Marine Le Pen is milking rural fury over the Mercosur pact. France’s politicians, of all stripes, are too cowardly to defend a good deal

Once again, France’s farmers have been blocking motorways with their tractors in protest, this time at an impending EU trade agreement with a group of South American countries in a common market known as Mercosur, which has been 25 years in the making.

The tragedy is that while the EU can finally claim an important victory in its strategy of sealing rules-based free-trade pacts with key regions and countries worldwide to counter aggressive US trade protectionism, in so doing it is helping the Eurosceptic far right to electoral victory in France. Losing the support of France, a founding member, for European integration if the far right wins power, would have a more damaging impact on the long-term stability of the EU than any trade boost with Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay.

Paul Taylor is a senior visiting fellow at the European Policy Centre

The light L-159 fighter is likely the plane promised by president of Czech Republic, Petr Pavel, to Volodymyr Zelenskyy. What we know on day 1,424

The Czech Republic is set to provide Ukraine shortly with “medium combat planes which are highly effective in fighting drones”, President Petr Pavel told his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in Kyiv on Friday. Pavel has previously said Czech-made subsonic L-159 fighter jets could be transferred to Ukraine. “I believe we will manage to quickly and successfully conclude this issue,” Pavel told a news conference with Zelenskyy.

The Czech army has 24 one- and two-seater L-159 jets, used for training and support for ground forces. They can be armed with missiles and machine-gun pods. Iraq used the jets in the war against Islamic State, and fleets are owned by private companies that loan them to the US and UK air forces for combat training. The Czechs’ main fighter jet is the Swedish Saab JAS-39 Gripen. Pavel said Prague might also supply early-warning systems such as radars.

Zelenskyy meanwhile conceded problems with Ukrainian air defences at a critical moment in the war. Some systems supplied to Ukraine by western allies had run out of ammunition amid a wave of Russian attacks that have devastated his country’s energy infrastructure. “Until this morning we had several systems without missiles. Today I can say this openly because today I have those missiles … We received a substantial package in the morning.” He urged both European allies and the US to increase deliveries.

Ukraine and the US will hold talks in Miami on Saturday to discuss security guarantees and Ukraine’s economic recovery, Kyiv’s ambassador to the US, Olga Stefanishyna, said on Friday. Zelenskyy said he hoped Ukraine would sign security guarantees with the US next week, possibly at the World Economic Forum in Davos. In Miami, Ukraine’s negotiators would be Kyrylo Budanov, head of the presidential office, and Rustem Umerov, Ukraine’s defence council secretary, the ambassador said, without naming the US participants. They would discuss security guarantees and postwar reconstruction. “The goal of the visit is to finalise these agreements with our American partners,” said Stefanishyna.

A majority of Ukrainians would strongly oppose withdrawing troops from the remainder of the Donetsk region still controlled by Kyiv in exchange for European and US security guarantees, a poll released on Friday indicated. The Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) said 54% of Ukrainians categorically rejected the idea; 39% would reluctantly accept. “Those who are ready to agree expect quite significant security guarantees,” said KIIS executive director Anton Hrushetskyi. The survey was conducted in early January among 601 respondents on Ukrainian-controlled territory.

Almost 70% did not believe current negotiations would lead to a lasting peace, with 57% believing Russia would attack again if there was a ceasefire at the current frontlines and security guarantees from allies. Even if security guarantees were given, 40% believed the US would not provide support in the event of renewed Russian invasion, against 39% who thought it would. Russia has publicly shown little interest in scaling down its demands and made few comments regarding the 20-point peace framework that Ukraine and the US have been trying to finalise.

Russia and Ukraine on Friday agreed to a localised ceasefire to allow repairs on the last remaining backup powerline at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, according to the UN’s nuclear watchdog, the IAEA. Zaporizhzhia is the biggest nuclear power plant in Europe and has been illegally occupied by Russian forces since March 2022. Its six reactors have been shut down since the occupation but it still needs electricity to keep its nuclear fuel safely cooled.

Taking drug in pregnancy does not raise chances of autism, ADHD or intellectual disability, ‘gold standard’ review finds

Taking paracetamol in pregnancy does not increase the chance that the child will be autistic, or have ADHD or an intellectual disability, a “gold standard” review of the evidence has found.

The findings debunk Donald Trump’s claims last September that the painkiller causes autism, which were condemned by medical, women’s health and scientific organisations around the world.

Après l’échec spectaculaire de son vol inaugural en mars 2025, la société allemande Isar Aerospace s’apprête à retrouver son pas de tir norvégien. Baptisée Onward and Upward, cette deuxième mission prévue pour le 21 janvier 2026 ne sera plus un simple test à vide, mais un véritable vol de qualification opérationnelle.

Face à la pression croissante des régulateurs, TikTok renforce ses procédures de vérification d’âge à travers l’Europe. Dans les semaines à venir, le réseau social activera de nouveaux systèmes de détection dans l’Espace économique européen, au Royaume-Uni et en Suisse, avec pour objectif clair d’identifier et de bannir …

Lire la suite

Aimez KultureGeek sur Facebook, et suivez-nous sur Twitter

N'oubliez pas de télécharger notre Application gratuite iAddict pour iPhone et iPad (lien App Store)

L’article TikTok renforce la vérification de l’âge des utilisateurs en Europe est apparu en premier sur KultureGeek.