INTERNACIONAL
Macron struts on world stage as revolt over France’s soaring debt puts his PM on the brink
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President Emmanuel Macron isn’t just France’s head of state. He’s also looking like he wants to be the spokesman for the whole of Europe. He’s sought to lead Europe’s response to the Russia-Ukraine war, opposed the U.S. by supporting Palestinian statehood, and weighed in on former President Donald Trump’s desire to buy Greenland. Yet critics say he should be focusing on issues closer to home.
In Macron’s France, there is real turmoil in the country’s parliament over how to fix the massive debt load. And Prime Minister François Bayrou faces a vote of no confidence as early as Monday, which he will likely lose. Bayrou was appointed by Macron in December last year, following three other prime ministers who resigned during 2024. In many ways, what happens next is a Déjà vu scenario where the president appoints yet another prime minister as he did last December when Michel Barnier quit.
Late last month, Bayrou highlighted that France is deep in debt despite being the second-largest economy in the European Union, behind Germany. In addition to being a large economy, France is also an important U.S. trading partner.
Because of the pending fiscal crisis, Bayrou developed a plan to reduce the fiscal deficit to 4.6% of GDP next year by making savings of 44 billion euros ($51 billion) and cutting two public holidays. That would be a smaller deficit than in any of the years from 2020 through 2024.
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French President Emmanuel Macron gestures as he stands on the glacier Mont Nunatarsuaq during a visit to Greenland, on June 15, 2025. (Ludovic Marin/AFP via Getty Images)
However, the budget-cutting plan hasn’t gone down well with other parties in the French Parliament, and Bayrou faces a vote of no confidence there. Organized labor unions are incensed by the prime minister’s plans and are threatening work-stoppage strikes. Leo Barincou, a senior economist at Oxford Economics in Paris, told Fox News Digital that any union strikes likely won’t last long, nor will they be significantly disruptive to the economy like the Yellow Vest protests in the winter of 2018-2019.
If Bayrou loses, there are alternatives. «Macron can call a snap election or appoint a new prime minister, but that will be hard given the current situation,» says Elias Haddad, senior markets strategist at Brown Brothers Harriman in London. «Bayrou is expected to lose, and all the other parties have vowed to topple the government.»
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France’s Prime Minister Francois Bayrou speaks during a live televised interview broadcast in Paris on Aug. 31, 2025. (Alain Jocard/AFP via Getty Images)
One thing that almost certainly won’t happen is a resignation by Macron. «Most likely, Macron appoints another prime minister and makes a minimal budget that won’t be too scary,» Barincou says. In other words, there may be some budget cutting, but it won’t be anywhere near what the current prime minister proposed in August.
Although it seems extremely unlikely that there will be a snap election, the populist National Rally (RN) said it is preparing for one and is reviewing a potential list of candidates. The RN’s president, Jordan Bardella, said last week, «We can and must be ready for anything, including a return to the ballot box with a dissolution of the National Assembly,» according to a report in Reuters.
Marine Le Pen, left, and National Rally president Jordan Bardella during a political meeting on June 2, 2024, in Paris. (AP/Thomas Padilla)
Bardella spoke ahead of a meeting aimed at preparing the RN for parliamentary elections and said the party had already chosen 85% of its candidates, Reuters reported.
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Prime Minister François Bayrou could face a no-confidence vote as early as Monday, as France’s parliament wrestles with how to address the nation’s mounting debt crisis. (Telmo Pinto/NurPhoto)
A collapse of the French Parliament has apparently worried the European Central Bank, which oversees monetary policy for the single currency area known as the eurozone. Already, the yields on French bonds have risen by one-tenth of a percentage point, making the cost of borrowing higher than it is in neighboring Germany.
However, while France’s debt problem isn’t going away any time soon, it is unlikely to weigh on the broader eurozone, Haddad says. He also notes that despite a recent fall in demand to buy French bonds, there is little to panic about. «The underlying demand is still good and unlikely to see a destabilizing situation in the financial markets,» he says. «The bonds are relatively healthy.»
