Author: Frank Deux

President Emmanuel Macron has reminded European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen that France still considers an EU trade agreement with South America’s Mercosur bloc “unacceptable,” his office said on Thursday, December 5. France is strongly opposed to the EU signing off on the deal with Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, saying French farmers would face unfair competition undercutting their livelihoods. “The project of an agreement between the EU and Mercosur is unacceptable in its current state,” Macron told von der Leyen. “We continue to tirelessly defend our agricultural sovereignty,” the Elysée said on X. Von der Leyen had earlier…

When the former Minister of Transport José Luis Ábalos is asked if he hides a fortune abroad due to the collection of illegal commissions, as investigated by the Civil Guard, the current deputy of the Mixed Group denies it: “I find the question very funny. I have no money, no assets or anything. Neither directly nor through third parties,” the one who was until 2021 one of the heavyweights of the PSOE and the Government of Pedro Sánchez responds by telephone to EL PAÍS.The investigation of Delorme casean alleged corrupt network that colonized the Ministry of Transport that he directed…

The Santa María is right now the only ship deployed in the area as part of ‘operation Atalanta’ Read A Spanish frigate monitors a Chinese fishing vessel attacked by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean

Investigators probing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson’s murder uncovered key leads Thursday, including a suspect’s possible New York trip from Atlanta and ammunition marked “deny, defend, depose.” The phrase, linked to insurance critics, was written in marker, officials revealed anonymously. New clues emerge as hunt for US healthcare CEO killer continues

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will travel to Paris this weekend for the reopening of Notre Dame cathedral, a spokesperson for the executive said on Thursday, December 5. About 50 heads of state and government are expected in the French capital for the ceremony on Saturday, including US President-elect Donald Trump. It will be the first time that von der Leyen will meet Trump since his election last month and before his inauguration in Washington on January 20. The European Union is trying to prepare for the return of the billionaire former real estate mogul, who has threatened…

  For the second time in the history of the French Fifth Republic, a prime minister has fallen victim to a vote of no confidence. For the first time, it happened in the absence of the main driving force of his debacle. When Yaël Braun-Pivet, the president of the Assemblée Nationale, announced Michel Barnier’s forced resignation on Wednesday, December 4, Marine Le Pen was nowhere to be seen. The troops of the far-right Rassemblement National (RN) party, without their boss, were modest in their triumph, some not even bothering to return to their seats for an announcement that they swore…

The explosion of lights that adorn the streets of Madrid, the Christmas markets that seem to come out of a story and the people running from one place to another trying to buy gifts now so as not to fall into last-minute trouble remind us that Christmas is almost here. Madrid is trying these days to emulate that magical place where you can make plans with family and friends to toast the year that is ending. However, in order to lower the revs and not go crazy when December has just started, Madrid Enreda Te Enreda brings this week Host…

He accuses the PP of having turned the region into the “epicenter of corruption and hoax” Read Óscar López launches his candidacy to lead the PSOE of Madrid with the end of Ayuso’s presidency as his objective: "It is a public service mission"

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said a free-trade deal with South America’s Mercosur bloc is “in sight” but faces resistance ahead of a two-day summit in Uruguay. Leaders from Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay are negotiating the pact to establish the world’s largest free trade zone. However, Italy’s opposition threatens to derail the 20-year effort to create the world’s largest free-trade zone. EU chief makes final push to secure Mercosur free trade agreement

French President Emmanuel Macron is seen on monitors in a control room at Agence France-Presse headquarters as he addresses the nation during a televised broadcast from the presidential Elysée Palace, on the day of the prime minister’s resignation on December 5, 2024. LUDOVIC MARIN / AFP French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday, December 5, vowed to name a new prime minister “in the coming days” after the resignation of Michel Barnier, whose government was toppled by a no-confidence vote in Parliament. In an address to the nation, Macron rejected calls from opponents to resign, saying he would remain president “fully,…

“The roof woodwork, the woodwork, I’m a bit fed up with the woodwork, it’s all anyone ever talks about,” grumbled Priest Henry de Villefranche, canon of Notre-Dame. Does he mean there has been too little talk of God in the years of work that followed the fire on April 15, 2019? “For the past two years, we’ve been hearing too little about interesting things and too much about this construction site, which is constantly being described as ‘extraordinary.’ That’s a big exaggeration. This story about the statue of the Virgin Mary having miraculously escaped, it’s all nonsense. Apart from the…

The cartoonist Naoki Urasawa, three-time winner of the Shōgakukan Manga Prize and collaborator of the Louvre Museum, has kicked off Manga Barcelona this Thursday at the Fira Barcelona venue with tickets sold out for Friday, Saturday and Sunday, in which the organization hopes will be the congress with the largest number of guests in its history. The festival, which ends on Sunday, is expected to receive around 165,000 attendees, a similar number to previous editions, with the difference that, this time, the line-up stands out for luxury guests such as Naoki Urasawa, Yumi KoIgarashi, Kamome Shirahama, Akasaka Aka, Yokoyari Mengo,…

