German trade union chief calls for scrapping of VAT on food

04.04.2026, DPA

Photo: Bernd von Jutrczenka/dpa

The head of the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB) has called for the reduced rate of value added tax (VAT) on certain goods to be abolished entirely.

"Reducing the reduced VAT rate from 7% to 0% would be a strong signal, especially for low earners," Yasmin Fahimi told Saturday's edition of the Berlin newspaper Tagesspiegel.

A VAT cut for items such as food and energy could help people on lower incomes far more than a cut in income tax, Fahimi said.

Asked how such a move could be financed, Fahimi said: "Germany could introduce a much higher VAT on luxury goods, such as extremely expensive watches, yachts, jewellery or luxury cars." That would only burden those who could easily shoulder it, she said.

"Overall, the mega-rich and billionaires must be made to contribute much more, instead of burdening employees and consumers," the DGB chief said.

At present, a VAT rate of 19% applies to most goods, while a reduced rate of 7% applies to selected food items. According to reports, the government has had the impact of a VAT increase calculated as part of the reform debate.

Conservative Chancellor Friedrich Merz has not ruled out changes to taxation in connection with planned relief for employees and companies. Merz's centre-left coalition partners are looking for ways to finance the desired relief on income tax and social security contributions.

(c) 2026 dpa Deutsche Presse Agentur GmbH

 

Volunteers aiding humpback whale stranded in Baltic get death threats

03.04.2026, DPA

Photo: Florian Manz/Greenpeace Germany/dpa

Volunteers who have donated their time to help a humpback whale which got turned around off Germany's Baltic coast have received death threats now that it looks like the giant mammal might not survive its ordeal.

“Regrettably, since it became clear that the animal could not be saved, hostility towards those involved in the rescue operation has been on the rise – even to the point of death threats,” said Till Backhaus, environment minister for the north-eastern Mecklenburg-Vorpommern region where the whale is currently stranded, according to a statement.

"Of course, I understand that the situation is very emotional for people," Backhaus continued. "But I do not accept that staff members are being threatened in their private lives."

If statements constituting a criminal offence are made, whether on social media, via notes left in letterboxes or by email, such behaviour will be reported to the police, he added.

The days-long saga to guide the animal back to deeper waters began on March 23, when the whale was first spotted stranded on a sandbank off Germany's Timmendorfer Strand resort.

The 12- to 15-metre animal managed to free itself a few days later after rescuers dug a channel in the surrounding sand using a floating dredger.

But instead of moving west towards the Atlantic, its natural habitat, it was spotted heading east and repeatedly got stuck in shallow waters again.

Meanwhile, according to the state ministry, the whale is being monitored around the clock by the water police and a whale-watching team on land. Fire brigade personnel have been repeatedly spraying the animal with water throughout the day.

“We will continue to look after the animal – right to the end," he added.

(c) 2026 dpa Deutsche Presse Agentur GmbH

Searching for radioactive waste in the depths of the Atlantic

For nearly five decades, more than 200,000 barrels of radioactive waste were dumped in the icy depths of the northeast Atlantic. Today, no one knows precisely where these barrels are located, or what kind of state they are in. On June 15, a French-led team of scientists will set sail from Brittany in a bid to map the barrels and assess their impacts on surrounding marine ecosystems.


FRANCE24
By: Grégoire SAUVAGE

The UlyX underwater robot can reach a depth of 6,000 metres. 

© Timothée Autin, Ifremer.

It had long been considered a safe way to dispose of radioactive waste. For nearly five decades, tens of thousands of tonnes of waste – sealed in watertight barrels of asphalt and cement – were dumped in international waters.

Although the practice is now banned, between 1946 and 1993, 14 European countries – including France and the UK – carried out dumping operations at more than 80 locations in the Arctic, Atlantic and Pacific.

In the northeast Atlantic, home to the most concentrated stretch of this radioactive marine waste, some 200,000 barrels lie at a depth of 4,000 metres. On June 15, a team of scientists from the CNRS (France’s National Centre for Scientific Research), Ifremer (the French national institute for ocean science and technology) and the French oceanographic fleet, will set sail from the Brittany port of Brest in a bid to locate the barrels.

The team of nuclear physicists, geologists, oceanographers, biologists and marine chemists will be joined by UlyX, a 4.5 metre autonomous underwater robot that will be their eyes and ears during the 26-day expedition

"The robot can dive to a depth of 6,000 metres,” explained geophysicist Javier Escartin, who will co-lead the mission. “It will be able to use sonar-type systems to map large areas and detect where barrels are located. It will also be able to get close to the seabed and take photographs, enabling us to assess the barrels’ condition, establish where they are scattered, and to plan further studies at a later date."

