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DES MEGAFEUX SANS PRECEDENT
DANS L'EST DU CANADA
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L'est du Canada a suffoqué jeudi 1er juin en raison d'une vague de chaleur extrême, faisant craindre un regain des feux de forêt qui ravagent le pays, déjà confronté à une année "sans précédent". 30,7 °C à Toronto, 34 °C à Montréal . Au total, plus de 210 feux sont actifs actuellement dans le pays, dont 82 hors de contrôle. Et plus de 2,7 millions d'hectares ont déjà brûlé en 2023, soit huit fois plus que la moyenne des 30 dernières années, ont annoncé les autorités canadiennes. "Ces conditions, à ce stade de la saison, sont absolument sans précédent et évidemment sources de préoccupation", a déclaré Bill Blair, ministre de la Protection civile.
Après l'ouest du pays et les provinces de l'Alberta et de la Saskatchewan début mai, c'est l'est et notamment la Nouvelle-Écosse qui viennent d'être touchés par d'immenses feux en raison d'un temps très chaud et sec, dans une province peu habituée aux incendies.
Des feux inhabituels en Nouvelle-Écosse
En Nouvelle-Écosse, au cœur de toutes les inquiétudes ces derniers jours, 16 feux étaient actifs jeudi. Quelque 200 maisons ont été détruites et près de 20 000 personnes évacuées. "Des chiffres à couper le souffle", selon Tim Houston, le Premier ministre de la province. Depuis le début de l'année, la province atlantique a connu près de 200 incendies de forêt qui ont brûlé plus de 19 000 hectares et déplacé plus de 25 000 personnes. En 2022, il n'y a eu que 152 incendies qui ont brûlé 3 390 hectares. Or si les incendies ne sont pas rares en Nouvelle-Ecosse, ils ont tendance à être beaucoup moins importants. Situé sur la côte est du Canada, le climat de la Nouvelle-Écosse est fortement influencé par l'océan Atlantique Nord, qui apporte une humidité plus élevée et des températures plus modérées que dans de nombreuses autres régions du pays. De plus la région est couverte par ce que l'on appelle la "forêt acadienne", qui contient beaucoup d'arbres à feuilles larges, comme les érables à sucre, mélangés à des arbres à feuilles persistantes, comme les conifères. Les feuillus sont moins inflammables que les conifères car leurs branches et leurs feuilles sont plus éloignées du sol et leurs feuilles retiennent davantage l'humidité.La forêt acadienne est beaucoup moins sujette aux grands incendies que les forêts de l'ouest du Canada.
Mais le Canada atlantique a reçu de faibles chutes de neige cet hiver, suivies d'un printemps exceptionnellement sec. La capitale de la Nouvelle-Écosse, Halifax, n'a reçu que 120 millimètres de pluie entre mars et mai, soit environ un tiers de la moyenne, selon Michael Carter, météorologue au Weather Network.Une vague de chaleur torride à la fin du mois de mai a poussé les températures à Halifax jusqu'à 33 degrés Celsius jeudi, soit environ 10 degrés au-dessus de la normale pour cette période de l'année.
Et avec l'arrivée d'une vague de chaleur extrême et de vents violents, "nous sommes loin d'être sortis d'affaire", a expliqué David Steeves, du ministère des Ressources naturelles, parlant d'une situation "très dangereuse et volatile".
Des pompiers venus des États-Unis et d'Afrique du Sud sont attendus en renfort dans les jours qui viennent. "Nous avons besoin que Mère Nature se mette de notre côté sur ce coup-là", a ajouté David Steeves.
L'un des immenses incendies a atteint la banlieue de la principale ville de la province, Halifax, et a contraint les autorités à évacuer plus de 16 000 personnes au nord-ouest de la ville. Il semble désormais partiellement maîtrisé. Mais un autre incendie près du lac Barrington est particulièrement scruté, car il est toujours hors de contrôle après avoir ravagé 20 000 hectares. C'est le plus grand feu jamais enregistré dans la province.
Records de chaleur
Dans les autres provinces de l'est du Canada, notamment au Québec et en Ontario, des températures record ont été atteintes à plusieurs endroits. À Toronto, le thermomètre affiche 30,7 °C, selon Environnement Canada, dépassant le record journalier précédent de 28,3 °C établi en 1948.
Dans l'ouest du pays, un mois après le déclenchement d'incendies qui ont contraint la province de l'Alberta à déclarer l'état d'urgence, plus de 60 incendies étaient toujours en cours et plus de 1,13 million d'hectares ont déjà brûlé. Dans la province voisine de la Saskatchewan, l'un des greniers du pays, une vingtaine de feux étaient dénombrés et plus 850 000 hectares sont partis en fumée.
Le Canada, qui, de par sa situation géographique, se réchauffe plus vite que le reste de la planète, est confronté ces dernières années à des événements météorologiques extrêmes . |
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Alysn Braxton pour DayNewsWorld |
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HOMOSEXUALITY PUNISHABLE TO DEATH PENALTY
IN UGANDA |
 Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni on Monday signed into law a controversial anti-LGBT+ law that includes stiff penalties for same-sex relationships. In this East African country where homosexuality is already illegal, "acts of homosexuality" are punishable by life imprisonment since a law dating from British colonization.
The new law introduces the concept of “aggravated homosexuality”. In other words, the sexual act between people of the same sex is now considered a crime punishable by death in case of recidivism. Another provision is of great concern to NGOs. According to the text, anyone – individual or organization – “knowingly promotes homosexuality” faces up to 20 years in prison. If it is an organization, it risks a ten-year ban. The President's enactment of the law was first announced on Twitter by Speaker of Parliament Anita Among before being confirmed by Yoweri Museveni's spokesperson.
Outcry
The vote on the bill in Parliament on March 21 sparked an international outcry. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, had denounced a “discriminatory text – probably the worst in the world of its kind”. After the announcement by the Western partners of potential economic consequences if the law were promulgated as it stands, President Yoweri Museveni had asked Ugandan parliamentarians, at the end of April, to reconsider certain provisions. Thus, in the text adopted on Monday, there is no longer any question of criminalizing the mere fact of being homosexual, nor of denouncing the practices of one's neighbor.
"The President of Uganda has today legalized state-sponsored homophobia and transphobia," said Clare Byarugaba, a Ugandan rights activist. “This is a very dark and sad day for the LGBTIQ community, our allies and all of Uganda,” she added.
But above all, on a continent where homosexuality is punishable by imprisonment in some thirty countries, activists fear the spillover effect of Ugandan law. "Why should a country criminalize part of its population based on their sexuality? I think it's very barbaric, it's primitive, and it goes back to the colonial era," said Alex Kofi Donkor, president of LGBT rights in Ghana. Ugandan [...] There have already been three proposed laws criminalizing homosexuality in the DRC.
Same-sex relationships are also considered a crime under colonial-era legislation in neighboring Kenya, whose President William Ruto recently declared homosexuality to be a Western import incompatible with “customs, traditions, Christianity and Islam.” of his nation.
The High Commissioner for Human Rights said it was "dismayed" to see this "draconian and discriminatory" bill come into force, "contrary to the Constitution and international treaties", which opens the way to " systematic violations of the rights of LGBT people”.
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Garett Skyport for DayNewsWorld |
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A DEMAGOGICAL SOCIAL ANTI-FRAUD PLAN ?
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 Gabriel Attal draws out his anti-social fraud plan. The Minister in charge of Public Accounts unveiled, Monday, May 29 in Le Parisien, a vast plan to fight against social fraud which should make it possible to double the adjustments by 2027, with increased control of retirees living outside Europe. Fraud on family allowances, the Vitale card, pensioners abroad.
"This is a ten-year project for which I am setting a first stage: in 2027, we will have twice as many results as in 2022", he says, promising the creation of a thousand additional jobs during this five-year period. and an investment of 1 billion euros in information systems, "in particular to better cross-check data". Adjustments have already increased by 35% over the past five years. These announcements come three weeks after a first plan, presented in an interview with Le Monde, centered on the fight against tax evasion.
"Our desire is to look at where the situations of fraud are and respond to them, without stigmatization, without instrumentalization", affirmed Mr. Attal to journalists, and "to be neither in denial of a large part of the left nor in the lies of much of the far right".
Fraud to social benefits alone is estimated at between 6 billion and 8 billion euros per year, according to the Court of Auditors. “Social fraud, like tax evasion, is a form of hidden tax on working French people,” the minister told Le Parisien.
Merge Vitale card and identity card
Gabriel Attal explains that he wants to "reinforce" the conditions of residence in France "to benefit from social allowances". It will now be necessary to spend nine months of the year in the country, against six currently planned, to benefit from family allowances or the minimum old age. Similarly, for personalized housing allowances (APL), which only require eight months of presence for the time being.
Another announcement, with potentially concrete repercussions for the French: the government is considering a merger between the Vitale card and the identity card in order to fight against fraud in health benefits. "We can imagine a model where, from a certain date, when you redo your identity card, it automatically becomes your Vitale card", specifies the minister. He adds that a prefiguration mission would be launched by the summer and could reach conclusions by the end of the year. By the way, the idea of a biometric Vitale card seems to have been abandoned, especially given its cost. Bercy also wants to target retirees living outside European borders in order to better identify those who have died but whose allowances are still being collected. This announcement follows an experiment carried out since September 2022 in Algeria, during which 300 files of "quasi-centenarian" retirees out of 1,000 cases studied were declared non-compliant, affirms the minister, recalling that more than a million pensions were paid abroad, half of them outside Europe.
If no one denies that social fraud exists in France, it is however necessary to put its importance into perspective. The maintenance of this fantasy , according to which France would be full of potential fraudsters, has several objectives, among which that of delaying structural reforms and that of always reinforcing the repressive arsenal of the administration...
To fight against fraud, shouldn't it be necessary, above all and above all, to carry out a radical simplification of the social aid system ?
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Abby Shelcore for DayNewsWorld |
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A TRIUMPH IN OPTICAL ILLUSION FOR THE UNBREAKABLE TURKISH PRESIDENT ERDOGAN ?
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 Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was re-elected on Sunday May 28, 2023 with around 52% of the votes cast, against 48% for his opponent Kemal Kiliçdaroglu, who represented an opposition coalition. The "reis" therefore returns for a third term at the head of Turkey, for five additional years. If he completes his term, he will have been in power for 26 years.
Despite a high turnout of 85%, center-left opponent Kemal Kiliçdaroglu was unable to bring down Erdogan. The loser, with a very honorable score in a context where the dice were heavily stacked against him, admitted his defeat. But he also said that this campaign had been “one of the most unfair in years”, in particular with the enormous inequality of means between the two camps which faced each other.
Why did the majority of Turks elect Erdogan despite a deteriorating economy and now chronic hyperinflation – a situation that would likely bring down any government in a democratic country? How did Erdogan win the elections?
A free but unfair election
The presidential election was certainly free, insofar as the political parties were able to put forward candidates on their own and to campaign. Parties also had the right to have representatives at each polling station to ensure that ballots were correctly counted. Finally, voters were free to vote. However, the election was far from fair.
First, a potential rival in the race, Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, was sentenced last December to more than two years in prison for “insulting public figures”. The popular Imamoglu had above all made the mistake of inflicting on Erdogan's party a rare defeat in the 2019 municipal elections in Istanbul. Polls had shown that if he had run for president, he could have won against Erdogan by a comfortable margin. Some argue that Imamoglu's conviction was politically motivated. Be that as it may, Imamoglu being out of the game, the opposition had to rally behind Kiliçdaroglu, the weakest of all the high profile candidates.
In addition, Erdogan also exercises an almost generalized influence on the Turkish media, through Fahrettin Altun, head of media and communication at the presidential palace, and has taken the opportunity to intervene very often. The opposition leader, on the other hand, received minimal airtime, and when he appeared in the media, he was portrayed as an unfit leader to govern the country. Altun not only controlled traditional television and print media, but also social media.
Everything that surrounds the election, therefore, the general conditions of democracy – the banned or marginalized opposition media, the forced absence of several political actors, disqualified, even thrown into prison by a justice “at orders”, censorship on the Internet, etc. – would make the Turkish political landscape look more like a "democracy" (portmanteau word formed from "democracy" and "dictatorship"), according to some observers.
And the question remains open as to whether this new re-election of Erdogan sounds the death knell for democracy in Turkey for a long time, or whether the process could one day be reversed. Didn't the opposition speak this year of "last chance elections"?
Massive support from religious voters
The indestructible Turkish president has won over a conservative electorate who continue to trust him despite an unprecedented economic crisis and 105% inflation.
First of all the call to vote in favor of Erdogan launched by Sinan Ogan, who came third in the first round of the presidential election two weeks ago, with 5.2% of the vote played in his favor.
But above all it was Erdogan's conservative and religious voters for whom the outgoing president is a religious hero and a savior who voted for him. Turkey's religious population has long suffered persecution in the name of secularism. For them, Kiliçdaroglu and his Republican People's Party symbolize this persecution. Although Kiliçdaroglu abandoned the party's strict secular policies, these voters never forgave him for preventing Muslim women from wearing the headscarf in educational institutions and public institutions, and for holding religion to the fore. away from public life and politics for decades.
Turkey's conservative and religious right sees Erdogan as a world leader and a hero who fought against ill-intentioned forces, both inside and outside, to make Turkey great again.
And after the elections?
A few years ago, Erdogan promised a renaissance of Turkey by 2023, the date of the hundredth anniversary of the founding of the Republic. Turkey was supposed to enter the top 10 global economies by then. However, Turkey barely makes it into the top 20.
The economy has experienced a significant downturn over the past three years. The value of the Turkish lira fell, leading to a dollar-based economy. Reviving the economy and restoring purchasing power to the population are among its priorities.
A felicitated but ambiguous partner
Congratulated from all sides abroad, Erdogan finds himself at the head of a "courted" country. Congratulations poured in the next morning, Monday, including from countries with which Turkey has very difficult relations. At the official level, almost everyone rushed to recognize the victory of the strong man of 'Ankara, and hope to work fruitfully with it: Putin praises 'independent foreign policy'; Westerners "the ally with whom we must deepen relations"; the Taliban hope for the advancement of political Islamism. Erdogan, he wants internationally, to be desired.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Turkey wants to be a crossroads, a pivot around which everything revolves, between Europe, Central Asia, the Middle East and Russia. In foreign policy, Erdogan will continue to try to make Turkey a regional power independent of NATO, the European Union and the United States. He is likely to continue to strengthen Turkey's ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin, which worries the country's Western allies.
All this, in a very difficult domestic socio-economic context in Turkey, even though the country's economic difficulties could also push Erdogan to become more conciliatory with the Europeans, in the Mediterranean or the Black Sea, for maritime trade. Turkey, for example, aspires to become an energy hub, for transport (oil pipelines, gas pipelines), but also for production, with offshore soundings in the eastern Mediterranean, which have led to the militarization of the sea and tensions with Greece.
A triumph, but for how long?
This is Erdogan's last term, according to the Turkish Constitution, and it is possible that it will be cut short. The 69-year-old president has numerous health problems. He is more and more physically fragile, he has trouble walking and his speech is often jerky. In the years to come, his health could deteriorate...
Although this country of 85 million inhabitants is experiencing a certain political stability for the moment, does the country not risk experiencing economic, social and political unrest in the near future ?
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Joanne Courbet for DayNewsWorld |
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THE FIRST FLIGHT OF THE COMAC C919
THE CHINESE PLANE A FUTURE COMPETITOR OF AIRBUS AND BOEING |  This Sunday, May 28, 2023, the Comac C919, the first aircraft produced by China, made its maiden commercial flight. This flight raises high hopes for the country which wishes to compete with the giants of civil aviation, namely Airbus and Boeing.
This is an event of great importance for China.
After having long depended on the old Russian Tupolevs as well as the French-German and American Airbus and Boeing respectively, the Chinese aeronautical industry now has its own airliner, designed entirely in China: the Comac C919.
The latter therefore made its very first commercial flight this Sunday, May 28, 2023.
Before takeoff, state media showed dozens of passengers gathered at Shanghai airport, all admiring the sleek white aircraft.
Subsequently, these passengers boarded the plane which, after taxiing on the runway, took off.
The plane, in the colors of China Eastern Airlines and bearing the flight number MU9191, took off from Shanghai Hongqiao Airport with 130 passengers on board, although its capacity is 164 passengers. After a little over half an hour of flight, the plane landed "smoothly" at Beijing International Airport, about 40 minutes early, around 12:30 p.m. local time.
Upon landing, several passengers shared their impressions of the flight, calling it "extremely smooth, comfortable and memorable" to Chinese media.
All passengers received red boarding passes and enjoyed a sumptuous themed meal on board to celebrate the event.
From this Monday, May 29, 2023, the Comac C919 will be deployed in China to operate scheduled flights between Shanghai and Chengdu, a city located in the south of the country, in collaboration with China Eastern Airlines.
China, which aims to become self-sufficient in the technology sector, has invested heavily in the production of this Chinese airliner.
Although Comac, a state-owned company, is responsible for its construction, many parts that make up the plane come from abroad. Still, the company has big ambitions: Zhang Yujin, deputy chief executive of Comac, told government-backed news outlet The Paper in January that more than 1,200 orders had been booked for the plane. |
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Paul Emison pour DayNewsWorld |
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THE PALMARES OF CANNES WITH THE PALME D'OR
FOR ANATOMY OF A FALL |
 The 76th edition of the Cannes Film Festival came to an end, this Saturday, May 27, 2023. After twelve days during which the personalities paraded on the red carpet, the Palme d'or was awarded to "Anatomy of a fall". by the French director Justine Triet, which succeeds "Sans Filtre", by Ruben Östlund
The closing ceremony was, as on May 16, orchestrated by Chiara Mastroianni. Among the beautiful emotional moments of this year, the amazed face, the wide eyes and the feverishness of Merve Dizdar, rewarded for her role in Les Herbes secs, but also the standing ovation for the legendary American director Roger Corman, introduced by Quentin Tarantino. In terms of speeches, Jane Fonda distinguished herself by a refreshing speech and took advantage of her platform to recall a few truths: in 1963, the date of her first appearance at the Festival, no woman was nominated in competition and no one cared about it. “You have to celebrate change when it happens,” she said, with seven female directors in competition.
The Palme d'Or goes to Anatomy of a Fall
a very great film, where Justine Triet suddenly took a huge step forward in her art. After, already, disheveled portraits of women who were just as disheveled (The Battle of Solferino, Victoria and Sybil), the filmmaker, 10 years after her debut, tells the story of a writer, played with by the disturbing l German actress Sandra Hüller (double honored this evening, since she is also on the bill, in the role of the wife of Rudolf Höss, of The Zone of Interest, of Jonathan Glazer, Grand Jury Prize), accused of the murder of her husband found his head bleeding at the foot of their Savoyard chalet.
The reactions of the heroine, an annoying and icy woman interpreted by the sublime Sandra Hüller, are analyzed with great acuity by a filmmaker specializing in female portraits who notably revealed Virginie Efira. Sandra Hüller plays "a character who assumes her freedom, her sexuality, her life choices. She looks strong and that makes her suspicious", describes the director. "I have always made films around women. This time, it's someone who is not easy to understand".
