Suspect due in court over shooting at Trump gala

(The Center Square) — The Supreme Court struck down Louisiana’s congressional map Wednesday, ruling that the state relied too heavily on race when it created a second majority-Black district.

The 6-3 ruling means Louisiana’s current map, known as SB8, cannot be used as drawn. The decision sends the case back to a lower court and sets the stage for yet another round of congressional redistricting in a state that has spent years fighting over its political boundaries. 

At the center of the case was Louisiana’s 6th Congressional District, which lawmakers redrew to connect Black voters from Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Alexandria and Shreveport. The district stretched across much of the state and was designed to have a Black voting-age population above 50%.

According to the opinion, there are only two “compelling interests” that allow a state to discriminate based on race: avoiding imminent and serious threats to safety in prisons and remedying specific, identified instances of past discrimination that violated the Constitution or a statute.

The court said compliance with Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act can also provide a compelling interest in some redistricting cases. But the majority said that applies only when the law actually requires the state to use race to fix a voting-rights violation.

Lawmakers created the district after a separate federal court found that Louisiana’s previous map likely violated the Voting Rights Act because it included only one majority-Black district, even though about one-third of the state’s population is Black.

But the new map quickly drew another lawsuit. Opponents argued the state had gone too far in the other direction by using race as the main factor in drawing the district. 

The Supreme Court agreed, meaning Louisiana will again have to redraw its congressional lines, likely closer to the map lawmakers approved in 2022, which included one majority-Black district centered around New Orleans. 

Writing for the majority, Justice Samuel Alito said Louisiana’s effort to comply with the earlier Voting Rights Act ruling was “understandable,” but still unconstitutional.

The court said the Voting Rights Act did not require Louisiana to create a second majority-Black district, so the state had no strong enough legal reason to use race in that way. This is where the Supreme Court disagreed with the earlier federal court ruling in the Robinson case, which had found that Louisiana’s previous map likely violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. 

“In sum, because the Voting Rights Act did not require Louisiana to create an additional majority-minority district, no compelling interest justified the State’s use of race in creating SB8,” Alito wrote. 

That part of the decision could make it harder to bring successful Voting Rights Act challenges in redistricting cases.

Justice Elena Kagan, joined by Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson, dissented. Kagan argued the majority had weakened one of the central protections of the Voting Rights Act and made it easier for states to dilute minority voting power.

President Donald Trump warned Tehran on Wednesday that it should "get smart soon" and capitulate to Washington's demands for tight controls on its nuclear programme, as a US naval blockade turned the screws on Iran's economy.

Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth was due to testify before Congress later in the day, but US press reports suggested Trump has already decided to reject Iran's latest proposed deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

The news sent oil prices higher once again. At around 1335 GMT, a barrel of Brent crude for June delivery was up 5.16 percent at $117, its highest level since the fragile ceasefire between the United States and Iran came into effect on April 8.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Trump intends to pursue the blockade of Iranian ports until Tehran is forced to dismantle its nuclear programme.

"Iran can't get their act together... They better get smart soon," Trump posted on his social media platform, above a mocked-up picture of himself toting a rifle in front of explosions wrecking a desert fortress and the slogan: "No more Mr Nice Guy."  

Iran has blockaded the strait -- a vital conduit for oil and gas shipments from the Gulf -- since the US and Israel launched the war two months ago, sending shockwaves through the global economy. But its own economy is also suffering.

On Wednesday, the Iranian rial fell to historic lows against the dollar, while Tehran residents speaking to AFP journalists in Paris reported a sense of despair.

"Every time in recent years that negotiations have taken place, the economic situation of the people has only gotten worse. Sanctions have either started or intensified," a 52-year-old architect told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.  

"They go to negotiate and come back with even more sanctions, and the issue is always nuclear. There's no talk about people, the economy, or freedom. People have the right to not even want to hear the word 'negotiation'," he said.

- 'No trust' -

During a White House state dinner Tuesday, Trump told Britain's King Charles III and other guests that Iran has been "militarily defeated", and added: "Charles agrees with me even more than I do -- we're never going to let that opponent have a nuclear weapon."

But an Iranian army spokesman told state TV on Tuesday that "we do not consider the war to be over", saying Tehran had "no trust in America".

"We have many cards that we have not yet used... new tools and methods of fighting based on the experiences of the past two wars, which will definitely allow us to respond to the enemy more decisively" should the fighting resume, Amir Akraminia said in an interview.

