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Francois Bayrou is the new prime minister of France following Michel Barnier’s resignation.

The centrist politician met President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace early this morning.

The 73-year-old is a crucial partner in Macron’s centrist alliance and has been a well-known figure in French politics for decades.

Emmanuel Macron and Francois Bayrou. Pic: Reuters
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Emmanuel Macron and Francois Bayrou. Pic: Reuters

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What to know about France’s new Prime Minister?

President Macron’s office said in a statement that Mr Bayrou “has been charged with forming a new government”.

The French government collapsed last week after Mr Barnier lost a vote of no confidence that was prompted by budget disputes.

Mr Barnier decided to use special powers to force a social security budget through the lower house of parliament without a final vote.

A last-minute concession was not enough to win support from the hard-right National Rally (RN).

It was the first time a French government had lost a confidence vote since 1962, and Mr Barnier subsequently tendered his resignation.

He was appointed in September and has become the shortest-serving prime minister in France’s modern Republic, lasting just 90 days in the job.

French Prime Minister Michel Barnier delivers a speech during a debate on two motions of no-confidence against the French government.
Pic Reuters
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Michel Barnier lost a vote of no confidence. Pic: Reuters

Mr Barnier was appointed following surprise elections called by President Macron earlier this year, which led to shock results which left the government and parliament in limbo.

The left-wing Popular Front alliance won the most seats – 193 – but it was far from the 289 needed for a majority.

Infighting among that alliance, which consists of seven parties, resulted in it being unable to agree on a candidate for prime minister.

Few expect new PM to last long after Barnier’s tough tenure

Francois Bayrou, a former minister who has run three times for president and started his own political party, has been named as the new French prime minister.

He will start the job immediately, with the job of bringing some calm to the nation’s volatile parliament. He faces a job that is, at best, imposing and, at worst, impossible. He will have to work with President Emmanuel Macron, while also finding common ground between a parliament that is split between politicians from the far left and far right, some of whom loathe the president and will do whatever it takes to undermine him.

Bayrou will also have to persuade a fractious, angry parliament to support a budget at a time when the nation’s public finances are under scrutiny. His predecessor lasted just three months in the job – few expect Bayrou to be in for a long stint.

Although from different parties, Bayrou is a long-standing ally of President Macron. He was the justice minister in the first government after Macron’s election, but then had to resign after being accused of fraud. He was acquitted of those charges earlier this year.

Bayrou, who is 73 years old, leads the Democratic Movement, which he founded in 2007. He has made three unsuccessful runs at the presidency – in 2002, 2007 and 2012.

His rise to the job of prime minister comes as part of the fallout from the summer, when Macron called fresh national elections. The result was a National Assembly that was essentially split between Left, Right and Centre parties, creating gridlock between politicians who could find few areas of consensus. It took two months for Macron to find a candidate for prime minister, Michel Barnier, who seemed palatable to all sides.

Instead, Barnier’s tenure was a clear warning of how tough the job is, and what Bayrou will have to manage.

Read the full piece by Adam Parsons on France’s new prime minister.

Mr Macron’s centrist Ensemble alliance, which came second in the election, built a loose coalition with right-wing politicians, in particular the Republicans, of which Mr Barnier was a member and who the far-right National Rally had said they could work with.

But both the Popular Front and National Rally came together to bring down Mr Barnier last week.

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Because his party does not have a majority, Mr Bayrou’s cabinet will be forced to rely on moderate politicians from the left and the right to be able to stay in power. Some conservatives are also expected to be part of the new government.

Mr Bayrou is expected to put forward his list of ministers in the coming days, but will likely face the same existential difficulties as Mr Barnier in steering legislation through a hung parliament made up of three warring blocs.

Jordan Bardella, the president of the National Rally party, said they would not be calling for an immediate no-confidence motion against Mr Bayrou.

President Macron has vowed to stay in office until the end of his term in 2027 despite mounting pressure on the 46-year-old to quit.

He previously claimed that far-right and left-wing politicians had united in an “anti-Republican front” and added: “I won’t shoulder other people’s irresponsibility.”

Mr Macron will hope the new prime minister can stave off no-confidence votes until at least July, when France will be able to hold a new parliamentary election.

The current political crisis has lifted French borrowing costs and left a power vacuum in the heart of Europe, as Donald Trump prepares to return to the White House.

