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Musk slams Le Pen ruling, says it will ‘backfire’ like Trump’s as some on global right face legal troubles
JERUSALEM — The stunning court conviction of popular right-wing politician Marine Le Pen on Monday for embezzlement sparked outrage from President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency head, Elon Musk, who compared her fate to Trump’s legal troubles.
Musk said after the verdict that, «This will backfire, like the legal attacks against President Trump.» Musk pinned the blame on the left for the conviction of Le Pen. He wrote on X, «When the radical left can’t win via democratic vote, they abuse the legal system to jail their opponents. This is their standard playbook throughout the world.»
The conviction of Le Pen, which bans her from running for office for five years, comes amid legal prosecutions of other right-wing politicians, ranging from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Romania’s Călin Georgescu to former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.
TRUMP’S VICTORY COULD GIVE BOOST TO BRAZIL’S BOLSONARO’S RE-ELECTION HOPES AMID COURT BAN ON HIM RUNNING
French right-wing leader Marine Le Pen arrives at a Paris court expected to deliver a verdict in an embezzlement case on Monday, March 31, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Fox News Digital reported last year, after a Manhattan jury convicted then-former President Trump of falsifying business records, that legal experts saw similarities between his case and the ongoing corruption prosecution against Netanyahu.
When asked on Monday about Le Pen’s sentence, Trump told reporters it was «a big deal,» adding, «But she was banned for running for five years, and she’s the leading candidate. That sounds like this country, that sounds very much like this country.»
Other cases where world leaders and politicians on the right have been targeted include Netanyahu, who was charged with fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes in a legal saga that started four years ago and is still unfolding. Netanyahu has flatly denied all the accusations against him.
Calin Georgescu, the winner of Romania’s first round of the presidential election, annulled by the Constitutional Court, waves to supporters gathered for a protest outside the Romanian parliament in Bucharest, Romania, on Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Alexandru Dobre, File)
Romania’s right-wing presidential frontrunner, Georgescu, was barred from the race under criminal charges he compared to those Trump faced.
«We are faced with a communist regime as well,» Georgescu told Fox News Digital just before a Romanian electoral bureau barred him from running in a May presidential election rerun. Prosecutors opened a criminal case against him two weeks prior.
Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro speaks to the press as he arrives at the Brasilia International Airport in Brasilia, Brazil, on March 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Luis Nova)
Just last week, Brazil’s Supreme Court accepted charges against former President Bolsonaro over an alleged attempt to remain in office after his 2022 election defeat, ordering the former leader to stand trial.
Italy’s Vice Premier Matteo Salvini, who was cleared in December of illegally detaining migrants, called his case «a declaration of war by Brussels.»
Eugene Kontorovich, a legal expert and senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation’s Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom, told Fox News Digital, «France follows the pattern of political prosecutions in the U.S. and Israel, where criminal prosecutions for obscure victimless offenses are used to knock out popular leaders of right wing parties, and use to courts to stand between the electorate and their preferred candidates. It is unlikely these cases are all happening within a year of each other: Leftists around the world are learning from, and legitimizing, each other’s tactics.»
ROMANIA BLOCKS FRONTRUNNER FROM POSTPONED PRESIDENTIAL RACE
President Donald Trump, right, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speak during a news conference in the East Room of the White House on Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (Alex Brandon/AP)
The heart of the embezzlement case revolves around accusations against Le Pen and more than 20 other National Rally figures who allegedly used EU funds to hire employees to work for the National Rally instead of matters involving the European Parliament as required by EU regulations in Brussels.
The French court also imposed a four-year prison sentence on Le Pen. The conviction unleashed a political earthquake in France, where the next presidential election is slated for 2027.
Right-wing Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, an ally of Trump, posted in French on social media a solidarity message, «Je suis Marine!» («I am Marine»), an apparent reference to the slogan «Je suis Charlie» that was formulated after radical Islamist terrorists murdered journalists in 2015 from the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine in Paris.
Le Pen has transformed the anti-immigration party National Rally (formerly called the National Front) into a serious political force that is a legitimate contender to win the 2027 presidential election.
Marine Le Pen, president of the National Rally group in the National Assembly, joins Jordan Bardella, president of the National Rally (Rassemblement National), at the final rally before the recently held European Parliament election on June 9. (Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
She ousted her father, the late Jean-Marie Le Pen, who founded the National Front, and rejected his antisemitism. He was fined for terming the Holocaust gas chambers a «detail of history».
Marine Le Pen’s protégé, the 29-year-old Jordan Bardella, recently spoke last week at an Israeli government conference on combating antisemitism. He is expected to take over the National Rally. He urged a «peaceful mobilization» to protest the verdict.
According to French24, Bardella said the guilty verdict has «killed» French democracy. His party launched a petition that states:»It is no longer the government of judges, but the dictatorship of judges, which wishes to prevent the French people from expressing themselves.»