Anatomy of a Fall, whose screenplay was co-written by the director and her companion, actor and director Arthur Harari, is based on a cerebral and meticulous deconstruction of the mechanisms of the couple and of justice.
"I had really wanted to redo a trial film for a long time (since the film "Victoria" in 2016 Editor's note). I was even hesitant to make a series of it. questions of the couple, of living together. For "Anatomy of a fall", I was fascinated by the Amanda Knox affair "
From the police investigation to the trial that follows, Anatomy of a Fall is above all the implacable dissection of a couple in disintegration, unbalanced when the success of one provokes resentment in the other, all seen by the paradoxical gaze of their visually impaired child.
A story that remains obscure and undecidable until the end.
"It's perhaps the most intimate film I've made," explains the filmmaker on stage.
Winners of the 76th edition of the Cannes Film Festival.
Palme d'Or
Anatomy of a fall, worn by Sandra Hüller by Justine Triet
Short Film Palme d'Or
Gunnur Martinsdóttir Schlüter receives a special mention for Far and Flóra Anna Buda receives the
The Golden Camera:
The Golden Butterfly Tree of An Pham Thien.
Best Actor Award
Koji Yakusho is singled out for his lead role in Perfect Days, Wim Wenders.
Best Actress Award
Turkish actress Merve Dizdar for her role in Dry Herbs by Nuri Bilge Ceylan.
Script Award
The prize is awarded to Yūji Sakamoto for Monster, by Hirokazu Kore-eda.
Jury Prize
Dead leaves by Aki Kaurismäki.
Best Director Award: Tran Anh Hung for La passion de Dodin Bouffant
Grand Prize
The Zone of Interest, directed by Jonathan Glazer.
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Kate White for DayNewsWorld |
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SICK CELINE DION CANCELS HER CONCERTS
IN EUROPE UNTIL APRIL 2024 |
 For health reasons, Canadian singer Celine Dion is canceling some forty concerts scheduled in Europe until April 2024, the organizers of her "Courage World Tour" announced on Friday May 26. In France, Celine Dion was to perform on September 1, 2, 5, 6, 9 and 10, 2023 at Paris La Défense Arena.
The Quebec star, suffering from "Stiff-Person Syndrom" (stiff person syndrome, SPR), a rare neurological pathology against which she "continues her treatment", had already announced in December that she was canceling or postponing the concerts planned for Europe between February and July 2023.
"Unfortunately, these spasms affect my everyday life on many levels. I sometimes have a lot of difficulty walking and I can't always use my vocal cords to sing as I would like," she explained then.
"I'm so sorry to disappoint you once again. I'm working very hard to regain my strength, but tours can be demanding and difficult, even when you're at 100%, says the artist on his Instagram account. It would be unfair to you to postpone the concerts once again, and although it breaks my heart, it is better to cancel everything now, until I am really ready to go back on stage. "I want you to know that I'm not giving up... and above all, I can't wait to see you again!", She adds.
Stiff-person syndrome (SPS) or stiff-person syndrome is a rare neurological disease. This autoimmune disease - caused by a malfunction of the immune system - results in muscle rigidity in the trunk or limbs. She remains relatively unknown. It was first identified in 1956.
After several months of rumors about her state of health, Celine Dion had come out of silence in a video published on Thursday, December 8, 2022 on social networks. "I sometimes have a lot of trouble walking and I can't use my vocal cords to sing as I would like," she explained, sobs in her voice.
Celine Dion's last concert dates back to March 2020, in Newark (United States). His world tour had been interrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic. She could never resume.
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Kate White for DayNewsWorld |
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TRIBUTE TO THE ROCK & ROLL ICON
TINA TURNER |
 An American music icon passed away on Wednesday, May 24. Tina Turner has died aged 83 after a long illness. It was his agent who announced the sad news via a press release.
Two days after the death of Tina Turner at the age of 83, a report specifies the causes of her death.
As reported by the Daily Mail, the singer died of "natural causes" at her home in Switzerland .
The "queen of rock & roll", however, suffered from many health problems.
The press release announcing her death also indicated that she had died “peacefully at her home in Küsnacht in Switzerland following a long illness”.
"I believed that my body was an untouchable and indestructible bastion."
In 2013, three weeks after her marriage to the Swiss, Erwin Bach, Tina Turner suffered a stroke. 
This attack had made the interpreter of What's Love Got to Do With It lose the ability to walk and it took him several months before managing to move normally. "I put myself in great danger".
Three years after her stroke, Tina Turner was also diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2016.
She had to undergo a kidney transplant in April 2017 thanks to the donation of her husband, Erwin Bach.
On March 9, 2023, on the occasion of World Kidney Day, the singer also confided on social networks that she had put herself "in great danger" by not taking enough interest in her health problems. kidneys.
"I didn't realize that my high blood pressure should have been treated with conventional medicine," she said.
And to add: "I put myself in great danger by refusing to see reality in the face: I needed daily drug treatment for life. For too long, I believed that my body was a bastion untouchable and indestructible."
The tumultuous beginnings of the duo The Ike and Tina Turner Revue
Tina Turner, whose real name is Anna Mae Bullock, was born on November 26, 1939 in Nutbush, Tennessee.
Daughter of a worker and a foreman on a farm, she comes from a modest background.
Raised by her grandmother, she spent her childhood in Tennessee with her sister. As a child, she began to sing in the church choir. As a teenager, she joined her mother in Missouri.
Discovered at the age of 18 in Saint-Louis by the rocker Ike Turner, she became one of his choristers and took part in his concerts. In 1960, he asked her to record a duet, A fool in love, which met with great success.
The young woman changes her first name and is now called Tina. 
Meanwhile, she marries Ike Turner, and their duo, The Ike and Tina Turner Revue, will experience a succession of hits; River deep, Mountain high, Come together, I want to take you higher…
Indispensable, the duo went on tours during the 60s.
But the aggressive temperament of Ike Turner and his drug addictions plunge the couple adrift in the mid-1970s.
"My relationship with Ike was doomed the day he realized that I was going to become his livelihood," she explained in 2021 to the American channel HBO.
The relationship quickly turns into a nightmare, Ike Turner is violent and beats the singer daily.
She will eventually file for divorce in the late 1970s.
After their separation in 1976, Tina Turner moved away from the stage for a while. In 1978, she returned with her first solo album, Rough, but public reception was mixed.
In 1983, she released Let's stay together in England, which quickly rose to the top of the charts and relaunched her career.
She made her real comeback in 1984 with the release of the album Private Dancer, carried by the hit What's love got to do with it.
Success and love with Erwin Bach
In 1985, she met Erwin Bach, a manager of the EMI record company, in Europe. "We met at Cologne airport, and her manager Roger Davies asked me to pick her up," said Erwin Bach in the documentary "Tina".
At the time, the man was 16 years younger and the singer immediately fell in love with him:
"That was crazy, I thought:
"But where does it come from?"
My heart was beating fast and my hands were shaking," she confided in "Tina."
Tina Turner lives a beautiful and long love story.
The singer then experienced a resurgence of success with two other albums Break Every Rule (1986) and Foreign Affair (1989).
She multiplies artistic collaborations and sings in duet with Bryan Adams (It's only love) and Rod Stewart (It takes two).
She also recorded the soundtrack for the film Jours de Tonnerre (Break through the Barrier).
During the 90s, she released new albums Wildest dreams (1996) and Twenty four Seven (1997).
Since the beginning of the 2000s, Tina Turner has gradually moved away from the front of the stage.
However, it publishes best of; All the best (2004) and Tina! Her greatest hits (2008).
In October 2008, she returned to the stage with a tour after several years of absence. In 2009, Turner retired after completing his Tina!: 50th Anniversary Tour.
At the same time, the singer made some forays into the cinema; Tommy (1975), Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985) and Last Action Hero (1993).
In 2000, she made an appearance in the series Ally McBeal. A biopic titled What's Love Got to Do with It is adapted from her autobiography I, Tina: My Life Story.
Her consistent contributions to rock music have earned her the title "Queen of Rock & Roll" ("Queen of Rock & Roll"). In addition to rock, she has also distinguished herself in R'n'B, soul, dance and pop.
She was the first black artist and the first woman to grace the cover of Rolling Stone magazine which listed her among the 100 greatest artists of all time and the 100 greatest singers of all time.
She is one of the most influential African-American singers of the 20th century with Diana Ross and Aretha Franklin.
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Emily Jackson for DayNewsWorld |
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FRANCO-GERMAN FRIENDSHIP
COMPROMISED BY NUCLEAR |
 The Franco-German Parliamentary Assembly on Monday May 22, 2023, in which 50 members of the French National Assembly and 50 members of the Bundestag meet twice a year to promote cooperation between the two countries, was marred by the differences of opinion about nuclear energy.
French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire and German Economy Minister Robert Habeck addressed the parliamentarians, saying their views were very different.
Nuclear energy should not be considered a renewable energy source, said Economy Minister Robert Habeck, amid the current disagreement over the revised renewable energy directive. His counterpart Bruno Le Maire called nuclear energy a "red line" for France.
When it comes to energy policy collaboration, Germany and France are “moving on their own,” Habeck said, summarizing the two countries' position on the matter.
“It would be a total misunderstanding if we assumed that because we work in depth and in confidence, the consensus is always there. I would say it's the exact opposite,” Mr. Habeck told the plenary.
Last week, the French government caused a lot of noise after blocking the approval of the revised EU Renewable Energy Directive, which sets minimum levels for energy production from renewable sources.
Approval was mostly seen as a formal step, since negotiations between the European Parliament and member states had already been concluded.
However, France wants to obtain additional guarantees: the country wants the low-carbon hydrogen produced by nuclear energy to be deducted from its renewable energy targets.
The German government considers nuclear energy to be separate from renewable energy and has insisted on maintaining the compromise that was previously agreed, Habeck said.
“Mr. Robert knows that nuclear policy is an absolute red line for France,” said Mr. Le Maire, adding “it is about our [energy] sovereignty.”
The timing of a new attempt to pass the legislation depends on France.
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Andrew Preston for DayNewsWorld |
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GOVERNOR RON SANTIS ANNOUNCES
HIS CANDIDACY FOR THE AMERICAN PRESIDENTIAL LIVE BY ON TWITTER |
 He could steal the show from Donald Trump. The former President of the United States' main rival for the Republican nomination, Florida Senator Ron DeSantis, 44, is due to announce his candidacy for the 2024 US presidential election, Wednesday, May 24, 2023 live on Twitter, during a a planned exchange with the boss of the social network Elon Musk. The billionaire and CEO of Tesla confirmed to the Wall Street Journal that a "conversation" between Ron DeSantis and him would take place this Wednesday at 6 p.m. Washington time (midnight in Paris).
Ron DeSantis was waiting for the end of the parliamentary session in Florida in May to officially declare himself a candidate for the Republican primary for the presidential election of 2024. History to highlight his record as governor of the Sunshine State, after an election won by a hair in 2018, then won hands down with 59% of the vote for a second term in November 2022.
A former foal of Donald Trump
Is Ron De Santis really the most serious candidate, the main opponent of Donald Trump? In any case, given the virulent criticism of the former president against him, it is clearly the Republican who has the best chance against the ex-president in the primaries of the party.
He is actually a former colt of Donald Trump and he shares a lot of his ideas. DeSantis is the conservative leader of the "culture war" that is tearing America apart. "Florida is where wokism is going to die," he asserted in early January. His goal is to demonstrate that he is more Trumpist than Donald Trump, his former mentor who has become an adversary, and more radical than the MAGA (“Make America Great Again”) base of the former president, in order to hope to win the primary. republican. He has also made himself known throughout the country thanks to his ultra-conservative policies that he implemented in Florida on education or immigration. Questions of gender and homosexuality are no longer allowed to be discussed at school, for example in Florida.
Thursday, May 18, the multinational Disney canceled a campus project of more than 1 billion dollars (925 million euros), which should have created south of Orlando 2,000 jobs, with average annual salaries of 120,000 dollars .
At the heart of this decision is the culture war waged against Disney. The firm, which operates the gigantic Disney World amusement park in Orlando, criticized a year ago the law nicknamed "Don't Say Gay" ("do not talk about homosexuals"), which prohibits approaching in schools so-called “gender” issues and homosexuality up to the equivalent of CE2.
Ron DeSantis retaliated by depriving the firm of the right to self-manage its estate, a privilege negotiated in the late 1960s, but that was without counting on the reaction of his boss, Robert Iger, who took the governor to court, denouncing "a targeted government retaliatory campaign". Then, Mr. Iger canceled the construction of the campus.
This former naval officer has therefore gained popularity by multiplying the ultra-conservative outbursts on education or immigration, in the name of a battle against the supposed "good-thinking".
On this point, the two candidates are hunting on the same ground. Ron DeSantis indeed multiplies the hard positions on immigration, the Covid-19 or even gender issues.
Disabilities and strengths
But Ron DeSantis' path to the White House is strewn with pitfalls. The main handicap of this father of three children: a lack of charisma, pointed out from all sides. And on which the Trump camp does not hesitate to attack it. “Announcing his candidacy on Twitter is perfect for DeSantis. That way he doesn't need to interact with anyone, "said one of Donald Trump's advisers.
According to a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll, former US President Donald Trump, who has already announced his candidacy for the 2024 election since November 16, 2022, maintains a comfortable lead.
The growing notoriety of Ron DeSantis in the ranks of the Republicans and his ability to raise funds probably make him the biggest rival of Donald Trump. Ron DeSantis has another advantage: he is young, he is only 44 years old. He is the father of three young children. We are far from the 76 and 80 years of Donald Trump or Joe Biden.
The two men, however, remain the two favorites for the Republican nomination. The other declared Republican candidates – Nikki Haley, Tim Scott, Asa Hutchinson – for the moment rarely exceed 5% of voting intentions.
The candidate chosen by the Republican camp at the end of the primaries will face in November 2024 the one nominated by the Democratic Party.
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Jenny Chase for DayNewsWorld |
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THE RISE OF THE STEPS OF THREE SACRED MONSTERS OF CINEMA MARTIN SCORSESE ROBERT DE NIRO AND LEONARDO DICAPRIO
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 They were expected, they did not disappoint. On Saturday, the Killers Of The Flower Moon team climbed the steps of the 2023 Cannes Film Festival. Martin Scorsese came with two of his favorite actors, Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro, but also Lily Gladstone and Jesse Plemons to present, outside category, their film.
The American director adapts in this feature film the eponymous bestseller by David Grann, published in 2017, and telling the true story of a series of unsolved murders, committed in a Native American community in Oklahoma, in the years 1920.
The cast includes several actors from the Amerindian community, who came to Cannes to climb the steps under the flashes of the photographers.
Killers Of The Flower Moon will air from October 18. |
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Kate White for DayNewsWorld |
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NATO THINKS BIGGER IN ITS MECHANISMS
OF DEFENSE |
 Fifteen months after the start of the war against Ukraine, and just over a month before the NATO leaders' summit in Vilnius, the Alliance is strengthening its defenses and revamping protection plans for all its members . Indeed, in response to the invasion of Ukraine, the alliance has deployed four new "battlegroups" in Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria, in addition to the four already formed in Poland and the three states Baltics after the capture of Crimea by Russia in 2014.
Deployments in the Baltics and Poland
NATO members are now considering increasing deployments in the Baltics and Poland to brigade size, which would mean adding thousands more troops "where and when needed".
Military equipment, which is long and complicated to transport, is prepositioned in the east as part of this plan. Exercises like "Spring storm" are intensifying to help allied forces communicate better, work together and know the terrain.
Airborne assault of American troops, night landing of British Marines, parachuting of French commandos: in Estonia, on the eastern flank of NATO, the countries of the Alliance are training in the shadow of the war led by Russia against Ukraine.
Concretely, Great Britain, which leads the NATO battle group in Estonia, will keep troops on standby in their home bases to reinforce the approximately 1,000 British and French soldiers present on the ground.
The message is clear. “It indicates that we can deploy very quickly in a very short time,” explains Lieutenant-Colonel Edouard Bros, commander of the French deployment in Estonia, whose forces are taking part in the “Spring storm” exercise.
"This is an essential change: an additional layer of capabilities to reinforce the force in place before the outbreak of conflict," said British Brigadier General Giles Harris, NATO Deployment Commander in Estonia.
"This change must make the alliance fit for large-scale operations to defend every inch of its territory," US General Christopher Cavoli, NATO's supreme commander in Europe, said this month.
“Collective defense has again become the most important task and we need to get ourselves in order,” says Kristjan Mae, head of the policy planning department at the Estonian Ministry of Defence.
A force of 300,000 soldiers
While Estonia seems happy with this model, its neighbour, Lithuania, wants to have additional troops permanently on the ground and is still discussing with its main partner, Germany, how to obtain them. These deployments reinforce the armies of the countries on the front line and constitute the tip of NATO's forward defense. Finland's - and eventually Sweden's - membership will help strengthen its eastern flank.
More detailed plans must be approved by leaders in Vilnius. They specify how the alliance would defend each region in the event of an attack, with the number of forces, the countries of origin and the duty stations. NATO wants to have a force of 300,000 soldiers ready to be deployed within 30 days.
All these new deployments will inevitably require money, resources and forces. The question is whether the allies are ready to put their hands in their pockets. Before Vilnius, NATO members are negotiating a new commitment to increase defense spending as a percentage of gross domestic product.
Only seven members of the alliance have reached the 2% target set for 2024 and the minimum target for Vilnius will be to turn this 2% into a floor rather than a ceiling. Estonia, which has never ceased to regard Russia as an existential threat, wants to see its allies commit to spending 2.5% of their GDP on defense and wants the new defense strategies to become operational as soon as possible.
"It's one thing to have good plans on paper. Another is to make them executable and achievable," Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur said during the "Spring Storm" exercise. "That's the challenge for all of us." |
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Alize Marion for DayNewsWorld |
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PAKISTAN THE SPECTER OF IGNITION |  In Pakistan, the arrest, on May 9, of former Prime Minister Imran Khan (August 2018-April 2022), for alleged acts of corruption, set fire to the powder.
In several cities, violent clashes pitted sympathizers of his party, Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (Pakistan Justice Movement, PTI, of Islamo-nationalist tendency) and the security forces.
On May 12, the politician was released following a Supreme Court decision, but his legal troubles are not over, since he still has to appear for the charges against him.
This episode of protest, unprecedented in its intensity, is part of the long standoff between the PTI and the coalition gathered around the current Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, while the army, in this country of 230 million inhabitants, continues to play a leading role.
An unexpected explosion
The scale and virulence of the mobilizations seem to have taken the government and the army by surprise, which for the first time was directly targeted by the protesters. This effect of surprise is due in particular to an erroneous perception of Imran Khan's social base: according to a cliché widely spread among their opponents and in government circles, the supporters of the PTI are essentially "keyboard activists" confining their commitment to the networks social.
These clichés have been severely contradicted by the composition of the rioting crowds of the last few days, among which were found highly motivated women as well as businessmen and young people from working-class backgrounds. In this regard, it should be noted that 60% of the population of Pakistan is between 18 and 35 years old. This generation has grown up in a world where the jihadist threat has lost its existential character and where the central role of the army is no longer self-evident.
