International
Far-right wins first round in crucial french legislative elections

The far-right won the first round of crucial legislative elections in France this Sunday, with President Emmanuel Macron’s center-right forces coming in third behind the left, according to initial estimates.
“We need an absolute majority,” Le Pen told her supporters in her stronghold of Hénin-Beaumont, northern France. The French “have delivered a resounding verdict,” said her prime ministerial candidate, Jordan Bardella, from Paris.
Macron’s alliance is projected to achieve between 20.5% and 21.5% of the vote, trailing the left-wing New Popular Front (NFP) coalition, which is expected to secure between 28.5% and 29.1% of the vote, according to early estimates by polling institutes Ifop and Ipsos.
The far-right’s rise to power, the first since the Liberation of France from Nazi Germany in 1945, would add another European Union (EU) country governed by this trend, alongside Italy.
This shift could weaken Macron’s policy of supporting Ukraine. While Le Pen’s party, which critics view as close to Vladimir Putin’s Russia, claims to support Kyiv, it emphasizes the need to avoid escalating tensions with Moscow.
In what is seen as a historic vote, by 5:00 PM, three hours before polls closed, turnout reached 59.39%, 20 points higher than at the same time in 2022, according to the Interior Ministry.
The electoral system itself makes the final outcome of the National Assembly uncertain, where the three blocs from the 2022 elections will continue, but with a new balance of power.
Its 577 deputies are elected in single-member constituencies through a two-round majority system. Based on the results in each constituency, two, three, or more candidates may advance to the second round.
International
Deportation flight lands in Venezuela; government denies criminal gang links

A flight carrying 175 Venezuelan migrants deported from the United States arrived in Caracas on Sunday. This marks the third group to return since repatriation flights resumed a week ago, and among them is an alleged member of a criminal organization, according to Venezuelan authorities.
Unlike previous flights operated by the Venezuelan state airline Conviasa, this time, an aircraft from the U.S. airline Eastern landed at Maiquetía Airport, on the outskirts of Caracas, shortly after 2:00 p.m. with the deportees.
Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, who welcomed the returnees at the airport, stated that the 175 repatriated individuals were coming back “after being subjected, like all Venezuelans, to persecution” and dismissed claims that they belonged to the criminal organization El Tren de Aragua.
However, Cabello confirmed that “for the first time in these flights we have been carrying out, someone of significance wanted by Venezuelan justice has arrived, and he is not from El Tren de Aragua.” Instead, he belongs to a gang operating in the state of Trujillo. The minister did not disclose the individual’s identity or provide details on where he would be taken.
International
Son of journalist José Rubén Zamora condemns father’s return to prison as “illegal”

The son of renowned journalist José Rubén Zamora Marroquín, José Carlos Zamora, has denounced as “illegal” the court order that sent his father back to a Guatemalan prison on March 3, after already spending 819 days behind barsover a highly irregular money laundering case.
“My father’s return to prison was based on an arbitrary and illegal ruling. It is also alarming that the judge who had granted him house arrest received threats,” José Carlos Zamora told EFE in an interview on Saturday.
The 67-year-old journalist was sent back to prison inside the Mariscal Zavala military barracks on March 3, when Judge Erick García upheld a Court of Appeals ruling that overturned the house arrest granted to him in October. Zamora had already spent 819 days in prison over an alleged money laundering case.
His son condemned the situation as “unacceptable”, stating that the judge handling the case “cannot do his job in accordance with the law due to threats against his life.”
International
Miyazaki’s style goes viral with AI but at what cost?

This week, you may have noticed that everything—from historical photos and classic movie scenes to internet memes and recent political moments—has been reimagined on social media as Studio Ghibli-style portraits. The trend quickly went viral thanks to ChatGPT and the latest update of OpenAI’s chatbot, released on Tuesday, March 25.
The newest addition to GPT-4o has allowed users to replicate the distinctive artistic style of the legendary Japanese filmmaker and Studio Ghibli co-founder Hayao Miyazaki (My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away). “Today is a great day on the internet,” one user declared while sharing popular memes in Ghibli format.
While the trend has captivated users worldwide, it has also highlighted ethical concerns about AI tools trained on copyrighted creative works—and what this means for the livelihoods of human artists.
Not that this concerns OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, which has actively encouraged the “Ghiblification”experiments. Its CEO, Sam Altman, even changed his profile picture on the social media platform X to a Ghibli-style portrait.
Miyazaki, now 84 years old, is known for his hand-drawn animation approach and whimsical storytelling. He has long expressed skepticism about AI’s role in animation. His past remarks on AI-generated animation have resurfaced and gone viral again, particularly when he once said he was “utterly disgusted” by an AI demonstration.
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