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Part of the overall problem facing France is that, culturally, the West has changed for the worse, says Ben Habib, who is now preparing to register Advance U.K., a new right-leaning political party in Britain. «The dependency culture has been embedded in Europe, including the U.K.,» he says. In other words, too many people are relying on government handouts rather than generating income through their own efforts.
In turn, that’s led to slower-growing economies and massive increases in government debt loads. That includes the U.K., France, Italy and other countries. «It’s remarkable to me that we haven’t already hit the skids,» Habib says.
Reuters contributed to this report.
france,emmanuel macron,finance global economy,global economy
INTERNACIONAL
Did they get him? Khamenei’s fate remains unknown after Israel strike levels his compound
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As the smoke was still clearing over Tehran, one question dominated the region and Washington alike: Did they get him?
In the immediate aftermath of the Israel-U.S. strikes, with the Israeli Air Force targeting senior Iranian leadership infrastructure, rumors swirled that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s 86-year-old supreme leader, had been killed.
Satellite images showed heavy damage to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s fortified compound, including buildings believed to house his residence and the so-called House of Leadership. Parts of the complex appeared reduced to rubble.
Regional reports indicated a high-level meeting of Khamenei’s top lieutenants may have been underway when the strike hit. Iranian semi-official media also reported missiles struck near the presidential palace and other leadership sites north of the capital.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Khamenei makes first public appearance in weeks with fresh U.S. threats. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader Credit/ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Addressing the nation on Saturday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in Hebrew, «There are more and more signs indicating Khamenei is gone.»
Israeli officials told Fox News Digital they were still assessing the results and said it was too early to confirm the fate of the 86-year-old supreme leader. They did not rule out the possibility that he was killed.
Iranian officials, however, insisted the country’s leadership — including Khamenei and President Masoud Pezeshkian — remained safe, according to The Guardian, despite what they described as an assassination attempt. Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs told the BBC that he was not in a position to confirm whether Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had been eliminated.
IRAN FIRES MISSILES AT US BASES ACROSS MIDDLE EAST AFTER AMERICAN STRIKES ON NUCLEAR, IRGC SITES
In this picture released by an official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei stands as army air force staff salute at the start of their meeting in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Feb. 8, 2019. Khamenei is defending «Death to America» chants that are standard fare at anti-U.S. rallies across Iran but says the chanting is aimed at America’s leaders and not its people. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP)
The long-serving cleric has survived decades of internal unrest, assassination plots and foreign pressure. He rarely appears in public without layers of security and is believed to operate through a tightly controlled network of loyalists embedded across Iran’s military, intelligence and political institutions.
In an exclusive Fox News Digital report earlier this week, researchers described how Khamenei runs what amounts to a parallel state within Iran’s formal government structure.
«The Bayt is the hidden nerve center of the regime in Iran… it operates as a state within a state,» Kasra Aarabi, director of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) research at United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), told Fox News Digital.
IRAN COULD ‘ACTIVATE’ HEZBOLLAH IF US TARGETS REGIME, TRUMP’S INNER CIRCLE TO DECIDE: EXPERT
Smoke rises on the skyline after an explosion in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Even if Khamenei himself were removed, Aarabi warned, the institutional machinery he built — involving roughly 4,000 core staff and a broader network of tens of thousands — could continue functioning.
«Even if he is eliminated, the Bayt as an institution enables the Supreme Leader to function,» Aarabi said. «Think of the Supreme Leader as an institution rather than just a single individual.»
That reality complicates the picture.
For decades, Khamenei has positioned himself not merely as a political leader but as the apex of a system designed to survive shocks — whether from protests at home or military pressure abroad.
The 86-year-old cleric has faced repeated waves of unrest, including mass protests in 2009, 2022 and again in early 2026. Each time, his regime cracked down forcefully, consolidating control rather than fracturing.
