PARIS: French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal and the chief of the main far-right party Jordan Bardella clashed in an ill-tempered debate Tuesday that exposed fierce tensions less than a week ahead of the most polarizing election in decades.
Attal, Bardella and hard-left MP Manuel Bompard, representing the left-wing coalition, exchanged accusations in a sometimes bruising live TV encounter where discussion of issues was often drowned by a cacophony of voices.
Bardella’s National Rally (RN) still has a clear lead in opinion polls ahead of Sunday’s first round of voting in the parliamentary elections, followed by the left-wing New Popular Front (NFP) coalition with President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist alliance lagging in third.
At just 28, Bardella could become the first far-right prime minister in France’s modern history after the second round on July 7, although he has said he will only take the job if the RN wins an absolute majority in parliament.
Bardella vowed that “if the French give me their confidence I will be the prime minister of purchasing power,” pledging cuts to VAT and tax breaks for the under 30s.
“I am prime minister. The difference with me is that I do not want to lie to the French,” retorted Attal.
“Jordan Bardella says every time that he will reduce VAT as if by magic but without saying how he will finance it,” he added.
Bompard meanwhile told the premier “you are badly placed to give lessons on the economy, given your record.”
Attal, 35, portrayed himself as safe pair of hands with experience of the realities of power, repeatedly asking Bardella “how will you finance it?” and saying “I will remain serious.”
“Excuse me Mr.Teacher!” Bardella bristled at one point, while adding that “if you were credible we would not be here at all” — a reference to Macron’s dissolution of parliament following his party’s third place in European elections.
“Mr Attal be humble tonight, please,” Bardella said. “Stop your cinema please. You are not at the level of your office.”
Attal also rounded on Bardella for his controversial proposal to ban French dual nationals from sensitive strategic posts.
“The message that you send is dual nationals are half nationals,” he said.
The RN leader said for his part he would “drastically reduce migratory flows” if he becomes prime minister.
“There are millions of French who do not recognize the France that they grew up in,” he said.
Referring to the origins of Bardella, who is himself of Italian and also Algerian ancestry, Bompard said: “When your personal ancestors arrived in France, your political ancestors said exactly the same thing. I find that dramatic.”
Regardless of the result, Macron has vowed to stay on as president until the end of his second term in 2027.
He has been criticized from all sides for his decision to call the snap election after his party received a drubbing in the European election earlier this month.
A warning issued by Macron Monday that the programs of the two “extremes” on left and right could spark a “civil war” also sparked disquiet even within his own ranks.
Parliament speaker Yael Braun-Pivet, a senior member of the ruling Renaissance party, acknowledged that the French “have found it hard to understand” the dissolution. Former premier Edouard Philippe, who leads an allied centrist party, said simply that Macron had “killed the presidential majority.”
An Ifop poll has the RN on 36 percent support, the left-wing NFP on 29.5 percent and Macron’s camp on 20.5 percent, leading the unpopular president’s allies to beg him to step back from the campaign.
Bardella said France would have a new government after the elections and now faced the “historic choice” of whether it would be from the left or far-right.
Powerful Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin told BFMTV he wanted to leave the government after the election, sit as an MP and “build a new project.”
“We are at the end of the cycle, we need to build another,” he said.
Meanwhile, Bardella and Attal had both requested that the left-wing slot in Tuesday’s debate be taken by France Unbowed founder Jean-Luc Melenchon rather than Bompard.
A former presidential candidate, Melenchon is the most recognizable but also the most divisive figure on the left due to his radical positions.
Melenchon himself has refused to rule himself out of the running, saying his name “opens doors in working-class neighborhoods” but many on the left hope an alternative figure will emerge.
French PM, far-right chief cross swords in raucous election debate
https://arab.news/bajfa
French PM, far-right chief cross swords in raucous election debate
- A warning issued by Macron Monday that the programs of the two “extremes” on left and right could spark a “civil war” also sparked disquiet even within his own ranks
Australian PM distances government from King Charles’ decision to award medal to soldier accused of Afghanistan war crimes
- Ben Roberts-Smith among those handed commemorative medals marking British monarch's coronation
- Australian Federal Court judge last year dismissed defamation case brought by Roberts-Smith over unlawful killing claims
LONDON: The Australian government has distanced itself from the awarding of an honor from the UK’s King Charles III to a former special forces soldier accused of committing war crimes in Afghanistan.
