TOP NEWS

The political situation in France
Analysis: An unlikely U-turn is required for the French government

It looks bad for French Prime Minister François Bayrou, writes Le Monde in an analytical text the day after he called a no-confidence vote for September 8.

The newspaper believes that the prime minister is playing a high stakes game and that, if the government falls, he risks complicating the problem he is trying to solve: the country's large public debt. The writer points out that several parties have already announced that they want to bring down the government and compares it to how President Emmanuel Macron dissolved parliament a year ago.

"Just as risky, and it immediately seems just as bad."

Politico's Clea Caulcutt and Victor Goury-Laffont write that Bayrou has survived several no-confidence votes since taking office last winter, thanks to either the far right or the country's socialists abstaining from voting. Now they have announced that this will not be the case.

“With no side now offering him a lifeline, Bayrou’s chances of survival have almost completely disappeared – unless he manages to get his opponents to make an unlikely U-turn.”

If the government falls, President Macron could propose a new prime minister, call new elections or resign

Political situation in the UK
Farage: Withdraw human rights for

The leader of the right-wing populist Reform UK wants to suspend human rights for asylum seekers and begin mass deportations from the UK, British media reports.

– We will arrest every illegal migrant who comes and we will do it immediately, party leader Nigel Farage said in a speech on Tuesday, stating that even children will be arrested, according to Sky News.

Reform UK is leading in opinion polls. If the party gains power, Britain will leave the European Convention on Human Rights and the Refugee Convention, something that would completely remove the right to seek asylum, Farage promises.

Several media outlets are commenting that Nigel Farage is copying Donald Trump's tough policy on migrants in the US.

The future of NATO
NATO's protection against Putin: Restored wetlands

Several NATO countries in the eastern parts of the alliance are exploring the possibility of restoring swamps and bogs to reduce the threat of a Russian invasion, reports Politico.

"It's a win-win situation that achieves many goals at the same time," says Tarja Haaranen, Director General of Nature Affairs at the Finnish Ministry of the Environment.

The effort is inspired by Ukraine's move to blow up a dam on the Irpin River when Russia began its full-scale invasion, in order to soak large areas of land and make it difficult for Russian forces to advance.

Several European leaders are now reportedly exploring restored wetlands as a way to unite climate and defense efforts in the Union.

Putin's Russia
Russia leaves European torture treaty after 27 years

Russia is withdrawing from the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Punishment. Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin signed a decree on Monday urging Vladimir Putin to complete the withdrawal, reports the independent Moscow Times.

Russia ratified the treaty in 1998. It has enabled the independent body CPT to carry out inspections in prisons, detention centers and institutions. However, after the invasion of Ukraine, Russia was expelled from the Council of Europe and the torture convention has not been implemented since then.

Russia's adherence to the treaty until now has also not prevented the Russian army from committing war crimes and torturing Ukrainian civilians and soldiers, writes the Kyiv Independent.