Efforts to end the war have stalled in recent days. The latest Iranian proposal, passed along by Pakistan and studied by Trump administration officials in a meeting Monday, laid out red lines including on nuclear issues and Hormuz, according to Iran's Fars news agency. 

The plan would reportedly see Tehran ease its chokehold on the strait and Washington lift its retaliatory blockade while broader negotiations continue, including over the nuclear programme.

Iranian defence ministry spokesman Reza Talaei-Nik said Washington "must abandon its illegal and irrational demands".

"The United States is no longer in a position to dictate its policy to independent nations," he said, according to state TV.

Qatar -- a US ally that was hit by Iranian strikes despite its role as a mediator -- warned of the possibility of a "frozen conflict" if a definitive resolution is not found.

- 'Attacks cannot continue' -

Violence has continued on the war's Lebanese front, despite a recently extended ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, the Iran-backed armed group that drew Lebanon into the war by firing rockets at Israel. Israel responded with strikes and a ground invasion.

For the first time since the ceasefire began, the Lebanese army said Tuesday that an Israeli strike had targeted its troops, wounding two soldiers in the south. Another strike Wednesday killed a Lebanese soldier, it said.

"Israel must finally realise that the only path to security is through negotiations, but it must first fully implement the ceasefire in order to move on to negotiations," Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said, in a statement from the presidency. 

"Israeli attacks cannot continue as they are," he said. "We are now waiting for the United States to set a date to begin direct negotiations."

A UN-backed report said Wednesday that more than 1.2 million people in Lebanon were expected to face acute hunger due to the latest war.

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(The Center Square) - The U.S. Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision, sided with a nonprofit pregnancy center in a federal lawsuit. 

The case, First Choice Women's Resource Centers v. Davenport, focuses on a New Jersey pregnancy center that provides counseling and resources to pregnant women. In 2022, former New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin issued a subpoena seeking personal information of donors who contributed financially to the pregnancy center. 

The attorney general accused First Choice of seeking to prevent people from accessing reproductive healthcare by providing "false or misleading" abortion information. 

First Choice argued that it was unable to protect the anonymity of its donors if it provided their personally identifiable information. A lower court denied the pregnancy center's claim, on the basis that it did not display reasonable injury. 

The justices on the Supreme Court sided with the pregnancy center, ruling that producing a list of clients violates the First Amendment. 

"The attorney general's subpoena has caused First Choice to suffer ongoing injury to its First Amendment rights," Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote in the court's unanimous opinion. 

Gorusch pointed to a larger trend of attorneys general across the country who conduct similar behavior. 

"Over and again, we have held those demands burden the exercise of First Amendment rights," Gorsuch said. "Some are old, some are new, but none succeeds."

SBA Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser said in a statement provided to The Center Square that the ruling "is huge win for all Americans who stand with mothers and babies and know that, yes, we CAN love them both. Pregnancy centers across America provide hundreds of millions’ worth of vital services a year for women, children and families, typically at no charge and frequently as volunteers. Unlike the abortion industry, they don’t profit from violence and harm, including the harm of abortion drugs that fuel coercion and abuse and send thousands of women to the emergency room each year. Even the Court’s left-leaning justices recognized the far-reaching chill AG Platkin’s weaponization of government would have on all Americans cherished freedoms."

Her Plan Executive Director Autumn Christensen added: “Today’s ruling is a monumental victory for everyone offering support to vulnerable mothers and their children. The court saw this for what it was – a fishing expedition designed to intimidate Americans who offer real support for women every day. Charities should be able to serve the vulnerable in freedom, not fear. Today, the Supreme Court upheld that right.”

Mali's Tuareg rebels told AFP Wednesday the country's ruling junta will fall and that they intend to conquer the north, just days after unprecedented large-scale attacks targeting the nation's military government.

Over the weekend jihadists and the Tuareg separatists launched the largest assault on the country in nearly 15 years, attacking the military junta and its Russian paramilitary backers.

Acknowledging the situation was "of extreme gravity", junta chief Assimi Goita, who had not been seen for three days, said in a speech on TV late Tuesday that the situation was "under control".

But a spokesman for the Tuareg separatist coalition Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) told AFP during a visit to Paris on Wednesday that "the regime will fall, sooner or later". 

The clashes have pitted the army not just against the FLA but also its allies within the Al-Qaeda-linked jihadist Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM).