The ability of Imran Khan and his party to unite anger and provide meaning and direction to vastly different sections of the population has been minimized by authorities, both civilian and military.
However, this is not the first time that the PTI has demonstrated its mobilization capacities: in 2014, the party organized a "freedom march" which, for four months, drained thousands of people from Lahore to Islamabad.
A society crossed by a multitude of social, ethnic and religious divisions
The social conflicts that agitate Pakistan are also measured through the anti-militarist movements that have appeared in recent years in the country's tribal marches, particularly in Balochistan, and in the Pashtun regions, where the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (Pashtun Protection Movement - PTM) succeeded in mobilizing massively to denounce the abuses committed by the security forces in the context of anti-terrorist operations, despite fierce repression.
In recent years, Sindhi nationalist groups, which are more marked on the left, have also been in the news, in particular by attacking Chinese interests. But it is above all in Balochistan, on the border with Iran, that ethnic nationalism poses the greatest challenge to the State and to a unitary conception of the nation that would be satisfied with Islam as a reference. It is in this region, forbidden to foreign observers, that the Pakistani army and pro-government militias show the most uninhibited violence.
Added to this are religious divisions, opposing Sunnis and Shiites (around 20% of the Muslim population, which itself constitutes 96% of the population) but also different Sunni religious currents, in particular the Barelwis, followers of a devotional with Sufi influences, and the Deobandi, belonging to a reformed current which broke away from popular Islam through its rigor and scripturalism.
Finally, Pakistani society is deeply unequal. In Punjab and Karachi – two regions historically rooted in the Indian world – caste hierarchies remain very significant. In Pashtun countries or in Balochistan, society remains dominated by notables or tribal chiefs, while in rural Sindh economic and political power is concentrated in the hands of large landowners. In this context of superimposed social hierarchies, the theme of “people against the establishment”, which the PTI has taken up, is highly mobilizing.
The great strength of the PTI is to have succeeded in overcoming these structural divisions by articulating an anti-system discourse transcending the divisions of caste, class and ethnicity, while promoting an Islamo-nationalism which, if it appears to exclude minorities religions (Hindus, Christians, Ahmadis), brings together the entire Muslim population.
While broadly unifying, Imran Khan has however strongly polarized Pakistani society. He divided the army, some of whose officers seem to support him, but also the families, where the PTI and its leader arouse strongly contrasting opinions. It is also these divisions that explain the depth of the current crisis, which crosses the institutions rather than opposing them head-on.
A disunited ruling coalition
There is only a front unity in the current ruling Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) coalition.
The political dynasties at the head of the Pakistan Peoples Party (the Bhutto-Zardari) and the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (the Sharif) are historical rivals, who have not stopped vying for power since the end of the regime. Zia-ul-Haq military in 1988.
They do, however, share one objective: to consolidate democratic institutions in order to strengthen their autonomy in the face of military power, even if they often bow down to the force of the army, out of weakness or opportunism. The objective of the PTI and its leader is significantly different: it is rather for them to submit all the institutions, including the army, by forcing them to pledge allegiance to the leader of the nation.
Imran Khan fights neither for democracy nor against the military institution. He is in a very personal balance of power with the army chief, who in some ways recalls Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's attempt in the 1970s to monopolize power around himself.
The weight of the army
The army retains a central role in all areas of activity. There are retired generals at the head of many institutions, from the National Accountability Bureau (the anti-corruption agency behind the arrest of Imran Khan on May 9) to the management bodies of the universities. Through its foundations, the army controls whole sections of the economy. It is also one of the first landowners in the country, both in rural areas (where deserving officers are allocated land at the end of their careers) and in large cities (where it manages numerous real estate projects).
At the political level, since the end of the 2000s, the military has been careful not to put themselves on the front line and prefer to control affairs behind the scenes. This is what led them to support the accession to power of Imran Khan, after the 2018 elections. It was then for the army to contain the PPP and the PMLN, which for it represented a threat, with their desire to strengthen the autonomy of civil power and democratic institutions at the expense of military power.
Over the following years, a hybrid regime was set up, presenting a democratic facade but in reality controlled by the military. However, Imran Khan was quick to want to become independent from his former bosses, in particular by trying to place at the head of the army and its powerful intelligence services generals reputed to be close to him.
This is what caused his fall, following a motion of no confidence, in April 2022 – an impeachment in which the leadership of the PTI saw a plot hatched by the Pakistani army and the United States. The conflict has escalated further following the recent arrest of Khan, for which he publicly blamed the army chief, General Asim Munir.
For the leader of the PTI, however, it is less a question of launching a process of demilitarization of the country than of settling scores and winning a showdown with the only man likely to stand up to him. Even if it engages the future of civil-military relations, it is more a conflict of people than of institutions.
What scenarios can we consider ?
The first scenario is that of a rise in tensions between the PTI and the army. Playing the card of polarization and agitation, Imran Khan could call his supporters to resistance, betting on the support of part of the army or even on a mutiny which would push General Munir towards the exit. This scenario is very unlikely. If the army seems more divided than ever, it remains united behind its leader for the moment.
A second scenario is that of a return to power by Imran Khan, following the elections currently scheduled for October 2023. army leaders and opponents of the PTI resign themselves to the return of Khan, one of whose first objectives will be to punish and imprison his opponents.
The last scenario, the most probable in the short term, is that of an authoritarian consolidation at the initiative and for the benefit of the army. This seems determined to exploit the violent mobilizations of the last few weeks to bring the PTI to heel. Thousands of party supporters have been arrested in recent days and could be tried in military courts. Many of the party leaders are also behind bars. This repressive strategy has the support of the government of Shahbaz Sharif which, not without cynicism, exploits the anger of the army to settle its own accounts with the PTI. Some members of the ruling coalition would even like to take advantage of the events of recent days to ban their main rival, in order to prevent him from running in the next elections.
In any case, democracy risks not emerging from this ordeal...
Article by Laurent Gayer, CNRS research director at CERI-Sciences Po, published in The Conversation.
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Boby Dean for DayNewsWorld |
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VEGETABLE CARPACCIO
SHEEP'S TOMME |
Introduced to cooking from an early age by her father, Anne Etorre gives you a delicious spring recipe
Ingredients for 4 persons
500 g of radishes of all kinds (black, red and blue meat, red, etc.)
1 kohlrabi
100 g sheep cheese 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
3 tablespoons herbaceous olive oil
flower of salt
ground pepper (rather a little citrus)
Preparation
Brush the radishes, remove the damaged parts.
Peel the kohlrabi. Slice them very thinly, using a mandoline or a knife, and put them in a large bowl. Add vinegar, olive oil and a little salt. Mix well to coat the vegetables. Let stand 15 to 20 minutes.
Arrange the vegetables nicely on a platter.
Cut shavings of tomme cheese with a peeler and insert them with the vegetables. Pepper.
Enjoy this delicious original dish with a chilled rosé ! . |
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Marie-Chantal de Verneuil for DayNewsWorld |
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RUSSIANS ANNOUNCE CONTROL OF BAKHMUT
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 Could this be the end of the Battle of Bakhmout ?
While the Ukrainian army and the mercenaries of the paramilitary group Wagner, supported by units of the regular Russian army, have been fighting over control of this small town in Donetsk oblast since last August, the latter seem about to win. Moscow claimed on Saturday evening the full capture of the city of Bakhmout, the epicenter of the fighting in eastern Ukraine and the scene of the longest and bloodiest battle in the country since the Russian assault, in February 2022.
This Saturday, Yevgueni Prigojine, the head of Wagner, declared in a message published on the instant messaging application Telegram that his men would have seized Bakhmout "at noon", adding "we took the whole city, house by house . From Bakhmout, Yevgeny Prigojine – in conflict with the military hierarchy in Moscow – pointed out that the capture of the city had taken “224 days” and that there were “only Wagner here”, no regular troops from the army. Russian army.
According to him, his group will withdraw from the city from May 25 and leave its defense to the regular army, remaining available after rotation and training for future operations from Moscow.
That same evening, Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a statement congratulating Wagner and the soldiers of the regular army who gave them their support for the completion of "Operation to Liberate Artyomovsk", the name Bakhmut Soviet.
This is not the first time that the Ukrainian and Russian governments have disputed control of the city through press releases: last April, after his men seized the town hall of Bakhmout, Yevgueni Prigojine assured that it, "from a legal point of view", was in the hands of the Russian forces.
“Ruins and dead Russians”
An assertion that seemed to have been confirmed the next day by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan: “Bahmut is only in our hearts, he said. There's nothing left there […] except ruins, and dead Russians. »
But where this declaration had then been greeted with mockery from the Ukrainian general staff, it would seem that the announcement made on May 20 by Yevgueni Prigojine is more credible: indeed, according to Kiev, the situation on the ground would be “ critical", and the Ukrainian army would only control "certain industrial installations" and residential buildings.
If the city had indeed come under Russian control, it would put an end to a ten-month battle, considered by some observers to be one of the bloodiest of the 21st century. Quoted by the BBC last March, Western officials estimated Russian losses in Bakhmout at between 20,000 and 30,000 people, killed or injured.
The conflict in Ukraine escalates
The Russian claim came during a surprise visit by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to Hiroshima, Japan, for the G7 summit, where he was to meet his US counterpart Joe Biden.
The latter, after having paved the way for future deliveries of American-built F-16 fighter jets to help Ukraine "defend itself" against Russia, met with Mr. Zelensky on Sunday in Hiroshima (Japan). Two days after an announcement paving the way for the delivery of F-16 fighter jets to kyiv, the President of the United States promised new American weapons and ammunition to Ukraine. These new shipments will include “ammunition, artillery, armored vehicles,” Joe Biden said.
But the delivery of F-16 fighter jets to kyiv raises questions. “The question revolves around crossing the Russian border. The purpose of combat aviation is to bring fire to the enemy. However, there is a political obstacle here”, analyzes an expert on France 24 “Not to cross the Russian border, it would be to make a very limited use of this type of armament. Flying F-16s only in the Ukrainian sky would be like putting birds in a cage”, summarizes the specialist in military matters. Asked again Monday about the possibility of supplying American F-16s to Ukraine, John Kirby, the spokesman for the National Security Council at the White House, had reaffirmed no later than Monday May 15 the opposition of Washington which seemedwant to maintain a defensive strategy in Ukrainian skies.
The two camps are now awaiting a major counter-offensive announced by the Ukrainian authorities, backed by Western arms deliveries. |
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Alize Marion for DayNewsWorld |
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NEW-YORK SUSKS INTO WATER UNDER WEIGHT
OF ITS SKYSCRAPERS |
 In New York, the skyscrapers are singled out by a study published in the journal Earth's Future, which explains that, every year, the city sinks by 1 to 2 millimeters due to their weight. An alarming finding, because with the rising waters and frequent storms, the risk of flooding is extremely high. The water would thus have risen by 22 centimeters since 1950, underlines the report. “New York faces significant challenges related to flood risk; the threat of sea level rise is three to four times greater than the global average along the Atlantic coast of North America,” the report read.
"In 2012, Hurricane Sandy pulled seawater into the city, while heavy rains from Hurricane Ida in 2021 overwhelmed drainage systems due to heavy runoff in the mostly paved city."
"A deeply concentrated population of 8.4 million people face varying degrees of flood danger in New York City," experts warn.
All the buildings in the Big Apple would today represent a weight of 764 million tonnes, thus making this collapse of the city all the more rapid. The study chronicles the passage of two recent hurricanes that killed people and caused heavy damage in the Big Apple to illustrate the dangers that await the huge urban center, including the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens.
“Urbanization itself can exacerbate the problem; the cumulative pressure applied to the ground by tall buildings contributes to subsidence through the initial primary settlement of the ground compression and the reduction of vacant space.”
Stop coastal constructions
However, the ground of New York is, in certain zones, composed of soft elements, such as clay and sand. The city's surficial geology consists of silt, sand, clay lake, beach deposits and rock outcrops among others, the study reads. Soils rich in clay and artificial fill are particularly susceptible to subsidence, say the researchers.
New York, Jakarta, soon under water ?
The subsidence could be made worse by the construction of new buildings but also by the extraction of groundwater combined with rising sea levels, they warn. The world's population is growing, and one projection estimates that 70% of it will live in major cities by 2050, they add.
In the future, floods could increase. New York is one of the cities most at risk from future flooding. She's not the only one.
In Indonesia, the capital Jakarta could be under water in barely twenty-five years. Some neighborhoods are sinking nearly 11 centimeters a year due to groundwater pumping. |
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| Britney Delsey for DayNewsWorld |
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PASTRAMI | Of Jewish origin from Eastern Europe, pastrami has made the success of Delicatessen all over the world. A recipe that can be done partly on the barbecue, partly in the oven, or all on the barbecue, if you want.
Pastrami probably comes from Romania
The word is pastrami, trama initially is a mixture of spices. It will take a lot of time, about four days, to make our pastrami.
Ingredients
A brisket of beef weighing about two kilos
60 grams of salt
60 grams of brown sugar
Recipe
I First grind or crush the following mixture:
30 grams of mustard seeds, black pepper, coriander seeds, fennel seeds, juniper berries, pink pepper and smoked paprika.
Start by mixing the coarse salt and brown sugar, then rub the mixture on the beef brisket.
Then place this well-wrapped beef brisket in the refrigerator for 48 to 72 hours. Then remove it, remove the sugar, the salt, pass it under water, dry it completely with absorbent paper.
Rub it again with the spice mixture to completely cover it.
Then place the meat in a dish in the oven at 110 degrees for six hours. Slow cooking will make the meat super tender and release some of its juices.
Remove the meat from the oven, let it cool at room temperature for about 30 minutes.
Put it on the barbecue with a few wood chips that have been moistened beforehand to lightly smoke it, wrap it in parchment paper or aluminum foil and then collect the cooking juices. Add two tablespoons of ketchup, ideally homemade, a tablespoon of honey, a clove of crushed garlic, two teaspoons of smoked paprika. Reduce the sauce and coat.
Slice the pastrami into thin slices, heat it slightly and enjoy with warm bread.
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Marie-Chantal de Verneuil for DayNewsWorld |
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HARRISON FORD AT THE CANNES FESTIVAL
INDIANA JONES AND HONORARY GOLDEN PALM |
 After Johnny Depp, and before the trio Leonardo DiCaprio, Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro on Saturday, it was Harrison Ford who thrilled the Croisette on Thursday with the presentation of Indiana Jones and the dial of destiny. The fifth and a priori last time that he wears the hat of famous archaeologist. "I like it because it makes the public happy. It's a service that I render to the community!", He confided.
It's a final installment of Indiana Jones for legend Harrison Ford. He will not participate in the series on the illustrious character, currently in preparation at Disney. This last installment represents one of the most expensive threads in history with a budget of 300 million dollars.
At the end of the afternoon, the 80-year-old actor found the whole team of the film directed by James Mangold for a climb of the historic steps. He did it on the arm of Calista Flockhart, the unforgettable interpreter of Ally McBeal whom he married in 2010.
In the packed hall of the Palais des Festivals, he saw a clip of his greatest films ("Star Wars", "Indiana Jones", "Witness" which he had presented at the opening of the 1985 edition, etc.) before to receive an honorary Palme d'Or. The actor then wanted to share his emotion to see his life as an actor flash before his eyes and to be celebrated by the family of world cinema. He had tears in his eyes. an “I love you” then sprung up in the room. To which he replied “I know and I love you too”!
A surprise Palme d'Or
Before the screening, the general delegate Thierry Frémaux asked the star of the day to get up… before inviting him to receive a surprise Palme d'honneur from the hands of the new president of the Cannes Film Festival, the German Iris Knobloc.
"I am deeply touched by this distinction," reacted the 80-year-old American actor, visibly very moved.
A figure of Hollywood cinema, he has played a wide range of characters, from Han Solo in the "Star Wars" saga to "Blade Runner", passing by the adventurer with the hat and the whip, which he has played since 1981 and the first episode, "Raiders of the Lost Ark".
Will he have taken the time to meet Steven Spielberg, who is said to be discreetly present on the Croisette but who did not show up on the steps, obviously not wanting to overshadow James Mangold to whom he gave in? the making of the film after having long wanted to sign it himself. |
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Emily Jackson for DayNewsWorld |
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CANNES FESTIVAL MICHAEL DOUGLAS
RECEIVES THE PALME D'OR D'HONOR |
 Pure emotion on the stage of the Cannes Film Festival 2023. Michael Douglas received Tuesday, during the opening ceremony of the Festival, a Palme d'honneur for his entire career. The American actor, who came with his wife Catherine Zeta Jones and their daughter Carys, was presented with the trophy by Uma Thurman, before declaring the 76th edition of the Festival open with Catherine Deneuve, under the watchful eye of the daughter of the latter, Chiara Mastroianni, mistress of ceremonies.
The opportunity to celebrate his brilliant career, his commitment to cinema, but also to man, because Michael Douglas works for many causes. Remember that since 1998, he has been a messenger of peace for the UN. Very quickly, he committed himself against international nuclear armament and for the control of firearms in the United States.
Michael Douglas back on the Croisette
In 1979, Michael Douglas went to the Cannes Film Festival for the very first time. It presents The Chinese Syndrome alongside actors Jane Fonda and Jack Lemmon, as well as director James Bridges. In 1992, Paul Verhoeven's sulfurous Basic Instinct was presented in Competition. Shaking up the genre of thriller, the film shakes up the Croisette: it propels Sharon Stone to the rank of international icon and confirms all the power of play of Michael Douglas. The following year, Chute libre by Joel Schumacher was also presented in Competition, marking the American actor's third appearance at the Cannes Film Festival. It will then be necessary to wait 20 years for Michael Douglas to return to show the Marches du Palais du Festival. We are in 2013 and it is the world premiere of the film My life with Liberace by Steven Soderbergh.
And finally the consecration, twenty years later, this Tuesday, May 16, 2023 with the Palme d'or d'honneur. It is the American actress Uma Thurman who gives the Palme d'or d'honneur to this “eternal star”, this “generous artist”, as she calls him so well: Michael Douglas. Acclaimed by the public for his capital career and his commitment to cinema, the actor declares: “There are hundreds of film festivals in the world, but there is only one Cannes. I have wonderful memories of this Festival. The pleasure is immense to be able to meet and talk with such different people around the cinema. While a pandemic and then a terrible war have divided the world, the Cannes Film Festival confirms that cinema can transcend limits and bring people together. It's a privilege to
"You know the basics of my training, which has lasted for more than 50 years. We work with as much relentlessness on our failures as our successes. I thank the hundreds of teams, my wife Catherine and my daughter. I send them all my love, and thank them for their patience," the actor continued.
He recalls that his last role, that of Benjamin Franklin and recalls the links between France and his country. He concludes in French: "I would like to kiss you with all my heart".