Le Pen’s lawyer, Rodolphe Bosselut, announced that he would appeal the verdict.
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Leader of Italy’s right-wing League Party Matteo Salvini reacts as he leaves a court after a hearing in the trial against him on charges of kidnapping over his decision to prevent more than 100 migrants from landing in the country in 2019, in Palermo, Italy, on Oct. 23, 2021. (REUTERS/Antonio Parrinello)
«I am shocked by the incredibly tough verdict against Marine Le Pen,» said Holland’s right-wing politician, Geert Wilders, who has been dubbed the Dutch version of Trump.
He added,»I support and believe in her 100% and I trust she will win the appeal and become President of France.»
Fox News Digital’s Morgan Phillips, Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
INTERNACIONAL
Persecución en Cuba: la dictadura acusó a un medio digital independiente de “tráfico de divisas” y “evasión fiscal”
El primer ministro de la dictadura de Cuba, Manuel Marrero, acusó este jueves al medio digital no oficial El Toque de tráfico de divisas y evasión fiscal, en el contexto de un creciente enfrentamiento con la prensa independiente. La denuncia se realizó en redes sociales y siguió a la emisión, el miércoles por la noche, de un documental en la televisión estatal que acusa al medio —con sede en Miami— de recibir fondos de Estados Unidos y de buscar la desestabilización del país.
En medio de la campaña oficial contra El Toque, Marrero aseguró: “Se trata de un programa integral de guerra económica organizado, financiado y ejecutado directamente por el gobierno de EEUU”.
Las autoridades cubanas han intensificado las críticas contra El Toque, conocido por publicar diariamente la tasa de cambio del mercado informal, muy distinta a la establecida oficialmente por el régimen cubano y utilizada como referencia mayoritaria para operaciones monetarias en la isla. Según Marrero, la tasa de cambio informada por El Toque es “una farsa” y el resultado de “una burda manipulación”, declaraciones recogidas durante esta ofensiva mediática.
Mientras tanto, los medios del régimen enlazaron la acusación de Marrero con críticas al funcionamiento del propio sitio, al que señalaron de “mercenarismo”, “enriquecimiento ilícito”, “manipulación cambiaria” y de operar “en contra del bienestar del pueblo”. La controversia surge en un contexto en el que la tasa oficial, instaurada en 2022, es de 1 dólar estadounidense (USD) por 24 pesos cubanos (CUP) para entidades jurídicas y de 1 USD por 120 CUP para personas físicas, mientras que El Toque posicionó este jueves el cambio en 1 USD por 460 CUP.
La información publicada por El Toque se ha vuelto central en la vida cotidiana de los cubanos, ya que la mayoría de las transacciones informales en la isla toman como base la cotización de este medio.
La coexistencia de tres tasas de cambio provoca severas distorsiones en la economía local, dificultando la lucha contra la inflación, el descenso del poder adquisitivo, el proceso de dolarización, las carencias de productos básicos, el déficit y la descapitalización de los bancos estatales. Según expertos citados por EFE, esta situación sin precedentes convive con una crisis sistémica que afecta al país desde hace más de un lustro, sin señales claras de recuperación a corto o mediano plazo.
El régimen cubano ha anunciado en varias ocasiones, la última vez hacia finales de 2023, la intención de introducir reformas para corregir las distorsiones cambiarias. Entre ellas, la introducción de una tasa de cambio “flotante” para la segunda mitad de 2024. Sin embargo, hasta la fecha, ni el modelo ni la implementación han sido esclarecidos públicamente. Ante la escasez crónica de divisas, el Estado aceleró la dolarización parcial de la economía abriendo decenas de tiendas que sólo aceptan moneda extranjera y habilitando el cobro en divisas de diversos servicios estatales, prácticas justificadas por la necesidad de recapitalizar el país que importa el 80% de lo que consume.
Frente a los señalamientos, El Toque ha negado en múltiples ocasiones toda acusación oficial, argumentando que su tasa de referencia surge de un algoritmo que recopila anuncios de compraventa de divisas en foros y redes sociales, filtrando valores anómalos bajo supervisión del economista Pavel Vidal. Varios especialistas cubanos, consultados por EFE, admitieron la confiabilidad relativa del método, aunque reconocen que se basa en ofertas y no en transacciones reales, y utiliza la mediana como parámetro, no la moda.
La presión sobre El Toque ha resultado en campañas oficiales contra su personal e incluso provocó la emigración de una gran parte de sus periodistas, luego de ser interrogados por la Seguridad del Estado.
