It is quiet when we arrive in the French town of Henin-Beaumont.
A rain cloud sits above our heads while a solitary young man is strolling towards us, purposefully. The cloud looks menacing; the man looks very friendly.
“You are a journalist?” he asks, beaming. He’s dressed in a smart shirt and tie, I guess that he must surely be linked to politics and, almost certainly, to the National Rally (Rassemblement National – RN) party.
He is. Like so many in this area, Yanis Gaudillat backs the RN to the hilt. He’s an activist with the far-right party and believes its moment has come. He wants to talk to us, to share his excitement.
“I was surprised that Mr Macron called the election but also very pleased,” he says. “It’s what we have been planning for. And I think we will do well.”
He is a loyal supporter of Marine Le Pen who, up until its dissolution, led the RN in parliament. This is Le Pen’s constituency – she comes here to vote and her office is only 100 metres from where we stand and chat.
Image: The town of Henin-Beaumont
Image: Posters of Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella in Henin-Beaumont
But Yanis’s greatest admiration is for someone else – Jordan Bardella, the RN’s president.
Bardella is just 28 years old, but is now tipped to become France’s prime minister should the RN prosper as well in this next election as they did in the European elections.
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Image: Jordan Bardella. Pic: Reuters
“We can see on social media channels, Jordan Bardella is reaching huge numbers,” Yanis says.
“He’s the president of our party, a great politician who in just a few weeks could be prime minister. And then in 2027, why can’t he stand alongside Marine Le Pen if she becomes president?”
In a sense, what stands before us is a battle between two proteges to be prime minister.
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Macron calls snap election
The person holding the office now is Gabriel Attal, himself just 35 years old and a devoted follower of Emmanuel Macron. At the time of his appointment, at the start of the year, much was made of his youth.
Now, his job could be under threat from a much younger man. Bardella, after all, is younger than Harry Styles, Justin Bieber and Dua Lipa. There have been smartphones in the world for his entire life.
Little wonder Bardella is so adept at social media, with more than 1.5 million followers on TikTok.
His critics say he is a triumph of style over substance, but if you want evidence of how his brand is working, then you just have to walk through Henin-Beaumont to the town hall.
There, stuck to the windows at the entrance, are the European election results from all the local cantons.
The RN, with Bardella’s name used as the candidate, won everywhere in this area.
And they won by huge margins – in one place taking 73.4% of the vote. Macron’s party Renaissance won 3.2%.
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The man inside the town hall shakes my hand and beams. He looks like he hasn’t had much sleep.
Steeve Briois isn’t simply the mayor of Henin-Beaumont but also a vice-president of the RN. He says he’s spent decades for a time like this.
Image: Steeve Briois
“Macron’s administration has really let down the nation. They’ve been belligerent and used their power in a bad way, bringing in too many reforms. We at the RN – we have given hope back to the people of France.”
The rain starts falling again, but Steeve doesn’t seem to mind. He has no doubt that Bardella will be prime minister and Le Pen will be president.
Here, in Le Pen’s heartland, hope had already transformed into optimism and is now morphing into a sense of certainty. The RN think this is their time.
In the long Gaza war, this is a significant moment.
For the people of Gaza, for the hostages and their families – this could be the moment it ends. But we have been here before, so many times.
The key question – will Hamas accept what Israel has agreed to: a 60-day ceasefire?
At the weekend, a source at the heart of the negotiations told me: “Both Hamas and Israel are refusing to budge from their position – Hamas wants the ceasefire to last until a permanent agreement is reached. Israel is opposed to this. At this point only President Trump can break this deadlock.”
The source added: “Unless Trump pushes, we are in a stalemate.”
The problem is that the announcement made now by Donald Trump – which is his social-media-summarised version of whatever Israel has actually agreed to – may just amount to Israel’s already-established position.
We don’t know the details and conditions attached to Israel’s proposals.
Would Israeli troops withdraw from Gaza? Totally? Or partially? How many Palestinian prisoners would they agree to release from Israel’s jails? And why only 60 days? Why not a total ceasefire? What are they asking of Hamas in return? We just don’t know the answers to any of these questions, except one.
We do know why Israel wants a 60-day ceasefire, not a permanent one. It’s all about domestic politics.
If Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was to agree now to a permanent ceasefire, the extreme right-wingers in his coalition would collapse his government.
Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich have both been clear about their desire for the war to continue. They hold the balance of power in Mr Netanyahu’s coalition.
If Mr Netanyahu instead agrees to just 60 days – which domestically he can sell as just a pause – then that may placate the extreme right-wingers for a few weeks until the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, is adjourned for the summer.
It is also no coincidence that the US president has called for Mr Netanyahu’s corruption trial to be scrapped.