Judge Hurtado rejects García Ortiz’s claims and supports the work of the Civil Guard: “There is no room to criticize the expert evidence.” Read The attorney general attacks the UCO and accuses it of committing "irregularities" in the report on the leak of Ayuso’s boyfriend

video On April 15, 2019, the roof and spire of the famous Paris monument went up in smoke. It was a disaster, but one that could have been far worse. Using exclusive 3D modeling to reconstruct the fire, Le Monde identified the crucial decision that saved the monument. Notre-Dame could have collapsed in April 2019. Here’s how firefighters saved the cathedral from total destruction

An unexpected consequence of Donald Trump’s election as US president was the return to public debate of an old American public health measure: Water fluoridation. Robert F. Kennedy Jr, set to become the health secretary, is not only a notorious anti-vaxer but also a fierce opponent of adding fluoride to drinking water. He claimed that the practice is “associated with arthritis, bone fractures, bone cancer, IQ loss, neurodevelopmental disorders, and thyroid disease.” While some of these claims are unsupported by scientific evidence – notably the link between fluoride exposure and cancer – a growing number of scientific studies and official…

At the beginning of November, the National Police arrested three local police officers from Santa Susanna (Barcelona) and the PP councilor of the municipality, Inmaculada Casilla, suspected of being part of a network dedicated to the regularization of foreigners. The police accuse the four involved of simulating contracts for a criminal organization that allegedly fraudulently processed residence permits for forty people, according to sources in the case. Those investigated allegedly pretended to employ various people as domestic workers in exchange for money so that the group could legalize their situation in Spain. The detention of the four accused was voided…

The central Executive, the PP and the governments of the Canary Islands and Ceuta hold a meeting this Thursday to try to move towards a migration agreement Read Clavijo devises a new distribution of minors so that the State can pay for 6,000 migrants

The ruling People Power Party (PPP) said on Thursday it would block the opposition’s motion to impeach South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol for his short-lived attempt at martial law, but the motion only needs a handful of PPP defectors to pass and few are ready to forgive Yoon’s “unconstitutional” move. South Korea's ruling party says it will block impeachment motion against President Yoon

Why are girls struggling in math? This is the question on everyone’s mind when reading the French results of the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), conducted in 2023, as it is every four years, in some 50 countries among pupils in fourth and eighth grade, and made public on Wednesday, December 4. Along with Australia and Italy, France is one of the countries with the biggest performance gap between genders in fourth grade. There is a 23-point difference (496 points for boys and 473 points for girls), compared with 13 in the 2019 edition, representing a several-month…

For five days now, Mathias Pogba, 34, has been waiting in his charcoal grey suit, twisting his shoulders and turning his neck as if to shake off tension. Sitting in the front row of the courtroom at the Paris Tribunal, where the trial for kidnapping and extortion against his brother Paul Pogba is taking place, he has had to listen through all the hearings of the other five defendants, trying, unconvincingly, to clear their name. When he finally spoke on Tuesday, December 3, it was to try and justify the videos he posted on social media in August 2022, in…

  The eyes of Víctor Ángel Torres, minister of the Government of Spain, light up when he hears the question. “Is the government afraid of a possible indictment of Pilar Sánchez Acera?” they asked her this Wednesday at an event honoring the Constitution. “Fear of justice, none,” responds the Canary Islands politician before it is known that the Supreme Court refuses “for now” to investigate the senior Moncloa official in the case opened against the State Attorney General for the alleged leak of an email of the case of Isabel Díaz Ayuso’s boyfriend. That exchange, however, reflects the problem facing…

The Chief of Staff of the Navy presents the ‘Armada 2050’ report, a document that has been worked on for two years. “The world’s economic centre of gravity is shifting towards the Indo-Pacific, where the sea will gain importance and it will be necessary to act within the framework of international coalitions.” This is one of the main conclusions of the Armada 2050 report presented yesterday by the Chief of Staff of the Navy, Admiral Piñeiro , at his headquarters. A document that has been worked on for two years to project what the Navy should be like in 2050. In this…

The chief executive of one of the United States’s largest health insurance companies, UnitedHealthcare, was shot and killed outside a New York Hilton hotel in an apparently targeted hit Wednesday. Brian Thompson was shot just before 7 am outside the hotel in the Midtown district of Manhattan. Police are searching for the killer. Police hunt for US healthcare executive’s masked killer after New York attack

  Three months after he was appointed prime minister by French President Emmanuel Macron, Michel Barnier and his government were toppled on Wednesday, December 4, after a majority of PMs voted a no-confidence motion. The Assemblée Nationale debated two motions of no confidence, one presented by the radical left and the other by the far right, in a standoff over next year’s austerity budget, after the prime minister on Monday forced a social security financing bill through without a vote. Read more Subscribers only From Barnier’s use of Article 49.3 to two no-confidence motions: A day of upheaval at the…

  As a special privilege, Emmanuel Macron was given a preview of the cathedral ahead of its reopening on Friday, November 29, and shared this moment with over a thousand lucky visitors. According to the Élysée, they were the people “most involved,” a term used to describe both the workers and restorers who brought the cathedral back to life, as well as the most generous donors who financed the project. Read more Inside Notre-Dame: The first images of the cathedral post-reconstruction Some €843 million was raised in the direct aftermath of the 15 April 2019 fire, with 340,000 people contributing…