France’s conservative Republicans party and its allies were set to retain a majority in the Senate, even as the populist National Rally gained several seats and boosted its position in the upper house.

France is paying an ever-higher risk premium on its debt as investors brace for a third straight year of drama over its annual budget, which threatens to topple yet another leader. The yield on the country’s 10-year government bonds— known as OATs — popped above 4.5% on Friday for the first time since 2008, and has since held above that threshold. It was last seen trading with a yield of 4.6696% on Thursday. Read more:

FRANCE DEBT FEARS DRAW GREECE COMPARISONS Jupiter’s Ariel Bezalel warns France’s rising debt and political gridlock are increasingly reminiscent of Greece’s pre-crisis trajectory. French government debt has reached 117.5% of GDP and is projected to keep climbing, while borrowing costs relative to Germany have surged. France remains far from a Greek-style crisis, but investors fear persistent deficits and political fragmentation could make stabilizing its debt increasingly difficult.

#France#: Two freelance journalists for the independent Christian monthly Le Cri were surveilled and intimidated by the organisers of a pilgrimage in Brittany on September 19–20. RSF condemns these unacceptable obstacles to their reporting.

France is winning brownie points in the Middle East: 1) TotalEnergies is helping several countries (notably Iraq) to ship crude oil throughout the Strait of Hormuz (sure, this is a private company, but I doubt TTE has not consulted the French government about it). 2) Paris is sending soldiers and kit to Yanbu to help the Saudis against missile attacks from the Houthis 3) France deployed Rafale fighter jets over the United Arab Emirates early in the conflict, ostensibly to protect the little-known navy base it operates in Abu Dhabi