Giant marble statues guard Italy’s seas from illegal fishing

BY: FRANCE 24
Issued on: 13/04/2026 -
04:19 min

An Italian fisherman has come up with an innovative way to protect the seabed from industrial fishing. He has created an underwater museum featuring 49 marble sculptures, designed to deter illegal trawling vessels. As a result, fish are returning to the area, and marine biodiversity is beginning to thrive once again.

Rescue plan for stranded whale off Germany's coast to be revised

23.04.2026, 07:10 Uhr

Photo: Jens Büttner/dpa

Plans to refloat a stranded humpback whale in shallow waters off Germany's coast have been scrapped, with regional Environment Minister Till Backhaus saying the rescue concept must be revised.

The 12-metre-long male whale, nicknamed Timmy by German media, remains stuck off the small island of Poel near the town of Wismar.

Lifting the animal with air cushions and transporting it using pontoons and a tarpaulin was not an option, Backhaus told reporters late on Wednesday.

A private initiative that had received backing for the plan about a week ago is now working on a revised approach, he said. Any further measures must be scientifically sound, take into account the animal's condition and be coordinated with authorities.

Experts from the International Whaling Commission (IWC) recommend a calm, palliative approach. Backhaus said that this assessment was consistent with earlier scientific advice that active rescue attempts would be unlikely to succeed and could pose significant risks.

The whale briefly swam off on Monday after three weeks in one spot but stopped after about two hours near the entrance to Wismar Bay, which leads to the Baltic Sea.

A tracking device has since been attached in case it moves again.

Recent efforts have focused on easing pressure on the whale's body by reshaping the seabed so it lies more supported in the water. Its back has also been covered with wet cloths to protect it from the sun.

The handling of the case has drawn criticism. Backhaus said the private initiative had not received formal approval but was being tolerated under German law, which allows assistance to distressed animals. Animal welfare remained the sole guiding principle, he said, with veterinarians on site around the clock.

Timmy has been stranded in Wismar Bay since March 31 after repeatedly running aground in recent weeks at various points along the Baltic coast.

(c) 2026 dpa Deutsche Presse Agentur GmbH

Scientists, authorities divided over fate of stranded whale in Baltic Sea


Issued on: 20/04/2026 
05:28 min


Timmy, a humpback whale, first became stuck off Germany's Baltic coast in late March. The animal’s plight has since gripped the public and raised questions about whether humans should intervene to save wild animals. While a rescue mission funded by two German millionaires is underway, marine biologists warn the whale has no chance of survival and are urging the public to reflect on humanity's role in the degradation of marine habitats. 

FRANCE 24's Environment Editor Valerie Dekimpe takes a closer look.
BY: Valérie DEKIMPE

Why supporters of Burkina Faso’s junta leader are campaigning against a Sky News journalist


Yousra Elbagir, a journalist with British TV channel Sky News, has become the target of a smear campaign by supporters of Burkina Faso's junta leader Captain Ibrahim Traoré after she raised questions about security in the country and the repression of free speech.


Issued on: 21/04/2026 
By: The FRANCE 24 Observers

Supporters of Burkina Faso President Ibrahim Traoré have been carrying out a smear campaign against Sky News journalist Yousra Elbagir since April 10, 2026. © Facebook


Supporters of Burkina Faso's junta leader Captain Ibrahim Traoré have unleashed a tidal wave of hate against a Sky News journalist after she published a news report critical of his policies.

Traoré, who took power in a coup in September 2022, sat down for an interview with Sky News Africa correspondent Yousra Elbagir on April 2. Elbagir asked Traoré about restrictions on freedom of expression in Burkina Faso and about the worsening security situation in the country, which has a growing jihadist insurgency.

Elbagir’s report, filmed in Ouagadougou, was published online on April 10. She reports on the security struggles faced by the government as a jihadist group continues to carry out attacks across the country, as well as the government’s repression of the opposition. During her interview with Traoré, Elbagir raised questions about both the failures of the military strategy put into place by the Burkina Faso army and the curtailing of the freedom of expression.

A wave of harassment

Upset by the report criticising their leader, many Traoré supporters started attacking Elbagir online, calling her everything from a "mercenary of the pen” to a “bat”, with AI-generated images to illustrate their insults. Other social media users shared rumours about her family, claiming that her father Ahmed Elbagir is actually an agent with the British intelligence and that her sister, also a journalist, is an “influence agent”.

