Vessels cross Hormuz destined for Iran despite US blockade

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said Thursday his country was "ready" for a possible US attack on the communist island following months of mounting pressure from President Donald Trump.

"We don't want that (confrontation) but it is our duty to be ready to avoid it, and if it were unavoidable, to win it," Diaz-Canel told thousands of people attending a rally in Havana to mark the 65th anniversary of the failed US invasion of the island at the Bay of Pigs.

Cuba has been bracing for a possible attack following repeated warnings from Trump that Cuba is "next" after he toppled Venezuela's leader Nicolas Maduro and went to war against Iran.

Washington and Havana have held talks on de-escalating tensions but the discussions between the arch-foes have failed to make significant headway, according to US media reports.

Mariela Castro, daughter of late president Raul Castro, said Cubans "want dialogue" with Washington but "without putting our political system up for debate."

She said her 94-year-old father -- who oversaw a historic 2015 rapprochement with the United States under Barack Obama that Trump later reversed -- was indirectly involved in the talks.

Raul's grandson Raul Rodriguez Castro, a colonel, is reportedly among the negotiators.

Diaz-Canel admitted that the current moment was "very grave" but stressed Cuba's "socialist" nature, as proclaimed by Fidel Castro on April 16, 1961.

The 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion was launched two years after Castro's revolutionaries took control of the island and began nationalizing US-owned properties and businesses.

Between April 15 and 19, around 1,400 anti-Castro Cuban exiles in Miami, trained and financed by the CIA, landed at the Bay of Pigs, about 250 kilometers (155 miles) south of Havana.

Cuban forces repelled the invaders, inflicting a humiliating defeat on the Americans.

Six decades later, Washington now has Cuba again in its sights.

After Maduro's capture in Caracas Trump imposed an oil blockade of Cuba, aggravating the impoverished island's worst economic and energy crisis in decades.

Diaz-Canel rejected what he referred to as a US portrayal of Cuba as a "failed state."

Havana largely blames its woes on a US trade embargo imposed shortly after Castro's arrival to power, still in place today, and the more recent oil blockade.

"Cuba is not a failed state, it's a besieged state," he said.

Maria Reguiero, an 82-year-old attending the rally, said that like in 1961, Cubans were "ready to defend their sovereignty, whatever the price."

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The US House of Representatives on Thursday rejected an effort to curb President Donald Trump's authority to wage war in Iran, another setback in Democrats' campaign to force Congress back into decisions over military action in the Middle East.

The vote, held after Democrats forced the issue onto the floor, came as unease over the six-week conflict continued to spread on Capitol Hill, with lawmakers wary of rising costs, an unclear endgame and the risk of a wider war.

The measure would have required Trump to end US military operations against Tehran unless Congress explicitly approved them, invoking the 1973 War Powers Resolution that limits presidential freedom to conduct prolonged hostilities without lawmakers' consent.

It was largely party-line vote, although one of Trump's Republicans supported the resolution and another abstained, while a Democrat voted against it.

Democrats argue that Trump launched the conflict jointly with Israel on February 28 without the congressional authorization required by the constitution, which gives Congress sole power to declare war.

"We are standing at the edge of a cliff, and Congress must act before this president pushes us off. Every day we delay, we inch closer to a conflict with no exit ramp," Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the Foreign Affairs Committee, said ahead of the vote. 

The defeat came despite Democrats narrowing the margin from a previous failed House vote in March, when a similar resolution lost by seven votes.

But in the end, Republican support remained too thin.

Trump has so far retained broad backing from his party, despite frustration among some lawmakers over the administration's refusal to publicly detail the financial and military burden of the war. 

At congressional hearings on Wednesday and Thursday, White House budget director Russ Vought declined to estimate the taxpayer cost, and would not confirm an estimate by the Senate Budget Committee's top Democrat Jeff Merkely that the figure was around $50 billion so far.

Democrats insist failed war powers votes are still valuable because they force lawmakers to go on the record.

The House vote came a day after the Senate again rejected its own war powers effort, though Democratic leaders in both chambers have vowed to keep bringing the issue back.

"Americans are seeing hundreds of casualties in a war that no one has given them the respect to explain," said Democratic Whip Katherine Clark.

"But one thing is clear: Americans are being asked to foot the bill. With the lives of their sons and daughters. And with the $2 billion a day that we are spending on this conflict that could be going to help Americans afford to go see a doctor."

