President Trump’s Public Bible Reading Fits In With His Support For Israel’s Wars – OpEd

Image: Generated by Grok


April 19, 2026 

By Adam Dick


President Donald Trump will, via an already prepared recording, participate in the “America Reads the Bible” event scheduled to occur at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, DC on April 19-25. With the whole Bible to pick from for his reading, Trump chose a portion of the book of Second Chronicles that deals with King Solomon’s establishment of the “First Temple” and the potential for its later destruction.

The subject matter of this part of the Bible ties in with Trump’s relentless support of the Israel government in its war efforts in Gaza, Lebanon, Iran, and beyond. The connection is that among the most avid American supporters of the Israel government’s war efforts are those who are committed to helping bring about the creation of a Third Temple in Jerusalem.

The First Temple ended up being destroyed as foreshadowed in Second Chronicles. Later, a Second Temple was built and then destroyed as well.

Among some American diehard supporters of the Israel government’s wars during Trump’s second presidential administration, a key part of their basis for their support is a desire to help ensure the creation of a Third Temple in Jerusalem. They see this as a step moving things along their desired course based on reasoning related to their understanding of Hebrew of Christian theology.

Maybe Trump chose the section of the Bible he will be reading for some other reason. But, it is interesting that the reading he chose fits right in with the reasoning behind a significant portion of the Americans’ strong support for the US government providing the aid necessary for the Israel government to wage its wars.

This article was published at Ron Paul Institute

Adam Dick

Adam Dick is a Senior Fellow at Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity. Adam worked from 2003 through 2013 as a legislative aide for Rep. Ron Paul. Previously, he was a member of the Wisconsin State Board of Elections, a co-manager of Ed Thompson's 2002 Wisconsin governor campaign, and a lawyer in New York and Connecticut.

Uncovering Gold’s Secret History – Book Review

Gold Bars. Photo by Agnico-Eagle Mines Limited, Wikipedia Commons.

April 19, 2026
MISES
By Joakim Book


You can trust the prolific and ever-entertaining British author Dominic Frisby to produce a most timely book on a most relevant asset class. In The Secret History of Gold: Myth, Money, Politics & Power, released last year in Britain but only available in the US from May, this excellent writer and storyteller takes us along on a truly epic journey.

From the Mongols, to probably history’s richest man, to Rome, and the lively portrayal of gold rushes in the 1800s—the California and Alaskan ones, perhaps biggest of all—we get a quick-paced, overview vision of humanity’s relationship with gold, plus ounces of historical nuggets.

The book is very reminiscent in pace and tone of the reading experience in Frisby’s 2019 Daylight Robbery—a similarly-entertaining and wide-ranging investigation into the history of taxation. About Alexander the Great—better known for his conquests than his monetary policy—Frisby writes that,


. . .[he] might have conquered with his armies, but he consolidated with money: by taking control of gold and silver supply and using it to impose his currency, the most international money the world had ever seen.


There’s a great Marco Polo quotes about seigniorage in China (“money he pays out costs him nothing at all”), and the astonishing history of touchstones (“a piece of dark stone. . .used to test the purity of gold or silver”), to which I confess having been unaware. The golden dreams of Colonial Spanish South America are vividly recounted, with the conquistador’s insatiable search for gold and the mythical El Dorado front and center: “Whenever there is lots of gold, there always seems to be a story of lost gold.”

Always following along humanity’s footsteps, gold is there either in monetary or ornamental form. Up and down the nineteenth century, we learn about how gold served as money precisely because we cannot trust governments to responsibly and appropriately govern it.

Amid stories of pieces of eight—the Spanish silver coins that were dominant money in colonial times—America’s dollar is as international as they come: “The global reserve currency of the world — built on a Bohemian name, a Spanish network and solid South and Central American silver” (p. 51).

The most thrilling and intriguing example of gold chases comes from World War II Norway and warms my Scandinavian heart. The Nazi forces infamously hunted for gold across Europe, their first stop upon invading a new country was always the central bank vault. Consequently, occupied nations scurried the national treasure away on trains, boats, and trucks in the dead of night.

The dramatic Norwegian case is worth recounting. In April 1940, the Norwegian government moved the gold to Lillehammer hours before the Nazis arrived in the capital city. In Lillehammer, ordinary Norwegians were told to bring picks and shoves to do road work, but instead packed boxes and boxes of gold to trains to go even further north. The Norwegian coastal village where they arrived next was bombed heavily, some of the gold loaded onto British ships, but most of it made it onto trucks, again bombed by Luftwaffe: “Miraculously, none took a hit,” Frisby tells us. Across fjords and unpaved backroads, sleepless drivers and fishermen ran the gold ever further away from the Germans. Via HMS Glasgow—a British cruiser—and a fleet of ordinary fishing vessels, the gold made it to Tromsø, from which it was then transported over to the UK.

The tragedy of this heroic, golden, Netflix-worthy quest—where only a single bag of gold was lost, courtesy of a greedy sailor onboard HMS Glasgow before presumably throwing a lordly party in his home port—was that none of it was “ever given to those incredible Norwegians who saved the country’s gold.” Almost all of it was eventually sold to finance the exiled Norwegian government. In the account, Frisby demonstrates his excellent writing acumen and storytelling aptitude. It’s truly a bliss to be along for the ride.

Gold, he writes in a separate World War II segment, “was silent witness to the horrors and ambitions of the Third Reich. It was a means to finance Nazi aggression, but also to escape it. The densest form of wealth there is, it was key to their pursuit of power.”

That’s a perfect illustration of how a politically-neutral monetary medium helps good and bad people alike; it’s sort of the point, having nobody entrusted to the task of ruling and regulating the money.


Fast-forward to modern times, we learn about all the ways in which Chinese gold-hoarding statistics are bogus; in all likelihood, the rising and intransparent empire holds way more gold than it publicly claims. We get the impression from Frisby that the central bank rush of recent years, which has in no small part contributed to the gold price’s outstanding run, might not go too much further in making gold the world’s go-to money once more. Because gold is physical and difficult to move, “it will always be the target of thieves and conquerors. Keeping it safe will always be a problem.”

Even the loftiest contemporary dreams of goldbugs aren’t of an actual gold standard—that ship has technologically sailed. In a system of gold backing a transfer system of exchange, Frisby points out, “the gold itself would stay in some vault somewhere and ownership of the gold would change… But this is really gold functioning as a store or wealth, as backing, with an exchange system built on top.”

We’re back to the trusted financial overlay that was once gold’s downfall a century or so ago: the 20th century already showed us how such arrangements can fall apart.

Still, gold’s long history is intimately commingled with humanity itself and with the rise and fall of empires. As always, Mr. Frisby’s musings are always worth hearing. And in The Secret History of Gold he really struck gold.

About the author: Joakim Book is a writer and professional editor, and was the former managing editor for Bitcoin Magazine Print. He was the book editor for, among others, Lyn Alden’s Broken Money, Aaron van Wirdum’s The Genesis Book, and Nik Bhatia’s Bitcoin Age. He holds degrees in economics and financial history from the University of Glasgow and University of Oxford, and was a Mises summer fellow in 2017. His main research interests are monetary economics and the history of central banks, and he writes regularly on those topics for AIER’s The Daily Economy.

Source: This article was published by the Mises Institute


The Mises Institute, founded in 1982, teaches the scholarship of Austrian economics, freedom, and peace. The liberal intellectual tradition of Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973) and Murray N. Rothbard (1926-1995) guides us. Accordingly, the Mises Institute seeks a profound and radical shift in the intellectual climate: away from statism and toward a private property order. The Mises Institute encourages critical historical research, and stands against political correctness.