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At least five killed in shooting in Jerusalem

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At least five killed in shooting in Jerusalem

At least five people have been killed in a shooting in Jerusalem, authorities have confirmed.

Footage showed dozens of people fleeing from a bus stop during the morning rush hour.

Paramedics who responded to the scene said the area was chaotic and covered in broken glass, with people wounded and lying unconscious on the road and a pavement near the bus stop.

Police said two attackers were “neutralised” soon after.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is now holding an assessment with his heads of security.

A motive for the shooting has not yet been confirmed. Pic: Reuters
Image:
A motive for the shooting has not yet been confirmed. Pic: Reuters

Around 15 people were injured – with six in a serious condition – after it appeared two attackers boarded a bus and opened fire as it reached a major intersection at the northern entrance to Jerusalem, on a road that leads to Jewish settlements in east Jerusalem.

Israeli Defense Force soldiers were dispatched and are searching the area for any other suspects. They are also searching several areas on the outskirts of Ramallah.

The bus with bullet holes in the windscreen. Pic: Reuters
Image:
The bus with bullet holes in the windscreen. Pic: Reuters

A spokesperson for Israeli emergency services, MDA, confirmed four deaths – a man about 50 years old and three men aged around 30.

The fifth victim, a woman about 50 years old, was confirmed at hospital.

Paramedics have evacuated from the scene other casualties in serious conditions with gunshot wounds, to hospitals in Jerusalem.

Several people with minor injuries from glass shards are being treated at the roadside.

The motive for the shooting and who carried it out, was not immediately clear.

The war in Gaza has sparked a surge of violence in both the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Israel.

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Death cap mushroom killer Erin Patterson jailed for minimum of 33 years

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Death cap mushroom killer Erin Patterson jailed for minimum of 33 years

An Australian mother who murdered her estranged husband’s parents and aunt by feeding them a beef wellington laced with poisonous mushrooms has been jailed for life with a minimum of 33 years.

Erin Patterson, 50, lured her former parents-in-law Don and Gail Patterson, both 70, and Gail Patterson’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, 66, to lunch at her home in Leongatha, Victoria, on 29 July 2023.

Mrs Wilkinson’s husband, Reverend Ian Wilkinson, also ate the meal, which was served alongside mashed potatoes and green beans, but survived after receiving a liver transplant and spending months in hospital.

Patterson, a mother-of-two, had made the pastry dish with deadly death cap mushrooms, also known as amanita phalloides.

At the sentencing hearing at the Supreme Court of Victoria in Melbourne, Justice Christopher Beale said the substantial planning of the murders and Patterson’s lack of remorse meant her sentence should be lengthy.

“The devastating impact of your crimes is not limited to your direct victims. Your crimes have harmed a great many people,” he said.

“Not only did you cut short three lives and cause lasting damage to Ian Wilkinson’s health, thereby devastating the
extended Patterson and Wilkinson families, you inflicted untold suffering on your own children, whom you robbed of their beloved grandparents.”

Pic: AP
Image:
Pic: AP

Patterson’s trial in Morwell, southern Australia, heard that she fabricated a cancer diagnosis to use as an excuse not to invite her children, pretending to want to discuss how to break the news to them after the meal.

The four guests fell ill immediately after eating her food. Mrs Wilkinson and Mrs Patterson died on 4 August, and Mr Patterson a day later.

Reverend Wilkinson spent seven weeks in hospital but survived.

Reverend Ian Wilkinson arrives at court. Pic: Reuters
Image:
Reverend Ian Wilkinson arrives at court. Pic: Reuters

Read more
More details of mushroom case revealed

In his victim impact statement, he said the poisoned food meant he had to have a liver transplant and was left feeling “half alive”.

Patterson, who maintains her innocence and that she poisoned her victims by accident, also invited the father of her children, Simon Patterson, to the fatal meal.

Simon Patterson outside of court in May. Pic: AP
Image:
Simon Patterson outside of court in May. Pic: AP

He declined the invitation.

In his victim impact statement, Mr Patterson said of the couple’s children: “The grim reality is they live in an irreparably broken home with only a solo parent, when almost everyone else knows their mother murdered their grandparents.”