Supporters of Ibrahim Traoré have been harassing Sky News journalist Yousra Elbagir online since April 10, 2026. © Facebook

Other Traoré supporters tried to harass the journalist on WhatsApp by circulating a phone number they claimed was hers. They also claimed that Elbagir’s number had been made public by a pro-Traoré group called the "BIR-C" (or Battalion for Rapid Communications Interventions) which appears to operate as a sort of online militia for the regime.
Communications battle

Facebook pages and groups that claim links with the BIR-C also say that they are engaged in a "communications battle” with Sky News. They claim that they managed to get Elbagir’s report taken down from YouTube by publishing hundreds of negative comments.

However, this claim is false. While Sky News did take down the initial version of Elbagir’s report, they published another version soon after and said it was due to a production error.

The caption on the video now reads, “This is a re-edit of a video posted on 9 April in which there was a production error. The original video mistakenly included some footage from Mali and Benin. In this version, that has been replaced by correct footage showing Burkina Faso.”

You can see the excerpts included by error (here and here) in an original version of the video posted on Facebook.

Traoré supporters have also been making another false claim. They say that Elbagir broke into tears mid-interview “after more than 15,000 social media users from across the world called her a liar and a manipulator after her reporting in Burkina". The photo of Elbagir crying, which social media users have been sharing as “proof” of this story, was actually taken from a report Elbagir filmed in Sudan in April 2025. We found it on YouTube using a reverse image search (to find out how to carry out one yourself, see our handy guide).

Pro-Traoré social media users shared this image on Facebook on April 13, 2026, claiming that it showed Yousra Elbagir crying about criticism of her recent report in Burkina Faso. In reality, this comes from a report that Elbagir filmed in Sudan in 2025. © Facebook

A controversy over control of the territory

Elbagir was also a victim of online attacks because she questioned Traoré’s security policies. During the interview, Elbagir said that jihadist groups now control 60 percent of the country. This differs from the official government narrative that the government has full control of 74 percent of the country.

Our team spoke to Héni Nsaibia, a senior analyst specialised in West Africa at Armed Conflict Location & Event Data, an independent group that monitors armed conflicts. Nsaibia said that it is important to have a more precise and nuanced discussion about the question of territorial control:


"There are very few territories that are under full control of any party. When we speak about control, it’s actually more of a spectrum between influence, contestation and control.

The influence of Jama’at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM), an Al-Qaeda affiliated group, is growing in Burkina Faso. While it doesn’t solidly control 60 percent of the territory, you could say that JNIM contests or asserts influence over 60 to 70 percent."

Nsaibia agrees with Elbagir that the security situation in Burkina Faso is only getting worse:


"The regime is trying to demonstrate that it is making progress, but we see that in reality the security situation is not getting better. Burkina’s armed forces are definitely trying their best, but so far, they have not held the ground. Government control over territory in Burkina Faso tends to be broken up; it is more like an archipelago. About 40 localities in Burkina Faso are under blockade by armed groups."

‘Attacking people’

Why is such a massive campaign being waged against Elbagir?

First of all, there is a push to attack any narrative that doesn’t align with the propaganda from Burkina’s authorities, such as the worsening of the security situation.

Ilaria Allegrozzi, Senior Sahel Researcher at Human Rights Watch, was also a victim of an online campaign of harassment after the publication on April 2 of a report in which the NGO stated that the Burkina army was thought to be responsible for the deaths of 1,255 civilians since 2023. The report attributes another 582 civilian deaths to the jihadist group JNIM. Allegrozzi, who receives dozens of derogatory messages a day, told us about how Traoré’s supporters operate:

"The supporters of the military junta are not taking it well at all that we revealed a worrying situation in terms of human rights violations, including abuses carried out by the security forces. It’s hard for them to counter the proof in our report, so they resort to attacking people.”

Traoré's supporters are also broadening their criticism.

"Their discourse is no longer just anti-France, but anti-Western. Human Rights Watch was targeted, just like Sky News, because it is seen as a Western institution," Allegrozzi says.

The harassment, she says, is “very well-organised.”

“It’s not just one person sending messages, but a group of people who are part of a government-sponsored communications strategy.”
Why Elbagir’s reporting was viewed as undermining government communications

Finally, the supporters' infuriated reaction to Elbagir’s report might also be because it runs counter to the way the government has tried to portray itself to English-speaking countries.

On X, one social media user wrote, “Yousra Elbagir has exposed years of ‘com' from Burkina authorities aimed at the English-speaking public. And her supporters have been pissed off ever since.”