Six barrels were found during a scientific campaign carried out by the CEA and Ifremer in 1984. © Ifremer/Epaulard

A stable environment

The submerged barrels, which have a lifespan of between 20 and 26 years, are now long past their expiry date.

In 2000, the environmental NGO Greenpeace filmed barrels of waste at the site closest to the French coast, the Casquets trench in the English Channel, used to dump waste by Belgium and the UK. Their footage showed the rusting barrels were badly degraded and corroded.

However, the barrels dumped at sea do not contain the most hazardous waste. Most of the waste is classified as very low-, low- and medium-level radioactive waste, according to the available data.

In addition, the radioactivity emitted by radioactive waste gradually diminishes over time. The time it takes for a radioactive substance to decrease by half is called the half-life. However, this half-life period varies greatly – depending on the type of atom or radionuclide. For instance, it is approximately two years for caesium 134, approximately 13 years for plutonium 241, approximately 30 years for caesium 137 and some 4.5 billion years for uranium 238.

The radioactive waste comes in two forms: either solid or liquid. Solid waste is surrounded by a concrete or bitumen matrix before being sealed in a watertight barrel. Only the former USSR and the United States have dumped other types of waste, such as nuclear reactor tanks, some of which still contain fuel, reported the French National Agency for Nuclear Waste Management (Andra).

The total radiological activity of the submerged waste was around 85,000 terabecquerels when it was released into the ocean, Andra added.

In the postwar period, as nuclear technology spread to many sectors of activity, developed countries viewed dumping waste in deep waters as a safe option. The deep ocean is one of the most stable environments on Earth and scientists mistakenly believed it to be deserted and devoid of life.

‘A reflection of a period in history’

The history of these dumping operations remains a grey area and the practice was completely unregulated by international treaties.

It was not until 1975 that the London Convention’s moratorium came into force. And it was only in the early 1990s that the disposal of industrial and radioactive waste at sea was definitively banned.

Precise data on the dumping operations remains patchy, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), “due to the different ways in which records on disposal operations have been kept in different countries”.

“The information on accidents and losses at sea of radioactive material [...] is heterogeneous, the agency said in a 2015 report.

"This is a reflection of a particular period in history. At the time, we were in the midst of the rapid development of the nuclear industry and nuclear weapons. States communicated very little. Even today, we have very little information," said Patrick Chardon, a research engineer at the Clermont Auvergne Physics Laboratory (LPCA) and a specialist in the effects of radioactivity on the environment.

"There have been several campaigns to monitor the dumping zone in the northeast Atlantic, but they didn't have the tools we have now. These will enable us to pinpoint the exact location of the barrels, the discharge areas and the concentrations of radioactivity," Chardon added.

Back in 1980, the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) carried out a review of the “continued suitability of the dumping site for radioactive waste in the northeast Atlantic”. As the seawater samples collected showed no increase in radioactivity compared with natural levels, the NEA did not think it necessary to recover the submerged barrels or even to maintain continuous surveillance of the sites.

But this time round, scientists will be able to take much more precise measurements by sampling the water, sediment and living organisms. "Unlike previous research programmes, which were carried out somewhat in the dark, we will now have a picture of where the sampling will be most relevant based on the presence or absence of the barrels. This is a really important point when it comes to assessing the impact of waste," Escartin explained.
A possible impact on living organisms

Scientists currently have no idea how radionuclides behave in the oceans, and even less so in an environment as extreme as the deep ocean, notorious for its intense cold, darkness and phenomenal pressure.

"The mission will enable us to gain a detailed understanding of radionuclides. We will be able to observe the chemical forms in which these elements are present, and establish whether they are mobile or not, immobilised by the sediment or, on the contrary, if they can be assimilated by living organisms," explained Chardon.

"In this respect, strontium-90 is problematic because it is an analogue of calcium. In terms of biological functioning, living organisms confuse strontium with calcium. It can therefore be integrated into the food chain," Chardon continued.

Two missions will be carried out over the submerged areas of the Northeast Atlantic abyssal plain, covering an area of 6,000 square kilometres. © Nodssum project


On their return to dry land, the scientists will spend several months studying the samples taken near the radioactive barrels. A second mission to refine the results will then be scheduled. All the data from both missions will be made available to the public in the interests of transparency.

“This is not a mission to assess whether the releases were well or badly done,” warned Escartin. "It's an opportunity to look at what was done in the past, without passing judgment, to carry out scientific studies. Afterwards, of course, we'll have to conduct a complete inventory, because we need one."

