Your Monday Press Conference – The New York Times

Is Britain preparing for a new era?

On Thursday, the election for British local officials. On Saturday, the coronation of King Charles III. As the milestones pass, the two are unlikely to have less in common, but each, in his own way, affirming an England on the cusp of changein both politics and monarchy.

The Conservatives’ bitter defeat last week suggests Britain’s ruling party could be toppled in the next general election, after 13 years of Conservative rule. And Charles’ coronation has definitively turned a new page from the reign of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, and thrust the monarchy into an uncertain future.

Of course, change is not guaranteed. Charles, at 74, may prove to be a more cautious figure than his biographers expect, and the Conservatives have yet to cling to power. But long-term trends are strongly against the Conservative Party, and polls show many Britons, especially young people, see the royal family as irrelevant and question its necessity. .

Analysis: Simon Schama, a British historian, said: “The country is in the waiting room. “People are saying, ‘Give our special new king a chance’, while the prospect of an election will ease a lot of the frustration and anger that people would feel if without it.”

Crowned: Charles had promised to hold a ceremony completely 21st century, but when the going got tough, he his place on the throne in the 13th centurySarah Lyall, who has long covered the royal family for The Times, writes.

Wagner mercenaries will stay in Bakhmut

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of a group of Russian mercenaries called Wagner, said that he promises many weapons as needed to continue the fight for the besieged Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, two days after he threatened to withdraw his fighters on Wednesday because the Moscow Defense Ministry did not support them.

On Friday, Prigozhin accused Russia’s military administration of withholding ammunition needed to fully capture the city. He appeared in a gruesome video standing by what he said were newly killed fighters, saying the ministry had caused “useless and unjustified” losses by failing to replenish its ammunition stock.

Only part of Bakmut is left in the hands of Ukraine and Russia is trying to take the city tomorrow. All the territory Russia won during months of bitter conflict cost both sides dearly, including the deaths of thousands of fighters who were recruited by Wagner from Russian prisons and thrown into battle. school.

Background: Few military analysts expected Prigozhin to carry out his threat to withdraw, especially since the Ministry of Defense has no real alternatives to the roughly 10,000 Wagner warriors fighting to win. control of the devastated city, where 70,000 people lived before the invasion.

In other news from the war:

• Ukraine debut a wave of drones Attacks in occupied Crimea, Russia said.

• Ukraine is feeling great pressure from Western allies to succeed in its looming counterattack.

No action after mass shooting in Texas

Thirteen people have died in a mass shooting in Texas over the past two weeks, nearly a year after 21 people, including 19 children, were killed in a massacre at a Uvalde school. But even if Texans appear a little more open to more gun regulations, the violence won’t help reshape the political reality of Capitol, where Republicans control the room. Legislature and all offices throughout the state.

Over the past two years, as the state has been rocked by more than a dozen mass murders of four or more people, Texas has increased gun access, removed handgun license requirements, and lowered the age range. when adults can carry handguns to 18 from 21.

Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, has said efforts to limit access to guns will not work, citing “an increasing number of mass shootings in states with permissive gun laws.” as well as shootings in states with very strict gun laws.” He said Texas is dealing with a “significant rise in anger” across the US by getting to its “root causes, i.e. addressing the mental health issues behind it.” .”

From the White House: President Biden urged action yesterday. “Republicans of Congress cannot continue to shrug their shoulders in response to this epidemic,” he said in a statement calling for “a bill banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.”

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Around the world

“I felt like I won the lottery when the letter arrived,” said a judge. “I actually cried.”

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FOCUS ON AFRICA

On the run, once again

Sudan’s war, provoked by two enemy generalspushed more than 100,000 civilians across the border, and aid workers say as many as 800,000 could be forced to flee in the coming months.

Thousands of people have fled Egypt And Saudi Arabia and to relatively safer towns in Sudan. For many on the run, flight is not new. Charlotte Hallqvist, a spokeswoman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in South Sudan, said: “It is really very sad that this is not the first time these people have fled.

Sudan has more than a million refugees from countries that have been divided by civil wars, such as Syria and South Sudan. It also had millions of internally displaced people fleeing conflict in Sudan. Now, as the fighting enters its fourth week, these men are on the move again, facing another wave of violence and trauma.

In Sudan’s Darfur region, more than three million people were driven from their homes during the civil war in the early 2000s. Toby Harward, UNHCR’s chief Darfur coordinator, said it was just weeks before renewed violence. Once the outbreak broke out, local authorities began planning for the voluntary repatriation of refugee communities in Darfur.

Instead, many are now fleeing the area. — Lynsey Chutel, writer for the Johannesburg Times