How Neurosis Fuels The Toxicity Of Organizations: Understanding The Hidden Continuum From Dysfunctional Leadership To Poisoned Workplaces – Analysis

April 19, 2026 
By Murray Hunter


In today’s corporate world, millions of employees dread Monday mornings. They describe their workplaces as exhausting, fear-driven, politically charged, or simply soul-destroying. Record levels of burnout, disengagement, and voluntary turnover have turned toxic workplace culture into a silent epidemic.

Yet most toxic organizations do not begin as toxic. They usually start with seemingly manageable neurotic leadership styles that gradually intensify, shaping strategy, culture, structure, and daily behavior until the entire organization becomes harmful to the people within it and unsustainable in the long run.

This framework builds on the foundational insights of psychoanalyst Manfred Kets de Vries and management researcher Danny Miller in their influential 1984 book The Neurotic Organization. They identified five core neurotic organizational paradigms: paranoid, compulsive (obsessive-compulsive), dramatic (attention-seeking or histrionic), depressive, and schizoid.

This often exhibits into narcissistic leadership style as a pattern of leading where the leader’s behaviors and decisions are primarily driven by their own egotistical needs such as a craving for power, admiration, status, and validation, rather than by the well-being of the team, organization, or its goals.

Narcissistic tendencies frequently act as a powerful intensifier, pushing these styles from mildly dysfunctional into actively destructive territory. These paradigms are not clinical psychiatric labels. Rather, they describe patterned ways that leaders both consciously and unconsciously perceive the world, interpret opportunities and threats, make decisions, design structures, and treat people.


When mild and well-matched to the business context, these neurotic traits can even provide short-term advantages. A degree of vigilance can protect against risks. Discipline can ensure quality. Energy can drive growth. However, when left unchecked being amplified by short-term profit pressures, concentrated executive power, rapid technological and economic disruption, or cultural tolerance for “strong” leadership, various forms of neurosis escalate along a dangerous continuum into full organizational toxicity.

 
The Continuum: From Adaptive Neurosis to Systemic Toxicity

The slide towards organizational toxicity typically occurs in three overlapping phases:Neurotic Phase: Perceptions are distorted, but the organization still functions and may even perform strongly in specific environments. The dominant style is often praised as “decisive,” “disciplined,” “visionary,” or “cautious.”
Toxic Phase: Systemic harm becomes normalized. Psychological safety disappears. Creativity, collaboration, and trust erode. Employees suffer chronic stress, anxiety, burnout, and emotional exhaustion. The organization begins to damage people’s mental and physical health while undermining its own long-term viability, innovation, and reputation.
Crisis Phase: Accumulated damage surfaces through public scandals, mass talent exodus, regulatory investigations, reputational collapse, or financial decline. By this stage, reversing the damage is extremely difficult and costly.

The scale of the problem is staggering

The Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace 2026 report revealed that global employee engagement stood at just 20% in 2025, which was one of the lowest levels on record. This disengagement is estimated to cost the world economy roughly $10 trillion annually in lost productivity.

Burnout affects between 48% and 83% of employees across industries, with particularly high rates among women in leadership and frontline workers. The per-employee financial toll manifested through absenteeism, presenteeism, healthcare costs, and turnover can range from $4,000 to $21,000 per year.

For an organization of 1,000 people, that translates into millions in hidden annual losses. Research from MIT Sloan has shown that a toxic culture is 10 times more predictive of employee turnover than compensation alone. These numbers reflect real human suffering as diminished potential, strained families, and organizations that slowly destroy their own competitive edge.

Understanding how neurosis fuels this toxicity is the first step toward breaking the cycle.

1. The Paranoid Organization: Healthy Vigilance Turns into Destructive Suspicion

The paranoid paradigm is rooted in intense, often irrational fear and distrust which is directed at competitors, regulators, customers, suppliers, and especially internal employees who might be disloyal, incompetent, or secretly undermining leadership.

Decision-making is highly centralized. Information is tightly controlled. Budgets, surveillance, and controls are strict. Strategy becomes overwhelmingly defensive to protect the organization’s existing position rather than pursue bold new opportunities.

Early Adaptive Value: In volatile, high-threat, or heavily regulated industries, this hyper-vigilance can sharpen risk awareness and prevent naive mistakes.

How Neurosis Fuels Toxicity: When paranoia deepens, the workplace transforms into a surveillance state. Employees quickly learn that sharing bad news or unconventional ideas can result in blame, punishment, or being labeled a threat. Scapegoating and witch-hunts become routine. Gossip, cliques, and self-protective alliances replace genuine collaboration. Innovation stalls because any risk feels existential.

Trust evaporates, creating a climate of chronic anxiety where psychological safety is nonexistent. The organization becomes reactive, litigious, and increasingly disconnected from real market needs, falling behind more agile competitors.

Real-World Illustration: Elements of paranoid defensiveness have surfaced in Boeing’s prolonged cultural struggles, where internal suspicion and pressure to protect schedules and profits contributed to quality failures and intense regulatory and public scrutiny.

Warning Signs: Excessive monitoring systems, constant blame-shifting, rigid information controls, and a pervasive “us versus them” mindset that can extend even to loyal customers and partners.

Human Cost: Chronic stress, fear of speaking up, emotional exhaustion, and energy spent on self-protection rather than value creation.
2. The Compulsive Organization: Discipline Becomes Suffocating Bureaucracy

Driven by an overwhelming need for order, perfection, and control, compulsive leaders impose detailed rules, exhaustive planning, multilayered approvals, and rigid metrics. Delegation feels dangerous, so work is repeatedly checked. In stable or precision-focused settings, this can deliver consistency and high quality.


Early Adaptive Value: Strong operational discipline and error reduction, especially useful in regulated industries or repetitive processes.

How Neurosis Fuels Toxicity: Controls multiply until they paralyze initiative. Employees burn out chasing impossible standards while feeling distrusted and micromanaged. Creativity is treated as risky deviation. Mistakes are hidden rather than learned from. When mixed with paranoid traits, the result is a fear-driven machine of endless paperwork, delayed decisions, and resentment. Motivation collapses. The organization grows rigid and brittle, unable to adapt when customer needs, technology, or market conditions change.

Warning Signs: Proliferation of policies and sign-offs, obsession with compliance over business outcomes, workaholic norms, and punishment for any deviation from established processes.

Human Cost: Frustration, apathy, physical and mental exhaustion, and the demoralizing sense that individual judgment and contribution no longer matter.
3. The Dramatic Organization: Charisma Becomes Volatility and Chaos

In the dramatic (attention-seeking or histrionic) paradigm, leadership is theatrical, impulsive, and hungry for visibility, excitement, and admiration. Decisions are often based on hunches, intuition, or headline potential rather than rigorous analysis. The organization chases novelty and bold initiatives that feed the leader’s need for recognition.

Early Adaptive Value: High energy, rapid movement, and the ability to attract attention and talent in creative, startup, or high-profile industries.

How Neurosis Fuels Toxicity: The workplace experiences constant boom-and-bust cycles. Grand projects launch with fanfare and are abandoned when novelty fades. Priorities shift unpredictably, exhausting teams. Favoritism toward flatterers replaces merit.

When narcissism merges in, bullying, manipulation, and deception become control tools. Honest input dries up as people learn silence is safer. Resources are wasted on short-term spectacle. Long-term value creation suffers, and turnover rises sharply as employees seek stability.

