suspending

Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu faces two no-confidence motions this week as France’s political crisis deepens.

France’s embattled prime minister says he backs suspending a pension reform until after the 2027 presidential election in a bid to end the political turmoil that has gripped the country for months.

Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu, 39, announced on Tuesday that he supports pausing an unpopular reform that raised the age of retirement from 62 to 64 in the hopes of securing enough votes to survive two no-confidence votes.

“I will propose to parliament this autumn that we suspend the 2023 pension reform until the presidential election. There will be no increase in the retirement age from now until January 2028,” he promised lawmakers during his policy speech, responding to a key request from the Socialists, a swing group in parliament crucial to his cabinet’s survival.

President Emmanuel Macron signed into law the bill to raise the retirement age, a signature economic reform that became the biggest domestic challenge of Macron’s second mandate as he faced widespread popular opposition to the changes and also sliding personal popularity.

Hundreds of thousands protested against the change in 2023 in towns and cities across the country.

Lecornu has faced an uphill battle since being appointed prime minister in early September. At the time of his appointment, he was the fifth prime minister in less than two years and faced deep political divides and a high debt load.

He ultimately stepped down from the post in early October, further deepening the country’s long-running political crisis. Macron then reappointed Lecornu as prime minister last week.

Lecornu faces two no-confidence motions by the hard-left France Unbowed and far-right National Rally parties. The two parties do not hold enough seats to topple Lecornu’s government on their own, but the prime minister could be ousted if the Socialist Party were to join forces with them.

The leader of the Socialists in the National Assembly said the decision to suspend the pension reform was a victory for the left.

Boris Vallaud did not explicitly say if his party would vote against the two motions of no confidence this week, but he said he believed in parliamentary debate and he would be ensuring the prime minister’s pledges be turned into actions.

Cyrielle Chatelain confirmed on Tuesday that France’s Greens party will support a no-confidence motion.

Earlier on Tuesday, Macron had warned that any vote to topple Lecornu’s cabinet would force him to dissolve parliament and call elections.

France, the eurozone’s second largest economy, is facing deep economic turmoil as Lecornu fights to keep his cabinet alive long enough to pass an austerity budget by the end of the year. During a speech on Thursday, he warned suspending the pension reform would cost about 400 million euros ($464m) in 2026 and 1.8 billion euros ($2.1bn) the year after and it should be offset by savings.

France’s ratio of debt to its gross domestic product is the European Union’s third highest after Greece and Italy and is close to twice the 60-percent limit fixed by EU rules.

France has been rocked by protests in recent months. In September, the Block Everything campaign spurred a nationwide wave of antigovernment protests that filled streets with burning barricades and tear gas as demonstrators rallied against budget cuts and political instability.

In October, about 195,000 people, including 24,000 in Paris, turned out for another day of nationwide strikes at the urging of French trade unions. The protests were triggered by widespread opposition to an austerity budget that the government has been trying to push through parliament.

Australia and Japan latest countries to stop some postal services to US for goods valued at less than $800.

Australia and Japan have joined a growing list of countries suspending some parcel shipments to the United States after US President Donald Trump’s administration ended an exemption that allowed packages valued at less than $800 to enter the country duty-free.

With the “de minimis” exemption set to end on Friday, Australia Post announced that it was implementing “a temporary partial suspension”.

In a statement on Tuesday, Australia Post said it was “disappointed” but the decision was necessary “due to the complex and rapidly evolving situation”.

Packages sent to the US and Puerto Rico lodged on or after Tuesday will not be accepted until further notice, the postal service said. Gifts valued at less than $100, letters and documents are unaffected by the change.

Australia Post said it would continue to work with the US and Australian authorities and international postal partners to resume services to the US soon.

Japan Post made a similar announcement on Monday, saying the suspension of some parcel shipments was necessary.

The procedures for transport and postal operators were “not clear”, which is “making implementation difficult”, Japan Post said.

Australian public broadcaster ABC said some businesses that make products in Australia have already suspended shipments, with Australian shipping software company Shippit saying it had seen a decline in shipments from Australia to the US even before the new changes came into effect.

“There’s been a 36 percent drop in volume since April in terms of outbound shipments from Australia to the US,” Shippit’s chief executive, Rob Hango-Zada, said, according to the ABC.

The announcements from Australia and Japan come after several European postal services announced similar changes last week, including Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Italy, France, Austria and the United Kingdom.

The UK’s Royal Mail said it would halt shipments to the US beginning on Tuesday to allow time for those packages to arrive before new duties kick in.

“Key questions remain unresolved, particularly regarding how and by whom customs duties will be collected in the future, what additional data will be required, and how the data transmission to the US Customs and Border Protection will be carried out,” DHL, the largest shipping provider in Europe, said in a statement.

Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has announced a rolling wave of tariffs, or taxes paid on goods imported into the US.

The changing nature of Trump’s tariffs, which vary from country to country and are different in some cases depending on which products are being imported, has added to the confusion for postal services.

Trump had already ended the “de minimis” exemption with China and Hong Kong on May 2, closing a loophole which was widely used by fast-fashion companies Shein, Temu and others to ship duty-free.

The tax and spending bill recently signed by Trump repealed the legal basis for the “de minimis” exemption worldwide starting on July 1, 2027.

Goods shipped through the postal system will now face one of two tariffs: either an “ad valorem duty” equal to the effective tariff rate of the package’s country of origin or, for six months, a specific tariff of $80 to $200, depending on the country of origin’s tariff rate.

Aug. 12 (UPI) — Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner nominee E.J. Antoni has suggested suspending monthly jobs reports in favor of more accurate quarterly reports.