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Two sanctioned cargo vessels have crossed the Strait of Hormuz, apparently bound for Iranian ports despite Washington's blockade in the Middle East war, tracking data indicated Thursday.

A trickle of ships has passed the crucial trade route over the past two days after the US imposed a counter-blockade following the failure of peace talks to end the nearly seven-week conflict.

The US military said on X on Thursday that "after 72 hours of enforcement, 14 vessels have turned around to comply with the blockade at the direction of American forces".

However, unlike previous updates, it did not say that it had prevented all crossing attempts by vessels going to or from Iranian ports.

- Cargoes near Iran -

Late Wednesday, the sanctioned container ship Zaynar 2 made its way westward through the strait into the Gulf, according to the tracking platform Marine Traffic.

The website specified its destination as Larak Island, close to the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas, and it last transponded close to that location late Wednesday.

The sanctioned cargo vessel Neshat followed a similar route, hugging the Iran coastline as it crossed the strait early Thursday, with Marine Traffic citing its destination as Bandar Abbas.

Its latest signal at around 1500 GMT showed it anchored 10 miles (16 kilometres) from the port.

"There's evidence that ships are perhaps breaking through" the US blockade, Tom Sharpe, a former commander with the UK's Royal Navy, told a briefing for the maritime analyst group Windward on Thursday.

"That I don't understand particularly, because from a military perspective, from a tactical perspective, this blockade is not that hard to do. They've got the ships there to do it," he said.

- Oil supertankers -

Trackers indicated that two giant oil tankers, both under US sanctions, had successfully passed westward through the strait and broken the blockade.

The very large crude carriers (VLCC), the RHN and the Alicia, crossed the strait through Iran's approved route and were still sailing westwards within the Gulf on Thursday, stating their destinations as "For Order", according to Marine Traffic.

However their destination was not clear -- they followed a route taken by other Iranian-sanctioned vessels that have crossed westwards in recent days, but whose stated destination was Iraq, meaning they would not be subject to the US blockade.

Other vessels apparently heading to Iraq include a third VLCC, the Agios Fanouris I, and a liquid petroleum gas tanker, the G Summer, the data showed.

Bridget Diakun, senior risk and compliance analyst at Lloyd's List Intelligence, told a briefing there was evidence of "Iranian-linked vessels that are pausing their voyages or reversing course".

But she added: "We've also seen ships that have reached Iranian ports and that have departed as well."

Summing up the the shipping situation under the blockade over the last 24 hours, Lloyd's maritime risk analyst Tomer Raanan told the briefing: "Confusion reigns."

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Luka Doncic and Cade Cunningham have been ruled eligible for the NBA's Most Valuable Player race despite not meeting the 65-game minimum to enter the running for the honor, the league said Thursday.

Los Angeles Lakers star Doncic and Detroit Pistons ace Cunningham both fell just short of playing in the required number of games to be eligible for the NBA's end-of-season awards, with Cunningham playing in 63 games and Doncic in 64.

But the duo will be part of the NBA's tightly-contested MVP race after the league and National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) ruled there were "extraordinary circumstances" surrounding each player.

Cunningham's regular season games tally was abbreviated after he suffered a collapsed lung in March which led to him missing 12 games.

Doncic, who was sidelined for several games following a hamstring injury earlier this month after inspiring a Lakers late-season resurgence, also missed two games to attend the birth of his daughter in Slovenia.

"The NBA and NBPA agreed that, taking into account the totality of the circumstances for Cunningham and Doncic, each player qualified for awards under the extraordinary circumstances provision in the CBA (collective bargaining agreement)," the NBA said in a statement.

However the league turned down a request from Minnesota Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards to be included in the awards picture.

Edwards played in 60 games and filed a bid for inclusion under the same "extraordinary circumstances" rules.

"Edwards' challenge was denied and, as a result, he is not eligible for annual awards for the 2025-26 NBA regular season," the NBA said.

This season's MVP race is regarded as one of the closest for years, with Doncic and Cunningham now amongst a pool of contenders led by Oklahoma City Thunder's reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, San Antonio star Victor Wembanyama and the Denver Nuggets' Nikola Jokic.