In July, Patterson was found guilty of murdering Don and Gail Patterson, and Heather Wilkinson, and attempting to murder Ian Wilkinson.

What makes death cap mushrooms so lethal?

The death cap is one of the most toxic mushrooms on the planet and is involved in the majority of fatal mushroom poisonings worldwide.

The species contains three main groups of toxins: amatoxins, phallotoxins, and virotoxins.

From these, amatoxins are primarily responsible for the toxic effects in humans.

The alpha-amanitin amatoxin has been found to cause protein deficit and ultimately cell death, although other mechanisms are thought to be involved.

The liver is the main organ that fails due to the poison, but other organs are also affected, most notably the kidneys.

The effects usually begin after a short latent period and can include gastrointestinal disorders followed by jaundice, seizures, coma, and eventually, death.

Previous poisoning attempts left husband ill

Following the guilty verdicts, more details of the case were revealed.

Mr Patterson said he had rejected the lunch invite “out of fear” as he believed his former partner had tried to poison him three times before.

After they separated in 2015, he stopped eating any food she had prepared, having become seriously ill after meals cooked by her.

Death cap mushrooms. Pic: iStock
Image:
Death cap mushrooms. Pic: iStock

Reverend Wilkinson also revealed he and the other three guests were served their food on large grey dinner plates, while Patterson served her portion on a smaller, tan-coloured plate.

The nine-week trial attracted intense interest in Australia – with podcasters, journalists and documentary-makers descending on the town of Morwell, around two hours east of Melbourne, where the court hearings took place.

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Trump says he’s ready to move to second stage of Russia sanctions after Moscow launches large aerial attack

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Trump says he's ready to move to second stage of Russia sanctions after Moscow launches large aerial attack

Donald Trump has said he is ready to move to a second stage of sanctioning Russia, just hours after Moscow launched the largest arial attack of the war so far.

At least four people have been killed, including a mother and a three-month-old baby, with more than 40 others injured, after Russia launched a bombardment of drones overnight.

While on his way to the final of the US Open tennis tournament, the president was asked if he was ready to move to the second stage of punishment for Moscow, to which he replied, “Yes”.

It echoes US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who said additional economic pressure by the United States and Europe could prompt Putin to enter peace talks with Ukraine.

“We are prepared to increase pressure on Russia, but we need our European partners to follow us,” Treasury Secretary Scott told NBC News’ Meet the Press.

Sir Keir Starmer said the latest attack shows Vladimir Putin is “not serious about peace” as he joined other allies in condemning Russia’s actions.

The prime minister said the “brutal” and “cowardly” assault on Kyiv – which resulted in a government building catching fire – proved the Russian leader feels he can “act with impunity”.

Russia attacked Kyiv with 805 drones and decoys, officials said, and Ukraine shot down and neutralised 747 drones and four missiles, the country’s air force has said.

The attack caused a fire to break out at a key government building, with the sky above Kyiv covered in smoke.

Appeasement makes ‘no sense’

Polish premier Donald Tusk said the latest military onslaught showed any “attempts to appease” Putin make “no sense”.

“The US and Europe must together force Russia to accept an immediate ceasefire. We have all the instruments,” Mr Tusk said on Saturday.

Read more:
Putin’s warning to Western allies

Why fears of an attack on Europe are not ‘hysteria’

Meanwhile the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said the Kremlin was “mocking diplomacy”.

Vladimir Putin reportedly wants control of the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine – known as the Donbas – as a condition for ending the war.

Russia occupies around 19% of Ukraine, including Crimea and the parts of the Donbas region it seized before the full-scale invasion in February 2022.

But this attack comes after European nations pressed the Russian leader to work to end the war at a virtual meeting of the “coalition of the willing” – a group of countries led by France and Britain seeking to help protect Kyiv in the event of a ceasefire.

Some 26 of Ukraine’s allies pledged to provide security guarantees as part of a “reassurance force” for the war-torn country once the fighting ends, Mr Macron has said.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he is ready to meet Mr Putin to negotiate a peace agreement, and has urged US president Donald Trump to put punishing sanctions on Russia to push it to end the war.

Pic: State Emergency Service of Ukraine
Image:
Pic: State Emergency Service of Ukraine

“The world can force the Kremlin criminals to stop the killings – all that is needed is political will,” he said on Sunday.

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