sunday that “everything is being done” to find the thieves.

“The mobilization of investigators will be total, under the authority of the Parquet de Paris,” Nuñez said. The Parquet de Paris is the public prosecution office in the French capital. “Attacking the Louvre is attacking our history and our heritage.”

The news comes just days after the Louvre announced that two 18th-century snuff boxes that were stolen during a violent armed robbery in 2024 while they were on loan to the Cognacq-Jay Museum have been found and returned.

The new government, led by Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu, must present a 2026 draft budget on Monday.

French President Emmanuel Macron has unveiled a new government after holding marathon talks with newly re-appointed Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu ahead of a fast-approaching deadline to present next year’s budget to parliament.

In Lecornu’s new cabinet, Jean-Noel Barrot remains as foreign minister, while outgoing Labour Minister Catherine Vautrin takes on the defence portfolio, according to a lineup published by the president’s office on Sunday.

In a post on X, Lecornu wrote: “A mission-based government has been appointed to draw up a budget for France before the end of the year.”

“I would like to thank the women and men who have freely committed themselves to this government, putting aside personal and partisan interests. Only one thing matters: the interests of the country.”

Macron reinstated Lecornu late on Friday, just four days after the premier had resigned and as his first government collapsed, leading to outrage and pledges from opponents to topple any new cabinet at the first chance.

The former defence minister was tasked with assembling a government to present a 2026 draft budget on Monday, giving parliament the constitutionally required 70 days to scrutinise the plan before the year’s end.

But the right-wing Republicans (LR), a key political ally, complicated matters on Saturday by announcing that the party would not take part in the new government but only cooperate on a “bill-by-bill” basis.

Other allied and rival parties wrestled all weekend over whether to join Lecornu’s new government or vote to topple it.

The premier had pledged to work with all mainstream political movements and to select cabinet members who are “not imprisoned by parties”.

A Macron loyalist, Lecornu agreed after he had quit to stay on for two extra days to talk to all political parties.

He told the French weekly La Tribune that he had resigned “because the conditions were no longer met” and said that he would do so again if that remained the case.

The French president, facing the worst domestic crisis since the 2017 start of his presidency, has yet to address the public since Lecornu’s first government fell.

On Monday, Macron is due to travel to Egypt to support a Gaza ceasefire deal brokered by the United States, a trip that could delay the presentation of the draft budget.

Lecornu’s reappointment comes as France faces political deadlock and a parliamentary impasse over an austerity budget against a backdrop of climbing public debt.

The country faces pressure from the European Union to rein in its deficit and debt, with the fight over cost-cutting measures toppling Lecornu’s two predecessors.

Lecornu has pledged to do “everything possible” to give France a budget by the end of the year, saying that restoring the public finances was “a priority” for the future.

But he is under pressure from parties across the political spectrum, including the Socialists, who have threatened to topple his government unless he backs away from the 2023 pension reform that pushed the retirement age from 62 to 64.

Lecornu said on Saturday that “all debates are possible” over the pension reforms, and that his “only ambition is to get out of this situation that is painful for everyone”.

If Lecornu fails to secure parliamentary support, France would need emergency stopgap legislation to authorise spending from January 1 until a full budget is adopted.

French politics has been deadlocked ever since Macron gambled last year on snap polls that he hoped would consolidate power, but that instead ended in a hung Parliament and more seats for the far right.

French President Emmanuel Macron urged full support for the US plan to end the Gaza war, calling for a permanent ceasefire, release of all captives, and humanitarian access. Macron, however, blasted expanding West Bank settlements, which he said threaten Palestinian statehood and regional peace.

The announcement came after last-ditch talks by outgoing premier Sebastien Lecornu failed to find a solution to crisis.

French President Emmanuel Macron will name a new prime minister within the next 48 hours, his office has said, in the latest effort to chart a path out of the worst political crisis of his presidency.

The announcement on Wednesday followed two days of last-ditch talks with party leaders by outgoing Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu in a bid to break the country’s political deadlock, after his cabinet lineup, unveiled on Sunday, was rejected by allies and rivals alike.

The Elysee presidential office said in a statement that Lecornu’s discussions with various parties had concluded that a majority of lawmakers were not in favour of parliament being dissolved for early elections, and that there was “a platform for stability” that could make it possible for a budget to be passed by the year’s end.

“On this basis, the President of the Republic will appoint a Prime Minister within the next 48 hours,” said the statement.

Macron thanked Lecornu for his work since Monday to resolve the crisis, the office said.

Ahead of the announcement, it had been unclear whether Macron would opt to reappoint Lecornu or name a replacement, call snap elections or even resign himself.

Escalating crisis

In September, Macron tasked Lecornu – the fifth prime minister he has installed in less than two years – with forming a government after the divided French parliament toppled his predecessor, Francois Bayrou, over a much-maligned austerity budget intended to tackle a debt crisis.

But despite Lecornu’s promises of a departure from Bayrou’s approach, his cabinet, unveiled on Sunday evening, immediately drew fierce criticism from both the right and left for containing many of the same faces from the previous administration.

Lecornu resigned the following day, making his 14-hour administration the shortest in modern French history, but then added to the confusion when he announced he would hold 48 hours of talks at Macron’s request to try to agree on a new cabinet.

The move prompted renewed criticism of the increasingly isolated Macron, including from former premier Edouard Philippe, once a close ally of the president, who was one of many calling for presidential elections to resolve the crisis.

‘I tried everything’

Speaking to French TV earlier Wednesday, Lecornu said he had told Macron that the prospects of snap elections had diminished as there was a majority in the lower house opposed to the dissolution of parliament.

“I tried everything,” he said of his efforts to find a deal to end the crisis. “This evening, my mission is finished.”

He suggested that a more technocratic and less political administration could follow, saying that any new cabinet appointments should not harbour ambitions to stand in the next presidential elections.

He also pushed back against calls for snap presidential polls ahead of the scheduled 2027 elections, saying it was “not the time to change the president”.

“Let’s not make the French believe that it’s the president who votes the budget,” he said.

The French parliament has been sharply divided since Macron, in response to surging gains by the far right, announced snap elections last year, resulting in a hung parliament.

With no governing majority, the parliament has been unable to approve a crucial budget to tackle France’s growing debt crisis. Meanwhile, proposed spending cuts have prompted nationwide protests, while opposition parties – who are calling for early elections and are pledging to block any new cabinet – have seized momentum.

Opposition parties are calling on embattled President Macron to resign before his term ends in 2027.

Caretaker French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu has played down the prospect of a dissolution of parliament following talks with political parties to form a coalition and pass an austerity budget to resolve the nation’s worst political turmoil in years.

The talks showed a desire to pass the proposed budget cuts by the end of the year, Lecornu said, following an impasse which has prompted calls for embattled President Emmanuel Macron to step down.

“This willingness creates a momentum and a convergence, obviously, which make the possibilities of a dissolution more remote,” Lecornu said in a speech on Wednesday at Paris’s Matignon Palace.

Lecornu, who himself resigned on Monday after less than a month in power, said he would present a plan to Macron later on Wednesday.

The plan is the latest development in a political crisis that started when Macron called snap elections last year. His goal was to get a stronger majority in parliament, but he instead finished with an even more fractious assembly.