Passed in front of the camera of the greatest such as Robert Zemeckis for In pursuit of the green diamond (1984), Ridley Scott for Black Rain (1989) or Barry Levinson with Harassment (1994), he goes so far as to obtain the grail of industry: the Oscar. He thus became the best actor of 1987 for his interpretation of Gordon Gekko, a greedy New York broker on Wall Street. The sequel, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, was screened Out of Competition at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival.
"There are hundreds of festivals but there is only one Cannes Film Festival"
“The Festival has always reminded me that the magic of cinema is not only in what you see on screen but also in its ability to move people around the world." |
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Kate White for DayNewsWorld |
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ALERT ON LOW WATER IN THE LAKES
AND TANKS OF THE WORLD |
 This is a disturbing number to say the least. According to a new study published in the prestigious journal Science on Thursday, the amount of water is decreasing in more than half of the world's lakes and reservoirs.
The bottom of Lake Titicaca, in Bolivia, has completely dried up, transformed into a desert. The lake of Serre-Ponçon, in the Alps, reveals new banks, it is the same in Spain or in Voglans, in the Jura.
"Lakes are in danger globally, and this has broad implications," Balaji Rajagopalan, a professor at the University of Colorado Boulder and co-author of the study, told AFP. “They allow societies and humanity to live, and yet they don't get the respect they deserve. »
Lakes cover about 3% of the earth's surface, but account for 87% of liquid fresh water on Earth. They are used for human consumption, agriculture, or even the production of electricity. About a quarter of the world's population lives in an area with a lake or reservoir (a body of water regulated by a dam) that is drying up.
Nearly 2,000 bodies of water studied
Previous work has already looked at the decline of larger lakes individually. But this study is the first to offer a detailed view of global trends, and the causes of change, through satellite observations.
In total, the researchers studied 1,972 bodies of water, representing the vast majority of natural lakes (focusing on those larger than 100 km2) and reservoirs. Over the nearly 30-year period studied (from 1992 to 2020), the study concludes that they drained the equivalent of all the water consumed by the United States in 2015.
The study has an unexpected result: lakes lose water not only in arid areas, but also in humid regions. "It is generally considered that when the climate warms up, the arid regions dry out even more, and the humid regions become wetter", explains Balaji Rajagopalan. But even in the latter, “the lakes are in decline”, which is “surprising”, he underlined, giving the example of India.
To determine the causes of the observed trends, the scientists segmented their analysis according to the type of body of water. For natural lakes, they attribute about half of water loss to human activities and rising temperatures, which cause increased evaporation – the latter factor being linked to climate change.
In addition, humans or herds may need to consume more water due to higher temperatures.
With regard to reservoirs, the construction of new dams has made it possible to increase their overall volume of water, but nearly two thirds of the large reservoirs are in decline. Sediment accumulation was the main factor reducing their storage capacity, although droughts also affect some, such as in the southwestern United States.
Many consequences
The consequences of this decline are numerous. Lack of water can cause population displacements. Water quality can also be affected if a lake's level is low. Like the oceans, the lakes also store carbon, and no longer play this role when they disappear, in turn aggravating global warming.
But the researchers' message is not fatalistic: on the contrary, they seek to raise awareness. Decision makers are now “armed with information”. |
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Abby Shelcore for DayNewsWorld |
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KALININGRAD RETURNS TO OLD NAME
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 In 1945 the city was placed under Soviet administration under the Potsdam Agreement and in 1946 was renamed Kaliningrad after Russian Bolshevik leader Mikhail Kalinin, one of six Soviet signatories to a execution order for over 21,000 Polish prisoners of war in 1940.
In its opinion published on Tuesday (9 May), the Polish Commission for the Standardization of Geographical Names (KSNG) recommended using the name Królewiec, the Polish version of the name given to the city founded in the 13th century by the Teutonic Order, to which the territory belonged at the time, rather than Kaliningrad.
“It is not even a question of Russophobia anymore, but of a decision which borders on madness”, declared the spokesman of the Kremlin, Dmitry Peskov, quoted by the agency TASS.
Explaining the reasons for this new recommendation, the KSNG said that the town was historically known in Poland by its original name, Królewiec.
Naming such an important city close to Poland after Mikhail Kalinin, "a criminal" who was co-responsible for the murder of Polish officers in the Katyn Forest, among other places, is "artificial and unrelated to the city itself, nor with the region".
Current political circumstances were also cited as the reason for the recommendation, with the KSNG believing that Russia's invasion of Ukraine and Moscow's information warfare should reignite the debate over Russian-imposed names.
Reaction in Russia
The replacement of the city's name also drew strong reactions from former Russian President and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. If Poland does not like the name Kaliningrad, the names of Polish cities previously occupied by Germany should be replaced with German names, he said, as quoted by TASS.
To give some examples, he suggested using the name Danzig instead of Gdansk, Stettin instead of Szczecin, or Breslau instead of Wroclaw.
A town named after the Czech king by warrior monks
The city was founded in the mid-13th century on the site of the former Prussian colony of Twangste by the Teutonic Knights during the Northern Crusades and was named Königsberg, translated into Polish by Królewiec, in honor of King Ottokar II of Bohemia, which helped the Teutonic Order conquer the territories of the Prussian tribes. Until the 1500s, the city was one of the states of the Teutonic Order, an important urban center and the capital of the Grand Master of the Order between 1457 and 1525. Until the Second World War, it remained under Prussian and then German domination.
After Królewiec was captured by the Soviet Union on April 9, 1945, the Potsdam Agreement of 1945 placed it under Soviet administration. |
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Boby Dean for DayNewsWorld |
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CHAOS ON THE US-MEXICO BORDER WITH
THE END OF TITLE 42 ?
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 The crisis is not new, but could take on unprecedented proportions.
In the coming weeks, the United States authorities expect a "chaotic" situation, in the words of Joe Biden himself, with massive arrivals of migrants at the Mexican border.
In an attempt to respond, the federal state has mobilized more than 24,000 agents and law enforcement at the border, in addition to 4,000 soldiers. The cause ?
The expiry this Thursday of a public health order known as "Title 42".
Disorder indeed reigns on the US southern border, according to US border officials, with Title 42 ending at 11:59 p.m. (EDT) Thursday, May 11, 2023.
Nearly 10,000 migrants were intercepted, hours before the end of the measure, as they desperately tried to cross the border between Mexico and the United States.
Title 42, which had been in place since March 2020, allowed border patrol officers to deport migrants who arrived illegally on US soil before they could apply for asylum, amid a pandemic.
End of Title 42
"Title 42" refers to Clause 42 of the U.S. Governmental Code, established July 1, 1944.
It is a law that gives federal authorities the power to prohibit the entry of people and products into the country in order to limit the spread of a communicable disease.
It is therefore this clause that the Trump administration invoked in March 2020, at the start of the pandemic, to limit the entry and receipt of immigration applications. Its objective was to prohibit border control agencies from detaining migrants in "gathering places" such as detention centres, where the COVID-19 virus could spread rapidly.
This measure having ended Thursday evening, several migrants rushed to the border, hoping to be able to take advantage of this chaotic transition to the United States.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said on Thursday that “a high number of arrivals” had been observed “in “certain sectors” before the expiration of Title 42. The federal government expects receive up to 13,000 migrants a day immediately after the measure expires, compared to around 6,000 on a normal day.
“Chaotic” situation
Local authorities are grappling with the large migratory flow of the last few days, in addition to the duty to deal with undocumented migrants already intercepted. The Biden administration planned to release these irregular immigrants without deporting them to breathe new life into border guards.
However, a federal judge in Florida on Thursday ordered a conflicting notice requiring officers to serve notices to appear for immigration court, a time-consuming process that border officials say is harmful.
“This is a harmful regulation that will lead to border congestion, which impedes our ability to effectively carry out procedures and deportations of migrants and which risks creating dangerous conditions for border agents and migrants.” A quote from the US Border Patrol
To help local authorities, 24,000 additional agents were deployed on Wednesday in addition to 4,000 soldiers in view of the large influx of migrants.
The situation, although chaotic, was however expected. President Joe Biden himself recently said that the situation will be "chaotic for a while" as he tries to keep a balanced policy on this file.
Faced with a risk of a migration crisis, the Democrats are therefore displaying a discourse of firmness. "I want to be very clear: our border is not wide open. People crossing our border illegally and without a legal basis to stay will be immediately [...] deported," said Homeland Security Minister Alejandro Mayorkas.
However, he admits to being lucid about the challenges that we will probably face in the days and weeks to come.
"We are ready to respond to it ," said the minister, noting "that a high number of arrivals" had already been observed "in certain sectors".
To restrict irregular crossing at its border, the US government wants to introduce new restrictions.
Visa-free migrants who passed through other countries before reaching the United States and who did not apply in those countries will no longer be eligible to apply for asylum. However, those who have made an appointment on the CBP One mobile application for their application will be exempt from the measures.
The only exception to the rule will be unaccompanied minors.
Illegals who do not meet the criteria will be subject to the "accelerated deportation process" which will prevent them from entering American soil for the next five years.
Migrants "who have no reason to stay, we will remove them very quickly with what we now have at our disposal, our traditional powers of immigration control", explained the Secretary of Homeland Security.
The impacts with the return of clause 8
Since the Term 42 policy began, the Border Patrol has reportedly conducted 2.8 million migrant deportations, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Before the pandemic, Clause 8 was the main resource available to immigration authorities when deciding whether to detain a person at the border or release them with a permit to seek asylum or to invoke humanitarian reasons.
Term 8, however, provides severe penalties for returned migrants for illegal entry, including a re-entry ban for at least five years and potential criminal prosecution for repeated attempts to illegally enter US territory.
The return of the application of clause 8 should reduce the number of repeated border crossings, which increased considerably during the application of clause 42.
However, this clause provides exceptions for people who belong to vulnerable populations, for example those who report a credible fear of persecution. They could appear before a judge, who will then decide whether they can stay in the United States or not.
Contain the flow of migrants
The Biden administration has decided to send 1,500 troops for 90 days to the US-Mexico border.
A total of 4,000 military personnel are mandated to assist border authorities with various non-law enforcement tasks.
This measure is not unanimous among Democrats, some deploring that President Biden has decided to militarize the border with Mexico.
Meanwhile, the United States has opened new processing centers in Colombia and Guatemala, which will allow migrants to be screened through legal pathways, such as asylum seeker or refugee status, before going to swell the ranks of the population at the border.
Alejandro Mayorkas, head of Homeland Security, said in a statement that his department would process the migrants according to "standard procedure", that is, subjecting them to deportation proceedings.
Delicate political dossier
Republicans accuse Democrats of not tightening enough security at the country's gates, while migrant rights groups say the government is blocking asylum seekers from accessing their rights. civil rights (ACLU) is suing the Biden administration to counter new restrictions on asylum seekers.
The new government policies want to encourage migrants to adopt the legal process to enter the country. The problem identified by the organization is that the system requires appointment booking via a mobile application, while many applicants do not have access to the Internet or even a mobile device.
It's a political problem for Joe Biden. A timely migration crisis for Republicans, as Donald Trump makes his comeback on the American political scene?
For the former president, "Joe Biden has officially abolished what was left of America's borders".
On the side of the Democrats, we want a humanitarian treatment of migrants. Everyone wants new immigration laws, but congress is so divided they can't pass new laws.
In the meantime, Republicans, who have a majority in the House of Representatives, plan to hold a vote on the new "Secure the Border Act of 2023" next week. The bill would restore many of ex-President Trump's most controversial border policies.
Kyrsten Sinema, Democratic Senator from Arizona, and her Republican colleague from North Carolina, Thom Tillis, are currently working on a bill that would grant a two-year temporary authorization to continue deporting migrants from the United States, so with powers similar to those conferred by clause 42.
This measure is not unanimous among Democrats, some deploring that President Biden has decided to militarize the border with Mexico with the sending of 1,500 American soldiers as reinforcements to the Mexican-American border.
Meanwhile, the United States has opened new processing centers in Colombia and Guatemala, which will allow migrants to be screened through legal pathways, such as asylum seeker or refugee status, before going to swell the ranks of the population at the border.
Separately, as early as Thursday, Republicans intend to pass a bill, known as HR 2, that would codify some of the border agendas implemented by former President Donald Trump, including the policy that demanded that migrants remain in Mexico while following the asylum procedure.
He also plans to devote more resources to border security, relaunch the construction of the wall between the two states, increase border personnel and modernize border technology.
So far, the United States has agreed with Mexico to contain migrants turned back by Washington.
And Mexico in all this ?
For its part, Mexico has agreed to welcome migrants from Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba and Haiti under the old clause under the new parole procedures implemented by the Biden administration in the United States. beginning of the year. These policies have resulted in a significant drop in the number of illegal border crossings by nationals of these four countries.
However, despite ongoing talks with the United States, it is uncertain whether Mexico will agree to continue hosting non-Mexicans rejected by the United States without the Term 42 mechanism. |
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| Joanne Courbet for DayNewsWorld |
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SURPRISE VICTORY OF THE PRO-DEMOCRACY PARTY
IN THAILAND AGAINST THE MILITARY JUNTA |
 Political earthquake in Thailand. The surprise victory in the legislative elections this Sunday, May 14, 2023 of the progressive and reformist party Move Forward could mark a “turning point in the Kingdom where the taboo of the monarchy is fading”, comments the Guardian correspondent in Bangkok, who underlines that it is "the very first time that a party that has campaigned to reform the strict laws that protect the royal family has won the vote".
For nine years, the country had been ruled by Prayuth Chan-ocha, who came to power after a military coup.
A “tradition” (Thailand has experienced a coup every seven years on average since 1932) that the electorate supports less and less. He therefore preferred the Move Forward and Pheu Thai parties to the royalists and the military.
Marching towards democracy with Pita Limjaroenrat ?
The hope of seeing the country give birth to a democracy now has a name: Pita Limjaroenrat. This leader of the opposition, claimed this Monday, May 15 the victory of his center left party Move Forward, en route to form a government coalition to succeed the generals in power for almost ten years.
A true idol of Thai youth, this businessman from a good family hopes to become the next Prime Minister of Thailand. He embodies the break with the military in power for a decade in Thailand.
“It is clear that the Thai people have expressed their desire to put the Move Forward Party in the lead. We can therefore manage the formation of the future government,” insisted the charismatic leader, aged only 42. With a confident posture and a determined gaze, Pita Limjaroenrat said he was "ready to become the next Prime Minister". He pleaded on Monday for a "smooth transition" at the head of the government.
Imposing itself outside its usual urban strongholds, its young reformist formation won more than 150 parliamentary seats out of the 500 in the Assembly and established itself as the leading political force in the kingdom.
A Senate under orders
Having to negotiate within the framework of constitutional rules distorted by the military, who led the 2014 coup, Khun Pita, as his supporters call him, must succeed, in the coming weeks, in forming a large majority made up of at least 376 parliamentarians. To minimize the weight of the 500 deputies elected by the people, the generals have, in fact, ensured total control of the Senate. Its 250 members are not elected but appointed by various conservative institutions.
To be appointed Prime Minister, the leader of Move Forward must therefore convince 376 deputies to join his executive. This Monday evening, he assured that he was already certain to rally at least 309 elected officials, from six parties. In particular, he has the support of Pheu Thai, the populist party, led by the family of billionaire Thaksin Shinawatra, which had so far won all the legislative elections since 2001, and should, this time, have just over 140 elected.
Gag procedures
But nothing is won. Because going forward is very offensive on the issue of the reform of the crime of lèse-majesté which, for a wrong word on King Rama X, continues to send Thais to prison. However, this is not the position of its future coalition partners in a country where the monarchy divides.
We cannot exclude a dirty trick from the military either. Pita's supporters fear a procedure for ineligibility on the pretext, however firmly denied, that he is a shareholder in a media company, which the electoral code prohibits.
In the past, legal gag proceedings have on several occasions made it possible to dismiss the intruders, whether they are former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, in exile since in Dubai, or even the former opponent Thanatorn Juangroongruangkit. In 2020, justice had dissolved the party The Future Ahead of Us, ancestor of Going Forward.
"It's a spectacular challenge for the power in place in the Kingdom", considers for his part the correspondent of the Times who nevertheless judges, like the whole of the international press, that the Thai generals will not be so easily ousted from the power, and "that there is no guarantee that Pita can become Prime Minister", despite his electoral victory.
Pita's victory "marks the culmination of the protest movement that began in 2020, with massive pro-democracy protests, when thousands of youth and student-led people challenged the military-linked government, by demanding both the resignation of the Prime Minister and the reform of the monarchy", underlines the correspondent of El Pais. |
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Andrew Preston for DayNewsWorld |
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FROM ELECTIONS IN TURKIYE TO INTERNATIONAL ISSUES
|  None of the two favorites in the Turkish presidential election managed, according to still partial results, to gather more than 50% of the votes cast. The country is moving towards a historic first: a second round on May 28 to decide between opposition candidate Kemal Kiliçdaroglu and outgoing President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, given slightly ahead. There were 49.51% of the votes for Recep Tayyip Erdogan, 44.88% for Kemal Kiliçdaroglu and 5.1% in favor of the outsider Sinan Ogan.
After 20 years of reign, the "sultan of modern times" is more fragile than ever. The Turks penalized him for his role in the collapse of the economy and his management - much criticized - of the deadly earthquakes of February.
Yesterday, the youth vote weighed in the balance. They are 6.4 million first-time voters (out of 64 million voters) born and raised under Erdogan's reign. A generation that the reis failed to transform, as he had promised, into 'a pious generation'".
The presidential election of 2023 is certainly played on economic issues and the ability of candidates to stop the inflation that is undermining the country. But international issues make this election an event that goes beyond the national framework. The outcome of these presidential elections could indeed have an impact on Turkey's foreign policy.
Put Turkey, a military power, back in the center of the map
Despite the economic and political difficulties that the Turkish state has been going through for a few years, it is interesting to see that the foreign policy pursued by Erdogan since he came to power has continued to follow the objective of putting Turkey back at the center of the map. A bridge between Europe and Asia and a true crossroads of the eastern Mediterranean, Ankara has many assets that make it essential on the European, Asian, Middle Eastern scene, and to a lesser extent, on the African scene. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, over time, has proven to be a skilled diplomat, using his country's central geographical position. A link between Europe and the Middle East, in direct contact with the war in Syria, in discussion with the Gulf countries, in mediation on the war in Ukraine. He talks to Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping while being at the head of NATO's second army, in fact a valuable ally of the United States. His departure would cast a shadow of uncertainty over many issues.
In addition, a rising military power with military expenditure of 15.48 billion dollars (i.e. 2.1% of its GDP), Turkey has a very active defense industry, which has mainly made itself known with MALE drones Bayraktar TB-2. The embargo put in place by France and Germany on the sale of arms to Turkey in 2019 has pushed the country to improve its strategic autonomy. It now aims to produce 100% of its weapons. In 2021, Ankara produces 70% of its weaponry and begins to carve out a place for itself among the major arms exporters. The Turkish state intends, among other things, to produce a national fighter, the TF-X, but also an anti-aircraft defense system, the SIPER. Three Turkish companies are also now among the 100 largest arms companies in the world.
In addition to a strategic geographical location, Turkey has adopted a strategy of influence , based both on "Turkish-style" pan-Islamism and on arms exports, which gradually seems to be making its mark. evidence within the Turkish strategic environment.
