Marine Le Pen, the leader of France’s hard-right National Rally, along with 23 of her RN colleagues, was found guilty of misusing European Parliament funds. The judge sentenced Ms Le Pen to four years in prison, and barred her from office for five years with immediate effect. That would block her bid for the presidency in 2027. Ms Le Pen could appeal the decision; she has denied all wrongdoing.
Global stocks fell after Donald Trump said that “all countries” would be targeted by his reciprocal tariffs unveiled on April 2nd. Europe’s Stoxx 600 fell by 1.2% in early trading; S&P 500 futures tumbled by 0.8%. Mr Trump also threatened tariffs of 25-50% on countries that buy Russian oil unless the Kremlin co-operates with his attempts to end the war in Ukraine.
Mr Trump said he was “not joking” about serving a third term as America’s president, despite a constitutional limit of two terms. Speaking to NBC News, Mr Trump said “there are methods [by] which you could do it”. To begin amending the constitution two-thirds of Congress would need to vote in favour or two-thirds of the 50 states would need to agree to call a constitutional convention.
Myanmar’s junta continued air strikes on rebel groups across the country, even as the UN and neighbouring countries called for a ceasefire to allow the delivery of aid to victims of Friday’s 7.7-magnitude earthquake. The death toll looks likely to rise from 1,700 people. Rescuers continued to search for survivors even after the expiry on Monday morning of a critical 72-hour rescue window.
Elon Musk gave two Wisconsin voters $1m each after the state’s highest court refused to hear a case alleging that his payments to voters amount to bribery. The billionaire adviser to Mr Trump has been mobilising his cash to boost turnout in the state’s Supreme Court election on Tuesday. Thanks to him and other donors, the important election will be the most expensive judicial race in history.
China’s finance ministry will inject billions of dollars into four state-owned banks, helping them to increase their capital buffers to deal with a flagging economy. In separate filings the Bank of China, Bank of Communications, Postal Savings Bank of China and China Construction Bank said they would issue 520bn yuan-worth ($72bn) of new shares, with the ministry buying 500bn yuan of them.
Israel’s prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, said he was committed to reaching a deal to free hostages after tens of thousands of protesters in Israel this weekend accused him of not doing enough for them. He also said “cracks” were appearing in Hamas’s negotiating position. On Saturday the militant group said it had agreed to a ceasefire proposal brought by Egyptian and Qatari mediators.
Figure of the day: 18%, the decline in the budget for America’s Bureau of Labour Statistics in real terms over the past 15 years. Read the full story.
Donald Trump has begun his second term at a blistering pace. Keep up with his executive orders, legal challenges against them and what Americans think about it all on our presidential tracker.