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Hezbollah lawmaker Hussein Hajj Hassan told AFP on Thursday that the Lebanese government's decision to hold direct negotiations with Israel was a "grave error", urging Beirut to stop making concessions to Israel and the United States.

Israel and Lebanon agreed on Tuesday to begin direct talks following a landmark meeting between the Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors to the United States, weeks after Hezbollah pulled Lebanon into the Middle East war with rocket fire at Israel in support of its backer Iran.

The militant group has strongly opposed direct negotiations.

US President Donald Trump later said Israel and Lebanon had agreed to a 10-day truce, which would start at 2100 GMT on Thursday.

"Direct negotiations with the enemy are a grave sin and a grave error" on the part of the government, Hajj Hassan said from his parliamentary office before Trump's announcement.

Trump had said the Lebanese and Israeli "leaders" would speak on Thursday, but an official Lebanese source told AFP that President Joseph Aoun had rejected a US request for a direct phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Aoun's office later said the president had held a phone call with Trump and thanked the US leader for his "efforts" to secure a ceasefire.

- 'Hypocritical' -

Hajj Hassan said direct talks serve "no interest for the country or its citizens... so how can there be contact at the level Trump mentioned?"

He criticised the government for agreeing to negotiations and yielding to "US wishes" before a ceasefire had been reached in Lebanon.

"If they are unable to uphold a single condition called a ceasefire, how will they negotiate with the Zionist entity (Israel) under American auspices?" he said before Trump announced the truce.

He urged Lebanese authorities to halt "this series of useless concessions... to a treacherous and cunning enemy, and to a hypocritical, deceitful, evasive and lying America".

The Lebanese government insisted "on reaching a ceasefire through the Israelis and the Americans... and not through Iran," Hajj Hassan said, accusing Lebanese officials of excluding the country from a regional ceasefire due to "unjustified blind hatred of Iran".

Israel has been carrying out huge strikes on Lebanon and a ground invasion in the country's south, while Washington and Tehran have been at odds on whether a fragile Middle East ceasefire applies to Lebanon.

Lebanese officials have insisted on separating the talks with Israel from those between the United States and Iran.

Aoun said on Thursday that a ceasefire was "the natural starting point for direct negotiations between the two countries".

He emphasised that "the negotiations are the undertaking of Lebanese authorities alone as this is a sovereign matter that nobody else can be involved in", alluding to Iran.

- 'Internal issue' -

On Thursday, before Trump's announcement, Iran's parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf told his Lebanese counterpart and Hezbollah ally Nabih Berri that "for us, a ceasefire in Lebanon is just as important as a ceasefire in Iran".

Hajj Hassan rejected criticism that his party is in the "service of Iran".

Tehran is Hezbollah's main backer, and for decades has supplied the group with money and weapons.

"The one serving Lebanon and serving Hezbollah... is Iran and the proof is that now it won't accept... any agreement that doesn't include a ceasefire in Lebanon," Hajj Hassan said.

Lebanese authorities last year committed to disarming Hezbollah and the army had begun doing so near the border when the latest war erupted.

Authorities last month banned Hezbollah's military activities, to no effect.

"Fighting is legitimate for the resistance in facing the aggressor and the occupier," Hajj Hassan said.

"The resistance is a Lebanese internal issue. America or Israel have nothing to do with it," Hajj Hassan said.

Lebanon says Israeli attacks have killed more than 2,100 people and forced more than one million from their homes.

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Lana Del Rey has joined an exclusive club of pop greats by voicing a new theme song for James Bond -- albeit for the fictional British superspy's video game incarnation in the upcoming "007: First Light".

"I was so excited to work with Lana, an artist who brought elegance, atmosphere and her totally unique character to this piece," co-composer David Arnold, who also scored a string of Bond movies in the late 90s and 2000s, said in a statement.

Published to streaming platforms Thursday, Del Rey's track "First Light" sticks to a familiar formula of haunting lyrics and brassy hooks evoking the musical history of the Bond series.

Music has been a key facet of the franchise since its first film, 1962's "Dr. No",  with the world-famous theme song composed by Monty Norman used in every movie since.

Later films' themes have been performed by stars like Shirley Bassey, Paul McCartney, Madonna, Adele and Billie Eilish.

Built by "Hitman" developers IO Interactive for PC, Playstation 5 and Xbox Series, "First Light" will place players into the shoes of a young James Bond earning his "licence to kill".

