 Emmanuel Macron's centrist Ensemble coalition failed to win a majority in French parliamentary elections after radical left and radical right parties made substantial gains. Macron will need to find coalition partners to pass legislation, meaning that he will likely struggle to pass a controversial pension reform. More: - Ensemble won 245 seats, short of the 289 seats it needed to have a majority.
- On the left, Jean-Luc Mélenchon's Nupes coalition (which stands for New Ecological and Social Popular Union) appears to have become the biggest opposition party in the National Assembly, with 131 seats.
- Mélenchon placed third in the first round of the French presidential election in April, which was ultimately won by Macron, and his coalition's success represents a revitalization of the French left.
- On the right, Marine Le Pen's National Rally party had its most successful parliamentary election.
- The far-right party, which was founded by Le Pen's father in the 1970s, won 89 seats after winning just 8 in 2017.
- The center-right Republicans, which won 64 seats, may serve as a possible coalition partner for Macron's Ensemble.
- Law professor Dominique Rousseau said: "For Mr. Macron these five years will be all about negotiations and parliamentary compromise."
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 A majority of Colombian voters selected leftist Gustavo Petro to be their next president in Sunday's presidential election. Petro, a former mayor of Bogota, has promised free education, pension reform, and a ban on new oil projects. More: - Petro, a former guerilla fighter with the M-19 movement, defeated right-wing populist candidate Rodolfo Hernandez by ~716,000 ballots, winning 50.5% of the vote to Hernandez's 47.3%.
- Petro, who had run for president twice before, campaigned on implementing a 2016 peace deal with FARC rebels.
- Petro's running mate, Francia Marquez, will become the first Afro-Colombian female vice president in the country's history.
- Hernandez, a former mayor of Bucaramanga, in north-central Colombia, is a TikTok-savvy businessman who campaigned on shrinking the government and fighting corruption.
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 An overwhelming majority of voters in Kazakhstan voted in favor of a constitutional amendment that would drastically reduce the powers of the country's president and strengthen the role of the legislature. The referendum on "New Kazakhstan" was proposed by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, the hand-picked successor of long-time Kazakh leader Nursultan Nazarbayev. More: - The changes, which were supported by 77.17% of voters, will end the "super-presidential" system that has existed for much of Kazakhstan's post-Soviet history.
- Former president Nazabaryez will lose his "Father of the Nation" title after ruling the country for nearly 30 years.
- The amendment will ban family members of the Kazakh president from holding government positions, strengthen the power of the Kazakh parliament and restore the Constitutional Court.
- 68% of eligible voters cast ballots — a majority of eligible voters needed to participate for the outcome to be legally binding.
Zoom Out: - The referendum, which Tokayev said would lay "the foundation for the Second [Kazakh] Republic," came after a wave of anti-government protests earlier this year.
- More than 220 people were killed in the unrest, which was initially motivated by rising fuel costs but evolved into protests against the government and Nazarbayev's legacy.
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 GOOD NEWS: New York State is giving hundreds of conversational robot companions to older adults in an effort to combat loneliness. The computational companions will be able to engage in small talk with their owners, in addition to helping them keep track of communications with family, exercise goals, and medication schedules. More: - The program, which is run by the New York State Office for the Aging (NYSOFA), will provide robots to more than 800 older adults.
- The robots are small desktop devices that feature a lamp-like "face" with a microphone and speakers, as well as a touchscreen tablet.
- NYSOFA Director Greg Olson said the robots will focus "on what matters to individuals: memories, life validation, interactions with friends and families."
- An estimated 14 million Americans over 65 live alone, and studies show that long-term loneliness can have devastating consequences for one's health.
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FINA, the governing body for international swimming competitions, voted on Sunday to restrict transgender athletes from women's races. The policy will require athletes to have completed their transition by age 12 in order to be eligible to compete as women. FINA has set up a working group tasked with creating a separate competition that would allow disqualified trans women to compete. More: - The pro-LGBTQ+ group Athlete Ally denounced the decision by FINA, calling it "deeply discriminatory, harmful, [and] unscientific."
- FINA made the decision during its general congress; ~71% of the 152 national federations with voting rights supported the policy change.
- Lia Thomas, a transgender woman who won the NCAA Division I women's swimming title, may be affected by this new rule.
- She has previously stated that she wants to compete in the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials.
- Thomas declined to offer a comment on the story when contacted by ESPN.
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 A Japanese district court in Osaka affirmed Japan's ban on same-sex marriage, saying that it is in line with the Japanese constitution. The Japanese constitution defines marriage as taking place between "both sexes." More: - The Osaka case, which was filed by three same-sex couples, is only the second case of its kind to be heard in Japanese courts.
- The court rejected the couples' request for monetary damages but said that "it may be possible to create a new system" expanding the rights of same-sex couples in Japan.
- The ruling read: "From the perspective of individual dignity, it can be said that it is necessary to realize the benefits of same-sex couples being publicly recognized through official recognition."
- The plaintiffs plan to appeal the decision.
Zoom Out: - Japan is the only G7 nation that doesn't allow same-sex marriage. Opinion polls show that a majority of the Japanese public is in favor of allowing same-sex marriage.
- Tokyo and some other cities now issue partnership certificates that allow same-sex couples to rent properties together and retain hospital visitation rights for one another.
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- At least 59 people have died in lightning strikes and landslides caused by major monsoon storms in India and Bangladesh. Government officials in Bangladesh said this is the worst flooding the country has experienced since 2004.
- Newly elected Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese declined to take a stance on the potential extradition of Australian-born Julian Assange to the United States from the United Kingdom.
- Yellowstone National Park will partially re-open days after historic flooding led the park to be shut down.
- Pixar's new film "Lightyear" earned $51M in its domestic opening weekend, the best performance for an animated feature film since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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 Our English Coasts or Strayed Sheep by William Holman Hunt. 1852
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 |  | Daniel Smith is an Inside Analyst who currently resides in Miami, Florida. A native of Brooklyn, New York, Daniel spent the last four years as a PhD candidate in Politics and International Studies at Cambridge University in the United Kingdom. He is fascinated by tech, business, politics, venture capital, and everything in between. When he’s not writing for Inside he can be found kicking a ball on the nearest rugby pitch. Follow him on Twitter @DanSmithInside. |  | | Editor | Eduardo Garcia is a writer and editor based in New York. He is the author of "Things You Can Do," an illustrated book about climate action. Bylines in The New York Times, The Guardian, Slate, Scientific American, and others. In one of his previous lives, Eduardo worked as a Reuters correspondent in Latin America for nearly a decade. | |
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