James Tidmarsh

It remains to be seen whether Trump’s ceasefire between Iran and Israel will hold, but on the other side of the world he has showcased his deal-making prowess in a very different conflict. In a few days, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo are set to sign a peace agreement, under US auspices, to halt the bloodshed in eastern Congo. The deal was classic Trump – blunt, transactional, and built on leverage. He applied pressure, offered incentives, and out of it came a deal. His approach delivered results where traditional diplomacy failed For years, Eastern Congo has been one of the most violent regions on earth. Earlier this year, the city of Goma in Congo fell to M23 rebels backed by Rwanda.

An imam at the Grand Mosque of Massy, just outside Paris, has threatened to issue a fatwa against former Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, head of Macron's party Renaissance, for his proposal to ban the hijab for girls under 15. In a video that has gone viral in France, the imam declared that Attal is ‘pushing us to issue a fatwa’ and that ‘I will be the one to dictate it’. His words have sparked outrage on the right. Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau has referred the matter to the courts, and Attal himself is weighing legal action. The left meanwhile remains mostly quiet.

Faced with a cost-of-living crisis, rising delinquency, failing public services, and riots in the suburbs, the French government has finally sprung into action  –  it’s banning smoking outdoors. Not entirely, of course, just in places where children might be. The new rules, coming into force in July, prohibit lighting up in any space ‘frequented by children’, which is as vague and self-important as it sounds. We’re told this includes parks, beaches, bus stops and pavements near schools. Where else? No one knows. What is clear is that the state is now more concerned with puffing parents, than with knife crime or collapsing hospitals. This isn’t really about second-hand smoke.

Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris, is being lined up for one of the world’s most powerful humanitarian jobs: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. With Emmanuel Macron’s backing, she hopes to swap the Hôtel de Ville in Paris for Geneva, taking charge of a $10 billion global operation that defines who counts as stateless, who deserves protection, and indirectly who gets to enter countries like Britain. Now the very policies that have fuelled Paris’s dysfunction could be about to be exported globally Anne Hidalgo ruined Paris. She has destroyed its ancient heritage, dug it into a giant financial black hole, and left the city choking on traffic, crime, and ideological nonsense. She brags about planting trees and engages in green posturing while pavements crumble.

A taxi drivers’ strike has plunged Paris, Marseille, and other big cities into chaos. Approximately 5,000 taxi drivers have taken to the streets, blocking motorways, torching pallets, and clashing violently with police. On Boulevard Raspail in Paris, police repeatedly confronted protestors with clouds of tear gas. Airports and train stations have been blockaded by angry taxi drivers. At Marseille-Provence airport, thousands of tourists were stranded, including Brits forced to walk along motorways dragging their suitcases behind them just to get to or from the terminal. Convoys of taxis have been crawling along major roads to deliberately snarl up traffic and maximise disruption, in an operation dubbed by the unions as 'operation snail’s pace'.

Brussels makes one thing better than anywhere else: regulation. Reporting duties, due diligence checks, ESG disclosures, and endless frameworks for climate and labour compliance – if it can be mandated, Brussels has a directive for it. Now Brussels has outdone itself with a directive that makes companies legally liable for the behaviour of every entity in their global supply chain. It’s due to come into force in 2027. The law has triggered a rare backlash. This week, Emmanuel Macron has called for it to be taken 'off the table'. Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz has also demanded its repeal. But it seems even the bloc’s two most powerful governments can’t stop this from going through.

Bruno Retailleau has done something nobody expected. He has made himself the most serious contender for the French presidency, not by campaigning, but by governing. In a government few thought would last, under a president widely seen as disengaged and more focused on foreign stages than domestic affairs, Retailleau has taken the hardest job in the country and quietly mastered it. This week he was elected leader of Les Républicains with 74 per cent of the vote – a crushing result that signalled just how completely he has taken control of the party. He is already Minister of the Interior. Now he is starting to look like the man most likely to replace Macron.

France’s interior minister, Bruno Retailleau, and his party Les Républicains (LR) are moving to end the decades-long monopoly on providing legal advice held by left-leaning NGOs inside migrant detention centres. A new Senate bill seeks to strip NGOs such as Cimade and France terre d'asile of their exclusive role providing legal assistance to undocumented migrants awaiting expulsion. In their place, the government wants a more neutral, accountable system without publicly funded activists obstructing its deportation policy. Critics argue that activist lawyers file migrant appeals in large volumes, often with little legal merit. These automatic suspensions delay deportations The bill, tabled by Les Républicains, is part of a broader crackdown.

Emmanuel Macron turned this week to France’s shadowy Freemasons for support. In a speech delivered to the secretive Grande Loge de France, he asked for their help to defend the Republic's core values, and urged them to stand up to extremes, by which he means Le Pen’s National Rally. Macron needs to stabilise the political centre, which he once comfortably occupied, but which is shrinking fast under pressure from the right. That a sitting French president would attempt to enlist the Freemasons is astonishing That a sitting French president would attempt to enlist the Freemasons is astonishing. Normally shrouded in discretion, the group has never been publicly courted by any president.