Their coordinated dawn offensive on Saturday against strategic junta positions, including areas around the capital, Bamako, killed at least 23 people, with the toll expected to rise.

The two days of fierce fighting also killed Defence Minister Sadio Camara -- seen as the mastermind behind the junta's pivot to Russia. His funeral is planned for Thursday.

The separatists and jihadists were able to capture the key northern town of Kidal and also targeted Gao in the mostly desert north along with Mopti and Sevare in the centre.

Gao is the army's second-largest military stronghold after Kati, a garrison town near Bamako which is home to several senior junta officials and was targeted in the weekend attacks.

FLA spokesman Mohamed Elmaouloud Ramadane told AFP on Wednesday that the rebels intend to take control of Gao, Timbuktu and Menaka following their success in Kidal.

In the Gao region, the Malian army has already abandoned some of its positions, local sources told AFP.

- Russian withdrawal -

Since 2012, the west African nation has faced a profound security crisis fuelled in particular by violence from groups affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State, as well as local criminal gangs and pro-independence groups.

The latest assaults raise questions about the junta's ability to tackle the security crisis, despite its insistence that its strategy, foreign partnerships and increased military efforts have stemmed the jihadist threat.

Mali's junta government, like its military counterparts in neighbouring Niger and Burkina Faso, have severed ties with former colonial ruler France and several Western countries, moving closer politically and militarily to Russia.

Russia's mercenary Wagner Group, which had been fighting with Malian forces against jihadists since 2021, ended their involvement in June 2025. It has since become the Africa Corps, an organisation under the direct control of the Russian defence ministry.

Although JNIM and FLA have different goals, according to experts, they are united against a common enemy -- the military junta that has ruled since 2020 and the Russian paramilitary backers.

FLA spokesman Ramadane additionally told AFP Wednesday that his group's "objective is for Russia to withdraw permanently from Azawad and beyond, from all of Mali".

The FLA is made up of mainly Tuareg groups who want independence for Azawad, a territory in northern Mali.

"We have no particular problem with Russia, nor with any other country. Our problem is with the regime that governs Bamako", Ramadane said.

- Fairweather friends -

A historically nomadic people, Tuaregs, who are spread across Mali, Niger, Algeria, Libya and Burkina Faso, have waged an armed struggle for decades against marginalisation, with action centred in particular around the key city of Kidal.

The most recent attacks are reminiscent of a crisis that rocked Mali in 2012, when Tuareg rebels joined forces with jihadists to capture strategic hubs in the vast, remote north.

That offensive was repelled by forces from France, which has since left the Sahel country. 

The alliance between the jihadists and Tuareg rebels eventually unravelled when they turned on each other and the jihadists drove the Tuareg separatists out.

The latest attacks are the result of a new alliance forged a year ago.

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(The Center Square) – The U.S. Supreme Court is hearing arguments in two cases to determine whether orders ending temporary protected status for Haiti and Syria are constitutional. 

Justices on the court are hearing Trump v. Miot and Mullin v. Doe. The two cases challenge an order from President Donald Trump that sought to terminate the special immigration status for Haitian and Syrian immigrants living in the United States. 

Temporary protected status is granted to immigrants who are fleeing war or natural disasters in their home countries. Haitian and Syrian nationals challenged the Trump administration's order. 

Kristi Noem, former Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, terminated the protected immigration status indiscriminately, a lower court judge said. 

The U.S. Supreme Court has previously allowed the Trump administration to end temporary protected status for immigrants from Venezuela.  

Carrie Severino, president of the Judicial Crisis Network, said she expects justices on the court to reach the same conclusion as they did for Venezuelan immigrants. Justices on the court are expected to decide if lower court judges have the authority to stop the Trump administration from stripping temporary status from the Haitian and Syrian immigrants. 

"Congress made clear in the Immigration and Nationality Act that for Temporary Protected Status, '[t]here is no judicial review of any determination' regarding 'the designation, or termination or extension of a designation, of a foreign state,'" Severino said. 

Haiti was first granted temporary protected status in 2010, after an earthquake severely damaged the country’s infrastructure. In 2024, the Biden administration extended temporary protected status for Haiti, based on general concerns about security and humanitarian concerns in the country.

Lawyers for the Haitian immigrants argued that the country is not safe for migrants to return. They also argued that the policy could cause damage to public safety in the United States.

“Stripping TPS holders of their status may discourage them from reporting crimes or seeking medical care due to fear of detention or deportation,” the lawyers wrote.