Real-World Illustration: Uber during the Travis Kalanick era displayed dramatic volatility and aggressive “bro culture,” leading to widespread harassment allegations, executive turnover, and a major cultural reckoning that required years to address.

Warning Signs: Frequent strategy reversals, cult-of-personality dynamics, decisions justified by “it felt right” or “this will generate buzz,” and rewards tied more to visibility than sustainable results.


Human Cost: Emotional whiplash, cynicism, burnout from perpetual crisis mode, and demotivation when real contributions are ignored or appropriated.
4. The Depressive Organization: Cautious Realism Becomes Complacency and Stagnation

This paradigm features pervasive pessimism, helplessness, and low energy at senior levels. Leaders feel little control over external forces and conclude that major change is futile or too risky. The default is to maintain the status quo through heavy bureaucracy and committee decision-making.

Early Adaptive Value: Prudent caution that avoids reckless risks in very stable or protected environments.

How Neurosis Fuels Toxicity: Complacency takes root. Assets decay, customer service deteriorates, and innovation halts because “it won’t work here anyway.” A self-fulfilling prophecy emerges: the firm slowly declines precisely because it expects failure and avoids action. Managers avoid personal risk by pushing decisions upward. Employees feel trapped in mediocrity, where ambition is quietly discouraged. When disruption arrives such as new technology, aggressive competitors, or regulatory shifts the organization is often unprepared and vulnerable to takeover or irrelevance.

Warning Signs: Widespread “why bother” attitudes, resistance to external benchmarking, decisions endlessly deferred, and declining relevance to customers and markets.

Human Cost: Hopelessness, learned helplessness, career stagnation, and emotional flatness that spills into personal life.
5. The Schizoid Organization: Professional Detachment Becomes Fragmentation and Apathy

Leaders appear emotionally cold, directionless, and detached from operational realities. Environmental scanning is minimal. Vision is weak or absent, leading to inconsistent, politically driven strategy. This style can suit highly specialized technical or solitary analytical work.

Early Adaptive Value: Emotional distance that allows deep focus without interpersonal distraction.


How Neurosis Fuels Toxicity: Apathy spreads. Departments harden into isolated silos with “us versus them” rivalries. Information is withheld for political advantage. Strategy fragments. Customer and stakeholder concerns are ignored. Without strong, emotionally connected leadership, the organization simply muddles along until crisis or internal power struggle forces change, which is usually at a great cost.

Warning Signs: Lack of coherent vision, frequent political infighting, emotional flatness in meetings, and poor cross-functional cooperation.

Human Cost: Isolation, frustration from duplicated efforts, and a deep sense that work lacks meaning or direction.
Narcissism: The Dangerous Intensifier

Narcissistic traits often amplify every other paradigm. Leaders crave admiration, display grandiosity, lack empathy, and possess fragile self-esteem. They demand total loyalty while reacting to criticism with rage or retaliation. Strategy becomes ego-driven and unrealistic.

Ethics bend to protect image. The organization turns inward, treating people as tools rather than valued contributors. Echo chambers form where only flattering information reaches the top.

Warning Signs: Unrealistic grandiose goals, punishment of dissent, shallow listening, and decisions that prioritize personal legacy over organizational sustainability.
Why Neurosis So Easily Turns Toxic in Modern Corporations

Contemporary corporate systems frequently reward exactly these neurotic extremes. Shareholder primacy and quarterly targets favor short-term spectacle (dramatic), rigid cost controls (compulsive), defensive risk management (paranoid), and cautious capital preservation (depressive). The cult of the charismatic CEO amplifies dramatic and narcissistic styles.

Rapid AI adoption, hybrid work challenges, and economic uncertainty then heighten stress on already vulnerable cultures, accelerating the slide from neurosis to toxicity.

The consequences reach far beyond individual companies with reduced societal innovation, strained families, and economies losing trillions in potential output. Marginalized groups often bear disproportionate harm through heightened scrutiny or blocked advancement in paranoid or narcissistic environments.
Breaking the Cycle: From Awareness to Action

Awareness of these neurotic roots provides a powerful diagnostic lens. Organizations can interrupt the continuum through deliberate, sustained effort:


For Leaders:Conduct regular, anonymous cultural diagnostics and external audits.
Build psychological safety by encouraging candor, normalizing intelligent failure, and modeling vulnerability.
Redesign incentives to reward collaboration, long-term outcomes, and balanced risk-taking.
Invest in leadership development focused on self-awareness and emotional intelligence.

For Employees:Document patterns objectively and seek external mentors or peer networks.
Propose small, low-risk experiments that demonstrate healthier ways of working.
Recognize when toxicity is entrenched and prioritize personal wellbeing, including the option to leave.

Organizational Interventions:Replace stack-ranking and purely quantitative metrics with systems that value outcomes and teamwork.
Implement ongoing culture health checks tied to executive accountability.
Foster inclusive practices that reduce silos and combat inertia.

Companies like Microsoft under Satya Nadella have shown it is possible to shift from a highly competitive, know-it-all culture toward a more collaborative, learn-it-all mindset. This was only when leadership honestly confronts the underlying neurotic patterns rather than applying cosmetic fixes.
Conclusion: Choosing Healthier Organizations

Toxic workplaces are not random bad luck or the unavoidable price of business success. They are the predictable endpoint when neurotic leadership styles are allowed to intensify unchecked. By clearly naming the paradigms — paranoid suspicion, compulsive control, dramatic volatility, depressive inertia, schizoid detachment, and narcissistic grandiosity — we gain the ability to spot problems early and act deliberately.

Work should energize people and unlock their potential rather than exhaust and diminish them. Sustainable high performance belongs to organizations that treat culture as a strategic foundation, not a soft afterthought. The path forward begins with honest awareness of how neurosis fuels toxicity and the courage to build something healthier in its place.

Leaders who choose self-awareness, employees who speak up or vote with their feet, and organizations that redesign incentives and structures can break this epidemic. Healthier workplaces are not utopian. They are achievable when we understand the neurotic roots and consciously choose a different path.


Murray Hunter

Murray Hunter has been involved in Asia-Pacific business for the last 30 years as an entrepreneur, consultant, academic, and researcher. As an entrepreneur he was involved in numerous start-ups, developing a lot of patented technology, where one of his enterprises was listed in 1992 as the 5th fastest going company on the BRW/Price Waterhouse Fast100 list in Australia. Murray is now an associate professor at the University Malaysia Perlis, spending a lot of time consulting to Asian governments on community development and village biotechnology, both at the strategic level and “on the ground”. He is also a visiting professor at a number of universities and regular speaker at conferences and workshops in the region. Murray is the author of a number of books, numerous research and conceptual papers in referred journals, and commentator on the issues of entrepreneurship, development, and politics in a number of magazines and online news sites around the world. Murray takes a trans-disciplinary view of issues and events, trying to relate this to the enrichment and empowerment of people in the region.

Big Setback For Modi Government In Parliament, Constitution Amendment Bill Thrown Out – Analysis

April 19, 2026 
By P. K. Balachandran


The Indian Government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi tried to smuggle in the controversial issue of increasing the number of parliamentary seats by clubbing it with the non-controversial issue of providing 33% reservation for women, but failed to get the required support.

On Friday, the Indian government led by Narendra Modi, suffered its first ever defeat in the Lower House of the Indian parliament (Lok Sabha), when its 131 st. Constitutional Amendment Bill to increase the number of parliamentary seats from 543 to 850 and provide for 33% reservation for women failed to get the required two-thirds majority.

