A new nationwide survey conducted by Toluna Harris Interactive for leading French broadcasters RTL and M6 has revealed a seismic shift in France’s pre-election political landscape, placing far-right presidential hopeful Marine Le Pen at a record-high polling position that projects her to win the April 2027 presidential contest. The poll, which surveyed 1,764 eligible French voters aged 18 and older, shows Le Pen holding a lead of at least 16 percentage points over every other declared or potential candidate, an unprecedented margin three years out from the vote. The results also signal a clear upward trajectory for left-wing pro-Palestinian figure Jean-Luc Melenchon, leader of the La France Insoumise (LFI) party, who has jumped from 12% support in April polling to a current 16 to 17%. This growth puts Melenchon on track to outperform centre-right former prime minister Edouard Philippe and secure a spot in the mandatory second-round runoff, according to poll analysts. In a projected head-to-head runoff between Le Pen and 75-year-old Melenchon, the survey estimates Le Pen would claim a decisive victory with 68% of the vote against Melenchon’s 32%. Under French presidential election rules, if no candidate secures an absolute majority in the first round of voting, the top two finishers advance to a second and final round of balloting. This 2027 race marks the fourth presidential bid for Le Pen, who lost back-to-back elections to outgoing President Emmanuel Macron in 2017 and 2022, taking 41.4% of the second-round vote in 2022. Macron is constitutionally barred from running for a third consecutive term, opening up the election for the first time in a decade. France’s left-wing bloc has been grappling with internal division heading into the contest, with dozens of potential candidates splitting voter support across ideological lines. To address this fragmentation, multiple left-wing party leaders have scheduled a “united left” primary for October 11 to select a single unified contender. However, LFI and two other major left-wing parties have rejected the initiative, deepening rifts within the bloc that could benefit Le Pen’s candidacy. Le Pen’s path to the 2027 ballot was only cleared earlier this summer after a French appeals court revised a prior criminal conviction tied to an embezzlement scheme involving European Parliament funds. Last year, Le Pen and 20 other members of her Rassemblement National (RN) party were found guilty of misappropriating roughly €4.5 million in EU public funds to pay unregistered RN party staff instead of the European Parliament employees the funds were allocated for. The original ruling handed down a four-year prison sentence and a five-year ban from holding public office, which would have blocked Le Pen from running in 2027. But on July 7, the Paris Court of Appeal upheld the conviction but drastically reduced the sentence: Le Pen will now serve a one-year house arrest sentence monitored by an electronic ankle tag, removing the ban on political office that would have disqualified her campaign. Following the ruling, Le Pen announced she would file a further appeal to France’s highest criminal court, the Cour de Cassation, in a bid to have the electronic monitoring requirement removed. If the high court fast-tracks the appeal and rejects her challenge, Le Pen could be forced to conduct her 2027 campaign wearing the court-ordered ankle tag. The RN, originally founded as the Front National by Le Pen’s father Jean-Marie Le Pen, carried a decades-long reputation marred by virulent antisemitic scandals that left it ostracized by mainstream global political actors. For generations, Israel enforced a strict boycott of European far-right parties over their antisemitic or Holocaust-denying histories and ties to fascist movements, and the former Front National was a core target of that policy. But in recent years, the RN has undertaken a deliberate campaign to rebrand itself, distancing itself from its extremist origins and shifting sharply to a pro-Israel policy stance. This shift has coincided with a broader rapprochement between Israel and far-right parties across Europe. Earlier this year, Le Pen held a private, unannounced meeting with Joshua Zarka, Israel’s ambassador to France, in a sign of the warming bilateral relationship between the RN and the Israeli government. Last year, during Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, Le Pen repeatedly criticized Emmanuel Macron’s public condemnations of Israeli military actions and his formal recognition of a Palestinian state. In a 2023 television interview, Le Pen framed Israel’s military operations as “a war against Islamic terrorism”. Most recently, Israeli Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli publicly endorsed Le Pen’s party during 2024 parliamentary elections, and extended an invitation to RN party president Jordan Bardella to speak at an international conference on antisemitism to be held in Jerusalem in March 2025. Beyond her foreign policy shifts, Le Pen has centered her domestic agenda on strict hardline immigration policies, framing the growth of Muslim communities in France as a process of “Islamisation” that poses an existential threat to France’s secularist constitutional values. She has previously called for the repeal of laws granting legal residency to undocumented migrants, and has pushed to cut social welfare benefits for all immigrants to reduce incentives for new arrivals to settle in France.