Syria was first designated temporary protected status in 2012, after the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War. In 2024, the Biden administration extended the cutoff date for Syrian migrants and gave amnesty to anyone who arrived in the U.S. since 2012. About 6,100 Syrian migrants live in the United States under temporary protected status.

Lawyers for the Trump administration cited ongoing diplomatic negotiations between the U.S. and Syria following the end of the civil war in 2024.

“Thwarting the Secretary’s determination of TPS thus undercuts the Secretary’s judgment as to how best to protect the public and how best to further the government’s foreign-policy goals,” lawyers for the Trump administration wrote.

Justices are hearing arguments at the court and are expected to issue a decision in both cases by July, the end of the court's term.

(The Center Square) - Democrat and Republican candidates running for attorney general in Georgia sparred over various priorities for running the state’s largest law firm in a debate hosted by the Atlanta Press Club.

Republican Candidates

State Sens. Bill Cowsert and Brian Strickland both said they would uphold the priorities of President Donald Trump when leading the state’s legal branch. Strickland said he would target cities in Georgia attempting to avoid the Trump administration’s immigration policies.

“When there is a detainer hold on someone that has been arrested, who has been in our country illegally, they should be deported at that time,” Strickland said.

In May 2025, the Department of Justice published a list of sanctuary cities and jurisdictions where elected officials did not cooperate with federal immigration enforcement. Atlanta and Athens, Georgia, were on the list but later removed.

The Federation for American Immigration Reform said Atlanta has operated as a sanctuary city since 2017. In 2018, then-Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance-Bottoms stated that local police should not honor ICE detainers.

Georgia state law has prohibited sanctuary city policies since 2009.

The candidates also debated the investigation of Fani Willis, a Georgia prosecutor who indicted Trump for election interference in 2020. Willis faced intense scrutiny after allegations that she misused funds and engaged in a romantic relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade.

“There was no question she was unethical, Cowsert said. “She was using that office for personal gain, for profit and for political persecution rather than proper purposes of criminal prosecution.”

Cowsert also called on the attorney general’s office to prosecute election fraud. He introduced a resolution during the 2026 General Assembly session that would create a statewide grand jury to prosecute election fraud. The bill did not pass.

Cowsert criticized the Fulton County District Attorney's Office for its handling of election fraud cases.

“Our citizens need to know that their vote counts and that it’s a fair election and there’s no interference or fraud,” Cowsert said.

The candidates also feuded over past law experience and campaign endorsements. Strickland attended Florida Coastal School of Law, which closed in 2021, due to accreditation and funding issues.

Cowsert said the school’s closure “bothered” him and asserted that Strickland did not have the experience necessary to lead the attorney general’s office.

“I have tried over 500 trials throughout the state of Georgia,” Cowsert said. “There’s nobody that can match the experience, the understanding of the litigation process and the law.”

Strickland criticized Cowsert over a lack of campaign endorsements from Georgia sheriffs or district attorneys. He also appeared to criticize Cowsert as the longest-serving Republican state senator in Georgia.

“Every single sheriff that has endorsed in this race, every single elected prosecutor, has endorsed me,” Strickland said. “They know how important this race is. Politicians talk big, but they don’t have the backs of our law enforcement officials when they get in office.”

Democrat Candidates

Rep. Tanya Miller and former Rep. Robert Trammell debated over policies while seeking the Democratic nomination for Georgia’s attorney general post. The two democrats slammed the Trump administration and said they would seek to prosecute the president over various issues, including election interference.

“We’re going to fight the corporations that are keeping prices high by cheating and ripping off Georgia families and we’re going to hold Trump’s enablers accountable in court,” Miller said.

Trammell slammed Georgia’s Living Infants Fairness and Equality Act, often referred to as the “heartbeat law,” which bans abortions once fetal heart activity is detected.

“When I’m attorney general, our office will not prosecute women and we will not prosecute doctors under that law,” Trammell said.

Trammell also called on the office of the attorney general to be more involved in the process of giving guidance on the types of laws coming out of the state’s general assembly.

Miller accused corporate real estate investors in Atlanta of price fixing to keep prices artificially high. She said she would target these investors if elected as attorney general.

“We have absolutely seen no action on behalf of Republicans to protect renters in that specific regard,” Miller said. “Under my administration as attorney general, we will absolutely protect people, especially in their time of need.”

Miller and Trammell also slammed Attorney General Chris Carr for his efforts to indict 61 people on racketeering charges after a 2023 protest at the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center.