As the FRANCE 24 Observers team has reported in previous articles, the Burkina authorities have launched several propaganda campaigns aiming to raise Traoré’s popularity abroad. They’ve met with some success.

For example, in May 2025, hundreds of fake, AI-generated music videos singing Traoré’s praises were produced in Nigeria. They were meant to reach people living in English-speaking African nations as well as those in the United States.

In reponse to Elbagir’s report, Traoré’s supporters said that they were ready to attack any criticism from abroad. One media outlet which supports the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), which includes Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso – posted this warning:

"The time for complacency is over. The era where any foreign media outlet could strut into Ouagadougou to spit on our institutions is finished.”

A media outlet that is in favour of the Alliance of Sahel (AES) used this photo of Sky journalist Yousra Elbagir to announce its campaign against foreign media outlets on April 15, 2026. © Facebook


This article has been translated from the original in French.

Why France’s far right is dining with the country’s business elite


France’s far-right National Rally party president Jordan Bardella sat down for lunch Monday with the country’s leading employer federation, marking the latest step in a years-long campaign to woo business leaders in the lead-up to next year’s presidential election – and once again revealing the deep contradictions within the populist party's economic programme.


Issued on: 21/04/2026 - 
FRANCE24
By: Paul MILLAR

French far-right Rassemblement National party president Jordan Bardella (C) arrives for a lunch meeting with French employer federation Movement of the Enterprises of France (Medef) in Paris on April 20, 2026. © Dimitar Dilkoff, AFP


Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. Faced with a centre that cannot hold and a left locked in a bitter struggle between its radical and reformist wings, a far-right movement surges through the breach.

Scenting the chance for an uneasy – but effective – collaboration, the country’s traditional business elite extends an olive branch – an invitation to lunch, perhaps. They take their seats around the table, pick up their knives, and begin to carve.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. On Monday, France’s far-right National Rally (Rassemblement national, or RN) president Jordan Bardella sat down for lunch with the executive committee of Medef, the country’s largest employer federation.

While the meeting itself was no secret, the lunch took place under a total media blackout – we don’t even know what was on the menu.

What we do know is that the lunch follows another meeting earlier in April between the far-right group and major French business leaders, this one even more discreet.

As revealed by French weekly Le Nouvel Obs, long-time party figurehead Marine Le Pen dined at Paris’s prestigious Drouant brasserie with some of the titans of French industry: the director-general of energy giant Engie, the CEO of oil major TotalEnergies, the head of the Accor hotel group, the chairman of Renault, representatives from Axa insurance, the son of right-wing media mogul Vincent Bolloré and, finally, France’s richest man, Bernard Arnault.

While Medef’s president Patrick Martin has stressed that Monday’s meeting was just the first of a planned series of lunches with representatives from every corner of France’s political spectrum, the increasingly open contact between the far right and the world of big business marks a turning point – and the culmination of a years-long effort by the RN to present a more business-friendly face to potential allies in the corporate world.

French billionaire Bolloré sparks turmoil at Grasset as 115 authors leave publishing house

© France 24
01:40

Ahead of Monday’s meeting, Le Pen and Bardella released a statement saying that the lunch would be a chance for both parties to discuss what they described as excessive regulations imposed on entrepreneurs that needed to be swept aside to make French businesses more competitive.

“We believe it is essential that we work together to give businesses the flexibility and responsiveness they need to innovate, hire, invest, and expand into new markets,” the statement read.

Tristan Boursier, associate researcher at Sciences Po University’s political research centre, said that the RN’s corporate charm offensive did not necessarily reflect a deeper shift within the party’s economic thinking.

“For me, the RN has not changed its economic soul, it has learned to speak a different language,” he said. “Under Marine Le Pen, the party retained a strong statist, protectionist core – reflecting its working-class electoral base – while progressively shedding its most toxic positions, notably the exit from the euro. Bardella represents a further evolution – his rhetoric is more market-friendly, less hostile to business, and more appealing to urban, educated voters.”

How the death of far-right activist Quentin Deranque became France’s ‘Charlie Kirk moment’

Unlike fellow travellers such as Argentina’s self-declared anarcho-capitalist President Javier Milei, France’s far right has built much of its support over the years by rejecting the unfettered movement of capital across state borders that defined the historic turn towards globalisation.