However, during the mission, the scientists will only be able to assess the condition of a small fraction of the 200,000 barrels in the northeast Atlantic. And on each dive, the UlyX autonomous robot will only be able to focus on an area of around 20 square kilometres – a drop in the ocean given that the two research areas where the submerged barrels lie covers more than 6,000 km2.

This article has been translated from the original in French by Charlotte Wilkins.

Myanmar’s parliament elects coup-leading general as civilian president

Myanmar's pro-army parliament on Friday elected Senior General Min Aung Hlaing as president days after he relinquished his top military post, as required by the constitution, and passed it to the country's former spymaster. Min Aung Hlaing, the leader of the 2021 coup, was elected after an electoral process dismissed as civilian window dressing by monitoring groups.


Issued on: 03/04/2026 
By: FRANCE 24

File photo of Myanmar's Senior General Min Aung Hlaing taken at a military parade in Naypyidaw on March 27, 2021. © Stringer, Reuters

Myanmar's parliament elected junta chief Min Aung Hlaing as president on Friday, parliament said, with the ex-military commander set to maintain his rule in a civilian guise after snatching power by force five years ago.

The coup-leading general – who swept aside democracy in 2021, detaining elected figurehead Aung San Suu Kyi and dissolving her party – was anointed by pro-military MPs installed in a recent election overseen by the junta he leads.

The vote on Friday across the upper and lower houses of parliament in the capital Naypyidaw saw Min Aung Hlaing secure a huge margin over the second-place candidate in a three-person race.

"We hereby announce Senior General Min Aung Hlaing as president," parliament speaker Aung Lin Dwe announced from a stage in the parliament meeting hall.

He received 429 votes of 584 cast by MPs, a parliament official said after ballot counting was finished.

While the junta touted parliament's reopening last month as a return of power to the people, analysts describe it as civilian window dressing intended to launder the military's continuing rule.

The pro-military Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) won more than 80 percent of parliamentary seats contested in the election which concluded in late January, while serving members of the armed forces occupy unelected seats making up a quarter of the total.

The massively popular Suu Kyi has been detained since the February 2021 coup, criticism or protest over the election was outlawed and voting was blocked in territories controlled by rebels which have risen up to challenge the military takeover in a grinding civil war.

With opposition factions still standing defiant after the poll, the conflict and ensuing humanitarian crisis show no sign of abating.

Tens of thousands have been killed on all sides since the coup.
Civilian leader

Min Aung Hlaing is due to take power as president this month, while his two competitors – current Prime Minister Nyo Saw and Nan Ni Ni Aye, a regional MP from Karen state with the USDP party – will serve under him as vice-presidents.

In a post-coup period of emergency rule, Min Aung Hlaing served as both commander-in-chief of the armed forces and acting president, but to become permanent president he is constitutionally compelled to relinquish his military post.

He handed over the reins of the military to loyalist and former spymaster Ye Win Oo on Monday.

Myanmar's military has ruled the country for most of its post-independence history and presents itself as the only force guarding the restive country from rupture and ruin.

The generals loosened their grip for a decade-long democratic interlude beginning in 2011, allowing Suu Kyi to ascend as civilian leader and steer a spurt of reform as the nation opened up from its hermetic history.

After the Nobel Peace Prize laureate's party trounced the pro-military USDP with a landslide victory in 2020 elections, Min Aung Hlaing snatched back power making allegations of massive voter fraud.

Analysts say the claims were unfounded and he acted out of anxiety about the armed forces' waning influence.

Now that the USDP is entrenched in parliament with back-up from military MPs entitled to unelected seats under the constitution, the new government is expected to march in lockstep with the top brass.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)

Burmese Military Rebrands, But Never Reforms – OpEd

April 3, 2026 
By Burma Campaign UK

General Min Aung Hlaing, who ran the military regime in Burma yesterday, is running the military regime in Burma today.


The new title of President could be viewed as a story about General Min Aung Hlaing’s personal ambitions. He does like his titles. Military-controlled media have recently been calling him: “Chairman of the State Security and Peace Commission Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services Senior General Thadoe Maha Thray Sithu Thadoe Thiri Thudhamma Min Aung Hlaing.”

In fact, while General Min Aung Hlaing’s personal ambitions obviously play a key role in his decisions, this latest rebranding is all about preserving the rule of the military as an institution. (Note: Min Aung Hlaing retains the title of General even though he has retired as commander in chief).

The Burmese military have ruled Burma for 59 years (from 1962, not including five years of a government led by the National League for Democracy). They have survived this long in part because they are flexible, employing many different forms and systems of military rule.

This includes political party fronts such as the Burmese Socialist Program Party and Union Solidarity and Development Party, and numerous front administrations including the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC), State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), front regimes such as that led by General Thein Sein, State Administration Council (SAC), and State Security and Peace Commission (SSPC).


