French Government Faces Stress Test as Pensions Return to Fore
Negotiations over France's contentious retirement reform ended in deadlock Monday, raising the chances of government collapse should opposition parties unite in a no-confidence vote.
Prime Minister Francois Bayrou had tasked labor unions and business groups with tweaking President Emmanuel Macron's 2023 law that raises the minimum retirement age to 64 from 62. But they failed to agree on workarounds for the age thresholds, according to negotiators cited by Agence France Presse late Monday.
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Associated Press
15 minutes ago
- Associated Press
A German court lifts a government ban on a far-right magazine
BERLIN (AP) — A German court on Tuesday lifted a ban imposed by the government last year on a far-right magazine, ruling that the case against it didn't clear the high bar required to outlaw its publisher. Germany's previous government banned Compact magazine and the company that publishes it, Compact-Magazin GmbH, in July. Then-Interior Minister Nancy Faeser described Compact as 'a central mouthpiece of the right-wing extremist scene,' and said that it 'agitates in an unspeakable way against Jews, against people with a history of migration and against our parliamentary democracy.' Compact appealed to the Federal Administrative Court, which suspended the ban in August pending a full consideration of the case. Following a hearing earlier this month, the court lifted the ban altogether on Tuesday. The court said in a statement that Germany's constitution guarantees freedom of the press and opinion 'even for the enemies of freedom' and that, on grounds of proportionality, a ban could only be justified if the publisher's anti-constitutional activities were proven to be 'formative' for the group. It said a review of the evidence showed that the material in question didn't reach that threshold. Compact is run by far-right figure Jürgen Elsässer, and produces the monthly magazine of the same name, which has a circulation of about 40,000, as well as an online video channel, Compact TV. It also runs an online shop selling books, CDs, DVDs and other merchandise. Compact has been published since 2010. In its annual report for 2023, Germany's domestic intelligence agency said that it 'regularly disseminates ... antisemitic, anti-minority, historically revisionist and conspiracy theory content.' The strength of the far right has caused increasing concern in Germany in recent years.
New York Times
27 minutes ago
- New York Times
A Show of Unity May Be the Best That NATO Can Hope For at Summit
NATO opened a high-level meeting on Tuesday against the backdrop of one war in the Middle East overshadowing another on the military alliance's doorstep. A tentative cease-fire between Israel and Iran is expected to dominate discussions, while Russia's invasion of Ukraine might muster merely a mention. But NATO has other things to worry about at its annual summit of alliance leaders in The Hague, the Netherlands — namely, maintaining a unified front amid an internal spat over defense spending. The new cease-fire, announced by President Trump late Monday, could rally NATO states toward a common goal. It also provides Mr. Trump the opportunity to take a victory lap at the brief gathering, which is designed to avoid diplomatic disruptions over his defense spending demands. 'Counter-intuitively, this could have a positive effect on the NATO summit,' said Liana Fix, a Europe expert at the Council on Foreign Relations. At the least, Ms. Fix said, the new American role in Israel's enduring conflict with Iran could distract from 'escalation on other issues' at the NATO meeting, which wraps up Wednesday. Yet exhaustive efforts by Mark Rutte, NATO's affable secretary general, to keep the summit sweet as well as short are far from assured. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Bloomberg
42 minutes ago
- Bloomberg
Lithuanian Foreign Minister on US Forces in Europe
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys says there is currently no indication of a potential reduction of US military forces on the frontline in Europe. "We know that there is a review of the American posture across the globe and also in Europe, but we have no indications as for this morning that there would be a reduction of forces on the front line," Budrys says. He speaks to Bloomberg's Oliver Crook at the NATO summit in The Hague. (Source: Bloomberg)