This plunged France into deeper political chaos: with no governing majority, the parliament has been unable to approve the budget to narrow France’s growing debt.

To resolve the deadlock, Macron appointed three prime ministers who either failed to secure a majority or resigned, including Lecornu.

Meanwhile, opposition parties have been seizing the momentum. A leading figure of far-right National Rally (NR) party, Marine Le Pen, has once again called for Macron to resign before the president’s term ends in 2027.

“Let’s return to the ballot box,” Marine Le Pen said on Monday. “The French must decide, that is clear,” she told reporters. Le Pen and Jordan Bardella, NR’s president, refused to join negotiations with Lecornu , French media reported on Tuesday, saying that such talks did not serve the interest of French citizens but rather those of Macron.

They called instead for the dissolution of the National Assembly. Following last year’s elections, NR won more seats than any other, but not enough to form a majority.

In September, a poll by TF1-LCI showed that more than 60 percent of French voters approved new elections. And should those take place, the leaders of the NR would lead the race’s first round, according to a poll by Ifop Fiducial.

Jean-Luc Melenchon, leader of the far-left France Unbowed party, and Francois-Xavier Bellamy, head of the right-wing Republicans party, also called for the president to resign.

The political chaos is not only emboldening Macron’s rivals, it is also turning his allies away.

“I no longer understand the decision of the president. There was the dissolution and since then, there’s been decisions that suggest a relentless desire to stay in control,” said Gabriel Attal, leader of the president’s centrist party.

“People are abandoning him on all sides, it’s clear that he is responsible for the political crisis which gets worse each day,” said political analyst Elisa Auange. “He seems to be making all the wrong decisions.”

France is facing political turmoil after President Emmanuel Macron’s fifth prime minister in less than two years quit after just 27 days.

There are growing calls for new elections and Macron is facing increasing pressure to resign.

So, what’s next for France?

Presenter: Nick Clark

Guests:

Thierry Mariani – Member of the European Parliament for the far-right National Rally Party

Eleonore Caroit – Member of Macron’s centrist Renaissance party and French National Assembly deputy

Eric Bocquet – Mayor of Marquillies and a member of the French Communist Party

Oct. 7 (UPI) — Former French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe on Tuesday called on President Emmanuel Macron to fix the country’s political crisis by appointing a new prime minister to get a budget passed for the coming year and bring forward the presidential election from 2027.

The intervention from Philippe, who served as prime minister from 2017 to 2020 in Macron’s first term, came a day after Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu became the latest casualty in a revolving door of heads of France’s legislative branch that has seen five come and go in under two years.

Lecornu has, at Macron’s request, agreed to remain in post for 48 hours to “conduct final negotiations to define a platform for action and stability,” saying he would notify Macron if his efforts had been successful by the end of Wednesday.

Otherwise, Macron would “assume his responsibilities,” government sources told French media.

But even among Macron’s backers, support appeared to be ebbing away with the general secretary of his centrist Renaissance Party and former prime minister Gabriel Attal joining the chorus of criticism of the embattled president.

Attal said he “no longer understands the decisions made by the president of the republic,” that repeated attempts by Macron to reassert his authority had failed and that a power-sharing deal was the only option left.

“I think we should try something else,” said Attal.

Les Republicains’ David Lisnard, whose party was part of Macron’s ruling alliance, laid blame for the crisis squarely at the feet of Macron and called for him to go.

Executive Vice President Francois-Xavier Bellamy said LR would not allow Macron and his backers “a final lap.”

Marine Le Pen of the National Rally said Macron’s resignation would be a “wise decision,” saying fresh parliamentary elections were an “absolute necessity.”

RN President Jordan Bardella said he expected Macron to dissolve the legislature, the National Assembly, vowing that his party was ready to step in.

“There cannot be a return to stability without a return to the ballot box. It was very clearly Emmanuel Macron who decided this government himself. He has understood nothing of the political situation we are in,” said Bardella.

Lecornu resigned Monday, less than four weeks after being appointed by Macron, in response to a furious backlash from opposition parties over his newly announced government because it was stuffed with Macron allies.

They said Lecornu had reneged on his “profound break” with the status quo pledge that he made on Sept. 10 when he took the place of predecessor Francois Bayrou.

Bayrou was forced to quit after losing a confidence vote two days earlier that he called in a bid to force drastic government spending cuts of $51.6 billion through parliament.

French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu has plunged France further into a political deadlock after he resigned just hours after forming a cabinet as Paris struggles to plug its mounting debt.

Lecornu – whose tenure, which ended on Monday, was the shortest in modern French history – blamed opposition politicians for refusing to cooperate after a key coalition partner pulled support for his cabinet. He joins a growing list of French prime ministers who since last year have taken the job only to resign a short time later.

Opposition parties in the divided French Parliament have increased pressure on President Emmanuel Macron to hold snap elections or even to resign – as have politicians and allies in his own camp. Analysts said Macron now appears to be caught on the back foot since Lecornu was widely seen as his “final bullet” to solve the protracted political crisis.

Here’s what to know about Lecornu’s resignation and why French politics are unstable:

What happened?

Lecornu and his ministers resigned on Monday morning after he had named a new government the previous day.

Lecornu took up his office on September 9 after his predecessor Francois Bayrou stepped down. His tenure lasted 27 days, the shortest since 1958 when France’s Fifth Republic began. He was France’s fifth prime minister since 2022 and its third since Macron called snap elections in June last year. He was formerly the minister of the armed forces from 2022 until last month.

In an emotional television address on Monday morning, Lecornu blamed political leaders from different ideological blocs for refusing to compromise to solve the crisis.

“The conditions were not fulfilled for me to carry out my function as prime minister,” the 39-year-old Macron ally said, adding that things could have worked if some had been “selfless”.

“One must always put one’s country before one’s party,” he said.

Macron, in what appeared to be a final attempt at stability, then asked Lecornu on Monday evening to stay on until Wednesday as the head of a caretaker government and to hold “final negotiations” with political parties in the interests of stability. It’s unclear what exactly these talks might entail or whether Lecornu might still emerge as prime minister at the end of them.

In a statement late on Monday on X, Lecornu said he accepted Macron’s proposal “to hold final discussions with the political forces for the stability of the country”. He added that he will report back to Macron by Wednesday evening and the president can then “draw his own conclusions”.

France expert Jacob Ross of the Hamburg-based German Council on Foreign Relations said the caretaker agreement was a “bizarre” one, even if legal, and underscored Macron’s desperation to project some form of control even as his options appear to be running out.

“For me, this really secures the narrative that Lecornu was Macron’s last bullet” to solve the current crisis, Ross said.

Why did Lecornu quit?

France has a deeply divided parliament that makes consensus difficult. Far-right and left-wing parties together hold more than 320 seats in the 577-seat lower house and abhor each other. Macron’s centrist and conservative bloc, which has tried to win conditional support from the left and right to rule, holds 210. No party has an overall majority.

After forming his government on Sunday, Lecornu immediately lost the support of the right-wing Republicans party (LR), which holds 50 seats, because of his choice for defence minister — former Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire.

LR President Bruno Retailleau, who was set to be interior minister in the government, announced on X on Sunday evening that his party was pulling out of the coalition because it did not “reflect the promised break” from pro-Macron ideologies initially assured by Lecornu. He said later on the broadcaster TF1 that Lecornu did not tell him Le Maire would be part of the government.