作者： admin
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US-Canada trade war escalates as Trump threatens tariff hike on autos after Carney vows to retaliate
A fresh and dramatic escalation in cross-border trade tensions between the United States and Canada has sent shockwaves through North American economic and political circles, after former President and current U.S. leader Donald Trump threatened to double existing tariffs on Canadian-made automobiles and auto parts early next year. The aggressive move comes just days after high-stakes trade negotiations between the two neighboring nations collapsed in acrimony late last week, with both sides trading blame over last-minute demands that derailed what had appeared to be a path toward a new agreement.
In a public statement issued Monday, Trump confirmed that he plans to raise the current 25% U.S. tariff on imported Canadian passenger vehicles, trucks and auto components to 50%, with the new rate set to take effect on January 1 of 2026. Trump repeated his longstanding criticism of Canadian trade policy, claiming the country has “ripped America off” for decades through unfair trade practices that disadvantage U.S. manufacturers and workers.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney responded to the threat with measured defiance, noting that the new tariff announcement was hardly unexpected given the sudden breakdown of negotiations late Friday. Carney accused Trump of deliberately targeting Canada’s $500 billion auto industry with the aim of undermining its global competitiveness, but added that the Canadian government remains open to restarting discussions if U.S. negotiators arrive at the table with a constructive, good-faith “right attitude.”
The collapse of talks came mere moments before a U.S.-imposed deadline that would have triggered a 50% tariff on nearly $20 billion worth of Canadian imports across multiple sectors. Just days earlier, both sides had signaled cautious optimism that a updated bilateral trade deal could be finalized, making the sudden breakdown a sharp and unexpected reversal of momentum. Canadian officials have pushed back against U.S. claims, saying Washington introduced unacceptable last-minute demands, including a controversial clause that would have restricted Canada’s ability to sign independent free trade agreements with other third-party countries. On the U.S. side, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told CNBC Monday that it was Canadian negotiators that walked away after pushing for unplanned last-minute changes to the draft agreement, saying “they wanted more” than what was on the table.
Carney has already confirmed that Canada will retaliate to any new U.S. tariffs with reciprocal measures that match American levies “dollar for dollar,” with the first round of Canadian retaliatory tariffs set to enter into force on September 8. Beyond immediate retaliatory measures, the Canadian prime minister announced a C$11 billion investment to construct six new heavy and medium icebreakers for the Canadian Coast Guard at a Quebec shipyard, a project designed to replace the country’s aging current fleet and open new year-round Arctic and Atlantic shipping lanes to diversify Canada’s trade routes away from its historic overreliance on the U.S. market.
The most fiery response to Trump’s threat came from Doug Ford, the outspoken premier of Ontario—Canada’s heartland of auto manufacturing, which accounts for the vast majority of the country’s vehicle production. Ford fired back at Trump, telling the U.S. president to “kiss my ass,” and suggested Canada should add new surcharges on U.S. imports of Canadian crude oil, natural gas, electricity and critical minerals, all of which are critical to U.S. energy and manufacturing security. Canadian federal data shows that Canada supplies 60% of all U.S. crude oil imports and nearly 100% of U.S. natural gas imports, giving Ottawa significant leverage in the escalating conflict.
Trump quickly hit back at Ford in a post on his Truth Social platform, dismissing the Ontario premier’s comments as empty “bluster” and warning that “Someone should get these clowns to ‘fall in line’ or, the consequences for Canada will be far WORSE!”
