International
The new French prime minister launches an ultimatum to the moderate parties and the left rejects his offer
The French Prime Minister, François Bayrou, tried on Thursday to accelerate the formation of his government by launching a 24-hour ultimatum to the moderate parties to decide if they want to integrate it, but it crashed with the refusal of the left-wing forces.
For three hours, the head of government met with the leaders of the ‘Macronist’ center, the moderate right, socialists, ecologists and communists, in order to advance in the constitution of his Executive, which he assured he wants to appoint before Christmas.
Bayrou had made the decision to leave out of the meeting the two most extreme parties, the far right of Marine Le Pen and the leftist La Francia Insumisa (LFI) of Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
But at the end of the meeting, the left-wing parties reiterated their refusal to be part of the Cabinet, while threatening to vote on a new motion of censure in the face of what they considered a refusal by Bayrou to change political course.
“He has not given us arguments for us not to vote on a motion of censure,” said the socialist leader, Olivier Faure, whose 66 deputies are key to giving stability to the new Executive.
A single proposal
Like the environmental leaders, who have 38 seats, the socialists accused Bayrou of having come with a single proposal that they considered insufficient, to open a negotiation on the pension reform, adopted last year in the midst of a great social upheaval.
The prime minister proposed to open a social conference on this reform, which delays the minimum retirement age by two years, but does not suspend its application, as the left-wing parties claim, so they rejected the offer.
“We are dismayed by the poverty of what has been proposed to us,” said Faure, who accused Bayrou and the ‘Macronist’ parties of “seeking the left to give them stability without any counterpart, only with appeals to responsibility.”
The socialist leader recalled that it was the left-wing alliance that won the legislative elections last July, which gives them legitimacy to demand a change of political course.
Bayrou, who has the support of the 166 ‘Macronist’ deputies, had a more lenient response from the moderate right, whose leader, Laurent Wauquiez, asked the attendees for a six-month truce to give stability to the new Executive, without clarifying whether his party will enter it.
Finding parliamentary solidity
In that panorama, the prime minister, who in the coming hours will speak on public television France 2, seems to have complicated to find the parliamentary solidity that avoids a fate similar to that of his predecessor, the conservative Michel Barnier, knocked down by a motion of censure on the 4th, three months after his appointment.
Unlike the former Brexit negotiator, who expected to find stability in the extreme right, who ended up betraying him, Bayrou hopes to rely on the most moderate parties, but he has not managed to convince the left.
At the same time, they face the pressure of their parliamentary ally LFI, opposed to any dialogue with the prime minister and which demands the resignation of the president, Emmanuel Macron, whom he considers responsible for the blockade situation in France.
“Let our partners make steers. It’s time for them to return home: opposition without concessions and motion of censure without wasting time in dead-end debates,” said Jean-Luc Melénchon, leader of the LFI, in a message on the social network X aimed at socialists, ecologists and communists.
International
Mexican government prioritizes 191 communities after deadly floods
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum confirmed on Wednesday that the death toll from recent rains and floods across several central states has risen to 66, while the federal government has activated air bridges and prioritized assistance in 191 isolated communities.
“Unfortunately, 66 people have died, and 75 remain missing,” the president said during her morning press conference. She added that the official death toll will be updated later in a new report.
As of Tuesday, authorities had reported 64 fatalities. Sheinbaum also announced the creation of a public information center to centralize official data on the deceased, missing persons, damaged homes, and cut-off communities.
According to the president, the number of missing persons has decreased thanks to coordination with state authorities.
“Through calls to phone line 079, 103 people who had been reported missing have now been located,” she explained.
Priority Municipalities
The president noted that the federal government has classified 191 communities as ‘priority’, a designation based mainly on the percentage of homes affected.
International
New road and bridge explosions raise alarm amid indigenous protests in Ecuador
Ecuadorian authorities are investigating two explosions that occurred early Wednesday, one on a road in the southern part of the country and another under a bridge in Guayas province. These incidents follow the car bomb explosion in the coastal city of Guayaquil, also in Guayas, which occurred the day before and left one person dead and 30 injured.
Press reports indicate that one person was injured and several vehicles were damaged in the explosion on the Cuenca-Girón-Pasaje road in the south.
“Besides yesterday’s explosion in Guayaquil, we have received reports of explosives placed on bridges along the Guayaquil-Machala and Machala-Cuenca routes to disrupt traffic,” said Roberto Luque, Minister of Infrastructure and Transport (MIT).
On his X social media account, Luque reported that authorities have been deployed to the sites to assess the damage and determine the current condition of the structures.
“What they haven’t achieved with their call for a strike, some are trying to achieve through terrorism,” he stated, referring to the 24 days of protests organized by the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities (Conaie) against rising diesel prices and other demands.
The protests, called at a national level, have Imbabura province as their epicenter. Roadblocks have also been reported in the northern part of Pichincha province, whose capital is Quito, while activities in the rest of the country continue normally.
International
Armed forces target illegal mines in Northern Ecuador with bombing raids
Ecuador’s Armed Forces carried out an operation on Monday — including airstrikes — against illegal mining in the town of Buenos Aires, in the country’s north, Defense Minister Gian Carlo Loffredo reported.
The mountainous, gold-rich area has been a hotspot for illegal mining since 2017, located in the Andean province of Imbabura.
In 2019, former president Lenín Moreno deployed around 2,400 soldiers to the region in an attempt to curb the illegal activity. “The operation began with mortar fire, followed by gunfire and bombing runs by Supertucano aircraft,” Loffredo said in a video released by the Defense Ministry.
He added that the operation would continue on Tuesday with patrols across the area to locate possible members of “irregular armed groups that may have crossed from the Colombian border.”
The Armed Forces stated on X that the intervention focused on the “complete elimination of multiple illegal mining tunnels” in the areas known as Mina Nueva and Mina Vieja.
The operation coincided with the deployment of a military and police convoy into Imbabura, which has been the epicenter of protests against President Daniel Noboa since September 22, following his decision to scrap the diesel subsidy.
Mexican government prioritizes 191 communities after deadly floods
New road and bridge explosions raise alarm amid indigenous protests in Ecuador
Armed forces target illegal mines in Northern Ecuador with bombing raids
Tec de Monterrey honors one of its students for his contribution to nanotechnology in medicine
Defense Minister commends salvadoran soldier for Central American Cross Country victory
Extension of the state of emergency approved in southern Chile
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