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Thousands Protest in France after Macron Picks Barnier as PM

A demonstrator holds a poster which reads 'Macron treason resignation' during a protest, responding to a call from the far-left party who criticized as a power grab the president's appointment of a conservative new prime minister, Michel Barnier, in Paris, France, Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
A demonstrator holds a poster which reads 'Macron treason resignation' during a protest, responding to a call from the far-left party who criticized as a power grab the president's appointment of a conservative new prime minister, Michel Barnier, in Paris, France, Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
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Thousands Protest in France after Macron Picks Barnier as PM

A demonstrator holds a poster which reads 'Macron treason resignation' during a protest, responding to a call from the far-left party who criticized as a power grab the president's appointment of a conservative new prime minister, Michel Barnier, in Paris, France, Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
A demonstrator holds a poster which reads 'Macron treason resignation' during a protest, responding to a call from the far-left party who criticized as a power grab the president's appointment of a conservative new prime minister, Michel Barnier, in Paris, France, Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

Thousands of people took to the streets across France on Saturday to protest President Emmanuel Macron's decision to appoint center-right Michel Barnier as prime minister with left-wing parties accusing him of stealing legislative elections.
Macron named 73-year-old Barnier, a conservative and the European Union's former Brexit negotiator, as prime minister on Thursday, capping a two-month-long search following his ill-fated decision to call a legislative election that delivered a hung parliament divided in three blocs.
In his first interview as government chief, Barnier said on Friday night that his government, which lacks a clear majority, will include conservatives, members of Macron's camp and he hoped some from the left.
Barnier faces the daunting task of trying to drive reforms and the 2025 budget, as France is under pressure from the European Commission and bond markets to reduce its deficit.
The left, led by the far-left France Unbowed (LFI) party, has accused Macron of a denial of democracy and stealing the election after Macron refused to pick the candidate of the New Popular Front (NFP) alliance that came top in the July vote.
Pollster Elabe published a survey on Friday showing that 74% of French people considered Macron had disregarded the results of the elections with 55% believing he had stolen them.
In response to the appointment of Barnier, whose center-right Les Republicains party is only the fifth bloc in parliament with less than 50 lawmakers, left-wing party leaders, unions and student bodies called for mass protests on Saturday ahead of new action, including possible strikes on Oct. 1.
The LFI party said 130 protests would take place across the country.
Barnier was continuing consultations on Saturday as he looks to form a government, a tricky job given he faces a potential no-confidence vote especially with an urgent draft budget for 2025 due to be discussed in parliament at the start of October, Reuters reported.
NFP and the far-right National Rally (RN) together have a majority and could oust the prime minister through a no-confidence vote should they decide to collaborate.
The RN gave its tacit approval for Barnier citing a number of conditions for it to not back a no-confidence vote, making it the de facto kingmaker for the new government.
"He is a prime minister under surveillance," RN party leader Jordan Bardella told BFM on Saturday. "Nothing can be done without us."

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Pakistani Man Charged with Plotting Shooting at New York Jewish Center

The New York skyline glows at dusk during the men's singles semifinal of the US Open tennis championships, Friday, Sept. 6, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)
The New York skyline glows at dusk during the men's singles semifinal of the US Open tennis championships, Friday, Sept. 6, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)
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Pakistani Man Charged with Plotting Shooting at New York Jewish Center

The New York skyline glows at dusk during the men's singles semifinal of the US Open tennis championships, Friday, Sept. 6, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)
The New York skyline glows at dusk during the men's singles semifinal of the US Open tennis championships, Friday, Sept. 6, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)

A Pakistani man was arrested in Canada this week and accused of plotting a mass shooting at a Jewish center in Brooklyn on the one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas that sparked the latest conflict in the Middle East, federal authorities announced Friday.

US Attorney General Merrick Garland said Muhammad Shahzeb Khan had attempted to travel from Canada, where he lives, to New York City with the “stated goal of slaughtering, in the name of ISIS, as many Jewish people as possible,” The Associated Press reported.

The 20 year-old, who is also known as Shahzeb Jadoon, was apprehended Sept. 4 and charged with attempting to provide material support and resources to the terror group.

“Jewish communities — like all communities in this country — should not have to fear that they will be targeted by a hate-fueled terrorist attack," Garland said in a statement.

It was unclear if Khan has a lawyer, where in Canada he was being held and when he may be brought to the US to face the charges.

Spokespersons for the Justice Department and the Manhattan federal prosecutor’s office, which is handling the case, deferred to Canadian national police, which didn't respond to an email seeking comment but said in a statement posted online that Khan will appear in the Superior Court of Justice in Montreal on Sept. 13.

“This planned antisemitic attack against Jewish people in the US is deplorable and there is no place for such ideological and hate-motivated crime in Canada,” Michael Duheme, commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, said in the statement.

US authorities said Khan began sharing ISIS propaganda videos and expressing his support for the terror group in social media posts and communications with others on an encrypted messaging app last November.

In conversations with two undercover law enforcement officers, he said he was trying to start a “real offline cell” of ISIS in order to carry out attacks against “Israeli Jewish chabads” in America. Khan said he and another ISIS supporter based in the US needed to obtain AR-style assault rifles, ammunition, hunting knives and other materials, according to the Justice Department.

Khan also provided details about how he would cross the border from Canada and said he was considering conducting the attacks on either the Oct. 7 anniversary or on Oct. 11, which is the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, authorities said.

On Aug. 20, he told the undercover officers that he had settled on targeting New York because of its sizeable Jewish population and sent a photograph of the specific area inside a Jewish center where he planned to carry out the attack, according to the Justice Department.