He has also weathered years of covert operations, cyber campaigns and targeted strikes against key Iranian figures across the region.
Still, the scale of the latest strike appears unprecedented.
If confirmed dead, Khamenei’s killing would mark the most significant decapitation of Iranian leadership since the 1979 revolution. It would also raise immediate questions about succession inside a system he carefully engineered to avoid sudden collapse.
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A person holds an image of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as Iranian demonstrators protest against the U.S.-Israeli strikes, in Tehran, Iran, Feb. 28, 2026. (Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters)
If he survived, it would reinforce his reputation for resilience — and underscore how difficult it is to eliminate the core of Iran’s power structure.
For now, officials say assessments are ongoing, and the question may be answered in the very near future.
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INTERNACIONAL
Irán afirma que cerró el estratégico estrecho de Ormuz, en un paso audaz que incendia aún más la región
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Democratic Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, both progressive «Squad» members, lashed out at President Donald Trump on Saturday in response to his decision to strike Iran.
«Trump has launched an illegal regime change war,» Omar posted on X. «As someone who has survived the horrors of war, I know military strikes will not make us safer; they will inflame tensions and push the region further into chaos.»
Omar, who fled Somalia as a refugee as a young child, added, «When we abandon diplomacy, we choose destruction.»
Tlaib reacted on social media to a clip of Trump acknowledging that there may be American casualties in this attack.
Rep. Ilhan Omar, with Rep. Rashida Tlaib at her side, speaks at a press conference. (Renee Jones Schneider/Star Tribune via Getty Images)
«He doesn’t care about our loved ones in the military,» Tlaib posted on X in a message that was reposted by Omar. «He doesn’t care about the fact that Americans don’t want this war.»
«He doesn’t care about the Iranian people. He is corrupted. Don’t fall for the lies.»
Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York also slammed President Donald Trump for abandoning diplomacy in favor of launching an attack against Iran, predicting the outcome will be «catastrophic.»
«The American people are once again dragged into a war they did not want by a president who does not care about the long-term consequences of his actions. This war is unlawful. It is unnecessary. And it will be catastrophic,» Ocasio-Cortez said.
«Just this week, Iran and the United States were negotiating key measures that could have staved off war. The President walked away from these discussions and chose war instead. President Trump flippantly acknowledged the possibility of American casualties, stating ‘that often happens in war,’» she continued. «Mr. President: this was not an inevitability. This is a deliberate choice of aggression when diplomacy and security were within reach. Stop lying to the American people.
Democratic Rep. Greg Casar, another progressive House member associated with the informal «Squad» group, called Trump’s actions an «illegal war» in a post on X.
«Yet again, an American president is sending other people’s kids to risk their lives in a senseless regime change war,» Casar said.
The U.S. and Israel launched the joint attack just after 9 a.m. local time in what the Pentagon has dubbed «Operation Epic Fury.»
IF KHAMENEI FALLS, WHO TAKES IRAN? STRIKES WILL EXPOSE POWER VACUUM — AND THE IRGC’S GRIP
In video remarks posted to Truth Social, Trump addressed the Iranian people directly and told them to «seize control of [their] destiny.»
«The hour of your freedom is at hand. Stay sheltered. Don’t leave your home. It’s very dangerous outside. Bombs will be dropping everywhere. When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take,» Trump said. «This will be, probably, your only chance for generations. For many years, you have asked for America’s help, but you never got it. No President was willing to do what I am willing to do tonight. Now you have a President who is giving you what you want.»
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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
While Trump focused some of his message on empowering the people of Iran, he stated that the intent of the operation is to «defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime,» which he described as «vicious» and «very hard, terrible people.»
Trump also said that while there may be American casualties as a result, the mission is «noble» as it is aimed at stopping a «wicked, radical dictatorship» from threatening American national security interests and destabilizing the Middle East.
Fox News Digital’s Michael Sinkewicz and Alex Nitzberg contributed to this report
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