Buckingham Palace decided to present commemorative medals to all living Victoria Cross recipients, which includes Ben Roberts-Smith, who attended a ceremony at Western Australia’s Government House this week to receive the honor.
Last year an Australian Federal Court judge concluded that Roberts-Smith was involved in the unlawful killings of four Afghan prisoners. The ruling came after a lengthy trial brought about when the former soldier sued three newspapers for defamation.
Roberts-Smith brought a case against The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and the Canberra Times, as well as two journalists, over reports that alleged he had committed war crimes while deployed in Afghanistan. Last June, the judge dismissed the case.
Roberts-Smith, who has faced no criminal charges, has appealed the verdict and has maintained his innocence.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Saturday it would be wrong for his government to get involved.
“Well, this isn’t a decision of the government, this was a decision of (Buckingham Palace) to give all VC recipients a further award,” he said.
“There’s ongoing legal action potentially on these issues, so given the government’s engagement, it’s important that there not be interference in that. But it certainly wasn’t a government decision,” he added.
Court order bans encampments in LSE building after pro-Palestine protest
- Students had been camped in Marshal Building for about a month
- ‘No breaches of the interim order,’ LSE spokesperson says
LONDON: Pro-Palestine students have lost their legal battle against the London School of Economics after a court indefinitely barred them from setting up an encampment on campus, The Guardian reported on Saturday.
The students had vowed to remain in a camp they had set up on the ground floor atrium of Marshal Building on May 14 until the LSE met their demands. They were reported to have been there for about a month until the LSE initiated legal action.
On Friday at Central London county court, District Judge Morayo Fagborun-Bennett granted a possession order, indefinitely banning the establishment of encampments at the location.
Another judge granted LSE an interim possession order on June 14, which meant the camp had to be removed within 24 hours. The students disbanded their camp on June 17.
Commenting on behalf of LSE, Olivia Davies said there had been “no breaches of the interim order” by the defendants since the interim possession order was granted.
Daniel Grutters, representing three students, said: “Those instructing me had only opposed the making of the interim possession order. Since that was made, we indicated that we would not defend the possession order. We are agreed that the possession order can be made.”
During Friday’s hearing, Davies told the court that no students had faced any disciplinary action over the encampment.
“That’s good to know,” the judge said.
The encampment was set up following the release of the Assets in Apartheid report by the LSE Students’ Union Palestine society.
It claims that the LSE has invested £89 million ($112.6 million) in 137 companies involved in the conflict in Gaza, fossil fuels, the arms industry or nuclear weapons production.
The entrenched students had said they would remain in their camp until the LSE took several steps, including divestment and democratization of the financial decision-making process.
Wildfire fanned by strong wind rages in forest area near Athens
- About 80 firefighters assisted by 10 water-carrying planes were trying to control the fire on Mount Parnitha
- A thick cloud of smoke could be seen in the sky over Athens
ATHENS: Dozens of firefighters were battling on Saturday to stop a wildfire from spreading to a nature reserve in a mountainous forest area on the outskirts of the Greek capital, the fire service said.
About 80 firefighters assisted by 10 water-carrying planes were trying to control the fire on Mount Parnitha, some 20 km (12 miles) north of Athens, which was being fueled by gale-force winds, a fire brigade official said.
A thick cloud of smoke could be seen in the sky over Athens, which is flanked by mountains, but a local governor said no homes were threatened by the fire.
“The situation is stable so far,” a deputy governor for part of Athens, Costas Zobos, told state television.
With hot, windy conditions across much of the country, authorities advised people to stay out of forest areas. Winds are not expected to weaken before Sunday, meteorologists said.
Wildfires are common in the Mediterranean country, but they have become more devastating in recent years as summers have become hotter, drier and windier, which scientists link to the effects of climate change.
After last summer’s deadly forest fires and following its hottest winter on record, Greece developed a new doctrine, which includes deploying an extra fire truck to each new blaze, speeding up air support and clearing forests.
A big part of Mount Parnitha’s nature reserve, full of pines and fir trees, was destroyed by a large fire in 2007.
Philippine food tourism sets sights on travelers from GCC
- Philippines this week hosts UN’s first regional forum on food travel
- Country expands halal tourism portfolio to attract more Muslim visitors
CEBU CITY: The Philippines is tapping into its diverse culinary heritage to attract visitors, especially from Gulf Cooperation Council countries, its tourism chief said, as the country hosted the UN’s first regional forum on food travel.
