Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at the resignation of French Prime Minister Michel Barnier, an insurrection investigation into South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, and Syrian rebels seizing a strategic city.
Job Opening at Hôtel Matignon
French President Emmanuel Macron met with senior politicians on Thursday to discuss a replacement for ousted Prime Minister Michel Barnier. In a 10-minute national address, Macron sought to project calm while placing full blame for the country’s ongoing political crisis on his opponents, calling them an “anti-Republican front” that “chose disorder.” Barnier and his government will stay on in a caretaker capacity until a new government is formed.
Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at the resignation of French Prime Minister Michel Barnier, an insurrection investigation into South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, and Syrian rebels seizing a strategic city.
Job Opening at Hôtel Matignon
French President Emmanuel Macron met with senior politicians on Thursday to discuss a replacement for ousted Prime Minister Michel Barnier. In a 10-minute national address, Macron sought to project calm while placing full blame for the country’s ongoing political crisis on his opponents, calling them an “anti-Republican front” that “chose disorder.” Barnier and his government will stay on in a caretaker capacity until a new government is formed.
Barnier resigned from office on Thursday, becoming the shortest-serving prime minister in modern French history. His removal comes just one day after left-wing and far-right politicians united to pass a no-confidence motion against Barnier’s government by 331 votes, far more than the 288-threshold required.
Arguments for Barnier’s removal centered on his failure to pass an austerity budget deal aimed at curbing the country’s wide deficit. France’s left and far right both oppose most tax hikes and austerity measures; Barnier’s proposal included $63 billion worth of tax increases and mass spending cuts. No party holds a majority in the National Assembly, and analysts believe that the lack of a stable government or a 2025 budget could push France’s debt to 7 percent of GDP next year. The French Constitution allows for special measures that can avert a U.S.-style government shutdown, though.
“I recommend [Macron] decide rapidly on a new prime minister,” National Assembly President Yaël Braun-Pivet said on Thursday. “There must not be any political hesitation. We need a leader who can speak to everyone and work to pass a new budget bill.” It took Macron nearly two months to appoint Barnier after France held snap elections in late June and early July.
Macron appears eager to appoint Barnier’s replacement, saying on Thursday that a new prime minister will be named in the “coming days.” Local media have reported that Macron already has a short list of centrist candidates, potentially including Pau Mayor François Bayrou, and some French officials have suggested that Macron is seeking to confirm his appointee before the reopening ceremony for Notre-Dame Cathedral begins on Saturday.
Under French law, new elections cannot be held before July 2025. Macron maintains that he plans to carry out his full term, which ends in 2027. However, many senior politicians have already called for his removal. “I believe that stability requires the departure of the president of the Republic,” Manuel Bompard of the far-left France Unbowed said on Wednesday.
“The main culprit for the current situation is Emmanuel Macron,” far-right politician Marine Le Pen told French television. The French president cannot be ousted unless two-thirds of lawmakers determine that he gravely failed to fulfill his role. This constitutional provision has never been invoked.
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What We’re Following
Insurrection allegations. South Korean police announced an investigation on Thursday into whether President Yoon Suk-yeol incited an insurrection when he declared martial law late Tuesday. Presidential immunity in South Korea does not extend to the crime of insurrection. The allegation is separate from an impeachment motion that six opposition parties filed against Yoon on Wednesday and that he is expected to face by Saturday.
Yoon’s six-hour martial law order has drawn condemnation from opposition lawmakers and those within his own People Power Party, and it has sparked a major political crisis that could garner substantial gains for Yoon’s opponents. According to a Realmeter poll issued Thursday, 73.6 percent of respondents supported Yoon’s impeachment.
Already, Yoon’s chief of staff and all of his senior presidential secretaries have offered their resignations. Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun has also resigned from his post, with Yoon replacing him on Thursday with Choi Byung-hyuk, South Korea’s former ambassador to Saudi Arabia. Kim has been ordered not to leave the country.
Tsunami warning. A major 7.0-magnitude earthquake hit off the coast of northern California on Thursday, triggering immediate tsunami warnings for nearly 5 million people. Initial tremors were felt as far south as San Francisco, and a second, 4.1-magnitude quake was measured minutes later near Cobb, California, as well as several aftershocks. No casualties have been reported thus far, and the tsunami warning was canceled around noon local time.
California sits on the Ring of Fire, a circle of coastal areas around the Pacific Ocean that are subject to frequent earthquakes. It has been 30 years since the state has recorded such a strong tremor. In 1989, a 6.9-magnitude earthquake killed 63 people, and in 1994, a 6.7-magnitude earthquake killed at least 57 people—with both quakes injuring thousands more. Tsunamis, however, remain a rare occurrence in California.
Militant gains. Syrian rebels captured the strategic city of Hama on Thursday, marking their second major ground victory since Syria’s 13-year civil war reignited over the weekend. By taking the provincial capital, rebel forces delivered a significant blow to President Bashar al-Assad’s regime. The militants, led by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group, said they have now freed hundreds of “wrongfully detained” people in Hama’s central prison.
Hama is located at a major crossroads between the capital of Damascus and Syria’s largest city, Aleppo, where HTS members first launched their resurgent attack against government forces last Saturday. While Hama holds symbolic importance for its role in one of Syria’s deadliest massacres in 1982, the city’s seizure also demonstrates how HTS is making steady progress south toward Damascus.
Rebel fighters have now vowed to move toward Homs, another major city south of Hama. If HTS captured Homs, then analysts say the group would have effectively split the country into two pockets that could help it seize Damascus in the future.
“Wake-up call.” Amnesty International accused Israel on Thursday of committing genocide in Gaza during its war with Hamas, becoming the first major human rights organization to do so. “Israel committed and is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza,” the 296-page report said. It cited deliberate attempts to destroy Palestinian communities, including launching deadly attacks, targeting vital infrastructure, and preventing aid deliveries into the region.
“Our damning findings must serve as a wake-up call to the international community,” Amnesty International Secretary-General Agnès Callamard said. “This is genocide. It must stop now.” The human rights organization argued that Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel did not justify Israel’s actions, and it urged the country’s allies, including the United States, to halt all arms shipments to Israel, warning that they could be complicit in genocide.
Washington maintains that “allegations of genocide are unfounded,” a U.S. State Department spokesperson said, adding that efforts to establish an immediate cease-fire are ongoing. Israel’s Foreign Ministry denounced the organization as “fanatical” on Thursday and condemned the report as “entirely false and based on lies.” In a rare move, Amnesty International’s local Israel chapter protested the findings.
Odds and Ends
If Ridley Scott’s new movie Gladiator II has you dreaming of ancient Rome, your wishes may soon come to life. Airbnb is partnering with Italy’s Roman Colosseum to sponsor up to 32 people to learn the art of gladiator fighting at the iconic, ancient arena. The project, which will occur over two days in May 2025, is to “support the Colosseum’s ongoing conservation work to find new ways to inspire and educate visitors on the historical significance of this bygone era,” Airbnb said.
Not everyone is thrilled with the idea of unleashing society’s inner gladiator. “We’re against transforming the Colosseum into a theme park,” said Massimiliano Smeriglio, a member of Rome’s City Council responsible for culture. But Federico Mollicone, a member of the ruling Brothers of Italy party, dismissed the criticism, saying the Colosseum had been originally built for such entertainment.
