France’s far-right leader was barred from running for office
Marine Le Pen, the far-right leader, was found guilty of embezzlement yesterday and disqualified from running for public office for five years.
The verdict set off a crisis that could lead to new political turmoil in France. It effectively knocked Le Pen, France’s most popular politician, according to the polls, out of the 2027 presidential election.
The decision infuriated Le Pen, an anti-immigrant, nationalist politician who has already mounted three failed presidential bids. She claimed that the ruling was a “political” attempt to thwart her and vowed to fight back despite slim chances of legal success. “I’m not going to submit to a democratic denial so easily,” she said angrily.
Context: The court ruled that Le Pen played a “central role” in an illegal scheme to use millions of euros of European Parliament funds for party expenses from 2004 to 2016. Le Pen was a member of the European Parliament from 2004 to 2017.
Analysis: Millions of Le Pen supporters are now adrift and angry, our Paris bureau chief, Roger Cohen, writes. France could see a gale of political protests, as well as an attack from the global far right.
Reactions: Across Europe, hard-right leaders sharply criticized the court’s decision. Viktor Orban, the Hungarian prime minister, posted “Je suis Marine!” (“I am Marine!”) on social media.
Stocks plunged as new Trump tariffs loomed
World markets tumbled yesterday as investors braced for President Trump’s new round of tariffs that would affect the U.S.’s biggest trading partners. Trump has promised to overhaul the global trading system and plans to unveil tomorrow what he is calling “reciprocal tariffs” that would match the import taxes and other policies that other countries impose on American exports.
Trump has taken to calling April 2, when the tariffs are supposed to go into effect, “Liberation Day,” arguing that their imposition will end years during which other countries have been “ripping us off.” The White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said yesterday that there would be “no exemptions at this time” as some foreign nations tried to negotiate a last-minute reprieve. On Thursday, a separate 25 percent tariff is set to be imposed on all cars and car parts that are shipped into the U.S.
Asian markets tumbled, with the Nikkei 225 index in Japan falling into a correction. The S&P 500 recorded its worst month since 2022. European stocks slumped.
Mixed messages: A White House trade adviser said that tariffs would raise about $6 trillion over the next decade. But experts say that using tariffs to increase revenue conflicts with the administration’s goal of bringing manufacturing back to the U.S. This is why.
At home: The tariffs are expected to raise the cost of cars, electronics and other products that American consumers buy from overseas. But Trump and his aides are betting they can convince Americans to swallow higher prices. It could backfire.
Myanmar’s military slowed aid to a rebel city
As the death toll from the earthquake rose to more than 2,000 people, help was just starting to trickle in yesterday to the remote city of Sagaing in Myanmar, where monasteries and apartments were razed. Over 80 percent of the city was destroyed in the quake that hit Friday, residents said.
The military has been battling rebel forces for control of Sagaing since it seized power in a coup four years ago. Doctors said they had been blocked from entering, and volunteers said their rescue efforts were stopped. The authorities also closed a vital bridge because of safety concerns, further isolating the area.
Thailand: The Bangkok building razed by the quake employed men and women who had found love at work. Despite glimmers of hope, many yesterday were still beneath the rubble.
The Atlantique 2 plane of the French Navy was designed to hunt submarines and other enemy craft, but now one aircraft’s goal is to observe — and to be seen observing. The plane is part of a NATO program aimed at suspected Russian sabotage in the Baltic Sea.
A reporter and a photographer spent 14 hours aboard the plane. Read about it here.
Lives lived: Joe Harris, thought to be the oldest World War II U.S. paratrooper, died at 108.
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A quest to find joy and then bring it home
Finland has topped the World Happiness Report for the past eight years, owed in part to its welfare state, a closeness with nature and three million saunas. One anxious American, Britta Lokting, went to Helsinki to see if she could bring some of that joy home with her.
Lokting sampled local food, confessed emotions to the trees and plunged into cold waters. On her return to America, she still found happiness to be a luxury. But maybe the answer wasn’t to recreate a dopamine rush, she writes, but something altogether more simple.
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Content Source: www.nytimes.com