It does not matter who happens to be head of the Burmese military at any given time, or what name they use for their proxy administration, it is the military as an institution which has ruled Burma for almost 60 years. They will always prioritise their own power and control and pursue their own racist Bamar Buddhist nationalist extremist vision of Burma.

At the same time, the leadership of the Burmese military are always corrupt and nepotistic, enriching themselves and the business cronies they depend on. It is not just a brutal military dictatorship, it is a massive criminal enterprise which has for decades stolen the natural resources of Burma, has been involved in the drugs trade and scam centres, illegal international arms trading, and which has distorted the entire economy of Burma for its own benefit.

The Burmese military will never reform. The only thing that changes are the forms of political system it uses to ensure its survival, and the tactics it uses to try to relieve pressure from the domestic population and international community.

In a great many ways, the military appear to be trying to replicate some of the success they achieved with the sham reform process of 2010-2021. We detailed this in our briefing paper, The Burmese Military’s ‘Elections’: New Date, New Danger, Same Sham, warning of tactics the military is likely to employ. Sure enough, the military is already using some of these tactics, including the mass release of political prisoners. That briefing paper is available here.


Too many times in the past the international community has been unable to distinguish between rebranding and reform. Or if they do, they take a ‘something is better than nothing’ approach even though it’s a something they would never dream of accepting in their own country.

The lack of institutional memory in foreign ministries around the world also benefits the Burmese military. They recycle the same tricks over and over again and diplomats, mostly in post covering Burma for only 2-4 years at a time, think something new is happening.

We tell them it’s groundhog day, old wine in an old bottle, or history repeating itself, but they don’t listen. They deploy the phrases that democracy and human rights activists have been hearing for decades: “We have to wait and see,” “We have to look for any opening and encourage it.”

Burmese activists have compared the Burmese military to a carnivorous plant found in Burma, the pitcher plant (often called the water jug plant in Burma), which has a liquid which smells sweet to insects but digests them when they get too close. In this analogy, United Nations and other envoys are the insects being devoured.

A predication that the Burmese military cannot be defeated and therefore have to be accommodated has underpinned international policy making towards Burma for years. Instead of seeing their role as assisting the people of Burma to remove a corrupt oppressive criminal institution which has undermined the country for decades, they tell the people of Burma they have to have dialogue and compromise with their oppressor, even though their oppressor never compromises themselves.

This is what General Min Aung Hlaing and his fellow generals will be counting on now. That diplomats will accept the superficial rebranding and public relations gestures and wipe the slate clean.

There is a significant change in the playbook though compared to post 2010 efforts. At that time a lot more effort was made to try to persuade the international community that there was significant change coming. More effort with the elections and political party participation, and more effort with international media. And of course, Than Shwe stepping down and being replaced by General Thein Sein, who has a brutal history of human rights abuses and sexual violations by soldiers under his command, but also experience in sweet-talking diplomats.


This time round the same general is in charge. It’s much harder to present yourself as a reforming regime when yesterday’s dictator is today’s dictator.

What does the limited effort in presenting elections as credible, and the continued role of Min Aung Hlaing mean?

Part is of course his ambition, but part must be that the military have calculated they can get away with it. They have the strong backing of China, Russia and India, three regional allies that are much more assertive internationally than they were 16 years ago. The military may feel they don’t need to make as many concessions as they did last time round, as they don’t need western countries.

They may also be calculating that the way in which western countries are no longer prioritising human rights and democracy in Burma means they don’t need to make concessions, western countries will go along with their sham and start normalising relations. The Burmese military have watched how implementation of sanctions slowed to a dribble and then stopped altogether. They are watching European countries close embassies, and how mentions of Burma have fallen off joint statements at international venues like the G7.

It might be that the USA, UK and EU are willing to give the genocide general, as Rohingya activists call Min Aung Hlaing, another chance, but most people in Burma will not. They will keep fighting, keep protesting and keep building new local administrations and institutions in areas freed from Burmese military rule. They will keep building a bottom-up federal democracy.

The Burmese military, with all its different forms, titles and leaders over almost sixty years, and with all the backing from China, Russia, India and others, has never been able to defeat the people of Burma, and it never will.

Burma Campaign UK

Burma Campaign UK is part of a global movement working for the promotion of human rights, democracy and development in Burma. Founded in 1991, Burma Campaign UK is one of the leading Burma campaign organisations in the world. We play a crucial role in coordinating the international campaign for human rights in Burma and work closely with human rights activists in Burma and in exile.