Business leaders on both sides of the border have already sounded the alarm over the escalating trade war, with many small and large manufacturers warning that higher tariffs will raise costs for consumers, disrupt tightly integrated North American supply chains, and force layoffs on both sides. Many companies say that half of their cross-border revenue could be wiped out if the new tariffs go into effect.
Beyond the immediate auto tariff fight, the collapse of talks has thrown the future of the existing U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), the landmark North American trade bloc signed by Trump during his first term, into serious question. The trade deal, which underpins $1.6 trillion in annual cross-border trade across the continent, is currently undergoing a mandatory 10-year review. Over the summer, both Canada and Mexico submitted formal requests to extend the existing agreement for an additional 16 years, but the U.S. has already refused to renew the deal in its current form.
Economic analysts with Oxford Economics warned Monday that the risk of the entire USMCA unravelling has risen sharply amid escalating tensions. While a full collapse remains an unlikely outcome, the firm’s lead Canada economist Tony Stillo and senior economist Michael Davenport warned that dissolving the trade pact would plunge Canada into a full recession and lock the country into a permanently lower long-term growth trajectory.
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Egyptian-UAE free zone for oil storage and trading established in New Alamein
Egypt has formally finalized the establishment of Fujairah Alamein Oil and Gas Company, following official approval for a dedicated private free zone for the joint Egyptian-Emirati venture in the Mediterranean coastal city of New Alamein, Egypt’s Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade announced in an official statement.
Spanning roughly 738,000 square meters in the North African Mediterranean coastal hub, the newly approved free zone will purpose-built facilities dedicated to the storage, handling and logistics of crude oil and refined petroleum products. The project traces its origins back to three framework agreements signed in 2025 between Egyptian government bodies and the Emirate of Fujairah, which also outlined parallel plans to develop the Fujairah-Alamein energy logistics zone and carry out expansion and modernization upgrades at El-Hamra Port, located west of Alexandria.
Egyptian Investment and Foreign Trade Minister Mohamed Farid emphasized that the rapid completion of the company’s founding process offers clear proof of the government’s ability to translate formal regulatory approvals into fully operational investment projects in a compressed timeline. Farid noted that leveraging flexible investment frameworks, including the free zone model, paired with streamlined cross-ministerial coordination, is a core strategy to speed up delivery of critical national energy projects. He added that the investment ministry is continuing close collaboration with other state agencies, most notably the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, to resolve outstanding requirements and clear any regulatory or bureaucratic barriers that could risk delaying project implementation.
The Egyptian cabinet first granted formal approval for the special private free zone for the joint venture last year, locating the site in New Alamein within Egypt’s northwestern Matrouh Governorate. Per the official cabinet decree published in Egypt’s official government gazette, the free zone sits on the southern flank of the Alexandria-Matrouh coastal highway and falls under the regulatory supervision of the General Authority for Investment and Free Zones.
The decree outlines a series of binding requirements for the new enterprise: all annual output from the facility must be exported to global markets, and at least 50% of all components used in any on-site manufacturing activity must be sourced from domestic Egyptian suppliers. Additional mandatory conditions include proof of legal ownership or long-term tenure for the project site, formal environmental clearance from the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency, strict compliance with physical security standards (including full coverage surveillance camera systems and dedicated security watchtowers), and full alignment with national industrial safety, civil defense and fire protection regulations.
This new energy project aligns with Egypt’s long-term strategic goal to leverage its geographic location between major European, Asian and African energy markets, its extensive network of coastal ports, and established regional transport links to position the country as a leading regional hub for energy product storage, processing and cross-border trade. The push to attract foreign direct investment in the energy sector also comes as Egypt navigates ongoing economic pressures, including constrained foreign currency reserves and shifting domestic energy supply dynamics, as the government works to expand export volumes and generate much-needed hard currency.
Recent official trade data underscores the growth trajectory of Egypt’s energy export sector: in April 2026, the country’s crude oil exports hit $115.3 million, marking a $15.6 million year-over-year increase, while exports of refined petroleum products rose by $181 million year-over-year to reach $585.2 million. As part of a national five-year energy development plan, the Egyptian government has set a target of 20% growth in domestic oil and gas exploration and production activity for 2026, while simultaneously expanding the country’s capacity to process and export refined petroleum products.
