News in brief
By The Associated Press
France’s National Assembly votes to keep centrist speaker
PARIS | France’s divided National Assembly has kept a centrist member of President Emmanuel Macron’s party as speaker.
Speaker Yaël Braun-Pivet 53, has been the speaker of the National Assembly since 2022 and retained her post Thursday after three rounds of vote in the lower house of parliament.
She received the support of Macron’s centrist allies and of some conservative lawmakers seeking to prevent her leftist contender, a communist lawmaker, from getting the job.
Hundreds gather to celebrate life of former fire chief
FREEPORT, Pa. | Hundreds of mourners are gathering to celebrate the life of the former fire chief who was fatally shot during the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump at a Pennsylvania campaign rally.
Fire trucks and police vehicles filled the parking lot outside the banquet hall where friends of Corey Comperatore went to pay their respects to him and his family.
Sharpshooters were stationed atop buildings overlooking the venue and the dozens of people waiting in line to enter.
Among the mourners were firefighters in dress uniforms and a group of five men in black suits with gold, red and blue “Trump 2024” buttons on their lapels.
Ursula von der Leyen reelected to second 5-year term
STRASBOURG, France | Lawmakers at the European Parliament on Thursday reelected Ursula von der Leyen to a second 5-year term as president of the European Union’s executive commission, giving her a comfortable majority and heading off a possible leadership vacuum.
Von der Leyen raised both fists in victory as the Parliament President Roberta Metsola read out the result at the legislature. She called her reelection a victory for her backers, lawmakers she called “pro-European, pro-Ukraine (and) pro-rule of law.”
The reelection ensures leadership continuity for the 27-nation bloc as it wrestles with crises ranging from the war in Ukraine to climate change, migration and housing shortages.
—From AP reports