Le Maire is seen by many critics as representing Macron’s pro-privatisation economic policies and not the radical shifts that Lecornu promised in the three weeks of negotiations before forming a cabinet. Others, meanwhile, hold Le Maire responsible for overseeing the large public deficit during his term as finance minister from 2017 to 2024.

Lecornu’s exit affected the markets with stocks of prominent French companies dropping sharply by about 2 percent on the CAC 40, France’s benchmark stock index, although it has somewhat recovered since then.

Ministers who were supposed to form the government will now remain as caretakers until further notice. “I despair of this circus where everyone plays their role but no one takes responsibility,” Agnes Pannier-Runacher, who was set to be reappointed as ecology minister, said in a post on X.

Why has France’s politics become unstable?

The issues go back to the snap elections in June 2024, which produced a hung parliament consisting of Macron’s centrist bloc as well as left and far-right blocs. With Macron failing to achieve a majority and with parliament consisting of such an uncomfortable coalition, his government has faced hurdles in passing policies.

Added to the political impasse are Macron’s attempts to push through deeply unpopular austerity measures to close widening deficits that resulted from COVID-19-era spending.

Bayrou, who was prime minister from December to September, proposed budget cuts in July to ease what he called France’s “life-threatening” debt burden and cut public spending by 44 billion euros ($52bn) in 2026. His plans included a freeze on pensions, higher taxes for healthcare and scrapping two holidays to generate economic activity. However, they were met with widespread furore in parliament and on the streets and resulted in waves of protests across France. Parliament eventually rejected Bayrou’s proposals in September, ending his nine-month run.

Lecornu, meanwhile, had abandoned the holiday clause and promised to target lifelong privileges enjoyed by ministers. He had negotiated with each bloc for three weeks, hoping to avoid a vote of no confidence. By Monday, it was clear that his approach had not worked.

Public anger has increasingly also been directed at Macron since he first imposed higher fuel taxes in 2018 – and later scrapped them after large-scale protests. In April 2023, Macron again drew popular anger when he forced through pension reforms that raised the retirement age from 62 to 64. That policy was not reversed despite large protests led by trade unions. At present, the French president’s popularity in opinion polls has sunk to record lows.

“There is a numb anger in the voter base, a sense that politicians are playing around, and a huge part of the French electorate is disgusted,” Ross said. “My fear is that it is a potentially promising starting position to call for new elections but also a referendum on topics like migration and even France staying on in the European Union.”

What’s next for Macron?

Macron, due to be in office until April 2027, is increasingly under pressure. Opposition groups are capitalising on Lecornu’s resignation, and his own allies are publicly distancing themselves from him in a bid to boost their standing in the next elections, analysts said.

The anti-immigrant and anti-EU National Rally (RN) on Monday urged Macron to hold elections or resign. “This raises a question for the president of the republic: Can he continue to resist the legislature dissolution? We have reached the end of the road,” party leader Marine Le Pen told reporters on Monday. “There is no other solution. The only wise course of action in these circumstances is to return to the polls.” The RN is expected to gain more seats if elections are held.

Similar calls came from the left with members of the far-left France Unbowed party asking for Macron’s exit.

The president, who has not made a public statement but was spotted walking alone along the River Seine on Monday, according to the Reuters news agency, is also isolated within his own camp. Gabriel Attal, prime minister from January to September 2024 and head of Macron’s Renaissance party, said on the TF1 television channel that he no longer understood Macron’s decisions and it was “time to try something else”.

Edouard Phillipe, a key ally of Macron and prime minister from 2017 to 2020, also said Macron should appoint a caretaker prime minister and then call for an early presidential election while speaking on France’s RTL Radio. Phillipe, who is running in the 2027 elections under his centrist Horizons party, slammed what he said is a “distressing political game”.

France needs to “emerge in an orderly and dignified manner from a political crisis that is harming the country”, Philippe said. “Another 18 months of this is far too long.”

“People are seriously speculating that he might step down, and his allies are seeing him as political [dead] weight,” Ross said.

Macron, he added, has three options: elect yet another prime minister who might still struggle to gain parliamentary consensus, resign or more likely call for snap parliamentary elections – which could still fail to produce a majority government. All three options would come with their own challenges for the president, he noted. Macron has repeatedly ruled out stepping down.

The crisis, Ross said, is similarly affecting the president’s political standing on the international front as head of the EU’s second most populous economy.

Sebastien Lecornu to hold two days of talks to try to shore up cross-party support for his collapsed government.

France’s outgoing prime minister has launched a last-gasp bid to secure cross-party support for his government and chart a path out of the country’s deepening political crisis.

The frantic effort, which began on Tuesday, will see Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu seeking two days of talks with parliamentary figures, just a day after he tendered his resignation over the rejection of his proposed cabinet.

That snub, which came from allies and rivals alike, and Lecornu’s announcement that he would quit after just 27 days, have stoked the political crisis bubbling beneath President Emmanuel Macron since the 2024 snap elections.

Now, in a move that has caused confusion among lawmakers and the public, Lecornu has accepted a request from Macron that he hold talks to try to find a way out of the deadlock.

Lecornu, whose 14-hour administration was the shortest in modern French history, was scheduled on Tuesday morning to meet several members of the conservative Republicans and the centre-right Renaissance parties – the so-called “common platform” – to see if they could agree on a new cabinet.

But voices on both sides have reacted with shock, and suggestions that it is now time for Macron himself to make way.

Macron has tasked Lecornu with “conducting final negotiations by Wednesday evening to define a platform of action and stability for the country”, according to the Elysee Palace.

It was not immediately clear what Lecornu’s task would entail. France’s constitution allows Macron to appoint another prime minister, or to reappoint Lecornu – the fifth PM he has installed in less than two years – should he wish.

Politicians of all stripes have expressed surprise over the move. Some said it appeared to be an effort by Macron to buy time.

Others insisted that it means an early presidential election is needed.

Unsurprisingly, Jordan Bardella, leader of the far-right National Rally, was among them. He said he believed parliament should be dissolved, with parliamentary or early presidential elections to follow.

However, Edouard Philippe, once a close ally of Macron who served as prime minister, also told French media that he was in favour of a presidential vote.

Another former prime minister under Macron, Gabriel Attal, expressed bafflement, saying, “Like many French people, I do not understand the president’s decisions any more.”

Political chaos

Macron tasked Lecornu with forming a government in early September after the fractured French parliament toppled his predecessor, Francois Bayrou, over an austerity budget that prompted nationwide strikes in recent weeks.

Despite Lecornu’s promises to “break” with Bayrou’s strategies, his new cabinet, unveiled on Sunday evening, immediately drew criticism for containing many of the same faces from the previous government, with opponents complaining that it contained too many right-wing representatives or not enough.

The French parliament has been sharply divided since Macron, in response to gains made by the far right, announced snap elections last year, resulting in a hung parliament and now nearly two years of political crisis.

The 47-year-old centrist president has repeatedly said he will see out his second term, which is due to end in 2027.

Picture the crowded sidewalks and standstill traffic of New York City. Pedestrians jostle past street vendors as they rush to their destinations. The wail of sirens mingles with the sudden screech of car horns.