New Alamein, a planned coastal development on Egypt’s Mediterranean shore, has emerged as a key focal point for the government’s push to draw private domestic and international investment to the region. Current announced projects for the city include a $140 million metallic silicon production complex, an $82 million furniture manufacturing free zone, and a 12 billion Egyptian pound ($236 million) green industrial complex. Official government data puts total public and private investment in New Alamein at 240 billion Egyptian pounds as of 2024.
The Fujairah Alamein project also forms part of a broader wave of growing Emirati investment in Egypt under the administration of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, highlighted by the landmark $35 billion Ras El-Hekma coastal development agreement announced in 2024, one of the largest foreign investment deals in Egypt’s recent history.
In closing remarks, Minister Farid reaffirmed that the Ministry of Investment will maintain ongoing coordinated work with all relevant state authorities to ensure Fujairah Alamein Oil and Gas Company can launch commercial operations as quickly as possible, meet its stated investment commitments, and deliver maximum positive impact to the Egyptian national economy.
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Americans add three captain’s picks to a Solheim Cup team with only five winners since last cup
On Monday, United States Solheim Cup captain Angela Stanford completed the final selections for her 12-player roster ahead of the 2025 matches against Europe, building a squad that blends championship-proven veteran experience with a surprising selection of an untested first-time competitor.
Stanford’s three wildcard picks anchor heavily on proven tournament history, headlined by Megan Khang, a Solheim Cup staple set to make her fifth appearance at the event. Khang brings an impressive undefeated record in singles match play to the table, a track record that makes her a reliable asset for high-stakes matchups. The captain’s second experienced pick is Rose Zhang, who already competed in two prior Solheim Cup campaigns during her collegiate career at Stanford University. Zhang dominated the 2024 matches held in Virginia, winning all four of her matches without ever needing to play past the 16th hole.
The most eye-catching selection is 35-year-old Lindy Duncan, who will make her Solheim Cup debut despite never competing in the event before and never claiming a victory on the LPGA Tour. Duncan narrowly missed automatic qualification for the team this summer: she finished outside the top 30 across her last 12 tournaments, and missed the cut in four out of the five major championships held this year. She also fell short in a playoff at the 2025 Chevron Championship. Despite the rough stretch of results, Stanford opted to add the veteran amateur-turned-pro to the squad. When Duncan tees off in September, she will become the oldest American player to make her Solheim Cup debut since Nancy Scranton, who debuted at age 39 during the 2000 matches at Loch Lomond. Duncan is one of just two rookies on this year’s U.S. roster, joining Auston Kim, who earned her spot via automatic points qualification.
The 2025 Solheim Cup matches are scheduled to run September 11-13 at a venue in the Netherlands, marking a challenging away fixture for the American side. Team USA has not claimed a Solheim Cup victory on European soil since 2015, making this year’s campaign a chance to end a decade-long away drought.
The U.S. roster is led by world No. 1 women’s golfer Nelly Korda, who has notched three wins on tour this season including two major championships. Beyond Korda, only four other American squad members — Lauren Coughlin, Yealimi Noh, Angel Yin and Jennifer Kupcho — have claimed LPGA Tour titles since the last Solheim Cup. The remaining American roster spots are filled by Andrea Lee, Alison Lee and Allisen Corpuz. Team Europe has already finalized and announced its full 12-player squad for the event.
One notable absence from this year’s American team is Lexi Thompson, who will miss the competition for the first time since 2011. Thompson announced in 2024 that she would step back from a full LPGA Tour schedule, and she is expecting her first child in early 2026. Stanford explained that Thompson’s limited playing time this year made it impossible to properly evaluate her form: Thompson only competed in six events in 2025, and made the cut in just two of them.
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‘Absolutely ridiculous’: Canadians react to new tariff tensions with the US
Fresh tariff tensions between Canada and the United States have sparked widespread anger among Canadian citizens, with many describing the escalating trade dispute as “absolutely ridiculous”.
