Monday Briefing: The left surges in France

Plus, calls for a cease-fire in Israel.

View in browser|nytimes.com July 8, 2024 By Natasha Frost Good morning. We're covering the results of French elections and a day of protests in Israel. Plus: All aboard the cut-rate Orient Express. Celebrating the results in Place de la République in Paris. Dmitry Kostyukov for The New York Times The left surges in French elections France faced a hung Parliament and deep political uncertainty after snap legislative elections yesterday left none of the three main political groups of the left, center and right with an absolute majority. The left-wing New Popular Front came in first, with 178 seats, President Emmanuel Macron's centrist coalition was in second place with 150 seats, and the National Rally, Marine Le Pen's anti-immigrant party, and its allies took 142 seats. The preliminary results upended widespread predictions of a clear victory for the National Rally. A scramble by centrists and the left to form a "Republican front" to stymie the National Rally in the second round of voting seems to have worked. Candidates across France had dropped out of three-way races and called for unity against Le Pen's party. The election was a major blow to Macron, who lost more than a third of the seats held by his party and its allies. He is left with a deeply divided lower house of Parliament, no governing coalition immediately likely and the Paris Olympics set to open in less than three weeks. Here's what might come next. Details: The New Popular Front campaigned on raising the monthly minimum wage, lowering the legal retirement age, reintroducing a wealth tax and freezing the price of energy and gas. Instead of cutting immigration, as the National Rally vowed, the alliance said it would improve the asylum process. Read more about the alliance. For more: Why some rural voters became National Rally supporters. Demonstrators blocking a road in Jerusalem yesterday. Mahmoud Illean/Associated Press Israelis agitate for elections and a cease-fire Nine months after the devastating Hamas-led attack of Oct. 7, Israelis yesterday mounted a nationwide day of anti-government protests. The demonstrations brought traffic to a standstill, as protesters called for new elections in Israel and for a cease-fire deal with Hamas that would return hostages from months of captivity. Progress has been made for the resumption of talks, even as the fighting continues in Gaza, where an Israeli strike hit in the area of a U.N. school on Saturday. But many Israelis fear that a truce could be torpedoed not only by Hamas, but also by Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, who, they say, might prioritize his political survival over a deal that could threaten it. At the border: Israel's northern border remained volatile, with the Lebanese Hezbollah organization firing salvos of rockets, drones and anti-tank missiles into Israeli territory. In Rafah: The Israeli military invited journalists into the Gazan city on a supervised visit. Adam Goldman, a Times reporter, described devastation and "a maze of rubble." President Biden addressing a church in Philadelphia on Sunday. Tom Brenner for The New York Times Concerns grow around President Biden's candidacy At least four senior House Democrats told colleagues on a private call yesterday that it was time for President Biden to end his campaign, reflecting mounting panic among top Democrats about the viability of his candidacy, according to people who were present for the session. A growing number of Democrats from across the party's ideological spectrum are calling for Biden to drop out of the race, amid questions about his age, mental acuity and fitness for office. Some donors have grown skittish, and insiders worry that the Biden campaign's strategy — making the 2024 contest a referendum on Donald Trump — has been sidetracked by the president's poor debate performance. Biden: The president has defiantly swatted away suggestions that he leave the race, and he spent yesterday in Philadelphia, seeking to reassure voters who helped him win in 2020 that he is still capable of beating Trump. MORE TOP NEWS Arash Khamooshi for The New York Times Iran: With the surprise election of the reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian, above, as president, Iran may see a softening of its absolutist foreign policy. Kenya: At least 32 people have been abducted or arbitrarily detained over the past two weeks after antigovernment protests, according to human rights monitors and activists. Nepal: Torrential rains caused flooding and landslides that killed at least 15 people. Officials said that more heavy rain was expected and