Many of the party’s early gains under the younger Le Pen came in parts of the country’s north hollowed out by the off-shoring of heavy industry, and members of France’s increasingly fragile working and lower-middle classes make up a major part of its core voter base.

Nor has the party shied away from supporting a strong state role in maintaining France’s expansive welfare state, instead calling for the implementation of a system of “préférence nationale” (national preference) that would give French citizens priority access ahead of foreign residents.

But the rise of the 30-year-old Bardella – who will likely stand as the party’s candidate next year if Le Pen’s five-year ban from holding public office following an embezzlement conviction is upheld on appeal this summer – has allowed the party to maintain a kind of strategic ambiguity in its economic messaging.

READ MOREWhat to know about French far-right leader Marine Le Pen's graft appeal

This strategy sees Le Pen championing the social turn championed by her late father, and Bardella preaching the importance of cutting the red tape he says is holding back the country’s re-industrialisation.

“It would be a mistake to read this as an ideological conversion. The RN's economic normalisation is primarily electoral arithmetic,” Boursier said. “The party needs to reassure centrist voters without alienating its traditional base. The result is a platform that remains structurally incoherent – simultaneously promising lower taxes, maintained welfare provisions and protectionist measures – but politically functional.”

France’s business leaders have historically not been welcoming of these contradictions – especially after the RN ran in the snap 2024 parliamentary elections on a platform of increasing wages and undoing President Emmanuel Macron’s raising of the retirement age.

And while the party continues to benefit from the support of right-wing patrons such as the ultraconservative Catholic tech billionaire Pierre-Édouard Stérin and media mogul Bolloré, other entrepreneurs have been leery about showing the same public support for the far-right group.

Boursier said that the increasing openness of France’s capitalist class to the RN was largely driven by opportunism rather than deeper ideological conviction.

“French business elites are not falling in love with the RN, they are taking out an insurance policy,” he said. “The growing openness toward the party is best understood as pragmatic anticipation rather than ideological alignment. Faced with a party that polls consistently ahead for 2027, many business leaders are simply hedging their bets, much as segments of the French patronat accommodated various political transitions throughout the Fifth Republic.”

Whether or not the tension between these opposing currents within the RN can survive the white heat of a presidential campaign, the party’s outreach to the French business elite so far doesn’t seem to have put off its traditional base.

Fundamentally, Boursier said, many of those casting their vote for the far-right party were not voting for a specific economic programme, but a shared narrative in which France’s economic ills were rooted in decades of mass immigration.

“What binds RN voters together is less a coherent economic vision than a racialised reading of social and economic decline,” he said.

Put simply, he said, the important thing was not the question of whether the state or the market played a greater role in responding to the country’s problems, but that voters could agree that those problems were caused by foreigners.

“This is not a new formula – Jean-Marie Le Pen was already saying ‘one million unemployed, one million immigrants’ decades ago,” Boursier said. “What has changed is not the message but its reach: that same causal story is now amplified daily across television, the press and social media, normalised to a degree her father could never have imagined.”

“The real question for 2027 is not whether the RN can reconcile its competing economic instincts – it is whether it can govern a country it has spent decades telling its voters is being stolen from them.”

Italy summons Russian ambassador after TV host targets Meloni with stream of insults

Rome has called in Moscow's ambassador after a Russian TV presenter attacked Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on air, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said Tuesday. The remarks, condemned across the political spectrum, risk deepening already strained ties between Rome and Moscow amid tensions over Ukraine.


Issued on: 22/04/2026 
By: FRANCE 24

Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was reportedly targeted with a slew of insults by a Russian TV presenter. © Tom Nicholson, AFP

Italy has summoned Russia's ambassador in Rome after a Russian television presenter delivered a stream of insults against Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said Tuesday.

According to Italian media, presenter Vladimir Solovyov said in Italian on Russian television that Meloni was a "disgrace to the human race", a "wild beast", a "certified idiot" and a "nasty little woman".

Then, switching to Russian, he said that "this Meloni is a fascist creature who betrayed her electors," adding that "she even betrayed (US President Donald) Trump".

Tajani posted on X that he had "summoned the Russian Ambassador, Alexey Paramonov, to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to formally protest the extremely serious and offensive remarks made by TV host Vladimir Solovyov on Russian television against Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni".

Even opposition parties in Italy condemned the comments from the Russian presenter.

Later, Meloni posted on X that "these caricatures certainly won't make us change course", adding that "our compass remains one and only: the interest of Italy. And we will continue to follow it with pride, much to the chagrin of propagandists far and wide."