As two neighboring countries sharing one of the world’s largest bilateral trade relationships, Canada and the United States have long been intertwined through deep economic integration and close cultural bonds. The emergence of new tariff frictions has reignited concerns that a worsening trade war could erode these decades-old connections.
Interviews and public reactions from across Canada show broad frustration with the latest escalation. Many residents, business owners, and industry stakeholders have raised alarms that new tariffs will raise costs for consumers on both sides of the border, disrupt cross-border supply chains that hundreds of thousands of jobs depend on, and create unnecessary rifts in a relationship that underpins North American economic stability.
Widespread sentiment holds that the escalating trade conflict serves little practical benefit for either nation, and that the growing friction threatens to fray the economic and cultural ties that have benefited both Canadian and American communities for generations. Observers note that continued escalation could have far-reaching consequences for multiple sectors, from agriculture and manufacturing to retail and services, leaving lasting damage to bilateral cooperation.
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The Palestinian-American determined to defend his home from Israeli settlers
Living 10,000 kilometers away in Ohio, Louai Abu Ridi, a Palestinian-American property owner, spent weeks glued to live security camera footage, watching armed Israeli settlers escalate their campaign of harassment against his family at his dream home in Qusra, a Palestinian town in the occupied West Bank. For months, settlers had targeted the property, where his brother had been staying while Abu Ridi lived and worked in the U.S. with his wife and two daughters. But earlier this month, the intimidation crossed a dangerous line: settlers surrounded the home and pitched permanent tents outside, launching a full siege to force the Abu Ridi family to abandon their land.
When he watched settlers establish the encampment on his property in real time, Abu Ridi immediately began working from overseas to end the blockade. He urged his brother to contact Israeli law enforcement, and reached out to U.S. diplomatic officials and his elected representatives in Congress for intervention. But when days passed with no meaningful action to dislodge the settlers, the emotional weight of watching his family trapped 24/7 through security cameras became too heavy to bear. He booked the next available flight to Qusra, the town where he was born, raised, and built the home he intended for his family to enjoy for generations.
“I told my brother, ‘I’m tired. I can’t sleep another night watching this siege unfold from thousands of miles away. I’m coming to stand with you, to bring you supplies, and to end this blockade together,’” Abu Ridi told Middle East Eye in an interview from inside the besieged property. Today, he remains inside the home alongside his brother, sister, 83-year-old mother, and a neighboring family that was already forced out of their own adjacent property by settlers, adamant that he will not leave until the siege is lifted and his home is secure.
For Abu Ridi, the Qusra home is far more than a structure of concrete and brick. Though he now resides permanently in Ohio with his family, he returns to his hometown two to three times a year to visit relatives who still live in the community. He began constructing the vacation home nearly three years ago, envisioning a space where his American-born daughters could connect with their ancestral roots and build memories alongside their extended family. That dream, he says, has curdled into a persistent nightmare.
Sporadic attacks on the property began in January 2024, just three years after construction broke ground. In May, Abu Ridi watched via live feed as roughly 15 settlers pelted the home with rocks while his brother hid inside. The August 9 siege marked a dangerous escalation that immediately reminded Abu Ridi of a recent, high-profile takeover just kilometers away in Jalud, another West Bank town. Just weeks prior, settlers cut water and electricity, blocked access roads, and laid siege to the home of the al-Tubasi family. After five days of blockade, settlers stormed the property at gunpoint, forced the family out, and raised the Israeli flag over the roof, where the home remains under settler control today.
United Nations data underscores the growing scale of this crisis: since January 2023, more than 6,000 Palestinians have been forcibly displaced from their homes in the occupied West Bank following violent settler attacks, with attacks spiking sharply after October 2023. Fearing his family’s home would be the next seizure, Abu Ridi pushed for urgent intervention.