When jail becomes home: Japan's elderly seek refuge behind bars

FRANCE24
Issued on: 03/04/2026 
11:59 min


Japan’s demographic crisis is playing out even behind bars. The number of elderly inmates has quadrupled over the past 20 years. Around a fifth of people over 65 live below the poverty line, struggling to make ends meet. Some go to extraordinary lengths to improve their circumstances, deliberately getting caught shoplifting in the hope of landing in prison. There, they can access a secure place to live, proper meals, and medical care – basic necessities often denied to them outside. A report by Ayana Nishikawa, Alexis Bregere and Justin McCurry.

BY:

Ayana Nishikawa

Justin McCURRY

Alexis BREGERE

 

Iran pushes ahead with solar and wind plants

/ bne IntelliNews

Feedly

By bnm Tehran bureau April 1, 2026

Iran is building four new solar power plants backed by the National Development Fund alongside a wind farm in Sistan and Baluchestan province, with the first phase expected online by July 2026, ILNA reported on April 1, citing the Ministry of Energy.

Alireza Parandeh-Motlagh, deputy technical director of Iran's Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Organisation (SATBA), said the solar plants were under construction and would be brought into service "in the shortest possible time."

The wind farm's first phase will install six turbines with a combined capacity of 15 megawatts. Foundations for four turbines are already being laid, with work on two more due to begin shortly. SATBA plans to expand the site to roughly 100 megawatts in later phases.

The renewable energy push comes as Iran's power infrastructure faces sustained damage from US-Israeli air strikes. Power outages have hit Tehran, the surrounding Alborz province and other regions repeatedly since the war began on February 28, with strikes targeting electricity substations and generation facilities.

State broadcaster IRIB reported on March 31 that power had been restored to parts of eastern Tehran after shrapnel damaged an electrical substation overnight.

Iran's existing grid was already under strain before the war, with summer blackouts a recurring problem driven by rising demand, ageing infrastructure and drought reducing hydroelectric output. The conflict has accelerated the need for distributed generation capacity that is less vulnerable to targeted strikes than centralised thermal plants.

The National Development Fund, Iran's sovereign wealth vehicle fed primarily by oil revenues, is financing the solar projects as part of a broader effort to diversify the country's energy mix under difficult fiscal conditions, with crude exports largely shut off by the Strait of Hormuz closure.

ANALYSIS

'An eye for an eye': Israel’s death penalty law is retaliatory and electorally motivated

The Israeli parliament's adoption of a law establishing "the death penalty for terrorists" – which in practice will only apply to Palestinians – has provoked an international outcry. The reasons for it passing are not just retaliatory, but politically motivated.

2/04/2026 - FRANCE24
By: Marc DAOU

Israel's Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, center, at the Knesset in Jerusalem Monday, March 30, 2026. © Itay Cohen, AP

"This is historic! With God's help, soon we will execute them one by one!"

These were the words spoken by Israel’s far-right Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir on Monday, March 31, just after a 62–48 vote in the Israeli Knesset that passed a law to apply the death penalty to convicted ‘terrorists’.

Ben-Gvir celebrated the Death Penalty for Terrorists Bill by popping open bottles of champagne and embracing fellow supporters at the Knesset. In the run-up to the vote, he had worn a lapel pin in the shape of a noose, symbolising his support for the legislation.

Limor Son Har Melech, a member of Itamar Ben-Gvir's nationalist party, Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power), was in tears as she read out the results. Melech had introduced the law along with Nissim Vaturi, Knesset deputy speaker and member of Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party.

© FRANCE 24
10:32

The law effectively enshrines capital punishment for Palestinians who "intentionally cause the death of a person with the aim of denying the existence of the State of Israel”.

It has sparked fierce criticism in Israel, the Palestinian territories and abroad for its retaliatory nature, de facto targeting of Palestinians and electorally motivated reasoning.
Death by default

The law says that Palestinians in the occupied West Bank – referred to as Judea and Samaria in the text – would face the death penalty by default if the homicide is classified as an act of terrorism by the Israeli military court, barring specific appeals.

The Knesset stated in Hebrew that the bill mandates that a “resident of the area, except for an Israeli citizen or Israel resident, who intentionally caused the death of a person in an act of terrorism, shall be imposed with the death penalty, unless the military court finds that special circumstances exist under which it is appropriate to impose a sentence of life imprisonment”. It remains unclear what the “special circumstances” are.

“Resident of the region”, in this case, refers to anyone registered in the region's population register or who resides in the region, according to the law. It excludes Israeli citizens or residents, which in this case means settlers.

READ MOREBedouins in Israel’s Negev desert face bomb shelter shortage

The law is not retroactive and will only apply to Palestinians arrested after it comes into effect. Death sentence "by hanging" would be carried out within 90 days of the final conviction, with a possible postponement of up to 180 days.

