Réforme des retraites: Faure attend de Bayrou qu’il prononce le mot “suspension” mardi

Le premier secrétaire du Parti socialiste, Olivier Faure, a affirmé dimanche attendre du Premier ministre François Bayrou qu’il prononce mardi lors de sa déclaration de politique générale (DPG) le mot “suspension” de la réforme des retraites, tout en assurant que “le compte n’y est pas encore”. “Un mot très simple: suspension”, a affirmé le patron du PS sur BFMTV, interrogé sur le mot qu’il attend du Premier ministre, dont le gouvernement négocie avec la gauche, à l’exception de LFI, des mesures dans le budget pour éviter qu’elle ne vote la censure comme avec Michel Barnier il y a un mois. “Au moment où nous nous parlons ce matin, le compte n’y est pas encore”, a toutefois reconnu Olivier Faure, rappelant que les discussions sont toujours en cours avec l’exécutif et qu’il ne connaît pas encore les arbitrages du Premier ministre. “En l’état, effectivement, nous censurerions, mais mon souhait personnel et celui des socialistes, ce n’est pas de chercher à censurer pour censurer”, a-t-il affirmé, soulignant que les efforts du gouvernement “ne sont pas encore suffisants”.Olivier Faure, qui a affirmé qu’un “échange avec François Bayrou” était prévu sans donner plus de précisions, a toutefois ajouté que le but du PS n’était pas de “tendre un piège au gouvernement”, mais au contraire “de trouver les bonnes raisons pour que les Français se disent oui, il y a eu une discussion, oui, ils ont réussi à trouver des compromis”.”Nous voulons faire en sorte que nous ayons à la fois garanti notre système de retraites par répartition et que nous l’ayons fait en ne faisant pas reposer la charge du financement sur les plus précaires”, a-t-il expliqué. Interrogé sur les déclarations du président LR du Sénat Gérard Larcher, qui ne veut “ni suspension ni abrogation” de la réforme des retraites, Olivier Faure a minimisé l’influence de la droite qui ne dispose que de 47 députés. “Cela suppose qu’à un moment on arrête de tous s’enrhumer quand Gérard Larcher tousse”, a-t-il affirmé.Pour sa part, l’ex-président François Hollande a appelé sur France 3 à ouvrir une négociation “le plus tôt possible” avec les partenaires sociaux et à une suspension dans le même temps des “effets les plus négatifs” de la réforme des retraites, parmi eux le recul de l’âge de départ de 62 à 64 ans.   

Firefighters race to beat LA blazes as winds grow and death toll hits 16

Firefighters battled Sunday to get on top of massive wildfires around Los Angeles as winds ramped up, pushing the blazes toward previously untouched neighborhoods.At least 16 people were confirmed dead from fires that have ripped through the city, leaving communities in ruins and testing the mettle of thousands of firefighters — and millions of California residents.Despite heroic efforts, including precision sorties from aerial crews, the Palisades Fire continued to grow, pushing east towards the priceless collections of the Getty Center art museum and north to the densely populated San Fernando Valley.In some areas, the fire had turned houses to ashes and left streaks of molten metal flowing from burnt-out cars.Footage from the Mandeville Canyon area showed one home consumed, with a wall of flame licking up a hillside to menace others.A brief lull in the wind was rapidly giving way to gusts that forecasters warned would feed the blazes for days to come.”Critical fire-weather conditions will unfortunately ramp up again today for southern California and last through at least early next week,” the National Weather Service said.”This may lead to the spread of ongoing fires as well as the development of new ones.”- Row -The Palisades Fire was 11 percent contained Saturday but had grown to 23,600 acres (9,500 hectares), while the Eaton Fire was at 14,000 acres and 15 percent contained.Official figures show more than 12,000 structures burned, but Cal Fire’s Todd Hopkins said not all were homes, and the number would also include outbuildings, recreational vehicles and sheds.The sudden rush of people needing somewhere new to live in the months ahead looked set to make life hard for already-squeezed renters in the city.”I’m back on the market with tens of thousands of people,” said a man who gave his name as Brian, whose rent-controlled apartment has burned. “That doesn’t bode well.”With reports of looting and a nighttime curfew in place, police and National Guard have mounted checkpoints to prevent people getting into the disaster zones.Two people were arrested near Vice President Kamala Harris’s Brentwood house for violating the curfew order after police recieved reports of burglary, local media reported citing police.A handwritten sign with “looters will be shot” was hung on a tree, next to the US flag outside a house in Pacific Palisades.But the security checkpoints have left residents frustrated as they queue for up to 10 hours to try to get back in and see what, if anything, is left of their homes or check on family.Prevented from entering an evacuation zone, Altadena resident Bobby Salman, 42, said: “I have to be there to protect my family, my wife, my kids, my mom and I cannot even go and see them.”The long queues left some people fuming about poor management, the latest gripe from a population already angry over hydrants that ran dry in the initial firefight.City officials put on a united front Saturday after reports of a behind-the-scenes row and suggestions that Mayor Karen Bass had sacked her fire chief.An at-times tense joint press conference came after Chief Kristin Crowley complained her fire department was short of cash.President-elect Donald Trump accused California officials of incompetence over their handling of the fires.”The fires are still raging in L.A. The incompetent pols (politicians) have no idea how to put them out,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform.”This is one of the worst catastrophes in the history of our Country. They just can’t put out the fires. What’s wrong with them?” he wrote.Among those known to have died in the tragedy was former Australian child star Rory Sykes, who appeared in British TV show “Kiddy Kapers” in the 1990s.”It is with great sadness that I have to announce the death of my beautiful son @Rorysykes to the Malibu fires yesterday. I’m totally heart broken,” his mother Shelley Sykes wrote on social media.Teams with cadaver dogs were combing through the rubble, with several people known to be missing and fears that the death toll will grow.- Investigation -A huge investigation was underway to determine what caused the blazes, involving the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), along with local authorities, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said.”We are not going to leave any rock unturned,” he said.While the ignition of a wildfire can be deliberate, they are often natural, and a vital part of an environment’s life cycle.But urban sprawl puts people more frequently in harm’s way, and the changing climate — supercharged by humanity’s unchecked use of fossil fuels — is exacerbating the conditions that give rise to destructive blazes.