An ambiguous role on the European scene
Ankara, under the presidency of Erdogan, is characterized by its particularly ambiguous role on the European scene: while Turkey is a candidate for the EU and a member of NATO, it has gradually moved away from Western countries since the lockdown country's policy started in 2016, and makes it a point of honor to maintain close relations with Russia. This ambiguity can be seen above all through its position on the relaunch of Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022 by serving as an intermediary to circumvent international sanctions against Moscow. Turkey is playing a balancing act here. It delivers Bayraktar drones to Ukraine, while opposing sanctions against Moscow. A position that even allowed him to sponsor an agreement between the two belligerents to let Ukrainian cereals out through the Black Sea. Even if the Turkish state seems to be playing a murky game between the two belligerents, it ultimately strives to exploit its position of "balance" between two poles of power - one centered around the European Union and the another centered around Moscow - in order to chart its own course and eventually become a regional power.
Recep Erdogan tempers, as much as possible. But in the context of the presidential election on May 14, 2023, his opponent Kemal Kiliçdaroglu will not necessarily be able to maintain the balance. It will be more complicated because with Erdogan, Russia had only one interlocutor.
If the opposition wins, there will be several. The opposition is a team of six very different political currents. And the candidate behind whom they lined up promises a collegial presidency to break with the verticality of Recep Erdogan.
A thorn in the side of NATO?
The war in Ukraine has also revealed Turkey's influence within NATO. Finland and Sweden, which until then wanted to stay away from the organization, have applied. Ankara finally agreed to join Finland, while letting Stockholm wait. Recep Erdogan is asking Sweden to extradite sympathizers he considers to be “PKK terrorists”. He wanted to show [his electorate] that his country is a country that counts in international organizations. The signal he sends is that of a president who does not jeopardize the safety of his citizens like that.
Within the Atlantic Alliance, Turkey is the second largest army behind that of the United States. A country with which the relationship has been ambiguous since Ankara opted for the Russian S-400 missile system to the detriment of its American equivalent. The United States responded by refusing to sell them F-35 fighter jets.
A subject of contention which could quickly calm down with the arrival of Kemal Kiliçdaroglu in power.
The end of a stormy relationship with the European Union?
Another tense relationship is that of Turkey with the European Union. Troublesome folders won't disappear in the blink of an eye. Recep Erdogan will probably continue to play the balance of power. As for his opponent, if he plans to calm the relationship, he still risks suffering from the tensions left as a legacy.
It plans to modify the penal code, protect freedom of expression and freedom of the press. Giving pledges to the West would give Turkey a better image, which would eventually attract foreign investors. In turn, to put the customs union project with the EU back on the table. And why not to offer more flexible visa conditions for Turkish youth eager for Europe. The challenge will be to convince Brussels, which is no longer as open as it used to be, of the interest of a rapprochement with Ankara.
On the other hand, we should not expect a change of foot on Cyprus or Syria. These are security issues, regardless of the power in place. The majority of Turks feel threatened by what is happening in Syria.
A possible normalization in the eastern Mediterranean
With the economic crisis that Turkey is undergoing, Ankara needs stability with its neighbors. After a period of tension in the eastern Mediterranean, relations with Greece are tending to normalize. Recep Erdogan and Kemal Kiliçdaroglu would go in the same direction. It must be said that the earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria in February helped calm things down. Athens immediately gave its support which was appreciated and noticed. Exploration vessels flying the Turkish flag are also less aggressive in the area in an attempt to get their hands on the important gas resources.
Turkey has therefore succeeded in securing a place of choice in its strategic environment. The strengthening of its military capabilities, the dazzling growth of its defense industry, but above all its great ambitions should enable it to become, in the long term, a power of regional scope.
However, the country still faces many challenges, especially domestically: the poor state of the Turkish economy, aggravated by the two earthquakes, requires fundamental reforms which will undoubtedly vary depending on the candidate who wins the presidential elections , but also of the party which will carry the ballot of the legislative elections.
A change at the head of the country after more than twenty years of governance by the AKP party could have a considerable impact on this state with great ambitions, which until then used its ambiguous relations to gain power.
"But the balance of power is never far away. It is even the hallmark of Turkish diplomacy in recent years: the lack of clarity while ensuring a certain stability." |
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Alize Marion for DayNewsWorld |
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ACTOR TOM HANKS NOT ALWAYS FRIENDLY
ON FILM SETS
RELEASES HIS FIRST NOVEL |
 Tom Hanks, Hollywood's perennial darling, the quintessential good guy, dad incarnate, father of Chet Hanks, has admitted to sometimes having a tendency to misbehave on film sets during a new interview with the BBC.
Mr. Hanks was talking about his first novel, The Making of Another Motion Picture Masterpiece, which is partly about making a blockbuster superhero movie. The Forrest Gump star has revealed his novel features a series of characters, including an overbearing and highly obstructive male actor who disrupts and delays filming.
"I've behaved like this on a film set, admits Hanks. Not everyone is at their best every day on a film set. I've had difficult days where I was trying to be a professional when my life was falling apart in more ways than one and I had to be funny and charming and loving…and that's the last thing I feel."
The All-Nighter in Seattle actor then spoke of the "deadly sin in the film industry" of delay.
"What can't happen on a film is that someone can't play with the schedule, the shooting time or the budget, he said, before adding:
You'd be surprised how many people know they can get away with doing it anyway, because they're carrying the movie on their shoulders."
In the novel, he refers to actors who are "whiners, psychological wrecks, alcoholics on the wagon, drug addicts off the wagon...and more than a few talent feuds".
Hanks unsurprisingly didn't take the opportunity to divulge particular examples or offer specific mea culpa.
The Making of Another Motion Picture Masterpiece was released on May 9, 2023. Although it is Hanks' first novel, it is his second work of fiction, following his 2017 short story collection, Matters of Character.
He will also star in Wes Anderson's next film, Asteroid City, which will be released on June 21, 2023. |
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Kate White for DayNewsWorld |
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DEADLY SHOOTING IN A SYNAGOGUE
IN TUNISIA |
 "Terrorist" attack or isolated act ?
The Tunisian authorities are investigating, Wednesday, May 10, 2023, to elucidate the circumstances of the attack carried out by a gendarme who killed three of his colleagues and two faithful in front of a synagogue on the island of Djerba, during the annual Jewish pilgrimage, before be shot.
Security forces “encircled the synagogue and secured everyone inside and around it,” according to the Interior Ministry. “Investigations are continuing to elucidate the motives for this cowardly attack,” added the ministry, refraining at this stage from mentioning a terrorist attack.
Preliminary investigation opened
Two worshipers taking part in a Jewish pilgrimage and two gendarmes were killed Tuesday evening by an agent of the Tunisian maritime guard who opened fire in front of the Ghriba synagogue on the island of Djerba, announced the Ministry of the Interior.
A police officer who was hospitalized after Tuesday's attack died of his injuries on Wednesday, according to a medical official quoted by TAP, bringing the death toll to five.
This synagogue, the oldest in Africa, had already been targeted in 2002 by a suicide truck bomb attack that killed 21 people.
"A preliminary criminal investigation has been opened," said Fethi Bakkouche, spokesperson for the court in Medenine, on which the island of Djerba depends.
The attack came in two stages as hundreds of worshipers took part in the annual Jewish Ghriba pilgrimage which was coming to an end on Tuesday evening.
A security device was deployed in the perimeter of the synagogue, closing all the roads giving access to it.
According to the Tunisian Ministry of the Interior, the gendarme who fired the shots first shot and killed one of his colleagues in the port of Djerba and seized his weapon and ammunition. He then went to the outskirts of the synagogue, about fifteen kilometers away, where he opened fire on the police who were providing security for the place, before being shot.
Two faithful, a Tunisian and a Franco-Tunisian were killed by the assailant's shots, and four others were injured and evacuated to a hospital, according to the authorities. Six gendarmes were also injured by the assailant's shots.
One of them succumbed to his injuries on Tuesday evening, according to the Interior Ministry.
Tourism affected again ?
According to organizers, more than 5,000 Jewish pilgrims, mostly from abroad, took part in the Ghriba pilgrimage this year, which resumed last year after a two-year hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Organized on the 33rd day of Passover, the Ghriba pilgrimage is at the heart of the traditions of Tunisians of the Jewish faith, who are only 1,500 – mostly settled in Djerba –, compared to 100,000 before independence in 1956.
Pilgrims also traditionally come from European countries, the United States or even Israel, but their number decreased considerably after the 2002 attack.
The attack comes as tourism is rebounding strongly in Tunisia after a sharp slowdown during the pandemic. This key sector for the economy had been seriously affected after the 2015 attacks against the Bardo museum in Tunis and a hotel in the seaside resort of Sousse, the toll of which had risen to 60 dead including 59 foreign tourists. |
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Britney Delsey for DayNewsWorld |
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ROBERT DE NIRO FATHER OF A SEVENTH CHILD
GIA VIRGINIA |
 Robert De Niro recently welcomed his seventh child. The news was revealed during an interview with ET Canada. The 79-year-old actor gave an interview to ET Canada on the occasion of the release of About My Father, a feature film by Laura Terruso. The film in which he plays Salvo, an Italian-American father, will be released in the United States very soon. The subject of paternity has rightly been broached. While the Canadian journalist was talking to her about her six children, Robert de Niro hastened to correct the information.
"Seven, actually. I just had a baby," he revealed.
But it was not until Thursday, May 11, 2023 that the Oscar-winning actor decided to lift the veil on this mysterious newborn, during an intervention on the CBS Morning program. Showing the first public photo of the newcomer, De Niro said it was a baby girl born on April 6 and named Gia Virginia (the first name is a tribute to her mother, who died in 2000). The show confirmed who the baby's mother is: martial arts expert Tiffany Chen, whom De Niro was often seen with after his long and tormented romance with ex-wife Grace Hightower ended.
Page Six and other outlets reported that his girlfriend, Tiffany Chen, who had shown a baby bump on private outings in recent weeks, recently gave birth. The couple have known each other since 2015 but would only be together since 2021, three years after the actor's divorce from Grace Hightower.
The child's mother would be Tiffany Cheng, Robert de Niro's supposed companion since 2021. A professional Tai-chi athlete, they met on the set of the film "The New Intern". The 45-year-old was then the martial arts teacher for the feature film team.
De Niro, who is 79, has had six more children with three women over the past 35 years. The eldest is Drena, 51, whom De Niro adopted when he married his mother, Diahnne Abbott, in 1976. De Niro also had Raphael, 46, with Diahnne Abbott. He had twins, Aaron and Julian, 27, with actress and model Toukie Smith, then two children with his second ex-wife, Grace Hightower: Elliot, 25, and Helen, 11.
Actor since the 1960s, the actor with two Oscars is expected at the next Cannes Film Festival to present the film "Killers of the Flower Moon" alongside Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese. |
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Kate White for DayNewsWorld |
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DONALD TRUMP FOUND GUILTY OF SEXUAL ASSAULT AND DEFAMATION
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 After a two-week civil trial, a jury of six men and three women found Donald Trump responsible for sexually assaulting and defaming former Elle magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll.
The former president will have to pay $5 million in compensatory and punitive damages for the sexual assault and defamation.
E. Jean Carroll, 79, spoke in a written statement.
"I filed this lawsuit against Donald Trump to clear my name and get my life back. Today, the world finally knows the truth. This victory is not just for me, but for all women who have suffered because 'They weren't believed,' she claimed.
E. Jean Carroll said she was encouraged to break her long silence on the sexual assault by the Harvey Weinstein case and the #metoo movement. In a book published in 2019, E. Jean Carroll accused Donald Trump of raping her in a fitting room at the Bergdorf Goodman store on 5th Avenue in Manhattan in 1996. The former president denied the accusation on Truth Social in 2022, calling the case a " total scam", "a 'hoax' and a 'lie'.
The jury rejected the allegation that Donald Trump raped E. Jean Carroll, that is, he had sex with her without her consent. But he concluded that the property developer had sexually assaulted the journalist.
'A disgrace,' says Trump
Donald Trump, he had made his reaction known immediately after the announcement of the verdict in a message published on Truth Social, his platform.
"I have absolutely no idea who this woman is," he wrote.
This verdict is a disgrace – a continuation of the greatest witch hunt of all time
Later, on Fox News Digital, he added, “We will appeal. We were treated very badly by the judge appointed by [Bill] Clinton. "I have no idea who this woman is."
His lawyer, Joe Tacopina, has also promised to appeal the verdict.
“Strange verdict,” he told reporters.
"It was a rape complaint, it was a rape case all along, and the jury dismissed that complaint and made other findings. We will obviously appeal those other findings." |
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Jaimie Potts for DayNewsWorld |
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ADOPTION OF THE RECOVERY LAW
NUCLEAR BY SENATORS |
 The senators adopted Tuesday, May 9, 2023 the bill providing for the acceleration of the construction of six new nuclear reactors and the study of eight others. The text must now be approved by the deputies.
“It is a new energy pact that we are building”, rejoiced the Minister for Energy Transition, Agnès Pannier-Runacher.
The text on the relaunch of nuclear power is indeed part of the government's strategy of reducing the energy consumption of the French, facilitating the development of renewable energies and nuclear power.
The text had been adopted at first reading in the Senate at the end of January and in the National Assembly at the end of March, before being sent to the joint joint committee (CMP) to build a compromise text between parliamentarians.
The CMP, bringing together seven deputies and seven senators on May 4, reached an agreement on the nuclear stimulus bill, which aims to facilitate the construction of six new EPR reactors promised by Emmanuel Macron by 2035.
The CMP underlined the maintenance of most of the provisions that it had introduced in the text along four axes.
In terms of energy planning, she cites the removal of "three obstacles to the revival of nuclear energy resulting from the 2015 'Energy Transition' law" - repeal of the objective of reducing nuclear energy to 50% and of the ceiling of authorization of 63.2 gigawatts (GW) and obligation for the government to revise the multiannual energy program (PPE) to withdraw the trajectory for the closure of the 14 existing reactors (article 1 A). The next "five-year energy law" will also have to set an objective for the construction of EPR2s and SMRs and specify the means to achieve it (article 1)
Nuclear safety and security
The committee also considers that it has strengthened nuclear safety and security through several provisions – integration of resilience to climate change in the safety demonstration of reactors, both at the licensing and review stage, and cyber-resilience, in their protection against malicious acts (article 9 bis), maintenance of a five-year report on nuclear safety within the framework of the review (article 9).
Instead of a merger deemed "badly assessed and badly anticipated" of the Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) and the Institute for Nuclear Safety and Nuclear Radiation Protection (IRSN) as envisaged by the government, it consolidated the powers and resources of ASN (articles 11 to 11 ter and 15). Penalties for trespassing on nuclear power plant sites have also been increased and supplemented (Article 13).
Nuclear revival
The project aims to speed up town planning procedures and facilitate administrative procedures to launch the construction of six EPR 2 nuclear reactors, then to consider the construction of eight others. The first concrete is expected for 2027, hope the defenders of its revival.
On Tuesday, 315 senators voted in favor of the work that came out of it. The 12 senators from the ecologist group (Ecology, solidarity and territories - GEST), as well as one from the socialist group (Socialist, ecologist and republican - SER) positioned themselves against, while the 15 from the communist group (Communist, republican, citizen and ecologist — CRCE) abstained.
Environmentalists up in arms
Far from being an acceptable compromise for environmentalists, the bill as it emerges from the work of the CMP "moves even further away from democratic and environmental imperatives", they denounced in a press release.
On the merits, Mr. Salmon deplored the removal of the objectives of reduction and/or contraction of nuclear power in the French energy mix. So many locks that had to be removed, rather argue the defenders of the text.
The senator is also alarmed by the partial consideration of the effects of climate change on the existing and new nuclear fleet and the downward revision, by the government, of the data on the use by the nuclear fleet of water resources. .
For the left, the redevelopment of nuclear power runs counter to the EU's need for energy independence and its climate objectives.
As for the Communists, the latter abstained, although the president of the group Fabien Gay, reminded the podium that his group was "favorable to the development of new nuclear reactors".
But according to him, the text presented in the chamber "does not address any of the structural questions that are essential to the objectives assigned to it", noting the shortcomings in terms of financing, training, etc.
Conversely, among those who voted in favor of the bill, the senators of the group affiliated with the presidential majority (Rally of Democrats, Progressives and Independents - RDPI) note that it allows "one more step to concretize the President Emmanuel Macron's project to strengthen our sovereignty and make France the first major country in the world to get out of its dependence on fossil fuels".
For supporters of nuclear power, its very low CO2 rate - four times less than solar power, for example - makes it an essential energy for the low-carbon transition. Nuclear power avoids the release of 2 billion tons of CO2 each year worldwide, the equivalent of the production of 400 million cars.
The conclusions of the CMP will be examined Tuesday, May 16 by the deputies. The latter had voted by a large majority in favor of the text during the first reading. |
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Alyson Braxton for DayNewsWorld |
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WILL TURKEY GO OUT OF ERDOGANISM ? |  In Turkey, the presidential and legislative elections of May 2023 (first round on May 14 for both, second round on May 28 for the presidential election) will have the character of a referendum. Voters are, in fact, called upon to choose between two opposing political paths.
By voting in the presidential elections for Recep Tayyip Erdogan and in the legislative elections for the parties of the Popular Alliance formed around him and his formation the AKP (Party of Justice and Development), they will support the consolidation of an autocratic regime. implementing a repressive national-Islamist policy.
The other option is to vote for the return to democracy, the rule of law and the parliamentary system. The leader of the Republican People's Party (CHP, republican, social democrat and secular) Kemal Kiliçdaroglu embodies this second option, which would mean the end of Erdoganism, a regime tailor-made for the power of one man. For the first time, a very broad coalition – the Table of Six, gathered around the CHP, is united against Erdogan and his regime. Will this be enough to put an end to a system whose construction began twenty years ago?
Erdogan's hardening
The gradual slide towards autocracy began after the 2011 legislative elections.
Victorious for the third time in the general elections, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, prime minister since 2003, then began to praise a presidential system that would allow him to "run the country like a limited company" and "make decisions as soon as possible".
In 2014, for the first time, the President of the Republic must be elected by universal suffrage. Erdogan gets elected and declares that from now on “the regime has become, in fact, presidential”.
The coup attempt of July 15, 2016 and the state of exception that followed gave him the opportunity to transform this state of fact into a state of law.
Thanks to the support of the far-right MHP party, a new and essential ally of the AKP to retain the majority in Parliament, the presidential regime was narrowly ratified (51.4%) in April 2017, after a referendum marred by irregularities.
An elective and repressive autocracy, without separation of powers, based on a nationalist-religious ideology, a chaotic economic policy and an aggressive and opportunistic foreign policy was thus put in place. The economic successes of yesteryear have given way to a serious crisis marked by very high inflation, chaotic growth and the vertiginous depreciation of the Turkish lira.