The Gaza Strip is not mentioned in the text, but a separate bill, which is currently being debated in the Knesset, is intended to establish a special court for the prosecution of those who participated in the October 7 massacre. The bill is set to be presented in parliament in the first week of the Knesset summer session, which begins on March 10.

Although the death penalty has been technically legal in limited forms since Israel's founding, the country has only carried out two state-authorised executions. The first took place in 1948, against an army captain wrongly accused of high treason. The second was against Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann, who was hanged for genocide and crimes against humanity in 1962.
Condemned at home and abroad

Palestinians were horrified by the law, and shuttered shops and public institutions across the main cities of Hebron, Ramallah, and Nablus in the West Bank on Wednesday. Dozens of citizens – including activists, political factions and civil society groups – also gathered to protest the law on the streets.

Ramallah-based psychologist Raman, 53, told news agency AFP that "there isn't a single person standing here who doesn't have a brother, a husband, a son, or even a neighbour in prison. There is no Palestinian family without a prisoner".
Palestinians demonstrate against the decision by Israel's parliament to approve the death penalty for Palestinians convicted of murdering Israelis in Nablus, West Bank, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. © Majdi Mohammed, AP


Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas of the Fatah party called for general strikes, while Hamas said the passing of the law "reflected the bloody nature of the occupation and its policy based on killing and terrorism".

Minutes after the adoption of the Death Penalty for Terrorists Bill into law, Israeli human rights organisation Association for Civil Rights in Israel said they had filed an emergency appeal with the Supreme Court.

In a damning post on their website, they described the law as “depressing and infuriating”, condemning the “disgraceful jubilation surrounding such a repugnant law by the racist and extremist Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir and other members of the government”. They had earlier described the law as discriminatory, racist, and unconstitutional.

The Knesset "is not authorised to legislate directly for the West Bank, since the military commander is the legal sovereign in the occupied territory”, they pointed out.

© France 24
09:15

Israeli rabbi and researcher Elhanan Miller shares that view. In an interview with FRANCE 24’s Arabic channel, he said he expected the law to be overturned by Israel’s Supreme Court – “It is illegal to apply Israeli law in the West Bank to Palestinians as it is an occupied territory under military control," he explained.

Several European countries have expressed their concern as well. Spain said the law was "a further step towards apartheid", and the EU urged Israel to “abide by its previous position”, saying that the approval of the Death Penalty Bill “marks a grave regression”, noting its “de facto discriminatory character”.

The Council of Europe has threatened to revoke Israel's observer status, while the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights believes that the application of this law would be considered a war crime.

Human rights organisation Amnesty International denounced the law as "carte blanche to execute Palestinians while stripping away the most basic fair-trial safeguards", and pointed out that Israeli military courts had a "conviction rate of over 99% for Palestinian defendants."
A politically motivated law

“This judiciary is a stain on Israel, with its discrimination between Palestinians and Israelis in the West Bank,” said Miller. “It is an unjust law for developed and advanced Western countries, introduced by the extremist minister Itamar Ben-Gvir in an attempt to score points before the elections.” The next parliamentary elections must be held before October 27, 2026.

“Netanyahu is afraid of the coming elections and wants to curry favour with the Israeli ideological right, at the expense of Israel’s image in the world and in the West in particular [where this law is criticized],” Miller added.

Ben-Gvir doesn't deny the political context, gloating on X about fulfilling his election promise, saying in Hebrew, " We promised. We delivered."

Akram Hassoun, an Arab member of the Israeli parliament and member of Benjamin Netanyahu's governing coalition, voted in favour of the bill and acknowledged the political motivations.

READ MORE  Israel's new death penalty law is more of 'an annexation law'

"This law was proposed by the coalition to which I belong," he explained on FRANCE 24's Arabic channel. "If you want this coalition to support you on an issue that concerns Israeli Arabs, you have to support what concerns them."

Lamenting what he considers "a misinterpretation of the text by the media in an electoral context", Hassoun said that, fundamentally, the law targets "terrorists who want to kill innocent people" and "is intended as a deterrent for any citizen who does not believe in the sanctity of life, so that no one is killed, neither Arab nor Jew".

He added: "Anyone who takes another person's life without any reason must be executed. They can be Jewish, Arab, Muslim, Christian, Druze, or of any other faith."

When asked if he supported applying the law to an Israeli settler who killed a Palestinian in the occupied West Bank, he said: "I don't think about that kind of case, but anyone who takes the life of a Palestinian in a terrorist attack will have this law applied to them."