After the siege drew international condemnation and media attention, the Israeli military announced it would deploy forces to Qusra to remove the settlers and prevent violent clashes. But Abu Ridi says the on-the-ground reality could not have been more different from the official statement. “When the army arrived, they took the settlers’ side,” he explained. “They went to their tent, prayed with them, and celebrated with them.” The military also designated Qusra a closed military zone, restricting access for non-residents, a move that Abu Ridi says has only reinforced the siege, rather than ending it. Soldiers have blocked food and supplies from reaching the family trapped inside the home, he says, even though just 10 to 15 settlers are camped outside the property.
“It’s insane. If the army actually wanted to remove them, they could simply arrest the settlers and move them out, and the problem would be solved in hours,” Abu Ridi said. “They tell the media they sent the IDF to protect Palestinian residents and remove the settlers, but that is not what’s happening here on the ground.”
Abu Ridi also sought help through U.S. channels, reaching out to the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem and the office of his Ohio congressional representative, Marcy Kaptur. While both entities responded with public condemnation of the settlers—including U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee labeling the settlers terrorists, a step Abu Ridi says he appreciates—no action has changed his family’s situation on the ground. After two full weeks under siege, the blockade remains firmly in place.
The decision to leave his wife and two daughters behind in Ohio to return to Qusra was not an easy one, Abu Ridi says. His 10-year-old daughter messages him repeatedly, even after midnight Ohio time, to check if he is safe, asking if she will ever get to sleep in the Qusra home, and if he will make it back to the U.S. alive. Still, he says leaving his mother, siblings, and extended family to face the siege alone was unthinkable.
Life inside the besieged home is a constant state of vigilance. No one in the house can sleep through the night; family members take turns keeping watch around the perimeter, waiting for the next potential attack. “It is a nightmare. We can’t sleep at night. We have to keep watch,” Abu Ridi said. “This has been going on for months. Someone has to stay up all night watching the property.”
Abu Ridi has also opened his home to a neighboring couple with two young daughters, ages two and four, who were forced out of their adjacent home by soldiers after settlers laid siege to it. The young girls constantly ask to return to their home to retrieve their toys, he says, too young to understand why they cannot go back. “It is a mixed emotion: sad, devastating, terrifying, all of the above,” he said of the ongoing crisis.
Even with the constant threat of a violent settler raid, Abu Ridi says he has no plans to leave. “I’m not leaving this house until I make sure it’s safe and won’t be stolen by settlers,” he said.
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Celebrity manager Ralph Carr set to learn fate for rape, bid to halt sentencing
A once high-profile Australian entertainment and sports manager is on the cusp of learning whether his legal team can delay his sentencing for convictions of rape and sexual assault, in an extraordinary and rare legal maneuver that would mark a historic first for the state of Victoria if approved.
Sixty-six-year-old Ralph Carr, whose full legal name is Ralph Carnovale-Carl, was taken into police custody four weeks ago, after a jury delivered guilty verdicts on two counts of rape and one count of sexual assault. He is scheduled to appear before the County Court of Victoria on Tuesday morning, where Judge Frank Gucciardo will hand down sentencing rationale and issue a ruling on the defense’s request to put sentencing on hold while the convictions are appealed.
This legal request, formally called a stay of proceedings, is an uncommon tool granted only in extraordinary circumstances. If approved, it would pause all sentencing action and allow Carr to submit a bail application to the Court of Appeal while his appeal moves forward. Court documents indicate that if the stay is granted, this would be the first time a court has paused sentencing in a rape conviction case in Victoria’s history.
The charges against Carr stem from an incident in early 2023. During the trial, the jury heard that after a day of work discussions at his eponymous firm Ralph Carr Management — centered on a planned autobiography Carr was developing — the pair spent the evening drinking and using cocaine, after which Carr assaulted and raped the woman, who was decades younger than him. The two already knew each other prior to the meeting.
Last week, Carr’s lead defense barrister Dermot Dann KC told the court that the jury’s guilty verdict represented the clearest miscarriage of justice he had encountered in his 35-year career as a trial lawyer. Dann argued there is a legitimate, tangible chance the convictions will be overturned on appeal, adding that his client’s mental health has deteriorated sharply during his time in custody, with the 66-year-old experiencing extreme psychological distress behind bars.