The government’s ploy to smuggle in the controversial issue of increasing the number of parliamentary seats by clubbing it with the non-controversial issue of providing 33% reservation for women, failed.

Th opposition argued that there was no need to combine the two objectives when parliament had already passed the women’s reservation bill in 2023 but had not been implemented.

While 298 members voted for the 131 st., Constitutional Amendment Bill, 230 MPs voted against, thus denying the government a two-thirds majority.

Strong Opposition from South Indian States

The Bill was opposed by the opposition, especially MPs from the South Indian States and West Bengal. The increase in the number of seats based on the population of States, would result in the South Indian States getting a lesser proportion of seats than North Indian States.

The South Indian States have been pointing out that they have limited their population growth by improving the conditions of their people in terms of economic, social and educational development. But North Indians States have not done so. And yet, the latter are being rewarded with more representation, as if they are being rewarded for backwardness.

Statisticians have been pointing out that while North Indian States like Uttar Pradesh will see an increase in the number seats from 80 to 128; Bihar from 40 to 70; Madhya Pradesh from 29 to 47; and Rajasthan from 25 to 44; South Indian States will see only small increases.

Andhra Pradesh will see an increase from 25 to only 28; Telangana from 17 to 20; Tamil Nadu from 39 to 41; and Karnataka from 28 to 36. Kerala, which has the best social indices, will see a decline, from 20 to 19.

Tamil Nadu

On Wednesday, the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, M.K.Stalin, warned that if the Bill was passed, “the people of Tamil Nadu would be turned into second-class citizens in their own country.”

“When our MPs have no voice, will we have a voice? And if we do not raise our voice now, there will be no voice left for us to raise,” Stalin asserted.

He added the Bill would ensure that “there can never be a Prime Minister from South India.”

Karnataka

Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister, D K Shivakumar, said the Centre’s proposal would “systematically reduce” the representation of South Indian States. In a post on X, Shivakumar alleged that the move could weaken the South’s voice in Parliament while disproportionately benefiting States with higher population growth.

He called it “punishing progress and good governance” and said that the Southern States would also be “politically marginalised.”

Kerala

“There is a serious suspicion in the Southern States that the bill is a move to subvert the federal system of the country,” said the Chief Minister of Kerala, Pinarayi Vijayan.

“It is worrying that the Centre is moving forward on such a crucial issue without reaching a consensus with the States. There is widespread suspicion that the political dominance of the North Indian States due to their higher population is being converted into parliamentary seats and power is being consolidated for the long term,” Vijayan added.

West Bengal

The Chief Minister of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee, said that delimitation will be followed by National Register of Citizens (NRC) which has been a means to delete names and send the deleted persons to detention camps.

“The people of Bengal will be driven out, and you (the Bharatiya Janata Party government at the Centre) will bring people from outside and make them vote for you. Is that the plan? They have selectively deleted voters. Over 60 lakh Hindus, and 30 lakh Muslim names have been deleted in West Bengal through the Special Intensive Revision of the electoral rolls, ” Banerjee pointed out.

Rahul Gandhi

The leader of the parliamentary opposition, and Congress leader, Rahul Gandhi, said that the Bill was an “anti-national act” and added that combining the provision for increasing parliamentary seats with one for giving 33% reservation for women was a clever ploy to get the controversial Bill passed.

The opposition has pointed out that parliament had already passed the women’s reservation bill in 2023 and all that the government has to do is to implement the act. By combining seats increase with reservation for women, the government had tried to get the seats increase provision passed.

Controversial Provisions

The Bill gives Parliament the flexibility to determine the periodicity of Delimitation of constituencies and also the Census that will be used for the purpose. The Bill requires just a simple majority in parliament to determine when to do a delimitation, and which Census to use.

“This would enable the government of the day to fix everything as per its wish, ” said M.R. Madhavan, President of PRS Legislative Research, in an article in “The Hindu.”
House of States (Rajya Sabha)

While the size of the Lower House (Lok Sabha) is sought to be increased, there is no proposal to change the size of the Upper House of States, called the Rajya Sabha. This affects the relative importance of the two Houses.

If the two Houses disagree on a Bill, the President may summon a joint sitting. In such a scenario, the Lok Sabha with 543 seats will have 2.2 times the votes of the Rajya Sabha with 245 seats.


This imbalance will also play out in elections to the offices of the President and the Vice-President, where each MP across both Houses has an equal vote.

Another implication is that the limit on the size of the Council of Ministers will increase. The Constitution was amended in 2003 to limit the Council’s size to 15% of the Lok Sabha. If the Lok Sabha is expanded to have 815 MPs, the limit on the size of the Central cabinet also increases from 81 to 122.

Less Time To Speak

Given the increased size of the Lok Sabha, opportunities for MPs to participate in the deliberations of the House will decrease, Madhavan points out.

Since questions and zero-hour interventions are chosen by lottery, an increase in the size of the Lok Sabha will reduces the probability of getting balloted.

The issue is exacerbated by the fact that the Indian Parliament sits for less than 70 days a year.

The British House of Commons is large with 650 members. But it has evolved processes to provide opportunities to MPs to participate in discussions. It averages over 150 sittings a year and has a robust committee system. Parliamentary committees supplement deliberations. Every Bill in the UK Parliament is examined by Committees of both Houses. In India, less than a fifth of the Bills are referred to Committees.

The Indian Bill question will have a significant impact on the functioning of the Indian parliament. And yet it was introduced with no public discussion, Madhavan pointed out.

“It is imperative that such Bills go through intensive deliberation, both outside and inside Parliament. At the very least, they should be referred to a parliamentary committee, which can engage with experts and the wider public before giving its recommendations,” he observed.


P. K. Balachandran

P. K. Balachandran is a senior Indian journalist working in Sri Lanka for local and international media and has been writing on South Asian issues for the past 21 years.

STALINIST JUNTA PR

Myanmar’s president commutes death sentences, cuts Aung San Suu Kyi’s jail term


Min Aung Hlaing, leader of Myanmar’s junta and last week installed as the country’s “civilian president”, has issued a blanket order to commute all death sentences, and reduce all prison sentences under 40 years by one-sixth. The military junta resumed executions after ousting the since imprisoned Aung San Suu Kyi from power in a 2021 coup. Suu Kyi is serving a 27-year jail term and will also see her sentence reduced.


Issued on: 17/04/2026 
By: FRANCE 24

Relatives wait for the release of prisoners from Insein prison to mark the Myanmar New Year in Yangon. © Sai Aung Main, AFP

Myanmar's leader commuted all death sentences in a blanket order on Friday, one of his first official acts since the 2021 coup leader was installed as the country's civilian president.

The military junta led by Min Aung Hlaing snatched power in Myanmar in a February 2021 putsch and resumed executions after decades of not carrying them out, targeting dissidents opposed to his coup, rights group said.

By the following year, more than 130 people had been sentenced to death, according to the United Nations, however, definitive figures are hard to track in the country's opaque, closed-door court system.

After five years ruling as armed forces chief, Min Aung Hlaing was installed last Friday as president in a transition democracy watchdogs have described as a civilian rebranding of military rule.

The shift has been accompanied by rollbacks of some of the junta's post-coup crackdown measures – steps the leadership tout as reconciliation, but which critics describe as cosmetic measures to aid the rebranding effort.

