- Djokovic eyes more Slam glory as Swiatek returns under doping cloud
- Australia's in-form Head confirmed fit for Boxing Day Test
- Brazilian midfielder Oscar returns to Sao Paulo
- 'Wemby' and 'Ant-Man' to make NBA Christmas debuts
- US agency focused on foreign disinformation shuts down
- On Christmas Eve, Pope Francis launches holy Jubilee year
- 'Like a dream': AFP photographer's return to Syria
- Chiefs seek top seed in holiday test for playoff-bound NFL teams
- Panamanians protest 'public enemy' Trump's canal threat
- Cyclone death toll in Mayotte rises to 39
- Ecuador vice president says Noboa seeking her 'banishment'
- Leicester boss Van Nistelrooy aware of 'bigger picture' as Liverpool await
- Syria authorities say armed groups have agreed to disband
- Maresca expects Man City to be in title hunt as he downplays Chelsea's chancs
- South Africa opt for all-pace attack against Pakistan
- Guardiola adamant Man City slump not all about Haaland
- Global stocks mostly higher in thin pre-Christmas trade
- Bethlehem marks sombre Christmas under shadow of war
- 11 killed in blast at Turkey explosives plant
- Indonesia considers parole for ex-terror chiefs: official
- Postecoglou says Spurs 'need to reinforce' in transfer window
- Le Pen says days of new French govt numbered
- Villa boss Emery set for 'very difficult' clash with Newcastle
- Investors swoop in to save German flying taxi startup
- How Finnish youth learn to spot disinformation
- 12 killed in blast at Turkey explosives plant
- Panama leaders past and present reject Trump's threat of Canal takeover
- Hong Kong police issue fresh bounties for activists overseas
- Saving the mysterious African manatee at Cameroon hotspot
- India consider second spinner for Boxing Day Test
- London wall illuminates Covid's enduring pain at Christmas
- Poyet appointed manager at South Korea's Jeonbuk
- South Korea's opposition vows to impeach acting president
- The tsunami detection buoys safeguarding lives in Thailand
- Teen Konstas to open for Australia in Boxing Day India Test
- Asian stocks mostly up after US tech rally
- US panel could not reach consensus on US-Japan steel deal: Nippon
- The real-life violence that inspired South Korea's 'Squid Game'
- Blogs to Bluesky: social media shifts responses after 2004 tsunami
- Tennis power couple de Minaur and Boulter get engaged
- Supermaxi yachts eye record in gruelling Sydney-Hobart race
- Hawaii's Kilauea volcano erupts, spewing columns of lava
- El Salvador Congress votes to end ban on metal mining
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- Man Utd boss Amorim questions 'choices' of Rashford's entourage
- Trump's TikTok love raises stakes in battle over app's fate
- Is he serious? Trump stirs unease with Panama, Greenland ploys
Le Pen says days of new French govt numbered
Far-right leader Marine Le Pen said Tuesday that the days of France's new government are already numbered, predicting an early presidential election in a few months.
Le Pen, 56, spoke a day after President Emmanuel Macron named a new government under Francois Bayrou, his fourth prime minister of the year, to drag the second-largest EU economy out of political crisis.
"This moment of temporary political fluctuation... will come to an end as soon as the people, through their sovereign will and collective intelligence, decide to do so," she said in a Christmas Eve video posted on X.
"They will then choose a new path to follow, that of revival and recovery," Le Pen added, a Christmas tree behind her.
That moment will come "as soon as the institutions allow it. That means, as we are all aware, soon -- very soon, in a few months at most," she said.
France has been mired in political deadlock since Macron gambled on snap elections this summer in the hopes of bolstering his authority. The move backfired, with voters electing a parliament fractured between three rival blocs.
Le Pen now has unprecedented power over French politics.
By joining forces with the hard left, Le Pen's far-right National Rally party toppled Bayrou's predecessor Michel Barnier earlier this month. Many predict the centrist will also struggle to survive.
Le Pen is seen by many as having her best ever chance to win the French presidency in 2027 after three unsuccessful attempts.
However, her trial on charges of creating fake jobs at the EU parliament, which she denies, could hobble her ambitions.
If convicted, she could receive a jail sentence and a ban from public office.
The verdict is due on March 31.
Some analysts believe that she wants to force Macron to resign quickly and hold snap presidential elections, allowing her to take the Elysee, and with it presidential immunity, before the verdict.
In an interview with Le Parisien last week, Le Pen said she was "preparing for an early presidential election".
"Emmanuel Macron is finished, or almost," she said. "I'm not trying to be cruel, it is an institutional reality."
P.L.Madureira--PC