Dann told the court that Carr has staked all his hopes on the stay application, warning that a rejection would leave his client in an exceptionally bleak, alarming situation. Prosecutor Matthew Fisher has pushed back against the request, urging Judge Gucciardo to reject the bid to delay sentencing and move forward with the punishment phase of the case.
Carr first rose to public prominence in the 1990s building his reputation as a leading entertainment manager, representing a roster of high-profile Australian musicians and performers. He later expanded his business into sports management, where he landed one of the country’s biggest sports clients, former Richmond Football Club superstar Dustin Martin. His identity as the convicted offender was only made public in early August, when the last of a series of court suppression orders — which had barred media from naming him in connection to the case — expired.
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Manga-inspired theme park to be built near Paris
A landmark €6 billion ($6.5 billion) tourism and investment deal between France and Saudi Arabia is set to deliver three new theme parks to the outskirts of Paris, anchored by a manga-focused attraction inspired by the globally beloved Japanese franchise Dragon Ball Z. The project, greenlit during Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s two-day state visit to France, traces its origins to an unexpected shared passion between the Saudi crown prince and French President Emmanuel Macron.
Presidential advisers confirmed to reporters Monday that the theme park plan grew out of past conversations between the two leaders about their mutual fondness for Japanese comics, specifically Dragon Ball Z, a decades-old series that retains a massive global fanbase decades after its debut. Macron, a self-avowed manga fan who made headlines earlier this year when he closed a press briefing with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi by performing an iconic hand gesture from the Dragon Ball Z franchise, framed the new development as the largest leisure investment in the region since the opening of Disneyland Paris decades ago. “You know my interest for manga,” he added, confirming his personal connection to the project’s core concept.
The parks will be constructed just outside Paris near Cergy-Pontoise, with local French media indicating the development will likely occupy the site of the shuttered Mirapolis theme park, which closed its doors 35 years ago. No official opening date has been announced by the Élysée Palace, though officials confirmed the parks will open in sequential phases, with construction expected to stretch across multiple years. The development is projected to generate approximately 2,000 local jobs, according to estimates from the Élysée.
The project will be spearheaded by Qiddiya Investment Company (QIC), a subsidiary of Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund. The firm already unveiled plans in 2024 to build its own standalone Dragon Ball Z theme park near Riyadh, as part of the kingdom’s broader push to expand its tourism and entertainment sectors.
Beyond leisure development, the €6bn deal signals a deepening of bilateral economic and diplomatic ties between Paris and Riyadh. During the crown prince’s visit, the two leaders are scheduled to sign a slate of additional cooperation agreements spanning health, transportation, and energy, alongside high-level talks addressing escalating tensions between the United States and Iran. Macron wrote on X Sunday that the state visit marks an “important milestone” in the bilateral relationship, noting that “France and Saudi Arabia have always worked together to promote peace and stability” amid ongoing regional challenges in the Middle East.
The partnership aligns with Saudi Arabia’s long-term economic strategy to diversify its national revenue stream away from heavy dependence on oil exports, investing heavily in new sectors including tourism, leisure, and esports. Over the weekend, Macron welcomed bin Salman to the closing ceremony of the Esports World Cup, an event originally scheduled to be hosted in Riyadh that was relocated to Paris over safety concerns linked to ongoing Middle East conflict.
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Watch: Doug Ford’s blunt warning to Trump over Canada tariffs
A tense new development in cross-border economic tensions has emerged, as Ontario Premier Doug Ford has delivered an unvarnished public warning to former U.S. President Donald Trump over planned tariffs on Canadian goods. In a sharply worded public address that has drawn international attention, Ford did not hold back in laying out concrete retaliatory measures that Canada could deploy to directly damage the United States’ own economic interests, pushing back against any new trade barriers.