Now add to the fray an influx of world leaders and diplomats, accompanied by gaggles of journalists, advocates and security officers.

Each year in September, the bustling east side of Midtown Manhattan becomes even busier as it hosts the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).

New York briefly transforms into the centre of international politics as presidents, prime ministers and royals descend on the UN headquarters to speak at the opening debate for the latest UNGA session.

This year, the summit arrives amid heightened security concerns in the United States following the assassination of right-wing commentator Charlie Kirk. It also comes at a time of growing global outrage at the horrors that Israel is inflicting on Gaza.

Traffic has been blocked in the eight city blocks flanking the UN complex, establishing a restricted zone that can only be accessed by authorised personnel.

Hundreds — if not thousands — of heavily armed local and federal law enforcement agents surround the area, ensuring that no one gets near the summit without prior approval.

Due to the restrictions, many local residents told Al Jazeera they feel a mix of apathy and annoyance towards the annual gathering, which has been informally dubbed the World Cup of Politics.

Ugur Dikici, who operates a fruit stand across from the UN, said it may seem cool to have leaders from across the world come to your neighbourhood. “But when you’re stuck in traffic for two hours, it’s not fun,” he told Al Jazeera.

Dikici added that the event also hurts his business; tourists and delegates don’t buy fruit and vegetables as much as locals, who may be deterred by the commotion.

However, he said having New York as a global platform is still worth it. “You can deal with three, four days once a year. It’s fine.”

‘International ideals’

Entering the UN headquarters during the general debate requires navigating through a maze of checkpoints.

Delegates, visitors, staff and journalists are distinguished by different badges that allow them access to certain areas — but not others.

Even within the UN complex, some buildings and floors have their own airport-like screenings for multiple layers of security.

The East River, which borders the four main UN buildings, has also not been spared.

Only police and US Coast Guard vessels, about a dozen of them, can be seen on the water at any point. No ferries, cruises or commercial ships are allowed.

Authorities have declared the stretch of the water a security zone that is blocked to most ships during the summit.

Despite the intricacy of the security arrangements, the event tends to go on smoothly every year.

The occasional hiccups do occur, however. On Monday evening, for example, the motorcade of US President Donald Trump blocked the path of his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, as he tried to reach France’s embassy.

Video captured the French leader gently haggling with a police officer to let him and his delegates pass. “Guess what? I am waiting in the street because everything is frozen for you,” Macron later told Trump in a cellphone call.

New York has been hosting the summit at the same spot for more than 70 years, and the city’s leaders take a lot of pride in it.

“The iconic UN sits near the East River [and] remains a symbol of not only peace but a symbol of hope,” New York Mayor Eric Adams said last week.

“And I’m proud to be the mayor of this city that would house this important conversation.”

But in his speech to the UNGA on Tuesday, Trump disparaged the international body, describing it as little more than a conveyor of “empty words”.

Dozens of protesters had gathered outside the event to denounce the US president. Paul Rabin, one of the demonstrators, said he hoped to show his support for the UN’s founding ideals — values he feels Trump is trampling.

“This is a city of people from all over the world,” he said of New York.

“The international ideals are in alignment with the ideals of New York. And we want to call out people who are against the values that the UN and the United States are really founded on.”

‘I lose business’

But Harry Khan, who owns a corner store nearby, was not as thrilled about the summit.

“When there is a road closure, I lose business. My regular customers, they avoid coming outside,” he told Al Jazeera.

And the influx of tourists does not offset the losses, according to Khan.

As mammoth as the UNGA is, its impact on New York is limited to the immediate neighbourhood outside the restricted area.

In the vast and densely populated city, signs of the UNGA start to dissipate within a few blocks from the UN complex.

With the world’s eyes on the summit, some of the city’s 8.5 million residents say they’re more worried about daily struggles. More than 18 percent of New York City’s population lives under the poverty line.

On Tuesday evening, a young woman grew visibly frustrated when she found out that her bus stop was barricaded within the security zone.

When asked how she feels about the UNGA being in New York, she replied: “Because it stops traffic, I don’t care for it. I can’t get to my bus to go home. Now, I’ve got to find another route.”

Sept. 23 (UPI) — U.S. President Donald Trump has said he plans to address “the good and the bad” across the globe as one of the first speakers when the U.N. General Assembly’s annual general debate opens Tuesday in New York City.

Specifically, he’s expected to speak about his own accomplishments handling conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine, White House press secretary Caroline Leavitt said ahead of his appearance.

Trump touted his role in negotiating peace across the globe Friday while making remarks on an executive order on H-1B visas.

“Nobody’s done a better job than I’ve done on world peace. Nobody’s settled so many wars as I have,” he said, claiming to have “settled” seven conflicts.

Trump spoke about the two ongoing wars in Gaza and Ukraine as well as his upcoming U.N. appearance to reporters Sunday.

“The hatred between [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelensky is very substantial,” Trump said, according to CBS News. “There’s a lot of bad blood.

“And, course, Gaza is a basic disaster. We’ve got to get that taken care of. But the big thing will be that I’m going to be speaking at the United Nations, and I hope to do a good job.”

Trump is likely to touch on some of the bigger news coming out of meetings on the sidelines of the general debate — the recognition by several countries of an independent Palestinian state.

At an international peace summit hosted by France and Saudi Arabia on Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron formally recognized Palestine. His announcement was joined by the countries of Andorra, Belgium, Luxembourg, Malta and San Marino, and Australia, Britain and Canada made their own declarations Sunday.

“The time has come for Israel to live in peace and security,” Macron said, sharing his support for a two-state solution to the conflict. “The time has come to give justice to the Palestinian people and to recognize the state of Palestine.”

Sept. 22 (UPI) — France and Saudi Arabia held an international peace summit Monday in New York City, one day before the start of the 80th U.N. General Assembly, where French President Emmanuel Macron and other world leaders formally recognized a Palestinian state.

Macron made the announcement about a two-state solution during his speech Monday evening, saying, “We can no longer wait” to stop the violence and secure peace. Macron called for an end to the war in Gaza and the release of Israeli hostages still being held by Hamas nearly two years after the Oct. 7, attacks that killed 1,200.

“The time has come to free the 48 hostages detained by Hamas. The time has come to stop the war, the bombing of Gaza, the massacres and the fleeing people. The time has come because there’s a pressing urgency everywhere,” Macron said, as he vowed that recognizing Palestine would not take away Israel’s rights.

“The time has come for Israel to live in peace and security,” Macron said. “The time has come to give justice to the Palestinian people and to recognize the state of Palestine.”

France joins the UK, Canada and Australia in recognizing a Palestinian state, along with Andorra, Belgium, Luxembourg, Malta and San Marino.

Australia, Britain, Canada and Portugal made their own declarations Sunday.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot called Monday’s peace summit with Saudi Arabia “a milestone for peace and a major diplomatic victory” nearly two years after a Hamas attack on Israel sent the region spiraling into war.

“France’s plan … aims for a two-state solution and includes concrete steps to prepare for the immediate post-war period … so that an international stabilization mission can come to Gaza to ensure the protection of both Palestinians and Israelis,” Barrot told French broadcaster TF1, according to a translation by CNN.