The conference in Cebu was held in conjunction with the UN Tourism’s annual joint meeting of the Commission for East Asia and the Pacific, and the Commission for South Asia.
Co-organized by the Philippine government, the forum focused on policies to advance the culinary tourism of the Asia-Pacific region.
“We greatly value the opportunity to expand Philippine tourism to the Middle Eastern market, especially by way of our Filipino flavors,” Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco told Arab News on the sidelines of the UN meetings on Friday.
She added that tourism arrivals from GCC countries had more than recovered following the global pandemic.
The COVID-19 outbreak dealt a major blow to the Philippine tourism industry — a main contributor to the economy — but after shutdowns in 2020 and 2021, it is back on track, and is forecast to soon meet its pre-pandemic level of 8.26 million visitor arrivals in 2019.
Part of the strategy to revive the sector was expanding the country’s halal tourism portfolio, which last month — for a second consecutive time — won the Philippines the Emerging Muslim-friendly non-Organization of Islamic Cooperation Destination award at the annual Halal in Travel Global Summit in Singapore.
The predominantly Catholic country, where Muslims constitute about 10 percent of the nearly 120 million population, has welcomed more than 2 million international travelers since the beginning of the year, with a 10 percent increase, compared with last year, in the number of visitors arriving from GCC countries, including Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which are among the Philippine government’s key emerging-market targets.
“We relish the opportunity to welcome our Middle Eastern friends to the country and we are now presently working on strategic partnerships,” Frasco said.
“We also possess tourism products that are quite attractive to the Middle Eastern market, especially in terms of our leisure tourism products, our sand and beach, our diving, as well as our luxury tourism destinations, and our health and wellness and medical tourism portfolio.”
As the Philippines hosted the UN Tourism Regional Forum on Gastronomy Tourism for Asia and the Pacific, its latest focus is food tourism — a burgeoning trend in the Middle East, where travelers seek authentic culinary experiences.
With about 2 million Filipinos living and working in the region, Philippine stakeholders understand their requirements.
“Our very talented Filipino chefs and support crew populate many kitchens all over the world as well as many tourism establishments, including those in the Middle East,” Frasco said.
“We hope to be able to fully open up opportunities for Filipino flavors to be known to the world especially.”
Saudi team trains Indonesian doctors in child heart surgery
- Surgeons, support staff sponsored by KSrelief arrived in Medan last month
- Only 50% of Indonesian children born with heart disease receive treatment
RIYADH: Saudi doctors are training their Indonesian colleagues in child heart surgery and helping expand access to pediatric cardiac care in the country’s northwest, the Indonesian Ministry of Health said on Saturday.
The 22-member surgical team arrived at Adam Malik Central General Hospital in Medan, North Sumatra province last month under a residence program arranged by Saudi aid agency KSrelief.
They began by performing free heart procedures on adult patients and last week switched focus to children with congenital heart disease, which in Indonesia often remains untreated due to a shortage of specialist wards.
An estimated 12,000 Indonesian children are born with heart disease each year. Only half of them are treated for it.
“The capacity of our doctors and hospitals is only 6,000 of the 12,000 each year. So, every year 6,000 children cannot be served and many of them die,” Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said.
“We’ve been collaborating with foreign institutions willing to send their doctors to Indonesia to, in the first place, provide services that we have not been able to provide in certain regions and, in the second place, to speed up the specialist training of our doctors to carry out the much needed procedures.”
The Saudi team comprises surgeons, nurses, perfusionists and respiratory therapists from the King Faisal Cardiac Center in Jeddah and the King Abdullah International Medical Research Center in Riyadh.
The transfer of knowledge program sponsored by KSrelief supports Indonesia’s health system transformation plan, under which all regional government hospitals should become capable of carrying out open-heart surgery and pediatric heart surgery. Until now, cardiac procedures on children have been referred to hospitals in the capital, Jakarta, which is nearly 2,000 km away from Medan.
For many parents, like Rominu Marpaung, the cost of travel is impossible to bear.
Marpaung’s 15-year-old son, Binsar, was diagnosed with a leaky heart valve five years ago and referred for surgery in Jakarta, but the family could not afford to send him.
On Tuesday, he was operated on by the visiting Saudi team.
“Up until now, I was taking Binsar only for outpatient treatment. I took him to so many hospitals,” Marpaung said.
“Thank you to the team of doctors for helping my child.”
