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
Long wait at the Vatican: experts defend lengthy papal election process
The media present to cover the event expressed concern about the delay.
However, experts explained that the wait was normal and called for patience.
“I expected it to take even longer—not only because of Father or Cardinal Raniero Cantalamessa (who gave the meditation after the Sistine Chapel doors were closed), who tends to preach at length—but also because the oath-taking dragged on much more than the last time,” said Kurt Martens, a professor at the School of Canon Law at the Catholic University of America, speaking to CNN.
He explained that each cardinal must walk up to the altar to cast his vote, and while there, must pronounce the oath in Latin:
“I call as my witness Christ the Lord, who will judge me, that I give my vote to the one who, before God, I think should be elected.”
Even if each cardinal took only one minute, with a record 133 voting cardinals, just casting the votes would take 133 minutes—over two hours.
“It’s not like you have twenty-somethings sprinting to the altar, so it takes time,” Martens added.
In addition, time must be taken to select scrutineers or to assist any cardinal who is ill and unable to physically be in the Sistine Chapel.
Then comes the vote counting, which also takes time. “It’s a long process,” Martens said. His advice for the next days of voting, which will include four rounds per day:
“Be patient.”
Other experts recalled past conclaves, such as the one that elected Jorge Mario Bergoglio, now Pope Francis, when a cardinal mistakenly cast two ballots (one of them blank), which forced the vote to be restarted.
As of Wednesday afternoon, there were no reports of any such issues.
If no pope is elected after the first three days, the fourth day (Sunday, as Wednesday’s vote does not count) will be a day of reflection, without voting. If the conclave continues, the cardinals may eventually vote between the top two candidates. A two-thirds majority is required to elect the new pope.
Once a winner is chosen, white smoke will rise from the chimney, the bells of St. Peter’s Basilica will ring, and shortly after, the pope’s baptismal name and chosen papal name will be announced to the world.
International
Xiomara Castro’s government vows to protect citizens amid threat reports
The government of President Xiomara Castro pledged on Tuesday to do “everything in its power” to protect the Honduran people and conduct necessary investigations following a warning from the U.S. Embassy about a possible mass shooting threat in Tegucigalpa.
“The Government of President @XiomaraCastroZ will do everything within its legal power to protect the Honduran people, maintain social peace, security, institutional stability, and the electoral process,” Foreign Minister Eduardo Enrique Reina wrote in a message posted on social media platform X. He also stated that investigations will be carried out to bring those responsible to justice.
Reina said the U.S. Embassy in Tegucigalpa, through diplomatic and security channels, shared information with the Honduran Foreign Ministry regarding potential attack threats. He emphasized that these alerts were treated “with responsibility and diligence, regardless of their credibility or likelihood.”
The information was immediately forwarded to the Ministries of Security and Defense for proper investigation, monitoring, and prevention, Reina added.
The U.S. Embassy, in a statement published on its official website, said it had received information about a possible mass shooting threat on May 6 and again on May 16 in Tegucigalpa. The potential targets mentioned include the Elliot Dover Christian School, the Government Civic Center, and an unnamed shopping mall.
The Honduran Foreign Minister expressed concern over what he described as an attempt to “sow fear and unrest among the Honduran population, especially in an election year.” He suggested the threat aligns with criminal tactics and media manipulation seen during the 2009 coup and the narco-state period under former President Juan Orlando Hernández, who was convicted of drug trafficking in the U.S. in 2024.
Honduras is set to hold its general elections on November 30, the twelfth since the country’s return to democracy following nearly two decades of military rule.
International
Prosecutor José Domingo Pérez reinstated in Fujimori corruption case
José Domingo Pérez, Peru’s top anti-corruption prosecutor who leads the case against political figure Keiko Fujimori for the alleged illegal financing of her 2011 and 2016 presidential campaigns, will resume his duties on Tuesday after successfully appealing a suspension imposed in April.
The National Control Authority of the Public Ministry (ANC) nullified the six-month suspension, according to local media reports citing the official resolution.
The decision, issued Monday by the ANC’s General Appeals Directorate, partially upheld Pérez’s appeal and ordered his reinstatement to the Special Team investigating the Lava Jato and Odebrecht corruption cases in Peru.
Pérez was suspended on April 7 for six months, during which time he was barred from carrying out his role as provincial prosecutor of the Special Lava Jato Team, due to alleged administrative misconduct.
The resolution noted that “preventive removal from prosecutorial duties is reserved for exceptional and severe circumstances that compromise the dignity of the role and damage the prosecutor’s public reputation.”
Pérez had called the suspension “unjust and abusive,” adding that Peruvian prosecutors are enduring “difficult and resistant times.”
Meanwhile, on April 3, the Peruvian judiciary upheld a decision to annul the trial against Fujimori regarding alleged irregular campaign financing, affirming a ruling by the Constitutional Court.
As a result, Pérez’s previous appeal was rejected, and the Public Ministry must now rework parts of the investigation and file new charges—a process legal experts say could take between one year and 18 months.
A judge will then determine whether to proceed to trial against Fujimori and 32 other individuals connected to her political party, Fuerza Popular, over alleged illegal contributions from companies like Brazil’s Odebrecht and several Peruvian conglomerates.
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