The earthquakes of February 6, 2023, which caused tens of thousands of deaths, revealed all the weaknesses of the system put in place: the negligence of the institutions, the consequences of hypercentralization and nepotism in the administration, the results of the authorizations granted for electoral purposes to buildings that do not comply with anti-seismic standards… It is in this context that Turkey entered the electoral campaign.
An opposition finally united
Erdogan, losing popularity and for the first time in a defensive position, had to widen the coalition formed with the extreme right – the Popular Alliance – towards very minority parties claiming radical Islamist fundamentalism. Facing him, a coalition formed on the eve of the June 2018 elections, the Alliance of the Nation, expanded to other parties and became, in February 2022, the "Table of Six".
The first experience of forming an anti-Erdogan united front had yielded convincing results during the 2019 municipal elections. Building on this success, the leader of the CHP, Kemal Kiliçdaroglu, imposed on his party an aggiornamento to form alliances with conservative parties.
The Table of Six, or the Alliance of the Nation, therefore brings together the CHP, the Good Party (nationalist right formed in part by dissidents of MHP), two liberal and conservative parties created by dissidents of the AKP, and a party which represents historical Islamism and is very critical of the corruption and nepotism of the AKP. These six parties nominated Kiliçdaroglu as their candidate for the presidential election.
The left-wing pro-Kurdish party HDP (People's Democratic Party), which represents the majority of Kurdish voters in Parliament (the Kurdish population is estimated at around 18%), as well as the various currents of the left, have also called for a vote for him.
Seeing this danger of a united front coming, Erdogan had nevertheless taken care beforehand to have the very popular mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu (CHP), elected in 2019, removed from the presidential race, by having him sentenced in December 2022 to two years and seven months in prison for “insulting” certain senior regime officials.
The Head of State hoped to see the Table of Six tear itself apart in the search for its presidential candidate and finally break up. His strategy failed and the broad consensus achieved around a single anti-Erdogan candidate changed the traditional political context in which the latter used to maneuver easily.
A ballot that looks like a referendum for or against Erdogan
Since Erdogan's shift towards religious and authoritarian nationalism at the beginning of the 2010s, one of the major axes of his political strategy has been to stir up ethnic (Turkish-Kurdish), confessional (Sunni-Alevis) and cultural ( modernists-conservatives) who work society.
He placed himself as the natural leader of the Turkish sociological majority, Sunni and conservative, accusing the representatives of the opposition of being "dividers of national and confessional unity", "the extension of terrorist organizations" or agents foreign powers with designs on Turkey.
The expression "authentic and national" became his leitmotif to qualify the actions of his government.
But the composition of the parties that form the Table of Six around Kiliçdaroglu, the support of the Kurdish movement and leftist movements and the serious economic crisis have blurred his strategy.
The divide between supporters and opponents of Erdogan seems likely to overdetermine the outcome of the May 2023 elections.
With a personality diametrically opposed to that of Erdogan, Kilicdaroglu is positioning himself as a "quiet force" in this electoral campaign and has succeeded in creating real electoral momentum in recent weeks.
It responds to the aspiration of a large part of the population for a return to tranquillity, to a certain democratic normality and to more rational, less chaotic and unpredictable economic policies, for example with regard to interest rates than Erdogan pushed below 10% as inflation nears 100%.
For its part, the HDP, despite the almost daily repression and discrimination it suffers, succeeded in forming an alliance with small left-wing parties for the legislative elections.
And to short-circuit the sword of Damocles of a dissolution by the Constitutional Court on the eve of the election which has weighed on him for two years, he took the decision to stand for election under the colors of another party, the Green Left Party. This alliance, which does not present a presidential candidate and calls for a vote for Kilicdaroglu in the first round, will also have a decisive role to play in the future assembly. The support of its elected officials will probably be necessary to form a parliamentary majority with the Nation Alliance.
The common denominator of all these new rapprochement movements is their desire to end Erdogan's twenty-year rule, to return to parliamentary rule through constitutional change, to restore the rule of law and fundamental rights and freedoms, to put an end to arbitrariness, nepotism, corruption and the use of religion as an active political instrument, and finally to restore the confidence of international economic actors and to relaunch negotiations with the EU, which had stalled for several years.
And after the elections?
If the opposition wins these elections, the task of getting out of the system bequeathed by Erdoganism will be immense, and in any case Turkey will not quickly become a peaceful democracy. We can only hope that this great moment of democratic effervescence will not be temporary, as has been the case several times in the past.
On the other hand, in the event of a new victory for Erdogan and the AKP, Turkey will for a long time be engulfed in the camp of populist autocracies and authoritarian national-capitalism. Hopes for a possible exit from the autocracy through elections will be weakened.
What if the opposition wins but Erdogan does not recognize the election results or if the legal system he has put in place announces contrary results?
This question is of course in the minds of all opposition voters in Turkey. But apart from organizing a large civil mobilization to ensure the security of the ballot and doing hard work to convince reluctant voters to vote for change, all opposition parties are unanimous in not talking about this dark hypothesis before the elections.
First, so as not to frighten voters with such a scenario of chaos, for the moment hypothetical, and thus dissuade them from going to vote; then, because it is impossible and above all counterproductive to talk today about the means and methods of fighting against such a coup which would mean that Erdogan will have crossed the Rubicon and will have embarked on the path of an assumed dictatorship Such as.
The opposition first aspires to win the elections at the ballot box; it will be time, then, to take the necessary measures so that the popular will is respected.
Article by Ahmet Insel, published in The Conversation.
Economist, political scientist, professor emeritus at Galatasaray University, University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne
Ahmet Insel is a founding member of the Green Left Party in Turkey created in 2012. |
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Steven Colton for DayNewsWorld |
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CEREMONY OF MAY 9, 2023 PUTIN DENOUNCED
A WAR ORCHESTRATED BY THE WEST
AGAINST RUSSIA |
 The Russian President spoke during the military ceremonies of May 9, 2023 to pay tribute to the victims of the "Great Patriotic War", the name given in Russia to the Second World War. Russia has limited the scale of victory celebrations against Nazi Germany on Tuesday (May 9). While the outline of Vladimir Putin's speech is a carbon copy of last year's, the tone was more serious.
Vladimir Putin believes that his country is still under attack. "A war has been launched against our homeland," said the Russian president in front of thousands of soldiers in Red Square, Moscow.
These commemorations were an opportunity for him to draw a parallel between the Second World War and the Ukrainian conflict. As during the Second World War, "civilization is again at a turning point", believes Vladimir Putin, who called for "victory" for his troops in the conflict in Ukraine.
For him, the future of Russia depends on this military victory, which is currently still lacking, more than a year after the invasion of the neighboring country.
"Nothing is more important right now than your military task. The security of the country today rests on you, the future of our state and our people depends on you," he said at the address of its armed forces. “You fulfill your military missions with honor, you fight for Russia,” the former KGB officer continued, before launching: “For Russia, for our valiant armed forces, for victory! Hooray!”
This seriousness, like the appearance of the word "war" in the president's lexicon, responds to a certain logic: Not only is it a war that is raging in Ukraine, but it has reached the national territory like the attack on drones over the Kremlin.
In addition, this annual parade comes as Yevgeny Prigojine, leader of the Wagner group, continues to openly criticize the strategy of the Russian army and the military hierarchy, which he accuses of not providing enough ammunition. He notably accused soldiers of the Russian regular army on Tuesday of having fled their positions in Bakhmout, the epicenter of the fighting in eastern Ukraine, and accused the state of being incapable of defending Russia.
The Heads of State or Government of seven countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States made the trip to Moscow: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Armenia, Belarus. In 2022, there were none. Among observers, some saw in the invitation of these leaders to the official platform the best possible protection for Mr. Putin
Russia threatened with 'collapse' and 'destruction', Putin says
In Moscow, the numbers engaged (10,000 men) approach those mobilized in 2022, which were down by a third compared to the previous year. On the other hand, no tanks or heavy equipment were presented, with the exception of the historic T-34 tank, and the air component of the parade was canceled. In the Republic of Tuva, in Siberia, horses have replaced tanks.
Across the country, the Immortal Regiment parade, popular with Russians, has been canceled; the same goes for military parades in around twenty cities, sometimes far from the Ukrainian border. Most have highlighted security issues, but the approach of a possible Ukrainian counterattack also plays a role.
A Violent Charge Against the West
For Russia, there is no hostile people neither in the East nor in the West, we wish a peaceful, free and stable future, insisted the Russian president.
“We have repelled international terrorism, the world is at a crossroads. Any ideology of superiority is repugnant, criminal, deadly. asserted the Russian leader without flinching, continuing his rhetoric opposed to the West.
According to Putin, it is the "globalized Western elites" who are at the root of the tensions between the West and Russia. The Head of State accuses these elites of "pitting peoples against each other, dividing societies, provoking bloody conflicts". For him, "their goal is to bring about the collapse and destruction of our country". |
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Alize Marion for DayNewsWorld |
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FOR HEALTH REASON
STROMAE STOPS HIS TOUR |
 Stromae stops his tour for health reasons. The Belgian singer of 38 years explains having to take time for him in order to go up the slope. If he hoped to get back on stage quickly, his remission time will be longer than he hoped.
For several weeks now, concerns have been hovering over his state of health.
Stromae resigns himself to putting an end to his tour. On social networks, the Belgian star announced on Tuesday that he needed "rest" and completely stopped his "Multitude Tour", already partially stopped and which was to last until December 2023.
"Stromae's state of health does not allow him to ensure his performance", indicated his tour producer, Auguri.
In a message posted on Instagram, he confides to his fans and his community: "I have to resign myself to the fact that my health unfortunately does not allow me to continue to come to meet you for the moment. I share this news with you with a lot of regret and deep sadness, but I have to listen to my limits".
Stromae admits not feeling well for a while now: "A few months ago, I felt a deterioration in my state of health which led me to give up a few first dates in France and then in Europe".
The 38-year-old singer claims to be surrounded by "[his] doctors, [his] family, [his] friends and [his] team". A precious entourage to support him in this umpteenth ordeal and help him through the difficulties he encounters.
The artist was back on stage in the summer of 2022 after a long period of absence caused by depression, accompanied by "suicidal thoughts" which he had sung in his title "Hell".
Before the total cancellation of his tour, Stromae had already announced the cancellation of 15 concerts until the end of May.
"I was hoping to be able to recover quickly to get back on the road and find you as soon as possible" lamented Stromae on his social networks. “Unfortunately, today I have to accept that this time of rest and remission will be longer than I imagined”.
Stromae confides that "this decision is difficult and necessary to be able to get better" and presents his "sincere apologies for these missed appointments that I was waiting for as much as you". |
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Kate White for DayNewsWorld |
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CHARLES III AND CAMILLA CROWNS
BETWEEN TRADITION AND MODERNITY |
 C harles III became king of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, as well as fourteen Commonwealth countries, from Canada to Australia to Jamaica, in September on the death of his mother Elizabeth II, at the age of 96. Its coronation, unique in Europe, is the religious confirmation of this and the United Kingdom had not seen one since 1953. If it has been modernized with a shorter duration, representatives of the main religions and gospel sung in addition to the classics, this millennial ritual gave the British monarchy the opportunity to display all the pomp of which it has the secret.
Charles III and Queen Camilla were officially crowned on Saturday May 6, 2023 at Westminster Abbey, then returned to Buckingham Palace in the Gold State Coach, a golden carriage used at each coronation, and the two sovereigns then greeted the crowd from the palace balcony. 
 
King Charles III and Queen Camilla, accompanied by working members of the royal family, stepped out onto the balcony of Buckingham Palace on Saturday to greet tens of thousands of people gathered for their coronation.
Wearing a crown and in ceremonial dress, the king and queen were surrounded in particular by the heir to the throne, William, with his wife, Kate, and their children, as well as Anne and Edward, brother and sister of the sovereign. They attended a flypast, the duration of which was reduced due to the rain, entered the palace and then came out again to briefly greet the compact crowd again despite the rainy weather.
Neither Charles's youngest son, Harry, nor his brother Andrew, both withdrawn from the monarchy, were there. The Duke of Sussex (Harry) and the Duke of York (Andrew) are no longer active members of the royal family, the first since his voluntary departure for the United States with his wife, Meghan, in 2020, while the second fell into disgrace after accusations of sexual assault which he denies and which he settled with a financial agreement. They both attended the coronation from the third row of Westminster Abbey. 
A grand religious ceremony!
In front of nearly 2,300 guests, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, laid St Edward's crown on the head of Charles III.
Shortly before, the sovereign took an oath to serve his subjects and to protect the Church of England of which he is the supreme head.
Charles III finally received the anointing, protected from view by screens.
New compared to the previous coronation.  The traditional "peer tribute", during which nobles swear allegiance to the king or queen, has been removed.
It is replaced by a "tribute of the people":
the British and other populations of which Charles III is the head of state are called upon to pledge allegiance to the king.
For the first time, women bishops will participate in the coronation. Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Sikh and Buddhist religious leaders also took part in the festivities and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, a Hindu, read a passage from the Bible. Another first in the field: the various texts were read in English but also in Welsh, Scottish Gaelic and Irish Gaelic.
For the first time, a coronation ceremony for a British sovereign was punctuated by the performance of a gospel group. This formation called Ascension Choir, which had been created especially for the occasion, breathed a welcome energy into the stuffy setting of Westminster.
A long weekend of festivities. 
Britons are invited on Sunday to gather for convivial lunches on the occasion of the king's coronation.
A concert is also scheduled for the evening at Windsor Castle, in front of an audience of 20,000 people.
Monday has been declared a public holiday in the United Kingdom. The royal family invites the public to take advantage of this day off to carry out charitable actions near their homes.
“Long Live King Charles”! |
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Samantha Moore for DayNewsWorld |
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ITALY BEST GASTRONOMY IN THE WORLD
ACCORDING TO CNN |
 CNN Travels has ranked the ten best gastronomy on the planet. And France only comes third. As for Italy, which arrived first, "the regional cuisine will surprise those who thought that the French were the snobs of world gastronomy".
At the top of the ranking therefore, Italy, China then France.
For France, CNN highlights snails. “Immense respect for having given them an incredible taste”, writes the American media. Macaroons and baguettes, icons of French bakeries around the world, are also given pride of place. On the other hand, CNN Travel strongly criticizes the taste of foie gras.
At the bottom of the pack, the United States, although "many popular foods have their origins in another cuisine", Mexico, which "offers a bit of everything" and Thailand, which "combines the spicy, sour , the salty, the sweet, the soft, the crunchy and the slippery in the same dish".
If CNN highlights the cheeseburger and chocolate chip cookies, the media advises against "overly processed foods such as Twinkies (...) or [the products] KFC" in American gastronomy.
European countries well ranked
In this ranking, Greece comes 7th, thanks to its olive oil, which CNN describes as a "gift from the gods".
Spain climbs to 4th place and can thank its "culture based on, around and sometimes even inside food: all those bars and tapas, those dinners at 9 p.m., those snacks nibbled all along of the day, interspersed with hearty meals".
Notice to traveling gourmets ! |
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Boby Dean for DayNewsWorld |
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CANADA OVER 100 FIRES IN ALBERTA
DECLARED STATE OF EMERGENCY |
 Gigantic fires in the spring.
The Canadian province of Alberta declared a state of emergency on Saturday after around 100 forest fires broke out there and drove some 25,000 residents from their homes, an "unprecedented" situation, announced the premier of the province.
Authorities have asked thousands more to be ready to leave at any time.
"We have declared a provincial state of emergency to preserve the safety, health and well-being of Albertans," Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said at a press conference.
This Canadian province, one of the largest oil producers in the world, and where 103 forest fires have broken out in recent days, “had a hot and dry spring and with so much kindling, all it takes is a few sparks to start really scary fires," Ms Smith had earlier explained.
All of these factors together "have resulted in the unprecedented situation our province faces today." About 122,000 hectares have burned, she said, and 20 localities have been evacuated.
The state of emergency gives the provincial government "increased powers to respond to extreme situations", Ms. Smith said, including the mobilization of additional resources and the release of emergency funds.
Alberta in the middle of an election, and a significant area of the neighboring province of Saskatchewan, as well as a large part of the Northwest Territories are currently facing an extreme risk of fires, according to the federal government.
According to a map posted on the government website, these areas are on moderate to severe drought alert, a situation made more likely and more intense with global warming.
If precipitation is expected and could help slow the spread of the largest outbreaks, it should not be enough to put out the fires, estimates with Radio-Canada Josée St-Onge, communication officer for the provincial agency of fight against fires.
Drayton Valley, a town of 7,000 people in Alberta about 140 kilometers west of Edmonton, is among the evacuated communities.
In Fox Lake, northern Alberta, a violent fire destroyed 20 homes, a store and a police station. Residents were evacuated by boat and helicopter. |
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Emily Jackson for DayNewsWorld |
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EUROPE THANKS TO OPERATION PANDORA
MORE THAN 11,000 WORKS OF ART SEIZED |
 The police arrested 60 people and recovered 11,049 stolen works of art as part of a vast operation to crack down on international traffic in works of art carried out in 14 European countries: Austria, Bulgaria, Republic Czech Republic, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Operation Pandora, which takes place every year, was held from September 13 to 24, 2022. Several thousand checks were carried out at various airports, ports and border crossing points, as well as at auction houses, museums and private residences.
Two weeks of cyber patrol were organized during Pandora VII, in May and October respectively, with more than 8,495 checks carried out online and 4,017 stolen goods seized.
Pandora VII has made it possible to find, among others, the following stolen objects:
77 old books in Italy; a Roman marble female bust in Seville, Spain; 3,073 old coins, seized from an online sales platform by the Polish police; 48 religious sculptures and other religious objects recovered by the Portuguese authorities; 13 archaeological objects from the Russian Federation, seized in a post office in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Some 130 investigations are still ongoing, raising the prospect of further seizures and arrests as investigators around the world go after those who damage and destroy cultural heritage.
Operation Pandora, first launched in 2016, is an annual law enforcement operation. It is carried out within the framework of the European Multidisciplinary Platform against Criminal Threats (EMPACT). |
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Britney Delsey for DayNewsWorld |
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RECAP PEOPLE
WEEK OF MAY 1 TO 7, 2023 |
Prince William knelt before his king father in Westminster Abbey to swear allegiance to him.
But according to people magazines, this prince who had a past affair with Rose Hanbury, Marchioness of Cholmondeley, the King's Grand Chamberlain, would be "angry and resentful", and more serious, accused by his brother Harry of being "sold":
the latter said that William had made a secret agreement and withdrawn his complaint in exchange for a large sum of money in a lawsuit against British tabloids (Public).
And yet when we see him with his lovely Kate and her children...
A weekend with friends you say?....
Michelle and Barack Obama have invited their friends Steven Spielberg and his wife Kate Capshaw to take a private jet to go and see a concert by Bruce Spingsteen… in Barcelona.
But according to the gossip press, "the pleasant Barcelona stroll has turned into madness worthy of the Rio carnival".
No possibility of escaping the crowds of tourists and fans at the Sagrada Familia as well as at Montserrat Abbey
Did you know that Juan Carlos would have a hidden girl.
This is what the Spanish journalist José Maria Olmo reveals in the book entitled "King Corp" which will be released on May 8, 2023 in Spain.