It is the first James Bond game in over a decade and one of the year's most anticipated titles -- especially after a two-month delay to publication for what IO said was final polishing.

More than three million fans have added the game to online wishlists, IO said, ahead of its release on May 27.

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With local elections due next week, West Bank Palestinians are struggling to muster enthusiasm for their first ballot since the Gaza war, discouraged by limited political choice and the difficulty of voting under Israeli occupation.

On April 25, voters will choose representatives in cities, towns and villages across the West Bank, with the ballot happening in part of the Gaza Strip in the first such election since the start of the war there in October 2023.

Nearly 1.5 million people are registered to vote in the occupied West Bank, as well as 70,000 people in Gaza's central Deir el-Balah area, according to the Ramallah-based Central Elections Commission.

But many have been disappointed by a new electoral law passed by decree by Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas requiring all candidates to agree to the Palestine Liberation Organisation's charter and goals in order to register.

"The issue of agreements related to the PLO? I don't agree with this at all," said Khomini Suleiman, a car parts dealer from Beit Ur village near Ramallah, who said he would not vote.

Although some candidates said the new rules had prevented them from running, observers pointed to a general narrowing of the political field.

"The truth is that political parties have effectively disappeared from the Palestinian political scene," a Palestinian elections expert told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

Ramallah resident Mohammad al-Taj said he was a "proud" PLO member but did not think recognition of the charter and programme of the organisation -- which has recognised Israel since the 1990s -- should be a condition for running for office.

But he said he would not vote anyway with the difficulties caused by Israeli settler attacks and the occupation making local elections of "secondary" importance. 

Although the Palestinians have regularly voted in local elections, the last time they held parliamentary elections was in 2006, when the Islamist Hamas won a sweeping victory over Abbas's Fatah movement.

Abbas, who is now 90 and has remained in power for more than 20 years without ever being re-elected, frequently promises legislative and presidential elections that have never taken place.

- No Hamas lists -

Most electoral lists are aligned with Abbas's Fatah or running as independents.

There are no Hamas-affiliated lists.

"Hamas and Hamas-affiliated candidates are just staying out of it," the elections expert said.

Aref Jaffal, another Palestinian expert, said there were some "positive sides" to the new law that lowers the candidacy age to 18 and hikes the women's quota to 25 percent.

But he deplored the fact it transferred some municipal powers to the local government ministry, thereby empowering Abbas's ruling Palestinian Authority.

In most cities, Fatah lists will run against independent lists headed by candidates from factions such as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (Marxist-Leninist).

But in many cities, including Ramallah, the seat of the Palestinian Authority, only one list has been submitted, meaning it wins automatically without needing a vote.

Raeda Barghouti, 49, said she was excited because her village, Kobar, would be voting for the first time in a decade, since in previous elections there was only one candidate list.

- Gaza experiment -

In Hamas-run Gaza, the PA is holding elections only in Deir el-Balah "as an experiment (to test its own) success or failure, since there are no post-war opinion polls", Jamal al-Fadi, a political scientist at Cairo's Al-Azhar University, told AFP.

Deir el-Balah was chosen as it was one of the only places in Gaza where "the population has remained largely in place and not been displaced" by more than two years of war with Israel, he said.

The election commission says it has recruited polling staff from civil society organisations and hired "a private security company to secure polling centres" for the Gaza vote, spokesman Fareed Taamallah told AFP. 

Although a truce deal halted the fighting in October 2025, nearly half of Gaza remains under Israeli control with Palestinians killed by Israeli troops on a near-daily basis. 

Asked about coordination with Israel or Hamas, Taamallah said the commission was indirectly coordinating with COGAT, the Israeli defence ministry body in charge of Palestinian civilian affairs, but with "no other party".

The commission said voting would not take place in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem as Israeli authorities forbid Palestinian political activity in the city.

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Near Singapore, thousands of miles from the Strait of Hormuz, ship-to-ship transfers of Iranian oil have continued during the Middle East war, helping Tehran evade sanctions and maintain trade with China.

Nearly 400 tankers are sanctioned by the United States, the European Union or Britain for their activities related to Iran -- which is now facing off against the United States during a tense ceasefire.

The ageing vessels that make up Iran's "ghost fleet" operate clandestinely, exploiting opaque ownership structures, false flags, a lack of insurance and manipulation of GPS data to keep a low profile.

