Presented as the societal reform of Emmanuel Macron’s second five-year term, the opening of “assisted dying” appears in the end-of-life bill which will be presented on Wednesday April 10 to the Council of Ministers. In return for the possibility for a patient to resort to a lethal gesture, strictly supervised by medical advice, the government says it wants to guarantee access to palliative care.
The Minister of Health, Catherine Vautrin, presented to Le Monde the development plan for palliative care, with an effort of 1.1 billion euros planned over ten years, in particular to open hospital beds and facilitate the home hospitalization.
The Israeli army announced its withdrawal from the south of the Gaza Strip, notably from the town of Khan Younes, after months of fierce fighting against Hamas which caused a humanitarian catastrophe and earned Israel a round of criticism, including from its allies. “Today, Sunday April 7, the 98th Commando Division of the Israeli Army completed its mission in Khan Yunis. The division left the Gaza Strip in order (…) to prepare for future operations,” the army said in a statement sent to Agence France-Presse.
The army said a “significant force” would continue to operate in the small Palestinian territory according to its strategic needs, in the seventh month of Israel’s devastating war against the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
In an interview given to several regional press titles on Saturday April 6, the head of government gave details of the measures he intends to put in place to try to respond to the crisis in the city healthcare system, with the desire to recover 15 to 20 million medical slots. Mr. Attal therefore wants certain unfulfilled appointments to be punished in the future with a financial penalty of 5 euros, payable by the offending patient – a so-called “rabbit tax” sanction. “We can no longer afford” these unfulfilled appointments, declares the Prime Minister, who wants the implementation of an “accountability mechanism” via a legal text.
Peter Pellegrini, ally of the populist government of Prime Minister Robert Fico, won the presidential election in Slovakia on Saturday April 6, well ahead of pro-European diplomat Ivan Korcok in the second round, according to almost final results.
“It’s a great satisfaction,” Mr. Pellegrini said in a speech to supporters. “I want to be a president who will defend the national interests of Slovakia,” he stressed. He assured that he wanted to do everything “so that [the country of 5.4 million inhabitants] remains on the side of peace and not on the side of war”.
Mathieu van der Poel won his second Paris-Roubaix solo on Sunday April 7 after a 60-kilometer raid. He thus achieved the double on the cobbled Monuments, a week after his victory in the Tour of Flanders.
The Dutchman becomes the eleventh rider in history, the first since Fabian Cancellara in 2013, to accomplish this feat. He is now the only active runner to have six Monuments to his name, one more than Tadej Pogacar.
On Saturday, Belgian Lotte Kopecky won the women’s race in a sprint.
And also :
Disappearance. Alexis Gruss, circus director and figure in the equestrian art, is dead.
Rwanda. Emmanuel Macron accepts his comments, dating from 2021, on the “responsibilities” of France in the genocide in Rwanda
France. A stretcher bearer seriously injured after being “beaten by several people” in a hospital in Vendée
Pakistan. Senior officers sanctioned “for example” after an attack against Chinese engineers.
Senegal. The Prime Minister, Ousmane Sonko, presents a government which gives pride of place to the executives of his party
Americas. Spain condemns Ecuadorian police raid on Mexican embassy in Quito and calls for “respect for international law.”