A communique on behalf of Min Aung Hlaing said "those serving death sentences shall have their sentences commuted to life imprisonment", without naming specific prisoners.

An amnesty in May 2023 lifted the death sentences of 38 individual prisoners, but was not a blanket measure.

Friday's act was announced as part of a broader amnesty to mark Myanmar's Thingyan new year, one of the country's many public holidays when forgiveness orders are regularly announced.

More than 4,300 prisoners were slated for release, according to a statement, alongside 179 foreign nationals, while all sentences under 40 years were slashed by one-sixth.

Among those freed on Friday was Win Myint, who served as president from 2018 until the 2021 military ​coup. According to state broadcaster MRTV, he was “granted a pardon and the reduction ​of his remaining sentences under specified conditions".
Waiting relatives

Outside the barbed-wire boundary of Yangon's Insein prison, gaggles of families waited in the sweltering heat to learn whether their imprisoned relatives would be among the pardoned.

"My brother has been imprisoned for a political case," said 38-year-old Aung Htet Naing. "I am hoping that he might be included in today's release."

"We cannot expect much because he wasn't included in previous pardons."

Less than 14 percent of those released in successive rounds of amnesties since the coup were political prisoners, think tank the Institute for Strategy and Policy Myanmar said late last year.

More than 30,000 people have been detained for political reasons since the coup, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.

Myanmar's most famous political prisoner Aung San Suu Kyi remains detained incommunicado, serving a 27-year sentence which rights groups have denounced as politically motivated.

She will also have her sentence reduced by one-sixth, her lawyer said, but it remains unclear whether she will be allowed to serve the rest of her sentence under house arrest.

Min Aung Hlaing swept aside the Nobel Peace Prize laureate's massively popular government in 2021, making allegations it had taken power by means of massive voter fraud in polls the previous year.

Election monitors said there was no evidence of that and the military – which has ruled Myanmar for most of its history – wrestled back power as it grew anxious about its waning influence after her landslide victory.

The coup triggered an ongoing civil war, pitching pro-democracy guerrillas and long-active ethnic minority armies against the military.

A junta-organised election concluded in January, reversing the result of the 2020 poll by delivering a walkover win for pro-military parties.

Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party was dissolved and barred from running, while protest or criticism of the poll was made a prisonable offence and voting did not take place in rebel-held areas.

Lawmakers installed in the election voted overwhelmingly for Min Aung Hlaing to serve as their president, and he was sworn into office to start his five-year term last week.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP and Reuters)

'New era': Humanoid robot outruns humans in Beijing half-marathon, beats world record

A humanoid robot on Sunday won a half-marathon for robots in Beijing in 50 minutes 26 seconds, beating the human world record time and showcasing China's technological advances.


Issued on: 19/04/2026
By: FRANCE 24

A humanoid robot competes in the Beijing E-Town Humanoid Robot Half-marathon on April 19, 2026 in Beijing, China. © VCG, Reuters

A humanoid robot that won a half-marathon race for robots in Beijing on Sunday ran faster than the human world record in a show of China's technological leaps.

The winner from Honor, a Chinese smartphone maker, completed the 21-kilometre (13-mile) race in 50 minutes and 26 seconds, according to a WeChat post by the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area, also known as Beijing E-Town, where the race kicked off.

That was faster than the human world record holder, Uganda’s Jacob Kiplimo, who finished the same distance in about 57 minutes in March at the Lisbon road race.

The performance by the robot marked a significant step forward from last year's inaugural race, during which the winning robot finished in 2 hours, 40 minutes and 42 seconds.


But the competition, which was held alongside a race for humans, wasn’t without hiccups – one robot fell flat at the start line, another bumped into a barrier.

Du Xiaodi, Honor's test development engineer, said his team was happy with the results. Du said its robot design was modeled on outstanding human athletes, with long legs of about 95 cm (around 37 inches), and was equipped with what he called a powerful liquid-cooling system, which was largely developed in-house.

“Looking ahead, some of these technologies might be transferred to other areas. For example, structural reliability and liquid-cooling technology could be applied in future industrial scenarios,” he said.

While it will still take time to achieve widespread commercialization of humanoid robots, spectators were already impressed by the robots. Sun Zhigang, who had been in the audience last year, watched Sunday's race with his son.

“I feel enormous changes this year,” Sun said. “It’s the first time robots have surpassed humans, and that’s something I never imagined.”

Wang Wen, who came with his family, said robots seemed to have stolen much of the spotlight from human runners in the event.

“The robots' speed far exceeds that of humans,” he said. “This may signal the arrival of sort of a new era.”

Beijing E-Town said about 40% of the robots navigated the course autonomously, while the others were remotely controlled.

State media outlet Global Times reported that a separate, remotely-controlled robot from Honor was the first to cross the finish line in 48 minutes and 19 seconds. But it said the winning one used autonomous navigation and received the championship under the event’s weighted scoring rules.

State broadcaster CCTV reported that the runners-up, which were also from Honor and used autonomous navigation, finished the race in about 51 minutes and 53 minutes respectively. A robot served as a traffic officer to direct the participants with its arm gestures and voice, CCTV added.

In China, technology has evolved into an area of competition with the US with national security implications. Beijing’s latest five-year plan vows to “target the frontiers of science and technology.” Speeding up the development of products like humanoid robots and their applications is part of the 2026-2030 plan for the world’s second-largest economy.

London-based technology research and advisory group Omdia recently ranked three Chinese companies – AGIBOT, Unitree Robotics and UBTech Robotics Corp. – as the only first-tier vendors in its global assessment for shipment numbers for general-purpose embodied intelligent robots.

They all shipped more than 1,000 units of the robots last year, with the first two companies shipping more than 5,000 units, the report said.

(FRANCE 24 with AP)

Spain's Sanchez, Brazil's Lula lead global gathering of left-wing leaders against far-right rise


Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva are set to co-chair a gathering of left-wing leaders in Barcelona on Saturday aimed at countering the rise of the far right and strengthening democratic institutions. The meeting brings together figures from across Europe, Africa and Latin America amid growing global political polarisation.


Modified: 19/04/2026 - 
By: FRANCE 24
Video by: Gabrielle Nadler

Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez attend a press conference during the summit between Spain and Brazil in Barcelona, Spain, April 17, 2026. © Nacho Doce, Reuters
02:00


Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will head a meeting of leftist leaders on Saturday in Barcelona, seeking to rally against the threat to democracy from the far right.

The gathering comes as democratic institutions and values have faced growing threats around the globe from advancing authoritarian and far-right forces in the age of US President Donald Trump.

Among those scheduled to attend the "Meeting in Defence of Democracy" are South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Mexico's Claudia Sheinbaum and European Council chief Antonio Costa.

Both Sanchez and Lula, who are facing growing far-right challenges ahead of upcoming election campaigns, are vocal critics of the Trump administration.

But in an interview with Spanish daily newspaper El Pais ahead of the gathering, Lula stressed it is "not going to be an anti-Trump meeting".

"What we want is to talk and see if we can find a solution to strengthen the democratic process in the world, so that we don't allow any setbacks," he added during a joint news conference with Sanchez on Friday.

"Because when there is a setback, a Hitler happens."

Sanchez has said he hopes the event "will provide the basis for all progressive forces in the world to unite. Our unity will be our strength".
Hungarian inspiration

The Barcelona gathering will be held on the same day as a meeting of far-right European leaders in Milan in Italy.

It follows the defeat of Hungarian nationalist leader Viktor Orban in a general election on Sunday, seen as a setback for Europe's far-right parties that had looked to him as a model.