Relations between Rome and Moscow have been tense because of Meloni's strong support for Ukraine, while her once friendly relations with Trump have worsened since she defended Pope Leo XIV against the US president's verbal attacks.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)

Humanitarian worker Mike Penrose on the 'Food from Ukraine' programme

FRANCE24
Issued on: 23/04/2026

 -
Play (11:48 min)

From the show

In an interview with FRANCE 24, Mike Penrose, a veteran humanitarian worker and special adviser to the government of Ukraine on the "Food from Ukraine" humanitarian programme, explained that this initiative "increases the value of the aid that's being distributed" in an "era of diminishing amounts of money". He also emphasised that the programme "works equally well in Africa", following the launch of a regional food distribution hub in Ghana's capital Accra.

Penrose has been working with RIDNE, a Ukrainian food consortium made up of small to medium-sized food producers that now provides supplies to the Ukrainian humanitarian food market. Despite battling the Russian invasion, "Ukraine is the breadbasket of Europe", Penrose said. He explained that RIDNE gathered together the producers and "allowed them to trade at scale to actually meet the needs of large-scale aid organisations".

As a result, "over 80 percent of all food aid being delivered by aid agencies in Ukraine is sourced in Ukraine", meaning that "the people who are most vulnerable from the economic shock of the war (...) can now benefit economically from the aid that needs to be delivered," Penrose said.
'The programme works equally well in Africa'

The initiative didn't stop there, and RIDNE recently found that "the programme (...) established in Ukraine works equally well in Africa", Penrose said, following the launch of a regional food distribution hub in Accra, the capital of Ghana.

"When you buy the food, it goes to producers who need it in Africa or in Ukraine. And when you distribute it, it goes to the most vulnerable people who are dependent on food aid", in countries such as Sudan, Somalia, areas of the Sahel and DR Congo, instead of being "lost into large agro-industry", Penrose explained.
Increasing 'the value of the aid that's being distributed'

Asked about the UN's World Food Programme and major NGOs, Penrose declared that the "Food from Ukraine" model is better because "it takes people out of that loop of vulnerability and really increases the value of the aid that's being distributed".

Penrose addressed aid cuts from the US but also Europe and their impact on food distribution, saying that in an "era of diminishing amounts of money, where we have increasing need", this programme "ensures that you get absolute maximum value out of the money we have" and it "helps both the countries that are supplying the aid, which are crisis-affected like Ukraine, and those that receive it".
'Political courage' needed to break Abramovich funds deadlock

The veteran humanitarian worker also discussed the dispute between the British government and Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, whose £2.35 billion from the sale of Chelsea Football Club are currently frozen and can only be used for humanitarian purposes in Ukraine, according to London, something that Abramovich refuses.

"Humanitarian programmes are global. The impact of wars around the world are global. Limiting it to one geographic boundary doesn't actually even help countries like Ukraine in the best possible way," Penrose declared.

"I just think we need some political courage to break this deadlock and ensure that the money comes to the foundation," he concluded.

BY: Marc Perelman

420 SURPRISE

Trump administration reclassifies medical marijuana as a 'less-dangerous drug'

President Donald Trump’s administration on Thursday reclassified state-licensed medical marijuana as a less-dangerous drug, easing research barriers and granting tax relief. The change falls short of federal legalisation but marks a major shift in US cannabis policy.


Issued on: 23/04/2026 - 
By: FRANCE 24

A medical marijuana plant grows at CRC on July 23, 2024, in Pike County, Alabama.

 © Kim Chandler, AP


President Donald Trump's acting attorney general on Thursday signed an order reclassifying state-licensed medical marijuana as a less-dangerous drug, a major policy shift long sought by advocates who said cannabis should never have been treated like heroin by the federal government.

The order signed by Todd Blanche does not legalise marijuana for medical or recreational use under federal law. But it does change the way it's regulated, shifting licensed medical marijuana from Schedule I – reserved for drugs without medical use and with high potential for abuse – to the less strictly regulated Schedule III. It also gives licensed medical marijuana operators a major tax break and eases some barriers to researching cannabis.

The Trump administration also said it was jump-starting the process for reclassifying marijuana more broadly, setting a hearing to begin in late June.

Trump told his administration in December to work as quickly as possible to reclassify marijuana. On Saturday, as the Republican president signed an unrelated executive order about psychedelics, he seemed to express frustration that it was taking so long.


