| French Prime Minister Michel Barnier warned that the nation has reached its “moment of truth,” with far-right leader Marine Le Pen expected to partner with a left-wing alliance to topple his government in a vote due tomorrow. Le Pen’s National Rally and the leftist group filed motions yesterday to hold no-confidence votes and parties that support Barnier don’t have the numbers to counter the move, potentially triggering more punishment for France’s sovereign debt.  Le Pen at the National Assembly in Paris yesterday. Photographer: Amaury Cornu/Getty Images China’s top leaders plan to start their annual conclave next week to map out economic targets and stimulus plans for 2025, sources say. Expectations among investors are high for the meeting to discuss keeping next year’s growth goal in line with the 2024 target of around 5%, despite Trump’s return to the White House heralding a tariff war that could decimate bilateral trade. India has sharply reduced orders from Russia for military hardware and is buying more from Western suppliers, according to officials, a significant policy shift for a nation traditionally reliant on arms from the Kremlin. Plans to jointly develop and manufacture helicopters and advanced fighter jets were shelved some time ago, while a separate proposal to lease a nuclear-powered submarine from Russia to train Indian crew is also unlikely to move forward, sources say. Israel “remains obligated” to a US-backed ceasefire after carrying out airstrikes in Lebanon yesterday in response to Hezbollah’s first attack under the truce, the army said, shrugging off fears that the agreement might collapse. The US-brokered deal, in effect since Wednesday, sought to suspend more than a year of hostilities that had raged in parallel to the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. Colombia’s Finance Minister Ricardo Bonilla has been hit with fresh accusations in an alleged corruption scandal, prompting opposition lawmakers to call on him to step aside just as the government tries to navigate a deepening fiscal crisis. President Gustavo Petro has warned that Colombia risks defaulting on its debt if Congress rejects the government’s budget bill under Bonilla. The finance minister denies any wrongdoing. The Pentagon announced a $725 million arms package for Ukraine drawn from US inventories, including battery-powered “non-persistent” anti-personnel mines, air defense missiles, TOW and Javelin anti-armor weapons and 155mm artillery shells. The establishment of a new NATO command center for coordinating training and security assistance to Ukraine is running behind schedule, sources say. The rekindling of fighting in Syria comes after a four-year lull in a civil war that first broke out in 2011. Read our explainer here on the origins of the conflict, the domestic players, and the external parties that have their own agenda. Partial results from Namibia’s elections show the desert nation is on course to appoint the ruling South West African Peoples Organisation’s Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah as its first female leader since gaining independence almost 35 years ago. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the UK doesn’t need to trade off its special relationship with the US against its European alliances, despite concerns that Trump’s tariff plans will drive a wedge between them. | 