With Sunday’s announcements, more than 150 nations now recognize Palestine as a sovereign state. This doesn’t include G7 members Germany, Italy or the United States. Israel and the United States are expected to boycott Sunday’s summit.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hit out at the nations expressing their preference for a two-state solution Sunday, saying, “there will be no Palestinian state.” Netanyahu argued recognition of a Palestinian state would give “a huge reward to terrorism.”

Two unnamed sources told The Telegraph that the Israeli government is considering options for retaliating against France for recognizing Palestine, including possibly closing France’s consulate in Jerusalem.

The U.N. General Assembly on Friday voted 145-5 in favor of a motion to allow Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to address the international body this week in New York. Israel and the United States voted against the motion.

President Donald Trump will be in New York tomorrow, to mark the 80th anniversary of the UN’s General Assembly founding.

Sept. 10 (UPI) — Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Wednesday that Polish forces and their NATO partners downed a “huge” number of Russian drones overnight, the first time Russian assets have been intercepted in the military alliance’s airspace.

“Last night, the Polish airspace was violated by a huge number of Russian drones. Those drones that posed a direct threat were shot down. I am in constant communication with the Secretary General of NATO and our allies,” Tusk said in a post on X.

He said there were “multiple violations of Polish airspace,” each of which was met by Polish and NATO air defenses, including fighter jets.

Tusk said he was in continual contact with the commander of the operation, the defense minister and the country’s president.

Residents were sent emergency texts alerting them of the air defense operation and requesting them to report any drones they saw or locations where they fell, while people in three regions in the east of the country were told to stay indoors.

Supreme Allied Commander Europe Gen. Alexus Grynkewich said NATO’s swift and decisive response demonstrated both the alliance’s ability and determination “to defend Allied territory.”

Speaking after an emergency meeting of the National Security Bureau, Tusk said Poland was most likely “dealing with a large-scale provocation.” He called the situation “serious” but vowed that Poland was “ready to repel” attacks of this nature.

A number of the drones entered from Belarus airspace, Tusk told lawmakers later Wednesday, and that the last of the objects was shot down at 6:45 a.m. local time.

“I have no reason to claim we’re on the brink of war, but a line has been crossed, and it’s incomparably more dangerous than before. This situation brings us the closest we have been to open conflict since World War Two,” he said.

The incursion came amid a massive Russian airborne attack against neighboring Ukraine involving more than 400 drones and more than 40 cruise and ballistic missiles, with the Ukrainian Air Force saying that as many as 24 drones “crossed the Ukrainian state border flying in Poland’s direction.”

Poland shares borders of roughly equal length with both Ukraine and Belarus.

NATO Allied Command Operations confirmed the clashes were the first time NATO aircraft had engaged with potential threats in “Allied Airspace” with Poland and the Netherlands scrambling fighter jets, Italian early warning aircraft and a NATO air-refuelling tanker airborne and German-supplied Patriot missiles on alert.

“NATO, Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, and all of Allied Command Operations is committed to defending every kilometer of NATO territory, including our airspace,” said Col. Martin L. O’Donnell, Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe spokesman.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer issued a statement saying he had been in communication with Tusk over the incident, which he called a “barbaric attack on Ukraine and the egregious and unprecedented violation of Polish and NATO airspace by Russian drones”.

“This was an extremely reckless move by Russia and only serves to remind us of President Putin’s blatant disregard for peace and the constant bombardment innocent Ukrainians face every day.”

The incident came hours after Starmer hosted NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in Downing Street where they discussed work to integrate U.S. support into plans for a so-called Coalition of the Willing of European countries putting together a reassurance force for Ukraine to uphold any future cease-fire.

Condemning the incursion in “the strongest possible terms,” French President Emmanuel Macron said it was completely unacceptable and that he would meet with Rutte — but did not say when.

Belarus claimed the incursion was accidental, caused by drones turned “rogue” after their systems were jammed, claimed its forces had shot some of them down, and that it communicated with Poland and Lithuania over a five-hour period during the night.

Moscow, however, sought to lay blame on Ukraine, with Russian state television quoting unnamed Polish lawmakers saying it appeared to be a false-flag operation perpetrated by Kyiv.

French President Emmanuel Macron has named his defence minister and close ally, Sebastien Lecornu, as the new prime minister after Prime Minister Francois Bayrou resigned after losing a confidence vote.

Lecornu, 39, the fifth prime minister in less than two years, has major challenges ahead, including resolving a deepening political crisis as protests loom in the coming days.

“The President of the Republic has entrusted me with the task of building a government with a clear direction: the defence of our independence and power, the service of the French people, and political and institutional stability for the unity of the country,” the incoming prime minister said.

The French parliament – the National Assembly – on Monday voted to remove Bayrou over his proposed $51bn in budget cuts to address the country’s debt crisis. The formal handover of power between Bayrou and Lecornu is due to take place on Wednesday.

Macron’s decision to choose Lecornu, analysts say, is an indication that he intends to continue on with a minority government that supports his pro-business economic reform agenda. In the 577-member National Assembly, the left bloc, which has opposed Macron’s pro-business policy, has most seats but not enough to form a government.

The appointment of Lecornu, a one-time conservative, risks alienating France’s centre-left Socialist Party, which leaves Macron’s government depending on Marine Le Pen and the far-right National Rally for support in parliament.

“Regardless of Sebastien Lecornu’s personal qualities, his nomination is a slap in the face of parliament,” Philippe Brun, the Socialist lawmaker who has been in charge of budget negotiations, told Reuters.

However, Jordan Bardella, seen as Le Pen’s protege, seemed willing to give Lecornu a chance.

“We will judge, without illusion, the new prime minister on his merits,” he said, adding that the party still kept strict “red lines”.

Bayrou’s downfall and France’s instability

France, the European Union’s second-biggest economy, seems on the brink of yet another period of instability.

The immediate reason for Bayrou’s fall was his budget proposal for next year. His unpopular 44-billion-euro ($51bn) deficit-reduction plan, including freezing most welfare spending and scrapping two public holidays, has been widely rejected by parliamentarians.

The French budget deficit is now nearly 169 billion euros ($198bn), or 5.8 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP), well above the 3 percent limit set by the European Union for countries using the euro. Investors worry that France’s persistent deficits will cause ever-higher debt ratios and undermine its credit score.

Before Monday’s vote, Bayrou warned lawmakers: “You have the power to bring down the government, but you do not have the power to erase reality. Reality will remain relentless: expenses will continue to rise, and the burden of debt, already unbearable, will grow heavier and more costly.”

The prime minister’s proposals came on top of Macron’s unpopular 2023 move to raise France’s retirement age by two years to 64. At the time, the president argued that excessive pension payments were a drag on the country’s finances.

Protests expected around France

As Macron grapples with the collapse of his fourth government in less than two years, French citizens are planning to take to the streets this week in “Block Everything” protests.

The movement, which lacks centralised leadership and planning, is threatening widespread disruption this week.

“The public authorities and the government have betrayed us so much that I’m not sure they can really meet the expectations of the people,” Louise Nechin, a left-wing activist in Paris, told Reuters.

The protests have drawn comparisons with 2018’s “yellow vest” demonstrations, with protesters at the time setting fire to makeshift barricades and vehicles.

The November 2018 protests, which began over planned hikes in diesel taxes, widened into an uprising against Macron’s policies and became the biggest challenge to his presidency at the time.

