عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
World

Macron Tasks His Outgoing PM with Holding Last-Ditch Talks to End Crisis

French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu delivers a statement at the Hotel Matignon in Paris, on October 3, 2025, before a round of consultations with political parties ahead of the announcement of the new government. (Reuters)
French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu delivers a statement at the Hotel Matignon in Paris, on October 3, 2025, before a round of consultations with political parties ahead of the announcement of the new government. (Reuters)
TT
TT

Macron Tasks His Outgoing PM with Holding Last-Ditch Talks to End Crisis

French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu delivers a statement at the Hotel Matignon in Paris, on October 3, 2025, before a round of consultations with political parties ahead of the announcement of the new government. (Reuters)
French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu delivers a statement at the Hotel Matignon in Paris, on October 3, 2025, before a round of consultations with political parties ahead of the announcement of the new government. (Reuters)

French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday tasked his outgoing prime minister, who had resigned earlier in the day, to hold last-ditch talks with other political parties to try and chart a path out of the crisis. 

Sebastien Lecornu had tendered his government's resignation only hours after announcing his cabinet line-up, making it the shortest-lived administration in modern French history and deepening the country's political crisis. 

It was not immediately clear what Lecornu's task would entail. France's constitution allows Macron to reappoint Lecornu as prime minister, should he wish. 

Macron gave Lecornu 48 hours. 

"The president has entrusted Mr. Sebastien Lecornu, the outgoing Prime Minister in charge of day-to-day affairs, with the responsibility of conducting final negotiations by Wednesday evening to define a platform for action and stability for the country," the Elysee Palace said in a statement. 

Lecornu’s swift resignation was unexpected and unprecedented and marked another major deepening of France's political crisis.   

The far-right National Rally immediately urged Macron to call a snap parliamentary election.   

After weeks of consultations with political parties across the board, Lecornu, a close ally of Macron, had appointed his ministers on Sunday and they had been set to hold their first meeting on Monday afternoon.   

But the new cabinet line-up had angered opponents and allies alike, who either found it too right-wing or not sufficiently so, raising questions on how long it could last, at a time when France is already mired deep in political crisis, with no group holding a majority in a fragmented parliament.   

French politics has become increasingly unstable since Macron's re-election in 2022 for want of any party or grouping holding a parliamentary majority.   

Macron's decision to call a snap parliamentary election last year deepened the crisis by producing an even more fragmented parliament. Lecornu, who was only appointed last month, was Macron's fifth prime minister in two years.   

"There can be no return to stability without a return to the polls and the dissolution of the National Assembly," National Rally leader Jordan Bardella said after Lecornu resigned.   

Paris' CAC 40 dropped 1.5% as Lecornu resigned, making it the worst-performing index in Europe, as banking shares came under heavy fire, leaving BNP Paribas, Societe Generale and Credit Agricole down 4% to 5%.   

The euro slid 0.7% on the day to $1.1665. 

Most Viewed

 
 
World

Historic Agreement Facilitates Border Crossing Between Spain and Gibraltar

Against the backdrop of the Rock of Gibraltar, workers dismantle a Spanish border checkpoint that separated the disputed British overseas territory from Spain in La Línea de la Concepción, Spain, Monday, July 6, 2026. (AP)
Against the backdrop of the Rock of Gibraltar, workers dismantle a Spanish border checkpoint that separated the disputed British overseas territory from Spain in La Línea de la Concepción, Spain, Monday, July 6, 2026. (AP)
TT
TT

Historic Agreement Facilitates Border Crossing Between Spain and Gibraltar

Against the backdrop of the Rock of Gibraltar, workers dismantle a Spanish border checkpoint that separated the disputed British overseas territory from Spain in La Línea de la Concepción, Spain, Monday, July 6, 2026. (AP)
Against the backdrop of the Rock of Gibraltar, workers dismantle a Spanish border checkpoint that separated the disputed British overseas territory from Spain in La Línea de la Concepción, Spain, Monday, July 6, 2026. (AP)

Thousands of workers crossing daily between Spain and Gibraltar will enter a new era of easier travel on Wednesday, as border checks that have long been a source of tension are lifted, according to AFP.

The agreement, signed on Tuesday in Brussels, was reached six years after Britain's exit from the European Union. It is designed to facilitate the movement of people and goods between Gibraltar and Spain and avoid lengthy delays for workers who cross the border each day.

Home to only around 40,000 people, the tiny self-governing British territory at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula relies on about 15,000 daily cross-border workers from Spain, who make up nearly half of its workforce.

During rush hours, long lines can form at the land border and documents are checked -- especially during periods of tension between Britain and Spain, which claims sovereignty over Gibraltar.

A smoother border will make it easier for Gibraltar businesses to recruit and retain workers who live in Spain, as the “hassle” of crossing the frontier can be “significant,” said Owen Smith, head of the Gibraltar Federation of Small Businesses.

“It's been a big factor in retention, and certainly a fluid border is going to make life much easier,” he told AFP, calling it “very, very positive.”

The agreement will align Gibraltar with the rules of Europe’s passport-free Schengen travel area.

It was reached after years of talks between Spain, Britain and the EU.

Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares told Cadena SER on Tuesday that the agreement “opens a new era” and “great prospects three centuries later.”

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is set to visit the frontier zone on Wednesday, where workers have in recent weeks taken down the old chain-link fencing between Gibraltar and Spain.

He has hailed the new arrangements as bringing down “the last wall” inside the EU. “We have managed, after hundreds of years to bring down the last wall in the European Union,” he said.