Progressives have hailed the result as proof that entrenched populist governments can be defeated at the ballot box.

The Barcelona event was launched by Brazil and Spain in 2024 after far-right parties made significant gains in European Parliament elections.

The first two editions of this event were held at the United Nations and the previous one was held in Chile last year.

Many of the participants will take part in the first edition of the so-called "Global Progressive Mobilisation" which will be held in the same venue.

Some 3,000 people, including current and former heads of state, mayors, union representatives and researchers from more than 40 countries are expected to take part.

The event is being held under the auspices of the Socialist International, which is headed by Sanchez.

Both Lula and Sanchez will address this gathering, which will feature talks on issues such as income inequality, the green transition and how progressives can improve their election results.

Sanchez, in power since 2018, has emerged as a prominent figure for Europe's disillusioned progressives, who see him as one of the few remaining openly leftist voices in a continent increasingly dominated by right-wing politics.

His vigorous criticism of Israel, championing of immigration and staunch opposition to the US-Israeli war on Iran have bolstered his image as a left-wing hero.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)

Socialist Leader García Urges ‘Iron Hand’ On Trump

April 19, 2026 
By EurActiv
By Inés Fernández-Pontes


(EurActiv) — Socialist leader Iratxe García has accused the European Parliament’s centre-right of hypocrisy, while urging European progressives to take an ” iron hand” against Donald Trump and far-right forces.

The remarks come as socialist leaders seek to regain momentum and reassert their influence, using this weekend’s Global Progressive Congress in Barcelona – promoted by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez – to rally progressive forces across Europe.

“The centre-right cannot ask social democracy to guarantee political stability whilst negotiating day-to-day policies with the far right,” she said at the summit, pointing to cooperation on climate and migration as examples.

The EPP group should “decide and choose” whether it wants to continue working with pro-European forces or “open the door to an alliance with the far right”.


García framed the moment as a broader ideological battle, warning that far-right movements in Europe and their allies share “a clear objective… to destroy Europe”.

She also took aim at Washington, arguing that Europe must adopt a tougher stance towards US President Donald Trump.

“The strategy of appeasement and silence is not the way forward… Trump only understands the language of power,” García said, calling on Europe to respond with an “iron hand”.

She reiterated that transatlantic relations remain “fundamental” but must be “based on mutual respect”.

“That’s why it is important to speak out when Trump and populism across Europe are attempting to destroy the European project.”

Socialist leaders have described the Barcelona summit, promoted by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, as a “historic gathering” aimed at uniting progressive forces around a shared democratic agenda.

“Parties are thinking machines – they need to make tangible proposals. Such a pedagogical event fosters an environment to think together and move forward,” former EU diplomatic chief Josep Borrell told Euractiv on the sidelines of the event.

Press association denounces Israel’s use of altered image to depict slain journalist


Lebanese journalist Ali Shoeib was killed during an Israeli strike on March 28. To justify this attack, the Israeli army published an image online of Shoeib wearing a uniform of militant group Hezbollah. The army later admitted that the image was photoshopped.


Issued on: 17/04/2026
The FRANCE 24 Observers/
Quang Pham

The Israeli army created this photoshopped image showing journalist Ali Shoeib wearing a Hezbollah uniform which it then posted on X on March 28, 2026. Shoeib was killed by an Israeli strike. © X

The Foreign Press Association (FPA), which represents hundreds of journalists in Israel and the Palestinian territories, published a statement on April 15 criticising the Israeli military for attempting to discredit Lebanese journalist Ali Shoeib, who was killed in an Israeli strike, by publishing a fake image of him wearing a Hezbollah uniform.

Hezbollah is a Lebanese political party and paramilitary group with close links to Iran, which is currently at war with Israel. The group, whose military wing is classified as a terrorist organisation by the European Union, is the target of Israel’s strikes on Lebanon.

This image shows the statement made by the Foreign Press Association on April 15, 2026. Source: X

War correspondent Ali Shoeib was killed alongside two other journalists, cameraman Mohammed Ftouni and his sister, journalist Fatima Ftouni, when an Israeli air strike hit their vehicle on March 28. Shoeib worked for Al-Manar, a Lebanese TV channel affiliated with Hezbollah, and the Ftouni siblings worked for Al-Mayadeen, another media outlet with close links to Hezbollah.

This video shows the Israeli strike that killed Ali Shoeib and two other journalists on March 28, 2026. Source: X

A ‘photoshopped’ image

In a statement published on March 28, the Israeli military attempted to justify the strike that killed Shoeib by claiming that he was a soldier “from an intelligence unit affiliated with the Radwan Force unit in the terrorist Hezbollah”.

The Israeli military further claimed that Shoeib was providing information about Israeli troop positions in southern Lebanon and that he was in “continuous communication with other terrorist elements in the Radwan Force unit and in Hezbollah”. We have been unable to independently verify claims made by the Israeli military.

The Israeli military also took to its social media accounts to post an image on March 28 that depicts Shoeib as a Hezbollah fighter. The image is separated into two parts: in one half, Shoeib is shown wearing a press vest, but in the other half of the image, he is sporting a Hezbollah uniform.

The Israeli Army published a doctored image of Ali Shoeib on March 28, 2026. © X


It turns out, however, that this image was doctored. The Israeli military admitted to Fox News that the image of Shoeib wearing a Hezbollah uniform had been “photoshopped.”
Allegations without ‘clear evidence’

Nir Gontarz, a journalist with Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz, asked Israeli military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Nadav Shoshani why they had published a photoshopped image of Shoeib.

Shoshani referred to the image as a “digital illustration.”

"There was also a digital illustration that says, here, Ali Shoeib operated under the cover of a journalist, and beneath the cover was a terrorist,” Shoshani claimed. “That was the graphic. One authentic part and one edited part. In my opinion, it was clear that it was edited. We didn't claim otherwise. We also published an original photo of him in uniform.”

The Israeli army spokesperson did indeed publish another image on X on March 29, purporting to show Shoeib in a Hezbollah uniform. However, the image is blurry, and it is impossible to verify its authenticity.

The Israeli military claims this photo shows Ali Shoeib wearing a Hezbollah uniform. The military posted the image on March 29, 2026. It is impossible to verify. Source: X

"While the army put out a clarification about the [first] photo, it never should have been distributed,” the Foreign Press Association said in its statement. “During the recent wars, it has been common practice by the Israeli military to discredit journalists and sow doubt by releasing inaccurate information and raising allegations without providing clear evidence.”

This article has been translated from the original in French by Brenna Daldorph.

World Cup fans will have to pay $150 for NY stadium train ticket, officials say


A 58-km roundtrip train ride between New York and Meadowlands stadium will cost football fans $150 during the World Cup, local officials said Friday. The journey normally costs just $12.90.


Issued on: 17/04/2026 -
By: FRANCE 24

Just 40,000 tickets will be available for each of the games to be played at the New Jersey stadium, a return rail trip to which is typically just $12.90. © David Ramos, Getty Images North America via AFP

World Cup fans will have to pay $150 for the 58-km roundtrip train ride between New York and Meadowlands stadium when it hosts eight matches including the final, local officials said Friday.

Just 40,000 train tickets will be available for each of the games to be played at the New Jersey sports complex, a return rail trip to which is typically just $12.90, officials said at a briefing.

"We are going to charge $150 for our roundtrip ticket on our system. So from New York to MetLife, MetLife back to New York," said Kris Kolluri, the president and CEO of NJ Transit, using another name for the stadium.