The Ontario premier used unusually direct, blunt language to frame his message, directly calling out the former president’s trade agenda that has long targeted North American trade dynamics. Ford outlined a range of targeted countermeasures that would hit key U.S. economic sectors, from agricultural exports to cross-border manufacturing supply chains, making clear that Canada would not stand idly by if new tariffs are imposed. This open confrontation highlights the growing friction that continues to shape trade relations between the two neighboring nations, even as Trump remains a dominant figure in U.S. political discourse ahead of national elections.
Trade analysts note that this public rebuke is not just a rhetorical gesture: as the premier of Canada’s most populous and economically powerful province, Ford holds significant sway over national trade policy, and his warning signals a unified Canadian pushback against protectionist U.S. trade measures. The exchange has underscored how trade disputes between the two countries remain a flashpoint in bilateral relations, with ripple effects that could impact millions of jobs on both sides of the border if tariffs move forward.
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Taiwan charges 9 over illegal AI server exports to China, including Nvidia and Super Micro staff
Tensions in the ongoing U.S.-China artificial intelligence rivalry have escalated once again, after Taiwanese prosecutors levied criminal charges Monday against nine individuals tied to top global tech firms for smuggling restricted high-end AI hardware into mainland China. The defendants include one current employee of leading chip designer Nvidia and two former workers of U.S.-based server manufacturer Super Micro Computer, according to official prosecutorial documents.
Advanced AI infrastructure, which relies heavily on cutting-edge semiconductors produced primarily in Taiwan, has emerged as the central battleground for technological and economic competition between Washington and Beijing. The U.S. first implemented sweeping restrictions on Nvidia’s exports of top-tier AI chips to mainland China in 2022, tightening the regulations in subsequent years to block access to hardware that could advance China’s military and domestic AI development. Most recently, in April 2025, the Biden administration mandated that all exports of Nvidia’s H20 AI chips to China require special government approval, only partially reversing the rule to allow limited shipments later the same year.
Per guidelines outlined by the Keelung District Prosecutors’ Office in northern Taiwan, all sales of high-end AI servers — the specialized computing systems that host the powerful graphics processing units (GPUs) that power large-scale generative AI models — to parties linked to mainland China are subject to rigorous export control reviews. Regulations also require that any bulk purchase of more than eight high-end AI servers must be preceded by in-person compliance checks of the end client by company staff to verify the final destination and use case.
Prosecutors confirmed that the restricted hardware at the center of the smuggling ring is Nvidia’s B300 GPUs, a high-end AI chip model that is explicitly banned from commercial sale to mainland China under current export rules. Investigations found that the ring successfully smuggled 74 B300-powered AI servers into mainland China via multiple layered smuggling routes to avoid detection: 50 units were transshipped through Indonesia, 16 were sent directly to Chinese ports, and an additional eight were first routed to Japan, then transferred to Hong Kong before being moved across the border to the mainland. A separate attempted shipment of 56 more banned servers was intercepted before it could leave Taiwan, and the hardware remains in custody of local authorities.
Among the nine charged defendants, four — including a senior Nvidia manager identified only by his surname Chang — are being pursued for the maximum possible five-year prison sentence under Taiwanese export control laws. Prosecutors labeled Chang the “key mastermind” of the scheme, noting he bore direct responsibility for authorizing the release of the restricted B300 GPUs for shipment, and has not cooperated with investigations following his arrest. Court documents also detail that multiple conspirators set up a front company in Japan to facilitate the shipment of eight servers, while others created fraudulent business websites and falsified end-user documentation to trick compliance screenings and evade border checks.
In an official written statement responding to the charges, Nvidia spokesperson Patrick Rutherford said the company is committed to collaborating with Taiwanese regulatory and prosecutorial authorities to resolve the allegations as quickly as possible. Super Micro, meanwhile, noted in its own statement that the two former employees arrested in the case were identified during the company’s own cooperation with Taiwanese investigations. The company added that it will continue to upgrade its internal export compliance protocols “to protect American innovation”, in line with U.S. regulatory requirements.
The charges mark the latest high-profile enforcement action against illegal tech smuggling amid growing global scrutiny of AI hardware flows to China, as the U.S. doubles down on efforts to limit China’s access to cutting-edge AI technology.