French ex-pm Jospin, architect of 35-hour week, dies at 88
Paris: French former Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, who gave France its 35-hour work week and then withdrew from politics after leading France’s Socialist Party to an earth-shaking presidential election defeat against far-right firebrand Jean-Marie Le Pen, has died. He was 88. His death was confirmed by the current prime minister, Sebastien Lecornu, after the national news agency, Agence France-Presse, reported that Jospin died on Sunday, citing his family. Lecornu said in a post on X that Jospin “served France with constancy, rigour and a sense of responsibility” and that “his actions, guided by a certain vision of social progress and republican values, leave a lasting mark and a model of commitment.”
Slovenia’s president urges talks on future government after polls
Ljubljana: Slovenia’s president on Monday urged the country’s political parties to start talks on forming a new government as soon as possible after a parliamentary election on the weekend in the European Union country ended with no clear winner and the main players practically tied. Prime Minister Robert Golob’s liberal Freedom Movement won 29 seats in the 90-member assembly while the opposition right-wing Slovenian Democratic Party, or SDS, won 28, according to preliminary results of 99.85 per cent of votes counted by the state election authorities.