Sept. 7 (UPI) — A Russian airstrike hit and damaged the upper floors of the Ukraine Cabinet of Ministers building in Kyiv for the first time since the war began in February 2022.

The building is among the most prominent Ukrainian government buildings and houses the offices of the executive branch’s top officials, including the prime minister and cabinet ministers. The strike is significant because it shows Moscow’s strikes can reach the heart of Kyiv’s government district, hitting a central symbol of executive authority.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a statement Sunday that the strike on the cabinet building was part of a sweeping attack on cities across the country, including Sumy, Kremenchuk, Odesa, Dnipro, Kryvyi Rih and Zaporizhzhia.

Russia used more than 800 drones, as well as four ballistic missiles and nine cruise missiles in the attack, making it the largest such strike since the war began, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said in its own statement.

At least four people were killed in the broader airstrike, Zelensky said in an earlier statement. The Ukrainian Defense Ministry said that at least one of the people killed was a child.

“In Kyiv, the rubble is still being cleared — there may still be bodies beneath it. The Cabinet of Ministers building has been damaged. As of now, more than forty people have been reported injured across the country, 20 of them in Kyiv,” Zelensky said.

Yulia Svyrydenko, who has served as prime minister of Ukraine since July 17, shared photos of the destruction on Telegram and said that there were no injuries at the cabinet building during the broader airstrike.

“Russian terror will not stop the work of the government,” she said. “We will restore the destruction. But the lives of Ukrainians cannot be brought back. During the night, four people were killed and more than 44 were injured across the country due to Russian shelling.”

Zelensky said that air raid sirens in the capital alone lasted for more than seven and a half hours, suggesting that Russian President Vladimir Putin used the strike to test whether the world would tolerate escalating attacks by Moscow as he praised the response of Western allies who decried the airstrike. He also called for sanctions and tariffs on Russia.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned the attack as a “brutal overnight assault on Kyiv and across Ukraine,” stressing that “for the first time, the heart of Ukraine’s civilian government was damaged,” and warning that Putin “believes he can act with impunity” and “is not serious about peace.”

French President Emmanuel Macron similarly denounced the strikes on social media, stating that “Russia, meanwhile, is locking itself ever deeper into the logic of war and terror,” and affirmed that “together with Ukraine and our partners, we stand for peace.”

Russia’s Defense Ministry said Sunday that it carried out a large-scale strike with precision weapons and drones against facilities used to produce, store and launch unmanned aircraft, as well as military airbases across central, southern and eastern Ukraine.

The ministry said the attack included strikes on an industrial plant on the western outskirts of Kyiv and a logistics center on the city’s southern edge.

It said all intended targets were destroyed and stressed that no other sites inside Kyiv were hit, making no mention of any government structures in Kyiv.

Separately, Russia’s Defense Ministry said in a statement that Ukraine attempted a large-scale overnight drone attack overnight into Sunday, with its air defenses shooting down 69 unmanned aircraft across southern and central Russia.

The ministry said the drones were intercepted over Krasnodar, Voronezh, Belgorod, Astrakhan, Volgograd, Rostov, Bryansk, Kursk and Ryazan regions, as well as over Crimea and the Sea of Azov.

In its daily summary of war accomplishments, Russia claimed that its troops advanced in eastern and southern Ukraine, capturing the village of Khoroshe in the Dnipropetrovsk region and striking Ukrainian units across Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson. The ministry claimed hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers were killed in the fighting, along with tanks, armored vehicles, artillery and supply depots destroyed.

It said Russian air and missile forces also hit Ukrainian military-industrial sites, drone bases and transport hubs in nearly 150 locations, while air defenses intercepted three U.S.-made HIMARS rockets, guided bombs and more than 200 drones.

SIR Keir Starmer was under fresh fire last night after it emerged 3,567 dinghy migrants have arrived since he signed a “one-in, one-out” deal with France — but NONE have been kicked out.

The news overshadowed the Government’s latest attempt to get a grip on the illegal migration crisis.

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Yesterday, ministers put a temporary halt on refugees bringing in partners and children.

Sir Keir also said he wanted to bring forward his 2029 deadline for closing asylum hotels because he “completely gets” the public’s anger.

But his positive slant was derailed by the news of the failure of the “one-in, one-out” deal with France’s Emmanuel Macron.

More than 100 people are understood to have been detained — with videos shared by No10 showing people being escorted by staff after arriving across the Channel.

Yet none has actually gone yet, officials confirmed.

The PM and Home Secretary Yvette Cooper had gone on the offensive yesterday after a summer of dismal headlines.

Sir Keir slammed Reform leader Nigel Farage’s sweeping deportation plans.

Speaking to BBC Radio Five, the PM said: “It’s a really serious issue. We have to have control of our borders, and I completely get it.

“I’m determined that whether it’s people crossing in the first place, people in asylum hotels, or it’s returning people, we absolutely have to deal with this.”

Pressed on when illegal migrant hotels will finally shut, Sir Keir replied: “We’ve said we’ll get rid of them by the end of the Parliament. I would like to bring that forward, I think it is a good challenge.”

Nationwide protests over the summer pushed the PM to finally act as public anger over hotel use reached boiling point.

The Home Office currently houses around 32,000 asylum seekers in over 200 hotels across Britain.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said accommodation for illegal migrants would be dealt with “not just by shifting individuals from hotels to other sites, but by driving down the numbers in supported accommodation overall”.

Hotels would be “reconfigured” to increase room-sharing and the test for accommodation would be “tightened”.

She said the Home Office would try to “identify alternative cheaper and more appropriate accommodation”.

Last month, Mr Farage unveiled his radical mass deportation blueprint, dubbed “Operation Restoring Justice”, aiming to expel up to 600,000 undocumented migrants over five years.

Scrap ECHR

His plan includes withdrawing from the European Convention on Human Rights and scrapping the 1951 UN Refugee Convention.

He also wants to establish detention centres with compulsory deportations, even for women and children.

Sir Keir said: “The difference here is between an orderly sensible way of actually fixing a problem we inherited from the Tories or fanciful arrangements that are just not going to work.

“Nigel Farage and Reform are just the politics of grievance. They feed on grievance. They don’t want the problem solved because they’ve got no reason to exist if the problems are solved.”

The PM added that Mr Farage’s plan is “not fair to put forward to the public” because it is an idea that “just isn’t going to work”.

It came as Ms Cooper announced refugees will be banned from bringing their families to the UK as part of “radical” asylum reforms announced by the Home Secretary yesterday.

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The Home Secretary vowed that new immigration rules will temporarily suspend new applications from dependents of refugees already in Britain.

She also said that the controversial Article 8 of the ECHR — which guarantees a right to family life — should be interpreted differently.

Around 20,000 people come to the UK on refugee family reunion visas per year, according to Home Office figures.

Ms Cooper told the House of Commons yesterday: “Our reforms will also address the overly complex system for family migration, including changes to the way Article 8 of the ECHR is interpreted.

“We should be clear that international law is important.

“But we also need the interpretation of international law to keep up with the realities and challenges of today’s world.”

‘Living in a parallel universe’

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp accused Ms Cooper of “living in a parallel universe”.