Este clima se ha visto reforzado por la reciente acusación de “espionaje” y “corrupción” contra Alejandro Gil, ex ministro de Economía cercano al presidente Miguel Díaz-Canel, reviviendo el debate sobre las purgas políticas al más alto nivel. Gil, de 61 años, permanece fuera de la vida pública. La reacción oficialista ha sido comparada con anteriores expulsiones repentinas de figuras clave dentro del Estado cubano, como las de Felipe Pérez Roque y Carlos Lage en 2009, o el fusilamiento del general Arnaldo Ochoa en 1989 tras un proceso judicial por narcotráfico, hechos que han marcado la historia política reciente del país.
(Con información de AFP y EFE)
South America / Central America
Ambassador Waltz: No one will be left behind in Gaza
U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Michael Waltz joins ‘Fox & Friends’ to discuss efforts to return American bodies still being held by Hamas, drug boat strikes off Venezuela and why the U.S. is a ‘hard no’ on the U.N.’s global carbon tax proposal.
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EXCLUSIVE: U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz told the U.N. that President Trump’s historic Middle East peace plan is «the only way forward» as he negotiates a resolution that would codify the Trump administration’s Gaza deal in the international body in a way that is «fully consistent with an America First agenda.»
Fox News Digital spoke exclusively to Waltz after he convened partners and allies to discuss the United States’ intention to present a resolution to the U.N. Security Council on Gaza.
The resolution will endorse the Board of Peace, set parameters for Gaza’s transitional governance and launch the International Stabilization Force outlined in the president’s 20-point Gaza peace plan.
MIKE WALTZ SEES TRUMP’S GAZA PLAN AS ‘ONCE-IN-A-GENERATION OPPORTUNITY FOR PEACE’
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz (Getty Images)
«Only President Trump has the ability to bring all sides together, just as he did at Sharm El-Sheik,» Waltz told Fox News Digital. «He’s the only person who can truly bridge the divides between the Israelis, the Palestinians and others in the region.»
AS TRUMP ADMIN PUSHES GAZA PEACE PLAN, HISTORY SHOWS UN PEACEKEEPING’S MIXED RECORD
Waltz said the president’s plan is «the best chance for real peace in the Middle East in a generation.»
«And, frankly, it’s a real test for the United Nations — to step up, support the president’s plan and start implementing it,» Waltz told Fox News Digital.
«We’ve seen the death and destruction the war in Gaza caused,» Waltz said. «If we can rally the international community to come together and resolve it using the tools of the U.N., that’s absolutely the right thing to do, and it’s fully consistent with an America First agenda.
«This process of securing peace in Gaza with a Security Council resolution is really about getting the U.N. back to basics,» Waltz continued. «That’s what we’re calling it — back to basics. It’s about strictly focusing on establishing and keeping peace and, in this case, supporting what the president has already set in motion.»
World leaders, including President Donald Trump and Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, pose for a photo at a world leaders summit on ending the Gaza war, in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, Oct. 13, 2025. (Suzanne Plunkett, Pool Photo via AP)
President Trump’s plan to end the Gaza conflict calls for Gaza to be a de-radicalized, terror-free zone that does not pose a threat to its neighbors. It also calls for Gaza to be redeveloped for the benefit of the people of Gaza and more.
Under the peace plan, Israeli forces would withdraw from the region, and a temporary transitional governance of a technocratic, apolitical Palestinian committee, responsible for delivering the day-to-day running of public services and municipalities for the people of Gaza will be created.
US MILITARY TO OVERSEE NEXT PHASE OF PEACE DEAL FROM COORDINATION BASE IN ISRAEL
That government will be under the oversight of a new international transitional body called the «Board of Peace,» chaired by President Trump and other members and heads of state.
The resolution would essentially make the plan international law, a U.N. source said.
As for timing, a U.N. source told Fox News Digital that negotiations typically take months in the United Nations, but the U.S. Mission is hoping to get this done in «weeks.»
«We are looking to move quickly,» the source said. «The ceasefire is fragile. We don’t want things to fall apart in any way, shape or form. The sooner we get this resolution done, the sooner countries can begin contributing troops to the stabilization force.»
U.S. President Donald Trump poses with a signed agreement during a world leaders summit focused on ending the Gaza war in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, Oct. 13. (Suzanne Plunkett/Getty Images)
The source also told Fox News Digital that representatives from the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Qatar — not members of the Security Council — presented the resolution with Waltz and the U.S. Mission to the broader Security Council.
«We think that’s really strong,» the source said. «This is about getting humanitarian aid in, stabilizing, governing and rolling up our sleeves and getting to work and having the international community pay for it.»
EXPERTS URGE TRUMP TO BAN TERROR-LINKED UN AGENCY FROM HIS GAZA PEACE PLAN
The source said the resolution would create a mechanism, led by Jared Kushner, Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and Secretary of State Marco Rubio that would ensure «the dollars are going to be used efficiently with a private sector mentality in mind.»