Blanche said Thursday that the Department of Justice was “delivering on President Trump’s promise” to expand Americans’ access to medical treatment options. “This rescheduling action allows for research on the safety and efficacy of this substance, ultimately providing patients with better care and doctors with more reliable information,” he said in a statement.
Windfall for medical firms

Blanche's action Iargely legitimises medical marijuana programmes in the 40 states that have adopted them. It sets up an expedited system for state-licensed medical marijuana producers and distributors to register with the US Drug Enforcement Administration.

It makes clear that cannabis researchers won't be penalised for obtaining state-licensed marijuana or marijuana-derived products for use in their work, and it grants state-licensed medical marijuana companies a windfall by allowing them, for the first time, to deduct business expenses on their federal taxes.

Any marijuana-derived medicine approved by the Food and Drug Administration is similarly listed in Schedule III, it said.

Since 2015, Congress has prohibited the Justice Department from using its resources to shut down state-licensed medical marijuana systems. But the order nevertheless represents a major policy shift for the US government, which has continued its longstanding marijuana prohibition – dating to the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 – even as nearly all the states have approved cannabis use in some form.

Two dozen states plus Washington, DC, have authorised adult recreational use of marijuana, 40 have medical marijuana systems, and eight others allow low-THC cannabis or CBD oil for medical use. Only Idaho and Kansas ban marijuana outright.

The regulation of medical marijuana has come a long way since California became the first state to adopt it in 1996, Blanche wrote.

“Today the vast majority of States maintain comprehensive licensing frameworks governing cultivation, processing, distribution, and dispensing of marijuana for medical purposes,” Blanche wrote. “Taken as a whole, they demonstrate a sustained capacity to achieve the public-interest objectives ... including protecting public health and safety and preventing the diversion of controlled substances into illicit channels.”

The president of the American Trade Association for Cannabis and Hemp, Michael Bronstein, called it “the most significant federal advancement in cannabis policy in over 50 years".
'Cannabis is medicine'

“This action recognises what Americans have long known, cannabis is medicine,” he said in a written statement.

The Trump administration’s decision drew derision from marijuana legalisation opponent Kevin Sabet, the chief executive of Smart Approaches to Marijuana. Sabet said that while marijuana research is necessary, "there are many ways to increase our knowledge without giving a tax break to Big Weed and sending a confusing message about marijuana’s harms to the American public".

“With this move, we are now confronted with the most pro-drug administration in our history,” Sabet said in a text message. “Policy is now being dictated by marijuana CEOs, psychedelics investors, and podcasters in active addiction."

Marijuana or marijuana-derived products that are not distributed through a state medical marijuana programme will continue to be classified in Schedule I.

Schedule III drugs are defined as having moderate to low potential for physical and psychological dependence. Some critics of the industry have suggested that legalisation in the states has led to stronger and stronger cannabis products, which need to be researched rather than categorised less strictly than before.

The Justice Department under President Joe Biden, a Democrat, had proposed to reclassify marijuana, eliciting nearly 43,000 formal public comments. The DEA was still in the review process when Trump succeeded Biden, and Trump ordered that process to move along as quickly as legally possible.

Blanche's order sidestepped the review process by relying on a provision of federal law that allows the attorney general to determine the appropriate classification for drugs that the US must regulate pursuant to an international treaty.

It was unclear how the order might affect operations in states where licensed recreational marijuana shops also sell to medical patients. In Washington state, which in 2012 became one of the first states to legalise the adult use of marijuana, 302 of 460 licensed stores have endorsements allowing them to sell tax-free cannabis products to registered patients.

Many Republicans oppose loosening marijuana restrictions. More than 20 Republican senators, several of them staunch Trump allies, signed a letter last year urging the president to keep the current standards.

Trump has made his crusade against other drugs, especially fentanyl, a feature of his second term, ordering US military attacks on Venezuelan and other boats the administration insists are ferrying drugs. He signed another executive order declaring fentanyl a weapon of mass destruction.

(FRANCE 24 with AP)

Washington uses Iraq's own oil money to bend Baghdad to its will


The Trump administration has blocked a shipment of nearly $500 million in cash to Iraq, pressing Baghdad to dismantle powerful Iranian-backed armed groups. Analysts say the blockage risks destabilising an already fragile economy.