Labour’s own Graham Stringer said the measures “don’t really deal with the fact that many migrants are not coming from war-torn countries, they’re coming from France, which isn’t persecuting them”.

And Reform MP Lee Anderson said: “Starmer continues to open the floodgates for hundreds of illegals each day.”

The Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex, became a flash point for discontent this summer after two of its guests were charged with sexual offences.

Epping Forest District Council won a bid at the High Court to block migrants from being housed at the hotel.

But the Court of Appeal last week overturned the injunction after an Home Office appeal.

Lee Anderson added: “Starmer makes hollow claims while refusing to close Epping. Hypocrite.”

Carpenter Jimmy Hillard, 52, of Loughton, Essex, has been handed an eight-week suspended prison sentence by Chelmsford JPs after admitting assaulting a police officer at a Bell Hotel demo on Friday.

PM’S ‘PRIDE’ IN FLAG

PM SIR Keir Starmer yesterday declared himself a “supporter of flags” — and revealed he still proudly displays a St George’s Cross in his flat.

He dismissed claims that showing off England’s ensign should be seen as racist, telling BBC Five Live: “I am the leader of the Labour Party who put the Union Jack on membership cards.

“I always sit in front of the Union Jack. I’ve been doing it for years, and it attracted a lot of comment when I started doing it.” He said he bought his England flag for last year’s Euros football.

The flag debate reignited after councils in the West Midlands and Tower Hamlets tried to remove the St George’s Cross from lamp posts and motorway bridges over claims they intimidated minorities.

The PM added: “They’re patriotic and a great symbol of our nation. I don’t think they should be devalued and belittled.”

Murder accused can stay

EXCLUSIVE by MIKE SULLIVAN

A CAKE shop owner can remain in Britain despite being wanted for murder in his home country.

Carlos Kassimo Dos Santos, 33, was jailed for 14 years in his absence in 2016 over a gang killing in Portugal.

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An extradition bid failed when the High Court upheld a decision by a district judge to allow Santos to remain here.

It was deemed Santos, who denies involvement in the 2010 murder, could not be guaranteed a retrial and it could not be proved he fled justice to come here.

He is now co-owner of Kings & Queens Dessert outlet, set up three years ago in Leeds.

It recently won The Best Dessert Shop in West Yorkshire award.

Santos was 18 when he was accused of being part of a group who killed a gang rival near Lisbon.

He then spent two years in the army before coming to Britain, where his dad lives.

He said he was unaware he was jailed and did not know he had to notify authorities of his address change.

He refused to comment when approached.

Aug. 24 (UPI) — France summoned U.S. Ambassador Charles Kushner on Sunday after he published an open letter to French President Emmanuel Macron accusing the government of failing to effectively take action on anti-Semitism.

The French Foreign Ministry issued a statement to CNN saying Kushner would be expected at the ministry’s Paris headquarters Monday.

In the letter, published Sunday in The Wall Street Journal and dated Monday, Kushner wrote to Macron that he was concerned about “the dramatic rise of anti-Semitism in France and the lack of sufficient action by your government to confront it.” Kushner, the father-in-law of President Donald Trump‘s daughter, Ivanka Trump, has served as the ambassador of France for less than seven weeks.

Since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, “pro-Hamas extremists and radical activists have waged a campaign of intimidation and violence across Europe,” Kushner wrote.

The French Foreign Ministry denied the allegations and called Kushner’s comments “unacceptable.”

“The rise in anti-Semitic acts in France since the 7 October, 2023, is a reality that we deplore and against which French authorities are totally mobilized, because these actions are intolerable,” the ministry said, referencing the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas that sparked the Israel-Hamas war.

Kushner took issue with France’s plans to recognize an independent Palestinian state in September, saying that doing so gives “legitimacy to Hamas and its allies.”

“Public statements haranguing Israel and gestures towards recognition of a Palestinian state emboldened extremists, fuel violence and endanger Jewish life in France,” Kushner wrote. “In today’s world, anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism — plain and simple.”

Macron announced in July that he plans to make a formal statement recognizing Palestine at U.N. headquarters in New York City. He said it was part of France’s “historical commitment to a just and durable peace in the Middle East.”

“The urgent priority today is to end the war in Gaza and to bring relief to the civilian population,” Macron said in a post on X.

Several other Western nations have come out in favor of a Palestinian state, including Canada, Spain, Norway and Ireland.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the United States was against France’s plans in July.

“This reckless decision only serves Hamas propaganda and sets back peace. It is a slap in the face to the victims of October 7th,” he said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Macron of leading a “crusade against the Jewish state.”

Aug. 18 (UPI) — President Donald Trump spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday during a White House meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine and said he will arrange a bilateral meeting between the two, within the next two weeks.

The call came during Monday’s negotiations between Zelensky, Trump and European leaders, who had gathered to discuss ending the war in Ukraine.

Trump said the future meeting would be followed by a trilateral meeting, involving the United States. On Monday night, the White House posted an Oval Office photo of Trump on the phone with Putin, as Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance looked on.

Trump said Vance, Rubio and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff would be involved in coordinating the meeting between Putin and Zelensky.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump said he “had a very good meeting with distinguished guests,” which included Zelensky, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, as well as much of the European delegation and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.

“I called President Putin and began the arrangements for a meeting, at a location to be determined, between President Putin and President Zelensky,” Trump said. “After that meeting takes place, we will have a Trilat, which would be the two presidents, plus myself. Again, this was a very good, early step for a war that has been going on for almost four years.”

Trump met with Zelensky earlier Monday afternoon to signal that the United States would provide Ukraine with “very good protection.”

“The security guarantees would be provided by the various European countries, with a coordination with the United States of America,” Trump said. “Everyone is very happy about the possibility of PEACE for Russia/Ukraine.”

Macron called the U.S. commitment for Ukrainian security guarantees the “first and most important” outcome of Monday’s talks.

“Today, it was agreed that we will work with the United States of America on the content of these security guarantees and the cooperation that each party is prepared to provide,” Macron said, adding that any meeting would have to take place under a cease-fire.

“Call it a truce or a cease-fire, but we cannot hold discussions under bombs,” Macron added.

Trump told Zelensky at the start of the meeting: “I have a feeling you and President Putin are going to work something out. Ultimately, this is a decision that can only be made by President Zelensky and by the people of Ukraine working also together in agreement with President Putin. And I just think that very good things are going to come of it.”

By the end of the day, Zelensky told reporters he is ready for “any format” of a meeting with Putin and said he would also participate in a trilateral meeting if there is progress in the first one.

“I believe unconditionally we should meet and think about the further development of this path of the war,” he said.

Zelensky told reporters that the security guarantees included plans for Ukraine to purchase $90 billion in American weapons through European funding.

Zelensky also said he and Trump had a long discussion about a map in the Oval Office, showing Russian-occupied territories in Ukraine. Rutte said Ukrainian territory was not discussed during the broader Monday meetings.

Zelensky arrived around 1 p.m. EDT on Monday along with several EU leaders. Trump and Zelensky sat in the Oval Office, mirroring their meeting earlier this year.

This time, they avoided the dramatic shouting match from six months ago in the same space.

During the February exchange, Trump and Vance accused Zelensky of being “disrespectful” toward the United States and the Trump administration.