The law, however, explicitly excludes this scenario.

This article has been translated from the original in French.

Lebanon condemns Israel’s 'clear intention' to impose new occupation of its territory


Lebanon said Israeli strikes hit near Beirut’s airport road on Tuesday as the UN Security Council met after three peacekeepers were killed. Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said troops would occupy parts of southern Lebanon even after the war, prompting Beirut to warn of a “clear intention” to impose a new occupation.


01/04/2026 - 10:11
By: FRANCE 24

Smoke rises from an Israeli airstrike on the Qasmiyeh bridge in south Lebanon © Kawnat Haju, AFP

Lebanon denounced what it called Israel's plans for "a new occupation of Lebanese territory" on Tuesday, after Israel said it would establish a "security zone" in the country.

Defence Minister Major General Michel Menassa said the remarks by his counterpart Israel Katz were "no longer mere threats", but reflected "a clear intention to impose a new occupation of Lebanese territory, forcibly displace hundreds of thousands of citizens, and systematically destroy villages and towns in the south".

Katz also said Israel would have "security control" up to the Litani river, an idea which Menassa denounced as "a deepening of the aggression against Lebanese land and national sovereignty".

Tehran-backed Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the war by launching attacks on Israel to avenge the killing of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Israel has responded with broad strikes across Lebanon and a ground offensive.


Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney denounced Israel's deployment of troops against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon as an "illegal invasion" that violates its "integrity and sovereignty".

Fresh Israeli strikes hit the country's south and near Beirut on Tuesday, the state-run National News Agency said.

One strike hit a building next to Beirut's main airport road after Israel's military warned it would strike a "Hezbollah facility" there.

The road is the main means of accessing the country's only international passenger facility.

AFPTV images showed plumes of smoke rising from the site on the edge of Beirut's southern suburbs, a Hezbollah bastion that has largely emptied of residents since the latest hostilities erupted, and where Israel said it struck Hezbollah "infrastructure" earlier in the day.

'Security zone'

The NNA also said an Israeli strike hit Christian-majority suburb of Mansourieh outside Beirut without warning, the first attack there since the war erupted.

Residents said they heard an explosion and saw black smoke rise from the area, while an AFP correspondent saw a hole in the ground and damaged vehicles showered with soil.

Israel's Katz said that "at the end of the operation, the IDF (military) will establish itself in a security zone inside Lebanon... and will maintain security control over the entire area up to the Litani" River, which flows around 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the border.

He also said the return of hundreds of thousands of displaced Lebanese would be "completely prevented" until northern Israel's security was ensured.

"All the houses in the villages adjacent to the border in Lebanon will be demolished... to remove once and for all the border-adjacent threats from the residents of the north," he added.

In response, Menassa said Katz's remarks were "no longer mere threats, but reflect a clear intention to impose a new occupation of Lebanese territory, forcibly displace hundreds of thousands of citizens, and systematically destroy villages and towns in the South".

Lebanese authorities say the hostilities have so far killed more than 1,200 people and displaced more than one million others.

Hezbollah has been claiming dozens of attacks against Israeli targets, and said Tuesday that its fighters clashed with soldiers in south Lebanon's Ainata, around four kilometres from the border.

It also said its fighters attacked Israeli soldiers who attempted to advance towards the town of Bint Jbeil, as well as "a senior Israeli army leadership convoy" near the frontier.

In successive statements on Tuesday evening, the group announced a wave of rocket and missile attacks on northern Israel.

© France 24
01:59

Security Council meeting

The UN Security Council was meeting on Tuesday following the deaths in recent days of three Indonesian peacekeepers from the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in two incidents in the country's south.

A UN security source told AFP that Israeli fire had killed one peacekeeper on Sunday, while a mine may have caused Monday's deadly blast.

Israel's military said it was investigating the incidents to "determine whether they resulted from Hezbollah activity or from IDF activity".

In a joint statement, 10 European countries including France and Britain urged all sides to ensure UNIFIL's safety.

UN aid chief Tom Fletcher told the Security Council that south Lebanon could become another occupied territory in the Middle East.

"Given the trajectory that some Israeli ministers have described and given what we have seen in plain sight in Gaza, how will you protect civilians?" he asked.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)

BULLSHIT CHARGE

French-Palestinian MEP Rima Hassan to be tried for 'advocating terrorism' in X post

Rima Hassan, a European Parliament member from the France Unbowed (LFI) party who is of Palestinian descent, will face trial in July on charges of "advocating terrorism" online over a message on X she posted last month. The International League Against Racism and Anti-Semitism and the European Jewish Organization ​lodged complaints against the post referencing a 1972 Israeli airport attack.