Ship-to-ship (STS) transfers on the high seas allow them to "launder" cargoes, disguising their origin.

An area off Malaysia and Singapore, about 100 kilometres (60 miles) southeast of the Malay Peninsula, has emerged as a strategic hub for moving Iranian crude.

Each week, dozens of transfers between tankers -- not only Iranian -- can be seen from the air, an AFP analysis of satellite imagery found.

"It's really the main hub," said Amir Handjani of the US-based Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. He described the STS situation there as "total anarchy".

These transfers have continued during the war, despite a temporary easing of US sanctions.

On March 20, Washington authorised the sale of Iranian oil already stored on vessels before that date. The authorisation is due to expire on April 19.

But faced with "contradictory activities" by the United States -- easing sanctions then blockading Iranian ports -- "it's safer to keep exporting Iranian oil using shadow vessels and then STS transfers than it is to try to export that oil legitimately," said Elisabeth Braw, an expert at the Atlantic Council.

- Destination China -

Iranian tankers leave the Gulf via the Strait of Hormuz having loaded with crude, usually at Iran's strategic Kharg Island, according to analysis of several maritime tracking platforms.

They then skirt the Indian subcontinent and pass through the Strait of Malacca to Singapore on a two- to three-week journey, before anchoring and waiting for another tanker to take their cargo.

Since March 1, at least 37 Iran-linked tankers have transferred their cargo at sea in the area, amounting to at least 62.3 million barrels of crude, according to data from maritime tracking firm Kpler analysed by AFP.

When specified, the final destinations of these cargoes were ports in China's northern provinces of Shandong, Liaoning and Jiangsu.

Most of the vessels left the Gulf before war broke out on February 28, but at least six Iranian tankers -- among 26 that have crossed the Strait of Hormuz during the conflict -- have transferred their cargoes (totalling 10 million barrels) in recent weeks near Singapore.

The Silvia 1 loaded one million barrels at Kharg in February, passed through the Strait of Hormuz on March 3, arrived in the Singapore area on March 21, and transferred its cargo around March 25 to the Yug.

The Yug then took on the cargo of a second Iranian tanker, the Seastar III, on April 3.

The destination of the Yug is unknown, but the Comoros-flagged tanker is accustomed to STS transfers and generally delivers its cargoes to ports in Shandong, according to data compiled by Kpler and the NGO Global Fishing Watch.

- Iranian oil stored at sea -

Two other cargoes that left the Gulf on the Hilda I and the Amber were transferred to other tankers near Singapore at the end of March, and are expected to arrive at the ports of Yantai (Shandong) and Lianyungang (Jiangsu) on Thursday and Friday, according to Kpler.

Cargoes sometimes undergo several STS transfers.

The cargo of the Amber (two million barrels) transferred to the Medna on March 31, then to the Star Pine on April 4, before heading for China.

Kpler cannot rely on ships' automatic identification systems (AIS) transponder signals, which are switched off at key moments, to estimate cargoes and identify transfers within this shadow fleet.

Instead, the company uses algorithms comparing ships' AIS signals with past routes and analysing their draught, which can indicate when cargo has been offloaded.

STS transfers are likely to thrive due to the US blockade of Iranian ports that started on Monday, especially as "there's a lot of Iranian oil still on the water as floating storage," Naveen Das, an analyst at Kpler, told AFP.

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Near Singapore, thousands of miles from the Strait of Hormuz, ship-to-ship transfers of Iranian oil have continued during the Middle East war, helping Tehran evade sanctions and maintain trade with China.

Nearly 400 tankers are sanctioned by the United States, the European Union or Britain for their activities related to Iran -- which is now facing off against the United States during a tense ceasefire.

The ageing vessels that make up Iran's "ghost fleet" operate clandestinely, exploiting opaque ownership structures, false flags, a lack of insurance and manipulation of GPS data to keep a low profile.

Ship-to-ship (STS) transfers on the high seas allow them to "launder" cargoes, disguising their origin.

An area off Malaysia and Singapore, about 100 kilometres (60 miles) southeast of the Malay Peninsula, has emerged as a strategic hub for moving Iranian crude.

Each week, dozens of transfers between tankers -- not only Iranian -- can be seen from the air, an AFP analysis of satellite imagery found.