Zelensky was much more complimentary during Monday’s meeting, immediately thanking Trump for his efforts to stop Russia’s war.

Vance, who was in the Oval Office, said nothing this time.

The meeting came after Trump’s summit with Putin on Friday in Alaska.

European Council leaders are scheduled to meet via videoconference Tuesday to discuss the meeting. The council’s president, Antonio Costa, called the conference, he announced on X Monday.

“I have convened a video conference of the members of the European Council for tomorrow at 1 p.m. CEST, for a debriefing of today’s meetings in Washington, D.C., about Ukraine,” Costa wrote. “Together with the U.S., the EU will continue working towards a lasting peace that safeguards Ukraine’s and Europe’s vital security interests.”

European leaders, including Rutte, Starmer, Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Finnish President Alexander Stubb and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, accompanied Zelensky to Washington for the talks.

Russia must agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine before negotiations can advance toward a formal peace agreement, top European leaders told Donald Trump at the White House on Monday, urging the U.S. president to “put pressure on Russia” in his push to end the war.

The meeting had a historic flair with six European heads of government, the NATO secretary general and the president of the European Commission all converging on Washington for discussions with the president — a flurry of diplomatic activity after Trump’s summit last week with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska sparked widespread fears over the fate of U.S. support for security on the continent.

Trump first met with Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, in the Oval Office, striking an affable tone after their last, disastrous meeting in the room in February. This time, Trump emphasized his “love” for the Ukrainian people and his commitment to provide security guarantees for Kyiv in an ultimate peace settlement with Russia.

Zelensky offered only praise and gratitude to Trump, telling reporters that they had their “best” meeting yet.

But an expanded meeting with Zelensky and the chancellor of Germany, the presidents of France and Finland, the prime ministers of the United Kingdom and Italy, and the heads of NATO and the European Commission hinted at a more challenging road ahead for the burgeoning peace effort.

President Trump speaks to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, left foreground, as French President Emmanuel Macron listens during a meeting at the White House on Monday.

(Alex Brandon / Associated Press)

“The next steps ahead are the more complicated ones now,” German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said. “The path is open — you opened it, but now the way is open for complicated negotiations, and to be honest, we would all like to see a ceasefire, at the latest, from the next meeting on.”

“I can’t imagine the next meeting would take place without a ceasefire,” Merz added. “So let’s work on that. And let’s put pressure on Russia.”

Emmanuel Macron, the French president, sat sternly throughout the start of the meeting before echoing Merz’s call.

“Your idea to ask for a truce, a ceasefire, or at least to stop the killings,” Macron said, “is a necessity, and we all support this idea.”

Trump had been in agreement with his European counterparts on the necessity of a ceasefire for months. Zelensky first agreed to one in March. But Putin has refused, pressing Russian advantages on the battlefield, and in Anchorage on Friday, he convinced Trump to drop his calls for an immediate halt to the fighting.

“All of us would obviously prefer an immediate ceasefire while we work on a lasting peace. Maybe something like that could happen — as of this moment, it’s not happening,” Trump said at the meeting. “But President Zelensky and President Putin can talk a little bit more about that.”

“I don’t know that it’s necessary,” Trump added. “You can do it through the war. But I like the ceasefire from another standpoint — you immediately stop the killing.”

The European leaders all emphasized to Trump that they share his desire for peace. But the president of the commission, Ursula von der Leyen, called for a “just” peace, and Zelensky would not engage publicly with reporters on Putin’s central demand: a surrender of vast swaths of Ukrainian territory to Russian control.

Putin first invaded Ukraine in 2014, occupying the Crimean peninsula in a stealth operation and funding an attack on the eastern region of Donbas using proxy forces. But he launched a full-scale invasion of the entire country in 2022, leading to the bloodiest conflict in Europe since World War II.

In a hot mic moment, before the media were ushered out of the expanded meeting with European leaders, Trump told Macron that he believes the Russian president and former KGB officer would agree to a peace deal because of their personal relationship.

He “wants to make a deal for me,” he said, “as crazy as it sounds.”

‘Article 5-like’ guarantees

European leaders said that detailed U.S. security guarantees — for Ukraine specifically, and more broadly for Europe — were at the top of the agenda for Monday’s meetings, including the prospect of U.S. troops on the ground in Ukraine to enforce any future peace settlement.

Asked whether U.S. forces would be involved, Trump did not rule it out, stating, “We’ll be talking about that.”

“When it comes to security, there’s going to be a lot of help,” he said in the Oval Office. “It’s going to be good. They are first line of defense, because they’re there — they are Europe. But we’re going to help them out, also. We’ll be involved.”

Von der Leyen, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer praised the Trump administration for discussing what it called “Article 5-like” security guarantees for Ukraine, referencing a provision of the North Atlantic Treaty Organizaton charter that states that an attack on one member is an attack on all.

But the provision also provides countries in the alliance with broad discretion on whether to participate in a military response to an attack on a fellow member.

Starmer and Macron have expressed a willingness for months to send British and French troops to Ukraine. But the Russian Foreign Ministry said Monday that Moscow would oppose the deployment of NATO troops to the country as “provocative” and “reckless,” creating a potential rift in the negotiations.

President Trump walks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and White House protocol chief Monica Crowley in the White House.

(Alex Brandon / Associated Press)

Despite the gulf between Europe and Russia, Trump expressed hope throughout the day that he could schedule a trilateral meeting with Putin and Zelensky, possibly within a matter of days. He planned on calling Putin shortly after European leaders left the White House, he told reporters.

Trump’s team floated inviting Zelensky to attend the negotiations in Alaska on Friday, and Zelensky has said he is willing to participate in a trilateral meeting. He repeated his interest to Trump on Monday and asked him to attend.

But Moscow has yet to commit to a trilateral summit. Ahead of Friday’s meeting, Russian officials said that conditions weren’t right for a direct talks between Putin and the Ukrainian president. The Russian leader has repeatedly questioned Zelensky’s legitimacy and has tried to have him assassinated on numerous occasions.

Quiet on territorial ‘swaps’

In the Oval Office, a Fox News reporter asked Zelensky whether he was “prepared to keep sending Ukrainian troops to their deaths,” or whether he would “agree to redraw the maps” instead. The Ukrainian president demurred.

“We live under each day attacks,” Zelensky responded. “We need to stop this war, to stop Russia. And we need the support — American and European partners.”

Trump and his team largely adopted Putin’s position Friday that Russia should be able to keep the Ukrainian territory it has occupied by force — and possibly even more of Donetsk, which is part of the Donbas region and remains in Ukrainian control — in exchange for an end to the fighting. But European officials were silent on the idea on Monday.

The Ukrainian Constitution prohibits the concession of territory without the support of a public referendum, and polls indicate that 3 in 4 Ukrainians oppose giving up land in an attempt to end the war.

Steve Witkoff, the president’s envoy for special missions, said Sunday that Putin agreed to pass legislation through the Kremlin that would guarantee an end to wars of conquest in Ukraine, or elsewhere in Europe.

But Russia has made similar commitments before.

In 1994, the United States and Britain signed on to a agreement in Budapest with Ukraine and Russia that ostensibly guaranteed security for Kyiv and vowed to honor Ukraine’s territorial integrity. In exchange, Ukraine gave up its nuclear weapons.