Rubio has said the Trump administration is «seeing things we never thought we’d see before, like the number of countries willing to participate in this effort, be it through money or personnel, or both or expertise.
«We’ve never seen this sort of international cohesion behind something,» Rubio said. «So, we have to be pursuing those opportunities because they’re really great, historic and important.»
Meanwhile, the source said the U.S. is «in the thick of negotiations» but is «moving lightening-fast by U.N. terms.»
Secretary of State Marco Rubio listens to a question as he speaks to the media after visiting the Civil-Military Coordination Center in southern Israel Oct. 24, 2025. (Getty Images)
«They do not want to be part of opposing the best chance we’ve had for peace in a generation,» the source said. «And they don’t want to play the part of bureaucratizing and then being responsible for the fighting resuming.»
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The president has described the peace plan as «the start of a grand concord and lasting harmony for Israel and all the nations of what will soon be a truly magnificent region.»
«I believe that so strongly,» Trump said of the plan. «This is the historic dawn of a new Middle East.»
israel,united nations,middle east
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Canadian spy chief warns of alarming rise in teen terror suspects, ‘potentially lethal’ threats by Iran
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Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) Director Daniel Rogers, during a rare public appearance Thursday, said nearly one in 10 of the agency’s terrorism investigations include at least one person under the age of 18, an alarming trend driven by online extremism.
Since 2014, there have been nearly two dozen violent extremist attacks in Canada resulting in 29 deaths and at least 60 injuries, according to Rogers.
Worryingly, he said, nearly one in ten terrorism investigations at CSIS, the country’s domestic spy agency, include at least one «subject of investigation» under the age of 18.
In August, a minor was arrested in Montreal for allegedly planning an attack on behalf of the terrorist group Daesh, according to Rogers.
Dan Rogers, a national security and intelligence advisor, made a rare speech Thursday. (Reuters/Blair Gable/File Photo)
THE NEW MAFIA: TRUMP, CIVIL RICO AND THE GLOBAL INTIFADA
Just a few months earlier, a 15-year-old Edmonton-area minor was charged with a terrorism-related offense, after Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) investigators feared the teen would commit serious violence related to COM/764, a transnational violent online network that manipulates children and youth across widely accessible online platforms.
Rogers also noted two 15-year-olds were arrested in Ottawa for allegedly conspiring to conduct a mass casualty attack targeting the Jewish community in Canada’s capital in late 2023 and early 2024.
«Clearly, radicalized youth can cause the same harms as radicalized adults, but the societal supports for youth may help us catch radicalization early and prevent it,» Rogers said. «These tragic numbers would have been higher if not for disruptive actions taken by CSIS and our law enforcement partners.»
Multiple attacks over the last year were intercepted by Canadian authorities, officials said. (Fox News Digital/Lisa Bennatan)
The CSIS joined the RCMP and intelligence partners from the U.S., United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand in releasing a joint public report in December, highlighting the evolving issue of young people and violent extremism.
The report provides advice to parents, guardians and others with information to help them identify early concerns and address youth radicalization before it’s too late.
«Since 2022, CSIS has been involved in the disruption of no fewer than 24 violent extremist actions, each resulting in arrests or terrorism peace bond charges,» Rogers said. «In 2024, CSIS played an integral role in the disruption of two Daesh-inspired plots.
«In one case, a father and son were allegedly in the advanced stages of planning an attack in the Toronto area. In another, an individual was arrested before allegedly attempting to illegally enter the United States to attack members of the Jewish community in New York. In these examples, and in many others I can’t discuss publicly, our counter-terrorism teams have partnered with law enforcement and saved lives.»
Canadian officials said they also blocked potentially ‘lethal threats’ by Iran. (Mert Alper Dervis/Anadolu Agency)
ONLINE ‘GORE’ FORUMS ARE ‘GATEWAY TO EXTREMISM’ IN MASS SHOOTINGS, NORMALIZING HORROR FOR KIDS: EXPERTS
He attributed the radicalization to «eroding social cohesion, increasing polarization and significant global events,» which he said «provide fertile ground for radicalization.»
«Many who turn to violence radicalize exclusively online, often without direction from others,» Rogers said. «They use technology to do so secretly and anonymously, seriously challenging the ability of our investigators to keep pace and to identify and prevent acts of violence.»
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Rogers also noted the CSIS collects intelligence and defends against transnational repression, previously focusing on transnational repression by the People’s Republic of China, India and others.
«In particularly alarming cases over the last year, we’ve had to reprioritize our operations to counter the actions of Iranian intelligence services and their proxies who have targeted individuals they perceive as threats to their regime,» he said. «In more than one case, this involved detecting, investigating and disrupting potentially lethal threats against individuals in Canada.»
americas,national security,world,canada,tech,terrorism,media
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