Issued on: 03/04/2026 - 
By: FRANCE 24

File photo of Rima Hassan addressing a demonstration in Paris taken June 12, 2025. © Thibaud Moritz, AFP

Rima Hassan, a French far-left ⁠member of the ​European Parliament, will face trial in July over a comment she posted on X last month about ​a 1970s attack on an Israeli airport, the Paris prosecutor's office said late on Thursday.

Authorities arrested Hassan and detained her in custody for several hours on Thursday because they suspected the post made on March ​26 and ‌later erased could be construed as showing support for terrorism.

"At the end ⁠of her custody, Rima Hassan was given a summons to appear before the criminal court on July 7, 2026, to be ‌tried on charges of advocating terrorism committed online," the office said in an emailed statement.

Hassan's ⁠message was related to the 1972 attack by the Japanese Red Army far-left militant group at Lod airport in Tel Aviv, resulting in 26 deaths.

In the post, Hassan ​had quoted on her X account a comment made by an individual ‌who was convicted for the attack and sought to justify it by citing what he said was the oppression of people in the Palestinian territories.

The offence of online "terrorism apology" is punishable by up to a ‌seven-year jail term and a fine of up to €100,000 ($115,290).

The International League Against Racism and Anti-Semitism and the European Jewish Organization ​had lodged complaints against the post.

After her release, Hassan and her lawyer, Vincent Brengarth, said in separate posts on X that they would only comment on the process in a press conference ​on Friday afternoon.

Born in Syria, Hassan, 33, is of Palestinian descent and is a vocal ​pro-Palestinian activist and a fierce critic of Israel. Hassan was detained in Israel last year after Israeli security forces intercepted a Gaza-bound aid boat, which was part of a flotilla trying to break the blockade on the besieged Palestinian territory. Hassan and three other French nationals on board the boat were later expelled by Israel.

Israel to expel French 'Freedom Flotilla' activists, MEP Rima Hassan held in solitary confinement

Hassan was elected to ​the European Parliament in 2024 for the French far-left France Unbowed (LFI) party. Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the party's founder, said the proceedings against Hassan were politically ​motivated.

Interior Minister Laurent Nunez dismissed the accusation.

"There are rules to be respected. Advocating terrorism is a very serious offence," he said on TV station BFMTV.

The prosecutor's office has said that Hassan is the subject of six other investigations into possible hate speech while 16 others have been shelved.

The ⁠statement also said police found cannabidiol, or CBD, and a substance that seemed to be a designer drug 3-MMC ⁠in her possession. These will ​be treated separately.

Hassan has denied illegal drug possession, saying in her post that she takes CBD for medical reasons.

(FRANCE 24 with Reuters)

LEILA KHALED

French court overrules police ban on annual Muslim event

A French court on Friday overruled a Paris police ban on an annual Muslim event over the weekend due to a “terrorist risk targeting the Muslim community". The court noted that the public disturbances cited by the authorities to justify the ban were “not substantiated" by the evidence provided.


Issued on: 03/04/2026 - 
By: FRANCE 24

File photo of a protester holding a placard reading, "We are Muslims and proud of it," taken during a rally against Islamophobia in Paris on May 11, 2025. © Geoffroy Van der Hasselt, AFP (File)

France’s administrative court on Friday ruled on an urgent appeal to overturn a ban on the Annual Gathering of French Muslims, scheduled for Friday through Monday, at Bourget, north of Paris.

The court found the public disturbances cited by the authorities to justify the ban were “not proven”. The presiding judge ruled that “the public order disturbances cited” by the Paris police to ban the Annual Gathering of French Muslims “were not substantiated by the evidence in the case file”, according to a statement from the Paris Administrative Court.

The judge also noted the absence of any documented incidents during previous such events, “which were also held at the Bourget Exhibition Center in tense contexts, particularly following the 2015 Paris attacks”.

The court ruling followed a ban order by the Paris police citing a "major terrorist risk" that the event might be targeted. The police order said the event was "taking place in a particularly tense international and national context".


The gathering was "exposed to a significant terrorist risk targeting the Muslim community", it added.

The ban order cited a foiled bid last weekend to bomb the Bank of America building in Paris – an event, it said, that underlined the seriousness of the threat inside France.

French prosecutors said the attempted attack might have been linked to a pro-Iran group, as security fears flare over the war in the Middle East.

Police also cited a polarised political debate during municipal elections last month.

The decision comes as the French interior ministry prepares a draft law designed to tackle the danger of radical Islamist elements infiltrating Muslim groups.

The bill is due to be presented to President Emmanuel Macron's cabinet at the end of April, the ministry said, confirming a report by Le Parisien newspaper.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)