Education activist Malala returns to a region in crisis

Twelve years after she was evacuated out of Pakistan as a badly wounded schoolgirl, Malala Yousafzai has returned to her home country at a critical time for girls’ education.”For her, it is a homecoming to a region that shaped who she is today, but also a reminder of the work still left unfinished,” Yousafzai’s friend and fellow rights activist Nighat Dad told AFP.Millions more families are living in poverty while more than a third of children are still out of school, as the cash-strapped state grapples with cycles of political chaos and resurging militancy.In neighbouring Afghanistan, the Taliban have returned to power and imposed an austere interpretation of Islamic law that includes banning girls from studying at secondary school and university.This weekend, 27-year-old Yousafzai was the guest of honour at a global summit on girls’ education in Islamic nations hosted by Islamabad, where she called on leaders to stand up for Muslim girls.”Her presence in Pakistan during such a time is a message to those in power: the fight for education cannot be silenced, whether it’s in the Swat Valley or across the border in Afghanistan,” Dad added.In 2012 at the age of 15, Yousafzai was shot in the head while on her way home from school by a Pakistan Taliban militant incensed by an education blog she wrote.At the time, an insurgency against the government had spread to her remote, picturesque Swat Valley and militants had ordered girls to stay home.Across the frontier, the war raged between NATO forces and the Afghan Taliban, a separate but closely linked group from the Pakistan Taliban which flourished in the border regions.- ‘Malala is a paradox’ -Always flanked by heavy security, Yousafzai has made only a handful of public visits to Pakistan since her evacuation to Britain, where she made a remarkable recovery and went on to become the youngest Nobel Prize winner at the age of 17.Since then she has frequently shared the world stage with international leaders.But Pakistan’s relationship with her is complicated: a symbol of resilience and pride to some, and a stooge of the West to others, in a country where Islam is perceived as under threat by creeping Western values.Sanam Maher, an author who has written about high-profile Pakistani women, told AFP that Yousafzai is a “contentious figure”.”There’s a perception of her being ‘handled’ or ‘managed’, which creates distrust”, she said.”There are many who criticise Malala for her absence in Pakistan,” she added. “They are indifferent to her commitment.”Still, Yousafzai retains star power in Pakistan, especially among young girls.”Malala is an icon and a powerful voice for girls’ education. She has faced violence, hatred, and criticism simply for advocating for girls’ education,” said Hadia Sajid, a 22-year-old media student who attended Yousafzai’s closing speech in Islamabad.”It’s disheartening that things remain largely unchanged since she left, but there has been marginal improvement, largely due to the impact of social media — it’s more difficult to hold back girls from their rights.”Yousafzai founded the Malala Fund with her father, once a teacher in the Swat Valley who pushed against societal norms to champion his daughter’s education.The charity has invested millions of dollars in tackling the plight of 120 million girls out of school across the world.”Pakistan is where I began my journey and where my heart will always be,” Yousafzai said in her speech on Sunday.But in her native country the projects she backs in rural areas are rarely publicised.”I still think Malala is a paradox in Pakistan,” said Dad.”While her global achievements are undeniable, officials and the public remain divided, caught between admiration and mistrust. Yet Malala’s impact transcends these perceptions,” Dad told AFP.