France wants Hezbollah TV channel banned

A French Cabinet minister has proposed that the Hezbollah TV station "al-Manar" be banned throughout the European Union. At a meeting of European government ministers on Tuesday in Brussels, Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres said that a station forbidden in one member state ought to be forbidden in all 25 EU member states. "Al-Manar" is the official television station of Hezbollah. The United States placed "al-Manar" on its list of terrorist organizations in December 2004, only days after France banned the broadcaster from its airwaves on the grounds of incendiary and anti-Semitic programming. It is, however, still available by satellite in many European countries.