In December, a judge dismissed part of the case and said Carr did not have the authority to indict people with those specific charges. The judge said only local district attorneys could bring such charges.

However, Carr brought new indictments against three people on charges of money laundering and setting construction equipment on fire.

Miller said she would review every indictment Carr brought against individuals and evaluate it with a determination of “proof beyond a reasonable doubt.”

“When you indict people with a crime, you put their lives on the line,” Miller said. “You need to know what you're doing. You need to understand the rules, and you need to make sure that the evidence suits every individual and every charge that you have levied.”

Trammell also said he would evaluate the charges brought against those individuals and would most likely dismiss them. He said he has no plans to extensively evaluate Carr’s actions as attorney general.

“We're not going to bring the broom to try to clean that up for the present attorney general,” Trammell said. “We're going to evaluate them and in most cases, a lot of those cases are going to be dismissed.”

Early voting for the May 19 primary runs through May 15.  

German inflation jumped to its highest level in over two years in April as the Middle East war triggered a surge in energy costs, official data showed Wednesday.

Consumer prices in Europe's biggest economy rose 2.9 percent compared with the same month a year earlier, according to preliminary data from the federal statistics agency Destatis. 

It was the highest inflation recorded in Germany since January 2024.

The figure was up from 2.7 percent in March and in line with a forecast from analysts surveyed by financial data firm FactSet.

Energy prices jumped over 10 percent in April from a year earlier, their biggest increase for over three years, although services inflation eased slightly, Destatis said.

The inflation rate was also 2.9 percent under the harmonised metric favoured by the European Central Bank.

The ECB is due to hold a meeting Thursday and, although it is not expected to lift interest rates this time, investors will be looking for hints that hikes could be in the cards for future meetings.

Dirk Schumacher, chief economist at German public lender KfW, said the decline in services inflation had stopped costs from surging too strongly in April.

Prices would however continue to rise in coming months as the energy shock accelerates, he said, while predicting that "the inflation rate will remain well below the peaks seen in 2022".

The energy shock triggered by Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 helped push eurozone inflation to a record high of 10.6 percent in October of that year.

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Swiss banking giant UBS on Wednesday reported that net profit rose a better-than-expected 80 percent to $3 billion in the first quarter, lifted by its investment banking arm.

Revenue climbed 13 percent from the same period last year to $14.2 billion despite "a volatile and unpredictable geopolitical and market environment", the bank said in a statement.

Analysts surveyed by the Swiss AWP news agency had forecast on average a profit of $2.4 billion and revenue of $13.4 billion.

"In an increasingly complex environment, we have delivered excellent 1st quarter results," chief executive Sergio Ermotti said during a call with analysts.

The bank said in the statement that investment banking revenue rose 27 percent from the previous year.

Shares in the company jumped 4.7 percent in afternoon trading while the main Swiss stock index shed 0.5 percent.

In 2023, UBS agreed to acquire its former competitor Credit Suisse under pressure from the Swiss authorities to prevent its collapse.

Given UBS's massive size following the merger, Swiss authorities have sought to strengthen banking regulations to ensure its resilience in the event of macroeconomic or financial market shocks.

UBS says the government's proposals are too onerous.

"On the topic of Swiss capital requirements, we will continue to engage constructively and contribute to fact-based deliberations," Ermotti said.

Major American investment banks such as Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs have also posted better-than-expected results in the first quarter, driven by their equity brokerage and mergers and acquisitions activities.

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King Charles III made gentle fun of the shared history between Britain and the United States on Tuesday as he continued his high-stakes visit to patch up transatlantic ties.

The 77-year-old British monarch addressed Congress and spoke at a state dinner hosted by US President Donald Trump at the White House -- his humor a contrast to the brash American leader and reminiscent of the dry wit of his mother, the late queen Elizabeth II.

Here are his top quips:

- Bringing down the house -

"I cannot help noticing the readjustments to the East Wing, Mr. President, following your visit to Windsor Castle last year," Charles said at the state dinner.  

"I am sorry to say that we British, of course, made our own small attempt at real-estate redevelopment of the White House in 1814," he added, to much laughter from the room.

British troops set fire to the White House and other public buildings in August 1814 as part of the Burning of Washington.

- Playing the Wilde card -

Speaking to Congress, Charles broke the ice with a quote from Irish author, poet and playwright Oscar Wilde to make a point about the "special relationship" between the United States and Britain.