that the death toll could rise. Britain: Keir Starmer, the new prime minister, will get a crash course in statecraft at a NATO summit this week. At home, the right-wing provocateur Nigel Farage could reshape the trajectory of the Conservative Party. Ukraine: Ahead of the U.S. election, the country is striving to remain politically neutral, even as the threat of a Trump presidency — and a possible end to American military aid — looms. Alice Munro: A daughter of the Canadian Nobel laureate said that her mother had chosen to stay with her stepfather even after learning that he had sexually abused her as a child. Japan: Dozens of candidates contended to be governor of Tokyo and its surrounding prefecture — some on a seemingly farcical platform. Paris: The Moulin Rouge, the famed cabaret, has restored its iconic windmill after its blades broke and fell to the ground in April. Mexico City: As more foreigners frequent the capital, some taco shops have lowered the heat in their salsas. SPORTS NEWS Carl Recine/Getty Images Cheat sheet: How a water bottle helped England beat Switzerland at the Euros. Andy Murray: The Scottish tennis great who proved just about every assumption about him and his sport wrong. Formula One: Lewis Hamilton won the British Grand Prix, his first victory in more than two and a half years. Wimbledon: Iga Swiatek, the No. 1 women's tennis player, was eliminated over the weekend. (Catch up on the latest results.) MORNING READ Tony Cenicola/The New York Times The Orient Express conjures up visions of a five-star luxury train with every Belle Époque bell and whistle. A sleeper on the modern version can cost nearly $50,000, but you can D.I.Y. the trip from Paris to Istanbul — private compartments included — for less than $1,000. Our correspondent tested the ride. Lives Lived: Jon Landau, an Oscar-winning producer and longtime collaborator of the director James Cameron, has died at 63. CONVERSATION STARTERS The legacy of trauma: Jack Teich was the victim of a dramatic kidnapping. Decades later, he seemed wholly healed from the events. But was he? Excalibur, vanished: A sword wedged in a rock face in a small French village attracted generations of tourists. Then it disappeared. Critical hardware update: Japan has ended regulations that required floppy disks for administrative purposes, 13 years after the country's manufacturers stopped making them. ARTS AND IDEAS Robert Hegedus/EPA, via Shutterstock How Olympians train in the heat The Paris Olympics this month could be the hottest in history. Training for the Games is now as much about athletes' ability to handle the heat as it is about their strength and speed, and the best preparation is training for two to three weeks in sweltering temperatures. Some runners use a heat-retaining garment one coach described as a "marshmallow suit" to approximate those conditions. Belgium's field hockey team trained in a heat chamber set to 122 degrees Fahrenheit (50 Celsius). Other athletes try to stay cool by wearing ice vests before races or clutching frozen balloons. See how they're preparing for extreme temperatures. We hope you've enjoyed this newsletter, which is made possible through subscriber support. Subscribe to The New York Times. RECOMMENDATIONS David Malosh for The New York Times Cook: Toss stir-fried zucchini with cold noodles for this easy summer dinner. Laugh: Check out these three sharp stand-up specials. Recover: Some therapists are questioning the wisdom that it's always better to forgive. Moderate: Should you drink alcohol on a flight? Read: Taffy Brodesser-Akner's novel "Long Island Compromise" is even better than her first, our critic writes. Play the Spelling Bee. And here are today's Mini Crossword and Wordle. You can find all our puzzles here. That's it for today's briefing. See you tomorrow. — Natasha P.S. From a restaurant owned by a "pizza freak" in Amsterdam to a spinach crust in Düsseldorf, Germany, readers shared 15 of their favorite pizza spots. Reach Natasha and the team at briefing@nytimes.com. Need help? Review our newsletter help page or contact us for assistance. You received this email because you signed up for Morning Briefing: Europe Edition from The New York Times. To stop receiving Morning Briefing: Europe Edition, unsubscribe. To opt out of other promotional emails from The Times, including those regarding The Athletic, manage your email settings. To opt out of updates and offers sent from The Athletic, submit a request. Subscribe to The TimesGet The New York Times app Connect with us on: Change Your EmailPrivacy PolicyContact UsCalifornia Notices The New York Times Company. 620 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10018