After reports first emerged in The Athletic of the plans to charge World Cup fans far in excess of normal fares, New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill blamed FIFA for the price hikes.

She pointed to a $48 million bill the state faces to ensure the safety of fans going to the eight games at the MetLife stadium.

"I won't stick New Jersey commuters for that tab for years to come, that's not fair," Sherrill wrote on social media, adding that FIFA stood to make $11 billion at the World Cup.

"So here's the bottom line: Fifa should pay for the rides, but if they don't, I'm not going to let New Jersey commuters get taken for one."
'Quite surprised'

That sentiment was echoed by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who wrote on social media on Tuesday that FIFA should foot the bill for transport costs to World Cup venues.

FIFA, which is already facing severe criticism over the sky-high cost of many match ticket prices, issued a strongly-worded statement criticising the transport price hike.

FIFA said that the original host city agreements "required free transportation for fans to all matches".

At the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, fans could use the Doha Metro for free with their matchday tickets.

A re-negotiation stipulated that transport would be offered "at cost" on match days, FIFA added.

"We are quite surprised by the NJ Governor's approach on fan transportation," FIFA said.

"The FIFA World Cup will bring millions of fans to North America along with the related economic impact."

It added: "FIFA is not aware of any other major event previously held at NYNJ Stadium, including other major sports, global concert tours, etc., where organisers were required to pay for fan transportation."

New York Governor Kathy Hochul was another to take aim at the reported price hike.

"Charging over $100 for a short train ride sounds awfully high to me," Hochul wrote on X.

Some $100 million in US federal funding has been allocated to host cities for transit network costs, including $8.7 million for Boston and Massachusetts, and $10.4 million for the New York-New Jersey area, according to local media reports.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)

GLOBALIZATION 101

Hormuz domino effect: How the Middle East crisis affects food, flights and global supply chains

The closure of the Strait of Hormuz triggered by the war in the Middle East hasn't just affected oil prices. Despite a provisional reopening during the current 10-day ceasefire, global supplies of jet fuel, fertilisers, industrial CO2 and naphtha have already been affected, potentially leading to shortages of food and other essential products across the globe.


Issued on: 18/04/2026 - 
FRANCE24
By: Pauline ROUQUETTE

A billboard with a graphic design about the Strait of Hormuz on a building in Tehran, Iran, April 13, 2026. © Majid-Asgaripour, Reuters

Iran announced Friday it was reopening the Strait of Hormuz for all commercial vessels for the remainder of a 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah, raising hopes of an end to the standoff that has rattled energy markets and sent global fuel prices soaring.

Tehran had effectively blocked the strategic waterway, one of the world's busiest oil shipping channels, since the US and Israel attacked the country on February 28. Washington hit back this week with its own blockade of Iranian ports, which US President Donald Trump said Friday would "remain in force".

Closure of the strait has sent oil prices soaring to over $100 a barrel and gas climbing by more than 12 percent, in turn unleashing a domino effect of consequences – from kerosene shortages to a looming world food crisis.

Here's a look at some of the ripple effects from the Hormuz crisis.

Jet fuel shortages

The risk of kerosene shortages is greatest in Asia, and to a lesser extent Europe, as they both rely on oil from the Gulf and its refineries for their supplies. About 75 percent of Europe’s supplies come from the Middle East.

Yet opinions diverge on the moment when jet fuel supplies will be so low that flights will have to be cancelled.

"The situation can, within the next three, four weeks, become systemic," Rystad Energy economist Claudio Galimberti told the US financial news channel CNBC on Tuesday.

"So you can have severe cuts of flights in Europe, already starting in May and June," he warned.

Galimberti said flights had already been cancelled due to fuel shortages, but the European Commission on the same day said there was no lack of fuel yet.

"There is no evidence for fuel shortages in the European Union at present," said spokeswoman Anna-Kaisa Itkonen.

The Airports Council International Europe warned last week that jet fuel shortages could begin in May if tankers don't resume sailing through the Strait of Hormuz before then.

The head of the International Energy Agency (IEA), Fatih Birol, also warned that Europe could face shortages of jet fuel "maybe beginning of May".

On Thursday, Lufthansa said it was shutting down its regional subsidiary CityLine earlier than expected, due to "significantly increased kerosene prices, which have more than doubled compared to the period before the Iran war”.

Pain at the pump: How Europe is tackling rising fuel prices

© France 24
01:53

Fertiliser deliveries disrupted

Knock-on effects from the turmoil in the Middle East could eventually push millions around the world into hunger, the World Bank's chief economist Indermit Gill warned in an interview with AFP on Wednesday.

"You have about 300 million people who suffer from acute food insecurity already," Gill said. "That'll go up by about 20 percent very, very quickly," as knock-on effects grow.

The blockade of the Strait of Hormuz is significantly disrupting the delivery of fertilisers, particularly exposing African countries which depend on them.

Nearly half of the world’s supply of fertiliser-grade urea and over 30 percent of ammonia and 20 percent of diammonium phosphate, essential ingredients for fertilisers, are delivered to the rest of the planet through the Strait of Hormuz, according to the Canadian press agency Agence Science-Presse.

Higher prices may cause farmers to reduce their use of fertilisers, which would diminish the world production of cereals and could entice countries to halt food exports to protect their own supplies, further increasing food prices.

"Those export bans scare us massively," said Gill. If the situation isn't resolved soon, "hunger will start to stalk these countries", he added.

A looming food crisis

While the war's economic fallout is currently most acute in Asia, "as the crisis gets longer, it's very rapidly going to spread first to Africa", Gill warned.

On the other side of the Atlantic, Brazil, an agricultural superpower, also buys 20 percent of its fertilisers from the Gulf. UN forecasts estimate that Latin American grain producers could see their incomes fall by more than 7 percent by 2026, reported the magazine Le Grand Continent. This phenomenon would have direct consequences on global food prices.

Beyond the commercialisation of fertilisers from the Gulf countries, “it’s the production itself of these fertilisers in other countries which is also affected by the crisis”, wrote the magazine. The rise in oil prices has already led to the partial closure or production reductions in fertiliser plants in India, Malaysia and Bangladesh.

The full impact on food prices will take time to appear.

"The food that's in the market right now has already been grown," Gill said, adding that the real effects could be felt in a few months.

Yet the countries of sub-Saharan Africa, which depend on their imports to feed their megapolises and where food prices condition social peace, cannot politically afford a rarification of their means of production, said the economist and geographer Sylvie Brunel, interviewed by Atlantico.

“All periods of scarcity (like the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020) have been periods of soaring hunger, with all the political unrest that follows,” she said.

UK prepares for CO2 shortage

Wealthy countries are also concerned about the potential for food insecurity.

The British government is preparing contingency plans amid concern that shortages of carbon dioxide (CO2) could affect the food-processing industry, according to details first reported by the Times on Thursday.

A by-product of the manufacture of fertilisers from natural gas, CO2 is essential for the slaughter of pigs and chickens. It is also widely used in the packaging of fresh meats and fresh produce, where it stops the spread of bacteria and increases shelf life.

A decrease in the supply of CO2 is not expected to create major shortages in the supermarkets but rather reduce the diversity of the products being sold, the Times reported.

The government's contingency plans include ensuring that supplies of CO2 are made available to the civilian nuclear industry and the health sector, where the gas is used to refrigerate blood supplies, organs and vaccines.