"It's really the main hub," said Amir Handjani of the US-based Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. He described the STS situation there as "total anarchy".

These transfers have continued during the war, despite a temporary easing of US sanctions.

On March 20, Washington authorised the sale of Iranian oil already stored on vessels before that date. The authorisation is due to expire on April 19.

But faced with "contradictory activities" by the United States -- easing sanctions then blockading Iranian ports -- "it's safer to keep exporting Iranian oil using shadow vessels and then STS transfers than it is to try to export that oil legitimately," said Elisabeth Braw, an expert at the Atlantic Council.

- Destination China -

Iranian tankers leave the Gulf via the Strait of Hormuz having loaded with crude, usually at Iran's strategic Kharg Island, according to analysis of several maritime tracking platforms.

They then skirt the Indian subcontinent and pass through the Strait of Malacca to Singapore on a two- to three-week journey, before anchoring and waiting for another tanker to take their cargo.

Since March 1, at least 37 Iran-linked tankers have transferred their cargo at sea in the area, amounting to at least 62.3 million barrels of crude, according to data from maritime tracking firm Kpler analysed by AFP.

When specified, the final destinations of these cargoes were ports in China's northern provinces of Shandong, Liaoning and Jiangsu.

Most of the vessels left the Gulf before war broke out on February 28, but at least six Iranian tankers -- among 26 that have crossed the Strait of Hormuz during the conflict -- have transferred their cargoes (totalling 10 million barrels) in recent weeks near Singapore.

The Silvia 1 loaded one million barrels at Kharg in February, passed through the Strait of Hormuz on March 3, arrived in the Singapore area on March 21, and transferred its cargo around March 25 to the Yug.

The Yug then took on the cargo of a second Iranian tanker, the Seastar III, on April 3.

The destination of the Yug is unknown, but the Comoros-flagged tanker is accustomed to STS transfers and generally delivers its cargoes to ports in Shandong, according to data compiled by Kpler and the NGO Global Fishing Watch.

- Iranian oil stored at sea -

Two other cargoes that left the Gulf on the Hilda I and the Amber were transferred to other tankers near Singapore at the end of March, and are expected to arrive at the ports of Yantai (Shandong) and Lianyungang (Jiangsu) on Thursday and Friday, according to Kpler.

Cargoes sometimes undergo several STS transfers.

The cargo of the Amber (two million barrels) transferred to the Medna on March 31, then to the Star Pine on April 4, before heading for China.

Kpler cannot rely on ships' automatic identification systems (AIS) transponder signals, which are switched off at key moments, to estimate cargoes and identify transfers within this shadow fleet.

Instead, the company uses algorithms comparing ships' AIS signals with past routes and analysing their draught, which can indicate when cargo has been offloaded.

STS transfers are likely to thrive due to the US blockade of Iranian ports that started on Monday, especially as "there's a lot of Iranian oil still on the water as floating storage," Naveen Das, an analyst at Kpler, told AFP.

jah-cl-lam/jwp/rlp/jhb

A Paris court on Thursday handed a former silverware keeper at France's presidential palace a two-year sentence for stealing hundreds of thousands of euros worth of luxury items between 2023 and 2025.

Thomas M. was ordered to wear an electronic tag for a year, with the second year suspended, for stealing exclusive tableware and other items worth nearly 400,000 euros ($470,000), the court ruled.

He was also fined 10,000 euros and barred from working in a similar position and from setting foot in an auction house ever again.

His partner, Damien G., was also sentenced to two years. He was ordered to wear an electronic tag for eight months, with the remaining 16 months suspended.

The couple sold most of the stolen items via a Vinted business account and on Facebook, and said they had pocketed around 15,000 euros in profit.

A third man, Ghislain M., who bought nearly 80 of the items, was given a one-year suspended prison sentence. 

The case came to light last year when the Sevres national porcelain manufacturer -- which makes many of the valuable plates for the presidential palace -- saw some of the items listed on auction sites. 

Investigations quickly focused on Thomas M., a contract worker in the Elysee's silverware department since 2020 and the only staff member with direct access to the warehouse keys.

According to the manufacturer, the estimated value of the items was 377,370 euros -- a sum the defence described as "absurd". 

During the trial in February, the former maitre d'hotel said he had stolen the objects for their beauty, but decided to sell them to pay off heavy debts. 

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