The economist criticized the current methods used by the BLS to gauge employment numbers in the United States in an Aug. 4 interview with Fox News Digital that was reported on Tuesday.

“How on Earth are businesses supposed to plan, or how is the [Federal Reserve] supposed to conduct monetary policy, when they don’t know how many jobs are being added or lost in our economy?” Antoni said.

“It’s a serious problem that needs to be fixed immediately,” he added.

Instead of continuing to publish what he called flawed monthly jobs reports that undergo significant adjustments months later, Antoni favors publishing more accurate quarterly reports.

That would continue until the BLS can correct data-gathering methods and ensure more accurate monthly reports, he said.

“Major decision-makers from Wall Street to D.C. rely on these numbers,” Antoni said. “A lack of confidence in the data has far-reaching consequences.”

Antoni is the lead economist for the Heritage Foundation, and President Donald Trump said he will ensure accuracy in the BLS jobs reports.

“Our economy is booming,” Trump said Monday evening in a Truth Social post. “E.J. will ensure the numbers released are honest and accurate.”

Trump on Aug. 1 fired former BLS Commissioner Erika McEntarfer after the BLS reported 73,000 new jobs in July, which was less than half of the 147,000 jobs reported in June.

The BLS on Aug. 1 revised down the June report to 14,000 jobs created, which is 133,000 and 90.5% fewer than initially reported.

The BLS also revised downward its prior employment report for May, which initially was reported as 144,000 new jobs, to 19,000.

The revised May jobs report is 125,000 fewer than initially reported, which is a change of 87%.

Trump accused McEntarfer of knowingly producing false jobs reports shortly before the Nov. 5 election that reflected well upon the Biden administration but later were revised to remove 818,000 jobs.

President Joe Biden nominated McEntarfer to lead the BLS in July 2023, which the Senate confirmed in January 2024.

Greece has suspended asylum applications for people arriving by sea for three months.

That has come about after a large rise in the number of people crossing the Mediterranean Sea from Libya to the Greek island of Crete.

Athens wants to stop their boats from even entering Greek waters.

Human rights groups said denying them asylum is against international law.

So can a change in policy really stop people heading to Europe? Are North African countries able to help in reducing the number of boats? And what are the likely outcomes of this suspension?

Presenter: Adrian Finighan

Guests:

Eleni Spathana – lawyer with Refugee Support Aegean and author of Legal Assistance for Asylum Seekers and Refugees in Greece

Amine Snoussi – political analyst and journalist

Marianna Karakoulaki – researcher at Birmingham University focusing on forced migration on Europe’s Eastern Mediterranean migratory route

Iran is also considering an entry ban on IAEA chief Rafael Grossi, after rejecting his request to visit nuclear sites.

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian has signed a law suspending cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), amid growing tensions between Tehran and the UN nuclear watchdog over monitoring access and transparency, after United States and Israeli strikes on its most important nuclear facilities during a 12-day conflict last month.

“Masoud Pezeshkian promulgated the law suspending cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency,” Iranian state TV reported on Wednesday.

The move comes a week after Iran’s parliament passed legislation to suspend cooperation with the IAEA, citing Israel’s June 13 attack on Iran and later strikes by the US on Iranian nuclear facilities.

According to the parliament resolution, IAEA inspectors will not be allowed to visit nuclear sites without approval from Iran’s Supreme National Security Council.

Iran’s foreign minister earlier this week said IAEA chief Rafael Grossi, whom Iranian officials have sharply criticised for failing to condemn Israeli and US strikes during the recent 12-day war, was no longer welcome in the country.

Officials have also criticised Grossi over a June 12 resolution passed by the IAEA board accusing Tehran of non-compliance with its nuclear obligations.

Iranian officials said the resolution was among the “excuses” for the Israeli attacks.

Iran has also rejected a request from IAEA chief Grossi to visit nuclear facilities bombed during the war.

“Grossi’s insistence on visiting the bombed sites under the pretext of safeguards is meaningless and possibly even malign in intent,” said Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on X on Monday. “Iran reserves the right to take any steps in defence of its interests, its people and its sovereignty.”

Earlier this week, Pezeshkian decried Grossi’s “destructive” conduct, while France, Germany and the United Kingdom have condemned unspecified “threats” made against the IAEA chief.

Iran’s ultra-conservative Kayhan newspaper recently claimed that documents showed Grossi was an Israeli spy and should be executed.

Iran has insisted no threats were posed against Grossi or the agency’s inspectors.

The 12-day war began when Israel carried out a surprise bombardment of Iranian nuclear facilities and military sites and assassinated several top military commanders and nuclear scientists. Tehran responded with waves of missiles and drones at Israel.

On June 22, Israel’s ally, the US, launched unprecedented strikes of its own on Iranian nuclear facilities at Fordow, Isfahan and Natanz. A ceasefire between Iran and Israel took hold on June 24.

At least 935 people were killed in Israeli attacks on Iran, according to judiciary spokesperson Asghar Jahangir, citing the latest forensic data. The deceased included 132 women and 38 children, Jahangir added.

Iran’s retaliatory attacks killed 28 people in Israel, according to authorities.

US President Donald Trump said the US attacks had “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear programme, though the extent of the damage was not clear.

Araghchi has admitted that “serious” damage has been inflicted on nuclear sites.

But in a recent interview with US media outlet CBS Evening News, he said: “One cannot obliterate the technology and science… through bombings.”

Israel and some Western countries say Iran has sought nuclear weapons – an ambition Tehran has consistently denied.