Issued on: 23/04/2026 - 

FRANCE24

By: Anaelle JONAH

This illustration shows a US one-dollar bill and an Iranian rial bill. © Studio graphique, FMM

The US government blocked a cargo plane delivery of nearly $500 million in US banknotes destined for Baghdad, according to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported the move on Tuesday, citing US and Iraqi officials.

It was the second such shipment delayed since the start of the US-Israeli war against Iran in late February, official sources told the Journal.

The measures come after a series of attacks on US facilities in Iraq and neighbouring countries, carried out by groups Washington says are showing solidarity with Tehran since the war began.

"Iran has been feeding money into militias in Iraq, which have been launching raids against some of Iran's neighbours since the start of the war," FRANCE 24's international affairs editor Philip Turle said.

The attacks have been wide-ranging, with nearly a thousand drone strikes launched against Saudi Arabia as well as against Kuwait, Bahrain and even the US embassy in Baghdad, which has been evacuated several times, Turle said.

Turle said the current escalation is driven by a sense of threat within the militias themselves. "They see the attacks against the Iranian regime from the US and from Israel and they themselves now feel threatened so that's why they suddenly up the ante," he argued.

Washington turns off the tap

Iraq's oil revenues, worth billions of dollars annually, have been held at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York for the past 20 years. "Ever since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003, Iraq has not had a monopoly over its own economy, over its own money," said Adel Bakawan, director of the European Institute for Studies on the Middle East and North Africa.

This system was put in place after the US invasion, when Iraq was burdened with massive debts. The United States agreed to hold Iraqi funds in New York to shield them from creditors.

"Because if that money were to arrive directly in Iraq, meaning at the Iraqi central bank, then every company, every country that had won a judgment against Iraq would have the right to claim that money," Bakawan explained.

"Whereas if that money is under American protection, no one can touch it."

A file image of a statue of Saddam Hussein being pulled down by US soldiers and Iraqi civilians in Firdaus Square, in downtown Baghdad, on April 9, 2003. © Jerome Dela, AP


Since then, the Fed has shipped up to $13 billion a year in cash to Iraq so that Baghdad can pay its six million civil servants and run the state.

Washington already suspended the mechanism once before, in 2015, amid fears the cash was reaching Islamic State militants.

US officials told the Wall Street Journal the current suspension is temporary without giving any further details on when and how the dollar shipments could resume.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the US Treasury Department did not respond to a request for comment.
Baghdad at a standstill

The Central Bank of Iraq, which has yet to comment specifically about the reports, said on Tuesday it was not lacking US dollars and that it had "fulfilled all requests from banks and exchange companies for US dollars, which are intended for pilgrims, travellers and foreign transfers".

However, an Iraqi official on Tuesday confirmed to The National that dollar shipments have stopped.

"The Americans conveyed the decision to senior politicians that the hard currency, which is usually flown to Iraq, will stop until forming the next government and arresting militia members for attacking the US embassy and troops in Iraq," the source told the UAE state-owned newspaper.

Washington has also "suspended participation in security meetings, which is essential for Iraq for the co-operation in this field, including intelligence sharing", they added.

Bakawan warned the suspension could have dire consequences for Iraq's population in a heavily cash-based economy.

"The only money is oil money," he said. "And that oil money sits in an account held at the Federal Reserve in New York. If the money doesn't come, the salaries aren't paid, the government has nothing."

'Make Iraq great again'

Iraq's most powerful armed groups – which include the Badr Brigade, Asaib Ahl al-Haq and Kataib Hezbollah – wield huge influence within the country's financial sectors and government, with some of their units formally incorporated into the Iraqi armed forces.

As Baghdad is currently in the process of choosing a new prime minister, Tehran and the armed groups are pushing for a candidate who will maintain close ties with Iran.

US President Donald Trump warned in January that he would cut off assistance to Iraq if former prime minister Nouri al-Maliki, leader of the Iran-aligned Islamic Dawa Party, returned to the role.

"That should not be allowed to happen again," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "Because of his insane policies and ideologies, if elected, the United States of America will no longer help Iraq. If we are not there to help, Iraq has ZERO chance of success, prosperity, or freedom. MAKE IRAQ GREAT AGAIN!"

Maliki initially rejected Trump's threat as "blatant American interference" and vowed to "continue to work until we reach the end". However, speculation about his possible withdrawal has intensified in recent weeks.

Bakawan said Iraq remains trapped between Washington and Tehran. "The Iraqi government has never been able to choose between the US and Iran," he explained, describing the country as governed through an "American-Iranian co-management system".