Energy crisis not over despite relief rally

business © France 24
05:12

Japan's 'naphtha crisis'

In Japan, concern about the economic fallout from the Middle East war has focused on disruption to the flow of naphtha – an oil product produced by distilling crude oil that is essential to making many medical goods.

The Japanese newspaper Tokyo Shimbun has already coined it a “naphtha crisis”.

Japan covers 80 percent of its domestic needs of the raw material by importing. About half of domestically produced naphtha is imported in crude oil form, while the other half is imported in a form of gasoline which was already refined in the Middle East.

There are concerns about inflation, or even shortages, for products such as sterile gloves and other disposable medical products.

Beyond the military tensions it creates, the chokehold of the Strait of Hormuz is a stress test for globalisation. The blockade is a reminder that food, energy and health security depend on strategic maritime corridors whose closure can rattle economies in a matter of weeks.

This article has been translated from the original in French.

'Allies, not vassals': How Meloni's break with Trump became a political moment for Italy

EXPLAINER


Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is managing the repercussions of a public rebuke from US President Donald Trump this week over the pope, Iran and a defence deal with Israel. It's a rupture that had been building since the outbreak of the US-Israel war with Iran and may ultimately serve her political interests ahead of the 2027 legislative elections.


Issued on: 17/04/2026 -
FRANCE24
By:  Mehdi BOUZOUINA

This combination of file pictures created on April 14, 2026 shows Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and US President Donald Trump. © Andreas Solaro and Mandel Ngan, AFP
01:29




It was on a government plane somewhere between Verona and Rome that Itay's PM Giorgia Meloni learned that US President Donald Trump had called her "unacceptable". Her aides had flagged an interview the US president had given to Corriere della Sera published on April 14. She read it. Then, according to the Italian daily's account, the far-right PM settled on a line she had already used that afternoon: "Being allies does not mean there are no red lines, and it certainly does not mean being vassals or subjects."

Trump had been blunt. "I'm shocked at her. I thought she had courage, but I was wrong," he said in the Corriere interview. His grievances were twofold: Meloni's refusal to back the US-led war on Iran and her condemnation of his attacks on Pope Leo XIV as "unacceptable". “She is the one who is unacceptable,” Trump added, “because she doesn’t care if Iran has a nuclear weapon and would blow up Italy in two minutes if it had the chance”.

The dispute also comes against the backdrop of Rome’s decision to suspend the renewal of a defence cooperation agreement with Israel, further fuelling tensions.

The exchange sent shockwaves across Italian political life, though not quite in the direction Trump may have intended.

Press review: Italian papers united as PM Meloni faces off with Trump

Back at the Palazzo Chigi (the official residence of Italian prime ministers) by late afternoon, Meloni's government moved quickly. Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, also head of the centre-right Forza Italia party, and Defence Minister Guido Crosetto posted near-identical messages on social media emphasising national interest and Italy's dignity as an ally. "We are and remain staunch supporters of Western unity and steadfast allies of the United States, but this unity is built on mutual loyalty, respect, and honesty," Tajani wrote.

The front pages the following morning told the story of a rare political consensus. La Repubblica described the moment as one of Italian unity, framing Meloni's pushback as a "new Maginot line" against what it called the "unpredictable man occupying the White House". Il Giornale, on the right of the spectrum, celebrated an "Italy first" stance.
Suspending the Israel defence deal

Meloni also made another move that underlined the new direction. "In view of the current situation, the government has decided to suspend the automatic renewal of the defence agreement with Israel," she announced on the sidelines of the Verona event. An Italian diplomatic source confirmed the suspension to AFP, saying bluntly: "It would have been politically difficult to keep it going."

The agreement, approved by Israel in 2006 and renewed every five years, covers cooperation across defence industries, military training, research and development and information technology.

The move followed a sharp deterioration in bilateral ties. Tensions between the two countries had risen after the Italian government accused Israeli forces of firing warning shots at a convoy of Italian UN peacekeepers in Lebanon, damaging at least one vehicle. Italy summoned Israel's ambassador in protest on April 8. Israel then summoned Italy's ambassador after Tajani condemned what he called "unacceptable attacks" on Lebanese civilians during a visit to Beirut.

While the suspension marks a visible break, its practical impact may be limited. “The choice not to renew the defence cooperation agreement with Israel is politically significant,” said Daniele Amoroso, a professor of international law at the University of Cagliari, “but its importance should not be exaggerated. It is likely to be more symbolic than substantive.”
The bridge that couldn't hold

Until recently, Meloni had been Trump's closest European ally by some margin. She was the only European leader to attend his inauguration in January 2025, and had since positioned herself as a transatlantic bridge. Her political memoir "Io Sono Giorgia" (I Am Giorgia), reissued in English in 2025, carries a foreword from Trump.

For Mario Del Pero, professor of international history at Sciences Po Paris, the rupture was structurally inevitable. "It was becoming politically unsustainable for Meloni to be associated with Trump," he told FRANCE 24. "He is immensely unpopular in Europe and in Italy. Being too close to him is a kiss of death for a European politician." He points to Hungarian PM Viktor Orban's electoral defeat last Sunday as a cautionary tale – a leader whose proximity to Trump, and a last-minute phone call with US Vice President JD Vance, may have cost him additional votes.

The ambition to act as a connexion between Washington and Brussels, Del Pero argues, was always an illusion: "On some key issues, you have to go along with one side or the other. Italy signed the joint declaration on Greenland, signed the same on Iran. Being a bridge is hard." With Italian elections due in 2027, he argues the domestic political logic of distancing herself from Trump is clear.

WATCH MORE Gladio: NATO’s secret cold war operation in Italy

Professor Amoroso offers a similar reading. “Meloni has distanced herself from Trump quite visibly, and his harsh comments were simply unprecedented,” he said, adding that the tensions reflect “a politically necessary recalibration” rather than a fundamental shift in foreign policy.

Italy’s core strategic priorities remain intact, he noted, pointing to its commitments within NATO, support for Ukraine and continued alignment with the European Union.

Still, the political calculus has changed. “Polls suggest that Trump is deeply unpopular in Italy,” Amoroso said. “Against this backdrop, [Meloni's] distancing [of] herself from Trump may be the least costly option.”
Ambiguity as a governing strategy

Italy was not spared the pain of Trump's tariffs, and the country last month refused US bombers authorisation to land at a pivotal air base in Sicily. Italy has historically maintained strong ties with Iran, Del Pero notes, and continued to engage with Tehran after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, albeit within the constraints of Western sanctions and shifting international tensions. The war in the Middle East, he says, is one "Europe didn't want, wasn't asked about, and wasn't informed of."

Vincenzo Susca, a lecturer in Italian politics at the Université Paul-Valéry in Montpellier who spoke with FRANCE 24's French-language channel in October 2025 on the occasion of Meloni's three years in power, argued that her government had achieved something historically unusual in Italy: a durable alliance between the far right, the traditional right, and Catholic Christian-democratic forces held together by carefully managed ambiguity. With legislative elections due in 2027, that coalition will be key to Meloni’s political survival. Preserving its internal balance will be essential if she hopes to remain in power.

On immigration, he observed, the government maintained an "aggressive rhetoric", including the since-failed migrant camp scheme in Albania, while the underlying practice changed little. Internationally, the same logic applied. "It's a marketing-oriented face," Susca said, "designed to make the government seem moderate, particularly internationally, when it isn't quite." The need for ambiguity, he argued, is structural: Meloni has been governing in a space suspended between European expectations and Trumpian impulses.