The border was closed by Spanish dictator Francisco Franco in 1969 after Gibraltar, which relies on London for defense and foreign policy, voted overwhelmingly in a referendum to remain British.

The closure, which lasted 13 years, cut off the daily movement of workers from Spain into Gibraltar and separated families.

Since then, long queues have repeatedly formed at the Gibraltar-Spain border when diplomatic tensions over the territory's sovereignty have led to tighter controls by Spain.

“It is important that this sword of Damocles disappears,” said Manuel Triano Paulete, secretary general of the CCOO trade union in Spain's Campo de Gibraltar region which surrounds the British territory, saying cross-border workers often did not know how long it would take them to get to work.

Gibraltar -- which covers just under seven square kilometers -- has one of the highest per capita incomes in the world.

It has long been a lifeline for people who live in Campo de Gibraltar, which has historically had one of Spain's highest jobless rates.

London and Madrid have disputed control of Gibraltar since the tiny territory was ceded to Britain in the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht.

World

Police: Muslim Man Stabbed Multiple Times in Utah over his Religion

(FILES) Cedar trees, sandstone formations and mountains are shown here in the Bears Ears National Monument on May 12, 2017 outside Blanding, Utah. (Photo by GEORGE FREY / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP)
(FILES) Cedar trees, sandstone formations and mountains are shown here in the Bears Ears National Monument on May 12, 2017 outside Blanding, Utah. (Photo by GEORGE FREY / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP)
TT
TT

Police: Muslim Man Stabbed Multiple Times in Utah over his Religion

(FILES) Cedar trees, sandstone formations and mountains are shown here in the Bears Ears National Monument on May 12, 2017 outside Blanding, Utah. (Photo by GEORGE FREY / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP)
(FILES) Cedar trees, sandstone formations and mountains are shown here in the Bears Ears National Monument on May 12, 2017 outside Blanding, Utah. (Photo by GEORGE FREY / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP)

A man was arrested in Utah for stabbing a Muslim man multiple times and stated that he targeted the victim because of the victim's religion, police said in court records on Tuesday.

Police said the suspect told them he "intends to kill Muslims" and that he constituted "a substantial danger to the public if released based on his violent actions ... ideologies and pre-planned mass casualty events."

The incident took place inside the Valley Fair Mall in Utah's West Valley City on Monday. The male victim had "multiple stab wounds ⁠all over his ⁠body and was bleeding profusely," police said in an affidavit.

According to Reuters, authorities said the suspect was pinned to the ground by bystanders before officers arrived on the scene.

The suspect, Peter Michael Larsen, 48, was booked into the Salt Lake County jail for a probe over attempted murder and prohibited dangerous weapon conduct, jail records showed on Tuesday. The victim was a male Muslim kiosk ⁠worker.

The suspect said "he had targeted the victim with intent to kill him because of his religion (Muslim)," according to the police booking affidavit.

The suspect approached the Muslim man, asked for his name, asked about his religion and indicated he wanted a bottle of water, the Salt Lake Tribune reported, citing comments from Imam Shuaib Din, who leads the Utah Islamic Center and had been in contact with the victim's family.

As the victim turned to get the water, the attacker began stabbing him, according to Din.

The victim was hospitalized and in critical condition. A friend set up a GoFundMe page for him, ⁠which said ⁠the Muslim man was stabbed 15 times and needed surgeries. The attacker was also hospitalized because of wounds sustained while he was subdued by bystanders, before being booked into the Salt Lake County jail.

Muslim rights groups, including the Council on American-Islamic Relations, condemned the incident. US rights advocates have noted rising Islamophobia over the last two-plus decades following the September 11, 2001, attacks, and more recently because of anti-immigration policies, white supremacy and the fallout of Israel's war in Gaza.

Deadly violent attacks in recent years include a 2023 stabbing of a 6-year-old Muslim child in Illinois whose killer was sentenced to 53 years in prison and died in custody, and a 2026 shooting at a San Diego mosque that left five dead, including two teenage suspects.

World

US Reimposes Blockade on Iran after Tehran's Attacks on Ships in Strait of Hormuz

FILE PHOTO: Vessels at the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Musandam, Oman, June 18, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Vessels at the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Musandam, Oman, June 18, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo
TT
TT

US Reimposes Blockade on Iran after Tehran's Attacks on Ships in Strait of Hormuz

FILE PHOTO: Vessels at the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Musandam, Oman, June 18, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Vessels at the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Musandam, Oman, June 18, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo

The US military early Wednesday reimposed a blockade on Iranian ports over Tehran’s attacks on ships trying to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, sparking new strikes on nations hosting American forces as an interim deal to end the war further unraveled.

Days of retaliatory strikes across the Middle East by Iran — and both nations’ attempts to assert control of the waterway through which a fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas trade passes during peacetime — threaten to push the region back to all-out war.

The US first imposed the blockade in mid-April and then lifted it in mid-June, a day after signing the interim deal that set a 60-day period for negotiations over issues like Iran’s nuclear program, but talks have stalled as fighting over the strait has intensified.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard threatened Wednesday to halt all energy exports from the Middle East over the blockade.

“The export of oil and gas from the region will be either for everyone or for no one,” it said.

When US President Donald Trump announced the return of the blockade Monday, he also said he would impose a 20% fee on ships passing through the strait. But he dropped the plan to collect fees hours before resuming the blockade.

The US carried out another wave of strikes as it reimposed the blockade, striking dozens of targets over seven hours, the US military’s Central Command said Wednesday.

Missile alert warnings went out in Bahrain and Kuwait early Wednesday morning as they faced incoming Iranian fire. Jordan also said it shot down three incoming Iranian missiles.