Alejandra, this is the first name of the young woman, would have been born at the end of the 70s, the beginning of the 80s.
She would be the fruit of one of his extramarital affairs with a woman "a great socialite" known in her youth, from the aristocracy and older than him.
The author of the book also claims that the existence of the young woman was known at the Zarzuela Palace...
Another love disappointment for Sophie Marceau who would have broken with the theater producer Richard Caillat, too invested in his work in Marseille.
It is in tears that Sophie would have asked her lover one last time during a Parisian dinner to commit, in vain.
And the favorite actress of the French would have separated from her agent Elisabeth Tanner.
But here she turns out to be a writer with the release of "Souterraine", a funny book, where childhood memories and tales mingle. |
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Kate White for DayNewsWorld |
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THE CROWN OF KING CHARLES III
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 As tradition dictates, the monarch wears, among other things, the crown of Saint Edward. This historic gem, which recently left the Tower of London for alterations, was created in 1661.
An exceptional crown.
St Edward's Crown, the centerpiece of the Crown Jewels worn by Elizabeth II at her coronation in 1953, in turn capped her son Charles within days.
More than two kilos of silverware 
Traditionally worn by British monarchs at the time of their coronation, this piece was created for King Charles II in 1661, to replace the medieval crown that had been cast down in 1649.
It is not an identical replica of the medieval model, but like the original, the crown of Saint Edward retains its symbolic elements.
Commissioned from the royal goldsmith, Robert Vyner, in 1661, it is designed in solid gold and set with 444 precious stones (ruby, sapphire, amethyst, topaz, etc.), 30 centimeters high and no less than 2.23 kg.
Composed of its purple velvet, which gives it its recognizable hue, and of ermine at its base, it is made up of four pattée crosses, alternating with four fleur-de-lys.
On its upper part, two arches set with pearls support a cruciger orb, above which sits a final cross pattée, also richly decorated. In total, the crown is valued at more than 4 million euros.
An ever-powerful symbolic value
This is not the only crown that Charles III wears on the day of the ceremony, each symbolizing the monarch's authority over an element of his kingdom.
Thus, during the service led by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the 74-year-old monarch also wears the imperial ceremonial crown, a piece regularly worn by Elizabeth II, notably on the balcony of Buckingham Palace during her coronation.
A crown that had also sat on his coffin for two days. Moreover, two monarchs since 1661 have replaced the crown of Saint Edward for their coronation, judging it too heavy, Queen Victoria and Edward VII.
Even today, this purple crown is used as a symbol of royal authority in the Commonwealth realms.
Other jewels embodying the British monarchy
The dove scepter
This scepter, made up of a golden stick, adorned with a globe, a cross and a dove at its top, represents the spiritual and pastoral power of the sovereign. It has been used at every coronation since that of Charles II in 1661. 110 centimeters long, it weighs 1,150 grams.
The scepter at the cross
Also used since 1661, the scepter represents the temporal power of the sovereign. It weighs 1170 grams for 92 centimeters long. In 1911 the 530.2 carat Cullinan I diamond was added, so heavy that the scepter had to be reinforced to support its weight.
The royal orb
This 27.5 centimeter globe surmounted by a cross symbolizes the Christian world. It consists of a hollow gold sphere set with precious stones and pearls. A cross set with diamonds, with a sapphire in the center on one side and an emerald on the other, surmounts the globe. During the coronation ceremony, the orb is placed in the right hand of the monarch, before being placed on the altar.
The Dove Cane
Used for all queen consort coronations since 1685, this small ivory scepter surmounted by a dove will be held by Queen Camilla during the ceremony, despite calls not to use it in opposition to the ivory trade. Camilla will also be given a gold scepter surmounted by a cross.
the light bulb
This golden object in the shape of an eagle with outstretched wings contains the oil used during the anointing of the sovereign, considered the most sacred moment of the coronation. The Archbishop of Canterbury pours oil from the eagle's head into a spoon, before anointing the monarch. The figure of the eagle comes from a legend according to which the Virgin Mary appeared to Saint Thomas Becket, and gave him a golden eagle and a vial of oil intended for the anointing of future kings of England.
spurs
These gold spurs, symbolizing chivalry, have been used since the coronation of Richard the Lionheart in 1189. They are attached to the ankles of sovereigns, and in the case of queens simply placed on the altar.
The state dress
This large purple silk and velvet cape is embroidered with the monarch's monogram, ears of wheat and olive branches. Made especially for the coronation, it required 3,500 hours of work by twelve seamstresses from the Royal School of Couture.
King Edward's chair
Commissioned by King Edward I in 1300, this oak throne, over 2 meters high, has been at the center of royal coronations for over seven hundred years. It originally encapsulated the "Stone of Destiny", a block of sandstone symbolizing the Scottish monarchy and brought from Scotland as spoils of war by Edward I.
Briefly stolen by Scottish students during a daring undertaking in 1950, the stone was symbolically returned to Scotland in 1996, in the midst of the rise of independence sentiment. But it is agreed that she will return from Edinburgh Castle to Westminster for the coronations.
The Cross of Wales
Another symbol of the king's spiritual power, this silver cross contains fragments, according to the Vatican, of the cross on which Jesus was crucified, and offered by Pope Francis as a gift to mark the coronation of Charles. These fragments were fashioned into a small cross appearing behind a pink rock crystal. The Cross of Wales will be used at the head of the Coronation Procession, which will lead the newly crowned King from Westminster Abbey to Buckingham Palace.
“The coronation will reflect the role of the monarch today and look to the future, while being rooted in the long tradition and pomp of the monarchy,” according to a royal statement. |
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Kate White for DayNewsWorld |
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A NEW MASS SHOOTING IN SERBIA
LEAVES EIGHT DEAD AND THIRTEEN INJURED |
 A man opened fire with an automatic weapon on Thursday evening in Serbia on a group of people from a moving vehicle, killing at least eight people and injuring 13. This is the second mass killing in two days in the country.
The shooter opened fire with an automatic weapon at a group of people from a moving vehicle near the town of Mladenovac, about 60 km south of Belgrade, and then fled, RTS reported earlier .
Serbian police arrested the alleged perpetrator near the central town of Kragujevac on Friday morning, state television (RTS) reported.
After several hours of tracking, a man was arrested on Friday morning. "UB, born in 2002", according to the Serbian government, is suspected of having committed the killing with an automatic weapon in three villages near Mladenovac, about sixty kilometers from the capital. This is "one of the most difficult days in the contemporary history" of the country, lamented Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic. Many police and ambulances were dispatched to the scene, and helicopters were flying over the scene.
Serbian Interior Minister Bratislav Gasic called the incident a "terrorist act".
Worried relatives gathered outside the Belgrade emergency medical center, where at least eight of the injured were taken to hospital, the N1 television channel reported. Health Minister Danica Grujicic briefly visited the center.
Three days of national mourning
This new shooting occurred the day after the shooting, by a 13-year-old student, of eight children and a guard in a school in Belgrade, a killing that deeply shocked the country. Seven people - six students and a teacher - were also injured in the attack, and two were still in critical condition on Thursday after undergoing a series of surgeries.
The assailant was arrested shortly after the killings in the schoolyard, where he was awaiting the arrival of the police, and was placed in a psychiatric hospital. The shooter's father, a reputable doctor, owner of the weapon used, was arrested and must be heard Friday by a prosecutor. The mother was also arrested.
Three days of national mourning were declared from Friday. Planned celebrations and events will be largely cancelled. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic lamented "one of the most difficult days in the contemporary history" of Serbia.
The head of state also announced on Friday a vast "disarmament" plan aimed at recovering hundreds of thousands of weapons from the inhabitants of this Balkan country, where some 765,000 weapons, including more than 232,000 pistols, are legally registered.
According to the Swiss NGO Small Arms Survey, Serbia was in 2018 the third country in the world for the circulation of firearms (tied with Montenegro), behind the United States and Yemen, with 39 guns per 100 inhabitants.
Arms stocks accumulated during the war
Indeed in the 1990s, due to the wars that led to the end of Yugoslavia, then the conflicts in the different areas of the region, a large number of firearms circulated in the Balkans. Already in 1989, under the Tito regime, 6.1 million small arms and light weapons were recorded, according to a report by the Ministry of Defense and Iris in 2017.
The end of the fighting led to a drop in demand, but did not lead to a decrease in the number of weapons in circulation. The maintenance of the local arms industry is particularly in question, according to Iris. “Whether in Serbia, Croatia or Montenegro, small arms and light weapons continue to be produced,” the report explains. The latter also highlights the "misappropriation in the stocks of the army" and "corruption", linked in particular to "the low wages of the workers and the meager pay of the soldiers".
"Disarm" the country
According to the Swiss NGO Small Arms Survey, in 2018 there were 2.7 million firearms held by civilians in Serbia, for 7 million inhabitants. Of these, 1.18 million were officially registered and 1.53 million undeclared. "Gun culture is well entrenched here," Predrag Petrovic, of the Belgrade Center for Security Policy, a Serbian NGO, told German media Deutsche Welle in 2016.
The Interior Ministry announced on Thursday home checks to check whether weapons were kept in safes, in accordance with the rules, adding that offenders would have their weapons confiscated. But the president went further on Friday. In particular, he promised a revision of the license to carry light weapons.
“We are going to carry out an almost complete disarmament of Serbia,” Aleksandar Vucic declared during a press conference broadcast live, a few hours after the second shooting. |
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Abby Shelcore for DayNewsWorld |
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SPECTACULAR ANTI-MAFIA NET
IN EUROPE |
 Wide police operation targeting the Calabrian mafia, the 'Ndrangheta, was launched this Wednesday morning May 3, 2023 in several European countries, including Germany where searches and arrests were carried out, announced judicial authorities of this The Calabrian 'Ndrangheta, the target of a spectacular Europe-wide crackdown on Wednesday, is considered by experts to be the most powerful Italian mafia after having supplanted the Sicilian Cosa Nostra and the Neapolitan Camorra.
Hundreds of German police have intervened in five regions of Germany as part of a "large-scale European operation" which targets "leaders and members of the 'Ndrangheta", several regional prosecutor's offices said in a joint statement, including that of Munich.
Operations also took place in Belgium, France, Italy, Portugal and Spain.
In Germany, more than 100 searches were carried out and around 30 arrest warrants, including four European warrants, were executed, according to the authorities of the Länder of Bavaria, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, and Saarland.
It is in these regions of western and southern Germany that police operations have been concentrated.
The investigation relates, according to the press release, to the following crimes: "drug trafficking, money laundering, arms trafficking, fraud and various large-scale tax crimes".
According to the German media MDR and FAZ, more than 100 arrest warrants are to be executed on Wednesday in different countries.
Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann called the operation a "sensitive blow to the 'Ndrangetha", a criminal organization based in the Italian region of Calabria (south) and considered the richest and most powerful mafia. of Italy, with a growing global extension covering more than 40 countries.
International response
The international ramifications of the 'Ndrangheta compelled the Italian authorities to seek help from their foreign counterparts. In 2020, Italy set up the “I-CAN” program through Interpol in order to inform other countries where the 'Ndrangheta is present about the organization of this mafia and to structure the repressive response.
Prior to Wednesday's operation, 46 'Ndrangheta members had been arrested worldwide under the scheme. The most famous of these is Rocco Morabito, one of Italy's most wanted fugitives, who was arrested last year in Brazil, after escaping from prison in Uruguay in 2019.
According to the Bavarian judicial police office, the German authorities acted within the framework of "Operation Eureka", coordinated by the European offices Europol and Eurojust.
Operation Eureka, launched at European level more than three years ago, is "one of the most important and significant of recent years in the field of organized crime in Italy", underlined the Bavarian police.
No one knows exactly what the numbers are, but according to Italian justice, the 'Ndrangheta has at least 20,000 members worldwide. According to the Italian magistrate Roberto di Bella, it is the criminal organization “with the most ramifications and present on the five continents”.
Italian prosecutor Nicola Gratteri, who sits in Catanzaro, one of the 'Ndrangheta strongholds in Calabria, one of Italy's poorest regions, estimates his annual turnover at 50 billion euros, largely from the cocaine trade.
As part of these investigations, the Italian and Belgian authorities were able to attribute to the 'Ndrangetha the import and trafficking of nearly 25 tonnes of cocaine, for the period from October 2019 to January 2022, said the same source. . Financial flows of more than 22 million euros from Calabria to Belgium, the Netherlands and South America have also been identified.
A maxi-trial with more than 300 defendants, alleged members or relatives of the 'Ndrangheta, opened in 2021, exposing the network of politicians, lawyers and businessmen accused of collusion with the mafia.
By its proportions, this trial is exceeded only by the first maxi-trial of 1986-1987 in Palermo against the Sicilian Cosa Nostra, at the end of which 338 defendants were condemned. |
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Alize Marion for DayNewsWorld |
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A RAISED CONSCIOUSNESS
NEAR DEATH |
 Tales of near-death experiences, white light, visits from deceased loved ones, voices, etc., capture our imaginations and are deeply embedded in our cultural landscape.
"Conscious" experiences of imminent death therefore, quite incompatible with the biological reality of a dying brain. Is it possible that the human brain is activated by the process of death?
Recently, researchers have reported increased electrical activity in the brains of dying people. It could be associated with last-minute conscious experiences, a new vision of the role played by the brain in this final stage of life.
To find out for sure, researchers at the University of Michigan in the United States have decided to study, in "more detail than ever before", the biological mechanism at work in the brain in all last moments.
The study, led by Jimo Borjigin, associate professor in the Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology and the Department of Neurology, and his team, follows animal studies conducted nearly 10 years ago in collaboration with George Mashour, founding director from the Michigan Center for Consciousness Science.
A cerebral burst before a complete stop
The brain "on fire"
To do this, it was necessary to find dead patients, for the blow, of a cardiac arrest, but maintained under ventilatory assistance. And observe the signals of electrocardiogram and electroencephalography (EEG) before and after the withdrawal of the assistance, synonymous with brain death.
They studied the files of four people. When they were taken off their life support devices, two of them (a 24-year-old woman and a 77-year-old woman) saw their heart rates increase, and their brain activity also showed a spike in gamma waves. , at a frequency level usually associated… with consciousness.
In addition to confirming this stimulation, already observed in animals, these researchers have mainly identified the most stimulated part of the brain, the temporo-parieto-occipital junction, an area previously associated, among other things, with the memorization of dreams.
“A similar pattern was observed in healthy brains during wakefulness and dreaming, in patients experiencing visual hallucinations or out-of-body experiences,” the study describes.
Jimo Borjigin indicates, in support of these results obtained after observing a posterior area of the brain associated with consciousness: If this part of the brain is stimulated, it means that the patient sees something, can hear something and can potentially feel sensations outside his body.
She specifies that this specific area was “on fire!”.
In the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), which published their work on Monday, the scientists however draw limits to their study: they first concede that they do not really know why these signs have not been observed. in the other two patients, a history of seizures may have had an impact, they said.
George Mashour explains in a press release:
"How living experience can emerge from a dysfunctional brain during the dying process is a neuroscientific paradox. Dr. Borjigin has conducted an important study that helps shed light on the underlying neurophysiological mechanisms."
The beginnings of a "secret" consciousness still misunderstood
Due to the small sample size, the authors caution against making overarching statements about the implications of the results. They also note that it is impossible to know in this study what the patients experienced (because they did not survive to testify).
Larger studies, including EEG-monitored intensive care patients who survive cardiac arrest, could provide much-needed data to determine whether these bursts of gamma activity are evidence of hidden consciousness, even when approaching the death.
Although the mechanisms and physiological significance of these findings remain to be explored, these data demonstrate that the dying brain may still be active. They also suggest the need to reassess the role of the brain during cardiac arrest.
This study then lays the groundwork for further research into covert consciousness during cardiac arrest, which could serve as a model system to explore the mechanisms of human consciousness. |
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Pamela Newton for DayNewsWorld |
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A PALME OF HONOR FOR MICHAEL DOUGLAS
AT THE CANNES FILM FESTIVAL ON MAY 16, 2023 |
 A fter Forest Whitaker and Tom Cruise, who both received it in 2022, the Cannes Film Festival's Palme d'Or will go to another American actor this year.
The actor of Basic Instinct and Wall Street Michael Douglas will receive the Palme d'or d'honneur of the Cannes Film Festival, "which will salute his brilliant career and his commitment to cinema", during the opening ceremony on May 16, 2023 , the festival announced on Wednesday.
Michael Douglas, 78, will receive the trophy "which will salute his brilliant career and his commitment to cinema", the organizers announced on Wednesday. This tribute will be paid to him during the opening ceremony on May 16.
"After more than 50 years of career, it is an honor to return to the Croisette to open the festival and speak our common language, that of cinema", reacted Michael Douglas, quoted in a press release. A regular at the festival, the actor came to Cannes for the first time in 1979 and still shone at the top of the steps in 2013 for the preview of My life with Liberace.
An Oscar-winning actor
Michael Douglas won the Oscar for best actor in 1988 for the role of New York stockbroker Gordon Gekko in Oliver Stone's Wall Street. The sequel, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, was screened out of competition at Cannes in 2010. He was also rewarded as a producer with Flight Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Milos Forman, Oscar for Best Film in 1976.
"To complete the tribute paid to him, an unpublished documentary by Amine Mesta [Michael Douglas, the prodigal son], to be broadcast soon on Arte, will be visible for two days on the festival site", from May 14 at 6 p.m. to May 16 at 6 p.m., the organizers also said.
The actor thus joins the still small club of seventeen recipients of a palme d'honneur, awarded since the beginning of the 2000s.
Woody Allen, Clint Eastwood, Jeanne Moreau, Jane Fonda and Alain Delon are among the honorees. |
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Emily Jackson for DayNewsWorld |
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MET GALA 2023 DEDICATED TO THE LATE KARL LAGERFELD
A SOMPTUOUS RED CARPET |
 T he most anticipated red carpet on the fashion calendar has arrived.
Like every first Monday of May, the stars met in New York for the Met Gala 2023.
This year, the Met Gala celebrates the opening of the Costume Institute's exhibition Karl Lagerfeld, A Line of Beauty.

The latter retraces the extraordinary career of the Kaiser.
More than a simple retrospective turned to the past, the exhibition highlights the creative process of Karl Lagerfeld whose virtuoso pencil stroke captured a look, in a few seconds, through the analysis of his sketches, confronted with his creations for the houses he has sublimated, from Chloé to Balmain via Jean Patou. In total, more than 150 pieces are exhibited.
Passed away in February 2019, the legendary couturier who revolutionized Fendi from 1965 and Chanel from 1983 is at the heart of the annual theme
The dress code for the Met Gala 2023 evening was in keeping with the Karl Lagerfeld theme:
A Line of Beauty. Attendees were told the dress code was "in honor of Karl", which opens up a world of possibilities, from wearing one of the many brands the late designer lent his talents to throughout his career. long career - Chanel, Chloé, Fendi and its eponymous lines, among others - until the tribute paid to Lagerfeld's characteristic dark sunglasses.