Without the prospect of jail, Mr Netanyahu might be more willing to quit the war safe in the knowledge that focus will not shift immediately to his own political and legal vulnerability.
The Women’s Euros begin in Switzerland today – with extreme heat warnings in place.
Security measures have had to be relaxed by UEFA for the opening matches so fans can bring in water bottles.
Temperatures could be about 30C (86F) when the Swiss hosts open their campaign against Norway in Basel this evening.
Players have already seen the impact of heatwaves this summer at the men’s Club World Cup in the US.
Image: The Spain squad pauses for refreshments during a training session. Pic: AP
It is raising new concerns in the global players’ union about whether the stars of the sport are being protected in hot and humid conditions.
FIFPRO has asked FIFA to allow cooling breaks every 15 minutes rather than just in the 30th minute of each half.
There’s also a request for half-time to be extended from 15 to 20 minutes to help lower the core temperature of players.
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FIFPRO’s medical director, Dr Vincent Gouttebarge, said: “There are some very challenging weather conditions that we anticipated a couple of weeks ago already, that was already communicated to FIFA.
“And I think the past few weeks were confirmation of all worries that the heat conditions will play a negative role for the performance and the health of the players.”
Football has seemed focused on players and fans baking in the Middle East – but scorching summers in Europe and the US are becoming increasingly problematic for sport.
Image: England are the tournament’s defending champions. Pic: AP
While climate change is a factor, the issue is not new and at the 1994 World Cup, players were steaming as temperatures rose in the US.
There is now more awareness of the need for mitigation measures among players and their international union.
FIFPRO feels football officials weren’t responsive when it asked for kick-off times to be moved from the fierce afternoon heat in the US for the first 32-team Club World Cup.
FIFA has to balance the needs of fans and broadcasters with welfare, with no desire to load all the matches in the same evening time slots.
Electric storms have also seen six games stopped, including a two-hour pause during a Chelsea game at the weekend.
This is the dress rehearsal for the World Cup next summer, which is mostly in the US.
Image: Players are also feeling the heat at the Club World Cup. Pic: AP
The use of more indoor, air conditioned stadiums should help.
There is no prospect of moving the World Cup to winter, as Qatar had to do in 2022.
And looking further ahead to this time in 2030, there will be World Cup matches in Spain, Portugal and Morocco. The temperatures this week have been hitting 40C (104F) in some host cities.
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FIFA said in a statement to Sky News: “Heat conditions are a serious topic that affect football globally.
“At the FCWC some significant and progressive measures are being taken to protect the players from the heat. For instance, cooling breaks were implemented in 31 out of 54 matches so far.
“Discussions on how to deal with heat conditions need to take place collectively and FIFA stands ready to facilitate this dialogue, including through the Task Force on Player Welfare, and to receive constructive input from all stakeholders on how to further enhance heat management.
“In all of this, the protection of players must be at the centre.”
Around 14 million people could die across the world over the next five years because of cuts to the US Agency for International Development (USAID), researchers have warned.
Children under five are expected to make up around a third (4.5 million) of the mortalities, according to a study published in The Lancet medical journal.
Estimates showed that “unless the abrupt funding cuts announced and implemented in the first half of 2025 are reversed, a staggering number of avoidable deaths could occur by 2030”.
“Beyond causing millions of avoidable deaths – particularly among the most vulnerable – these cuts risk reversing decades of progress in health and socioeconomic development in LMICs [low and middle-income countries],” the report said.
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USAID programmes have prevented the deaths of more than 91 million people, around a third of them among children, the study suggests.
The agency’s work has been linked to a 65% fall in deaths from HIV/AIDS, or 25.5 million people.
Eight million deaths from malaria, more than half the total, around 11 million from diarrheal diseases and nearly five million from tuberculosis (TB), have also been prevented.
USAID has been vital in improving global health, “especially in LMICs, particularly African nations,” according to the report.
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Established in 1961, the agency was tasked with providing humanitarian assistance and helping economic growth in developing countries, especially those deemed strategic to Washington.
But the Trump administration has made little secret of its antipathy towards the agency, which became an early victim of cuts carried out by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) – formerly led by Elon Musk – in what the US government said was part of a broader plan to remove wasteful spending.
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What is USAID?
In March, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said more than 80% of USAID schemes had been closed following a six-week review, leaving around 1,000 active.
The US is the world’s largest humanitarian aid donor, providing around $61bn (£44bn) in foreign assistance last year, according to government data, or at least 38% of the total, and USAID is the world’s leading donor for humanitarian and development aid, the report said.
Between 2017 and 2020, the agency responded to more than 240 natural disasters and crises worldwide – and in 2016 it sent food assistance to more than 53 million people across 47 countries.
The study assessed all-age and all-cause mortality rates in 133 countries and territories, including all those classified as low and middle-income, supported by USAID from 2001 to 2021.