"The moment that co-management breaks down, all of Iraq collapses with it," he said.

Iraq has long tried to balance ties with both powers, but that balance has proved increasingly difficult to maintain as war engulfs the region.

Mapping the environmental toll of the Middle East war

Issued on: 22/04/2026 - 

Oil refineries set ablaze, missiles hitting pesticide factories, an oil slick in the Strait of Hormuz... In under two months, the US and Israel’s war on Iran has inflicted a heavy toll on the environment, fuelling concerns over the public health impact on local populations.

It’s too soon to evaluate the overall impact of the Middle East war on the environment, but researchers at the UK-based Conflict and Environment Observatory (CEOBS) estimate that at least five million tonnes of CO2 were emitted by oil fires and jet engines in just the first two weeks of the conflict.

The CEOBS has mapped incidents likely to have an environmental impact. Our team spoke to its director, Doug Weir, who said the fires could also affect the people living near oil refineries:

“The smoke that's created from these refinery fires is a really complex mixture of hydrocarbons and industrial materials.

It includes things like carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, volatile organic compounds, soot particles, particulate matter and trace metals.

Inhaling these is particularly problematic for people, particularly when you have pre-existing health problems like asthma or if you're vulnerable due to being elderly, for example.”

A refinery operated by Bahrain’s national oil company BAPCO was hit by an Iranian strike on April 5.

In Iran, oil refineries and depots near the capital, Tehran, have been hit by Israel. The resulting fires pose a risk to the city’s nine million inhabitants, as Tehran is surrounded by mountains which trap pollution. Fuel from targeted depots has also seeped into the city’s water system, triggering explosions in residential areas.

Damage at liquefied natural gas plants

Other types of infrastructure have been hit, including liquefied natural gas plants in Qatar. Weir told our team:

“When these facilities are damaged, it releases methane, which doesn't burn.

And methane is 20 times more damaging for the atmosphere, for the climate, than carbon dioxide is.

​​It's quite difficult to determine the environmental risks from these sites because often these facilities are enormous. They contain many different industrial processes and facilities.”
20-kilometre oil slick

There has also been an impact on the Strait of Hormuz, although Weir said that “the situation could have been worse”.

On March 6, the US struck an Iranian drone-launching ship, the Shahid Bagheri, off the coast of the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas.

The attack caused an oil slick more than 20km long, threatening mangroves and other protected nature sites on Iran’s coastline. In early April, the Shahid Bagheri had not entirely sunk, and traces of oil were visible near the wreck.

BY: The FRANCE 24 Observers / Guillaume MAURICE

Tokyo urges government workers to swap suits for shorts to counter energy costs

Government workers in Tokyo have new dress code rules that allow them to wear shorts to the office in a bid to cut air conditioning costs, an official said on Friday, as the Middle East war drives up energy costs around the world.


Issued on: 24/04/2026 -
By: FRANCE 24

People walk past Tokyo Station on a hot day in Tokyo in 2025. This year city authorities are encouraging staff to wear shorts to work to cut reliance on air conditioning. © Yuichi Yamazaki, AFP

Tokyo's metropolitan government is encouraging staff to wear shorts to work to cut reliance on air conditioning, an official said Friday, as concerns grow over high energy costs linked to the Middle East war.

The loosened dress code is part of an upgraded version of "Cool Biz" – an energy-saving initiative started by Japan's environment ministry in 2005 that encouraged bureaucrats to ditch ties and jackets in summer, and saw some turn up to work in Okinawan-style collared t-shirts.

An energy crunch threatened by the Middle East war is "one of the factors" that prompted the Japanese capital to take it up a notch and start allowing its workers to don shorts this month, a Tokyo official who declined to be named told AFP.

Already, some male workers in the Tokyo government office can be seen sporting shorts and T-shirts, local media footage showed earlier this week.

Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike, who herself started the Cool Biz campaign as environmental minister two decades ago, is all in.

This summer, "we encourage 'cool' attire that prioritises comfort, including polo shirts, T-shirts and sneakers and – depending on job responsibilities – shorts," she told reporters earlier this month, citing "a severe outlook for the supply and demand of electricity".

The new Cool Biz initiative also includes a greater shift toward teleworking and starting work early, Koike added.

Last year Japan sweltered through its hottest summer since records began in 1898, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.

Temperatures rising to 40C and above have become so common that the agency unveiled an official designation last week for these extreme weather events, labelling them "cruelly hot" or "kokusho" days.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)