"Our destinies as nations have been interlinked. As Oscar Wilde said, 'We have really everything in common with America nowadays except, of course, language!'"

- Life of the party -

Just before his dinner toast, Charles quoted a Shakespearean plea for peace -- but ended with a winking reference.

"Thank you, Mr. President and Mrs. Trump, for your splendid dinner this evening, which may I say is a very considerable improvement on the Boston Tea Party," he said, referring to the 1773 act of defiance where protesters dumped tea into Boston Harbor.

- Two Georges -

Speaking to Congress, Charles referred to the potent symbolism of the American capital city.

"This is a city which symbolizes a period in our shared history, or what Charles Dickens might have called A Tale of Two Georges: the first president, George Washington, and my five times great-grandfather, King George III," he said.

"King George, as you know, never set foot in America. And please rest assured, ladies and gentlemen, I am not here as part of some cunning rearguard action."

- We call it football -

Millions of fans are set to visit the United States, Canada and Mexico in June for the first-ever World Cup shared by three nations.

Charles, as Head of the Commonwealth, noted at the state dinner that, "In just a few weeks, the United States and Canada will be among those to welcome the world as hosts of the FIFA World Cup. So in one sense, Mr. President, as heads of state, we are joint hosts."

"We call this game, by the way, football," he added.

- Speaking French -

At the dinner, Charles referenced previous comments by Trump aimed at European allies he accuses of freeloading on defense since World War II.

"You recently commented, Mr. President, that if it were not for the United States, European countries would be speaking German," the British monarch said. 

"Dare I say that, if it wasn't for us, you'd be speaking French."

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France has released a detailed "roadmap" to wean the country from planet-heating oil, gas and coal by 2050, an important signal at a moment when nations are reassessing their reliance on fossil fuels.

The plan, presented at a global climate conference, does not unveil any new pledges but brings existing climate and energy policies and targets under one umbrella with an explicit goal.

Analysts say no other country has published such a clear and comprehensive plan. 

Here are details of the 14-page roadmap that Europe's second biggest economy presented Tuesday at the first-ever talks on how to transition away from fossil fuels in Santa Marta, Colombia:

- Fossil fuel consumption -

Fossil fuels accounted for less than 60 percent of France's final energy consumption in 2023, compared to 65 percent in 2011.

Final consumption refers to energy consumed by end-users such as households, industry and agriculture, excluding energy used in power generation and distribution.

The French roadmap sets a goal of reducing the share of fossil fuels in final energy consumption to 40 percent by 2030 and 30 percent in 2035.

The aim is to reach carbon neutrality by 2050.

- Phaseout dates -

The country plans to close its last two coal-fired power plants by 2027.

It seeks to transition away from oil by 2045 through a "large-scale electrification" of transport.

France set a 2050 target date to ditch fossil gas by developing alternative heating methods, including heat pumps, or improving energy efficiency in buildings.

- Transport -

France wants two out of three new cars to be electric by 2030.

The plan also calls for deploying charging stations and rolling out electric buses and large trucks.

French manufacturers are expected to produce 400,000 electric vehicles by 2027 and one million by 2030. 

The aim is to ensure that "reduced dependence on oil does not translate into new dependence on imported vehicles", the document says.

- Buildings -

France is banning the installation of gas boilers in new buildings by the end of this year.

It aims to install one million heat pumps a year by 2030.

The government wants to reduce oil-fired boilers in residential buildings by 60 percent and in non-residential buildings by 85 percent by 2030.

The goal is to phase out fossil oil for heating by 2035.

- Electricity -

Two-thirds of France's electricity came from nuclear plants in 2025 while solar, wind and hydropower accounted for around a quarter last year, according to data from electricity system operator RTE.

France plans to build next-generation EPR2 nuclear reactors and extend the lifespan of its existing fleet of reactors.

It also wants to add 1.3 gigawatts of onshore wind power each year and increase installed solar capacity threefold by 2035.

- Reactions -

NGOs welcomed France's announcement but also pushed the country to go further.

"After two years of backsliding in its public policies on the ecological transition, and with emissions falling at a rate three times slower than its own targets since 2024, France has the merit of setting dates to phase out fossil fuels," Anne Bringault, programmes director at the Climate Action Network, told AFP.

Lorelei Limousin, climate and fossil energy campaigner at Greenpeace France, said: "This is a first step, but it remains largely insufficient given the climate emergency."

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