The festivities were co-chaired by Dua Lipa, Penélope Cruz, Roger Federer, and Michaela Coel. These four influential and inspiring personalities presided over the evening alongside Anna Wintour, honorary president. he challenge has been taken up... and one of the big winners is undoubtedly Jared Leto.
The musician (30 Seconds to Mars) and actor appeared on the red carpet in a giant white cat costume. A reference to Choupette, Karl Lagerfeld's iconic cat. 
A similar choice was made by artist Doja Cat, who also arrived at the party in an outfit reminiscent of Choupette.
In a nod to Karl Lagerfeld's penchant for pearls, the looks of Kim Kardashian and Lizzo at the Met Gala were imbued with them, noted our colleagues from CNN. “I thought to myself: What is more Karl ? I have always thought of Chanel's emblematic pearls", justified Kim Kardashian, reports the American media.
While most of the men present opted for black or white suits, the new star of the moment, Pedro Pascal, starring in the series The Last of Us, opted for a bright red outfit... with a black shorts. 
nother very surprising outfit: that of Lil Nas X, who presented himself entirely painted in silver, with rhinestones and pearls covering his face. he choice of artist Janelle Monáe, who also paid tribute to Choupette, also marked the public.
Arriving a little later with A$AP Rocky, Rihanna also caused a sensation.
  Rihanna arrived on the red carpet on the arm of her partner, rapper A$AP Rocky, in an impressive immaculate white wedding dress, accompanied in particular by a wraparound coat with a hood on which flowers have been embroidered.
A few minutes after entering, the Bitch Better Have My Money interpreter dropped part of the jacket to reveal the rest of her outfit, thereby emphasizing her rounded belly. The set signed Maison Valentino.
A clothing choice that is undoubtedly not insignificant: at each finale of the Chanel fashion shows, under the artistic direction of Karl Lagerfeld, the wedding dress was a highly anticipated moment.
But the "longest" tribute this night to Karl Lagerfeld was undoubtedly made by Jeremy Pope, with an outfit... bearing the image of the couturier. |
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Kate White for DayNewsWorld |
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THE COURSE OF THE CORONATION OF CHARLES III
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 The coronation of Charles III will take place with all the pomp that characterizes such an event, but with a little more austerity this time, according to the wishes of the new sovereign. It has been 70 years since such an event took place.
The Charles III coronation will take place this Saturday May 6 in London, 70 years after Elizabeth II was crowned on June 2, 1953. Unlike his late mother, who was crowned at the age of 26, King Charles III becomes monarch at age 74.
The celebrations will last three days, until Monday.
Schedules not to be missed
Hours are local.
11.20 King's Parade: The King and Queen proceed from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey for the Coronation.
12.00 Coronation service (estimated duration: 90 minutes). Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby leads the service at Westminster Abbey.
14.00 Coronation Procession: The King and Queen Consort return to Buckingham Palace with other members of the Royal Family.
15.00 Balcony appearance: The King and Queen Consort appear on the balcony at Buckingham Palace with other members of the Royal Family
The royal procession will go to Westminster Abbey.
Westminster Abbey is one of the most important religious sites in the country. The tradition began with William the Conqueror who was anointed king in 1066 in this location, Charles III would become the 40th monarch to be crowned in the abbey.
Some 7,000 troops will take part in the events, which had a major dress rehearsal last weekend. The country may not have seen a military operation of such magnitude for 70 years and everything must work to the millimeter.
Event security
Initially, just under 200 members of the armed forces - mainly from the Sovereign's Escort of the Royal Household Cavalry - will take part in the procession to Westminster Abbey. Soldiers will begin assembling from 10:45 a.m. Central European Time).
A thousand other members of the armed forces will follow the route, but the procession as a whole will be much smaller than that of 1953, which was attended by other royal families and Commonwealth prime ministers.
The procession will descend the Mall to Trafalgar Square, then along Whitehall and Parliament Street before taking Parliament Square and Broad Sanctuary to reach the Great West Gate of Westminster Abbey.
Breaking with tradition, King Charles and Queen Camilla will travel in the Diamond Jubilee State Coach, rather than the older and more cumbersome Golden State Coach, which will only be used for the journey back.
At Westminster Abbey.
The recognition of the king.
The first thing that will happen at the abbey will be recognition from the king. Next to the 700-year-old throne, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, will turn to either side of the abbey and proclaim Charles "indisputable king" before asking those gathered to pay their respects and serve. The trumpets will sound at each recognition.
Charles III will then take the oath. He will lay his hand on the Holy Gospel and meet that legal requirement. King Charles could add a few words to acknowledge the many faiths seen in the country.
The king will then sit on the coronation chair where he will be anointed with sacred oil, consecrated in Jerusalem by the Archbishop of Canterbury, as a sign of the grace granted by God to the sovereign. This moment highlights the spiritual role of the sovereign, who is also the head of the Anglican Church. The vial was made for the coronation of Charles II. The coronation spoon is much older, having survived the destruction of the regalia by Oliver Cromwell after the English Civil War. For the coronation, oil was made from olives harvested from the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem.
Investiture
Will follow the stage of the investiture during which Charles III will receive all the jewels: orbs, swords and rings. Finally, the Archbishop will lay the heavy crown of Saint Edward on his head. This crown will only be worn on this day. The crown owes its name to a much older version made for the Anglo-Saxon king and saint Edward the Confessor. It would have been used at coronations after 1220, until Cromwell had it melted down.
After the investiture, the enthronement .
Charles III will take the throne. The throne was originally created by order of King Edward I of England to guard the Stone of Destiny, which was stolen near Scone (Scotland). The stone, a former symbol of the Scottish monarchy, was returned to Scotland in 1996 but is due to return to London for use in the ceremony. During the coronation, the oak chair is placed in the center of the historical medieval mosaic floor, known as the "Cosmati pavement", in front of and facing the high altar, in order to emphasize the religious character of the ceremony.
At the start of the ceremony, the king will likely wear a military uniform instead of the more traditional baggy trousers and silk stockings worn by the kings who preceded him. The king will also wear the ceremonial robe, which he will remove before receiving the anointing.
The UK is the only European country that continues to use the symbols of royalty, such as the crown, orb and scepters, at coronations. These items symbolize different aspects of the monarch's service and responsibilities.
Coronation of Queen Camilla,
Charles' wife, Queen Camilla, will also be crowned, but in a shorter format and without as much protocol. She won't have to take an oath, but she will be anointed, crowned and enthroned. At the coronation, Camilla will receive the Queen Consort's Rod with the Dove and the Queen Consort's Scepter with the Cross. She will be crowned with Queen Mary's crown, originally made for Queen Mary's coronation with George V. It has been modified to remove some of the protrusions and has been set with diamonds.
At the end of this ceremony, Prince William will kneel before the King as the eldest son of Charles and the next heir to the Crown. This moment will replace the traditional tribute of peers, during which a group of the high nobility took an oath of allegiance in person to the king. In his place, and for the first time in history, the archbishop will invite all Britons to swear allegiance in a loud voice to the monarch and his heirs, a call that has sparked controversy.
The music played during the coronation
The ceremony inside the Abbey will be enlivened by music chosen by the King, with 12 newly commissioned pieces, including one by Andrew Lloyd Webber, and Greek Orthodox music in memory of the King's father, the Prince Philip.
Part of the ceremony will be sung in Welsh. The famous Welsh opera singer Sir Bryn Terfel will be among the soloists.
The celebrations will be very varied since there will be music in many corners of the country. The idea is to try to include all kinds of styles so that citizens don't feel disconnected.
Guests at the coronation of Charles III
Among the 2,000 guests will also be the British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, as well as the King and Queen of Spain, among other representatives. We are far from the 8,000 people who attended the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.
Perhaps the most anticipated guest is Prince Harry, after the controversial publication of his memoir. He will be present without his wife Meghan Markle and their children who will remain in California.
Prince George will be one of the King's Four Pages of Honor. Camilla's four pages will be her three grandchildren and her great-nephew.
Some of the participants in the procession inside the abbey will wear the king's regalia, and most items will be placed on the altar until they are used in the ceremony.
The king on the balcony of honor
The King and Queen will descend from their thrones and will likely enter St Edward's Chapel, where Charles will don the Imperial Crown of State before joining the procession that will exit the Abbey to the sound of the national anthem.
The royal couple will then return to Buckingham Palace by the reverse route from their arrival, this time in the 260-year-old 'Gold State Coach', which has been used for every coronation since that of William IV in 1831.
If you want to take part in the salute that the king and his family will give from the balcony at around 3 p.m. (2 p.m. in London), you will need to plan ahead enough to get to Buckingham Palace. The King will appear and greet all participants. This salute will mark the end of the official coronation day ceremonies.
Celebrations will be held across the country
On Sunday, a coronation concert will take place at Windsor Castle, with a full orchestra accompanied by an eclectic selection of musical stars: from Andrea Bocelli to Katy Perry, Lionel Richie, Take That and classical pianist Lang Lang.
Landmarks across the UK will also be illuminated with projections and drone shows.
The festivities will continue the same day with the Big Lunch, during which neighbors and communities will be encouraged to share meals and have fun in their neighborhood.
To top off the celebrations, on Monday, May 8, declared a public holiday, citizens will be encouraged to participate in "The Big Help Out", an initiative to collaborate with local volunteer work. |
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Britney Delsey for DayNewsWorld |
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MAJOR MOBILIZATION AND VIOLENCE IN THE MAY 1 PROTESTS |  The traditional May Day rallies in France are particularly busy this year, with opposition to the pension reform still refusing to die down. Parades throughout France for May Day. Some 2.3 million people demonstrated across the country on Monday, May 1, according to the CGT. In Paris, the union counted around 550,000 demonstrators. They were 100,000 in Toulouse and 130,000 in Marseille according to the union, respectively 13,500 and 11,000, according to the police.
The police thus counted 16,300 demonstrators in Caen (40,000 according to the CGT), 11,000 in Marseille (130,000), 13,500 in Toulouse (100,000), 15,000 in Brest (33,000), 14,000 in Clermont- Ferrand (25,000), or 2,000 in Charleville-Mézières (4,500). A total of 782,000 people demonstrated across the country, including 112,000 in Paris, the interior ministry said. Last year, 116,500 people marched in France, including 24,000 in Paris, according to the Interior Ministry.
Clashes broke out between demonstrators and the police in several cities and 180 people were arrested, including 46 in Paris. the forces of order and stoned windows.
Hundreds of "black blocks" in Paris
On the other hand, the parades were marked by sometimes violent clashes in several cities in France, and mainly in Paris, Nantes and Lyon. “In many cities in France, May Day was a moment of responsible mobilization and commitment. The scenes of violence on the sidelines of the processions are all the more unacceptable. Support for our law enforcement,” Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne tweeted.
108 police officers and gendarmes injured and 291 arrests in France.
"If the vast majority of demonstrators were pacifists of course, in Paris, Lyon and Nantes in particular, the police face extremely violent thugs who came with one objective: to kill cops and attack the property of others”, for his part denounced on the same social network the Minister of the Interior. In Paris, "a police officer was seriously injured, burned following a Molotov cocktail jet", continued Gérald Darmanin, who then reported 108 police officers and gendarmes injured and 291 arrests in France.
In the capital, the violence intensified when the pre-cortège arrived at Place de la Nation, the end of the parade. Hundreds of "black blocks" notably used fireworks in direct fire at the police, who responded with a lot of tear gas and defensive grenades. The police headquarters reported in the evening 111 arrests and 25 injured among the police, including 24 taken to hospital.
In Nantes, the clashes, which lasted a good part of the afternoon, left five injured, including a gendarme and a demonstrator hit in the hand, according to the prefecture. The authorities have also reported 54 arrests in Lyon, 31 in Besançon or 23 in Bordeaux.
" It's a big May Day. It's not a last stand"
"We have a historic May Day, I can say that." Even before the departure of the Parisian procession, Laurent Berger welcomed the mobilization everywhere in France for this May 1, marked by the protest against the pension reform. "This great success of the mobilization shows the rejection of the reform and the aspiration of the workers to be considered differently by the government", added the boss of the CFDT.
"It's a big May 1st. It's not a last stand, it's the challenge of the world of work to this reform", rejoiced the leader of the CFDT Laurent Berger. "This May 1st is one of the strongest of the social movement", added the general secretary of the CGT, Sophie Binet.
The figures were in fact well beyond a classic May Day, even if it was not the "tidal wave" hoped for by the unions.
Sophie Binet, new secretary general of the CGT, also underlined that in addition to the rejection of the pension reform, the demonstrators were marching to obtain wage increases and responses to the environmental crisis. "No return to normal" without withdrawal of the reform. This is what the new boss of the CGT, Sophie Binet, has promised. She believes that this new day of demonstrations can serve to show the government that opponents of the reform "will not move on until [the text] is withdrawn".
The strength of this mobilization will influence the continuation of the opposition movement to the two-year extension of the retirement age, its form and its timetable. Laurent Berger indicated that the next day, Tuesday May 2, the inter-union will meet to take stock.
She will also have to determine the conditions for a possible new meeting with Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, to whom a united trade union front has so far presented. Laurent Berger said he was ready to discuss whether the Prime Minister invites the unions, adding that the trade unions had an interest in continuing to work as an inter-union
It is indeed the first unit parade since 2009. The last unit parade with the eight main unions dates back to 2009, in the face of the financial crisis (the CGT had counted nearly 1.2 million demonstrators, the police 456,000). In 2002 (1.3 million people, according to the Ministry of the Interior), the unions had also united to "block" Jean-Marie Le Pen between the two rounds of the presidential election.
The RN gathers in Le Havre. Marine Le Pen's National Rally is expecting around 1,400 of its activists on Monday in Le Havre (Seine-Maritime), a way to relaunch its traditional May Day celebration formerly dedicated to Joan of Arc, now renamed "Fête de la nation" and oriented towards "social peace".
The week could be decisive on a subject that has dominated all debates for several months. The Constitutional Council must give its response on Wednesday to the second bill tabled by the Nupes to organize a referendum of shared initiative (RIP) on pensions. The first request had been rejected.
"There are two appointments coming up," recalls Laurent Berger. The decision of the Constitutional Council on May 3 and the bill filed on June 8 by the Liot group. He does not believe in a government retreat today. That would be "naive".
But "if the Constitutional Council grants the holding of a referendum of shared initiative, then the government will have to put its reform on hold".
In the meantime, the challenge for the intersyndicale will be to remain united as differences begin to emerge in the face of invitations from the executive to resume dialogue on other work-related subjects. |
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Britney Delsey for DayNewsWorld |
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MANGO AND COCONUT FLAN | Comes the time of mangoes and coconuts on our stalls. Let's take the opportunity to make a flan with exotic flavors that will turn your taste buds upside down...
Preparation time
15 minutes
For 6 persons :
Ingredients
1 large mango
60 g grated coconut pulp
4 eggs
30 cl of light cream
40 g caster sugar
Preparation
Heat your oven to 180°C.
Detach the flesh from the mango and mix it with the coconut pulp.
Beat together, in a bowl, the eggs, the cream and the sugar.
Add this preparation to the mango/coconut mixture. Stir until the preparation is homogeneous.
Divide it into 6 moulds.
Bake for 30 minutes.
Let cool. Then keep the blanks in the refrigerator.
This flan with exotic flavors will turn your taste buds upside down !! |
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| Marie-Chantal de Verneuil pour DayNewsWorld |
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JOKE ABOUT JOE BIDEN'S AGE
AT THE CORRESPONDENTS DINNER |
 The jokes of Daily Show comedian Roy Wood Jr made President Joe Biden laugh at the White House correspondents' gala dinner on Saturday evening, April 29, 2023.
This annual evening, which brings together all of Washington politicians and the media, celebrates in theory the first amendment to the American Constitution defending the freedom of the press. But in practice, we mostly remember the jokes.
Daily Show comedian Roy Wood Jr underlined the age of Mr. Biden who, a candidate for re-election, could remain in office until he is 86 if he wins. By mentioning the demonstrations in France against the pension reform.
Daily Show comedian Roy Wood Jr
“They revolted because they didn't want to work until they were 64. Meanwhile, in the United States, we have an 80-year-old man who begs us to work four more years,” he quipped, provoking a broad smile from the head of state, seated a few meters away.
“'Let me finish the job': it's not a campaign slogan, it's a plea,” continued the comedian. “Say what you want about our president but when he wakes up from [his] nap, the job is done. »
The American president took and replied on Saturday to the humorous spades about his age during the gala dinner of the correspondents of the White House.
"Call me old - I call that seasoned," the president replied. “They say I'm an elder - I say I'm wise. They say I'm not very young anymore – Don Lemon would say I'm a man of first youth”.
Don Lemon, a star CNN anchor, was recently fired by the channel after he sparked controversy when he said Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley, 51, was "no longer young."
Mr. Biden also reserved a spade for Rupert Murdoch, the 92-year-old media mogul and owner of the conservative Fox News channel.
“You might think I don't like Rupert Murdoch. It's not true. How could I not like a man who makes me look like Harry Styles? “joked the American president, in reference to the 29-year-old British star.
The appeal of the correspondents' dinner, which is held in the vast room of the Washington Hilton, had somewhat withered in recent years, between the boycott of Donald Trump and the pandemic.
But this year the event was sold out, with 2,600 guests, including Mr. Biden and his vice-president Kamala Harris. The presence of the two heads of the executive revives a tradition lost since the presidency of Donald Trump. |
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Carl Delsey for DayNewsWorld |
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THE UKRAINIAN COUNTER-OFFENSIVE
HAS IT STARTED ? |
 Mr. Prigojine, head of the Wagner group, said he expected a Ukrainian counter-offensive around mid-May.
"This counter-offensive could become a tragedy for our country," he warned.
The Wagner group was on the front line in the fighting around the city of Bakhmout.
Yevgeny Prigojine is in open conflict with the Russian military hierarchy, which he accuses of not knowingly delivering enough ammunition to his men and has publicly attacked Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on several occasions.
Ukraine said this week that its preparations for a counter-offensive were coming to an end.
On Sunday, the governor of the Russian region of Briansk bordering Ukraine announced that a Ukrainian bombardment having targeted a Russian village had left four dead and two injured.
The day before, a drone attack caused a fire in an oil depot in Sevastopol, the home port of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Crimea, according to the authorities of the peninsula annexed by Russia.
Moscow replaces its military logistics chief
The Russian army announced on Sunday the appointment of a new head of its military logistics, General Alexei Kuzmenkov, who replaces another high-ranking officer, General Mikhail Mizintsev, as Kyiv claims to have completed its preparations for a counteroffensive.
"General Alexei Kuzmenkov has been appointed Russian Deputy Minister of Defense, responsible for the material and technical supply of the Russian Armed Forces," the army said in a statement.
Until now, Mr. Kuzmenkov was deputy director of the Russian National Guard (Rosgvardia), a post he had held since 2019, according to the press release.
Alexeï Kouzmenkov thus replaces Mikhaïl Mizintsev, who was only appointed to this post last September.
Former head of the National Defense Control Center, Mr. Mizintsev is targeted by Western sanctions for his role in the siege of Mariupol, a port city in southeastern Ukraine, devastated by bombing. |
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Alize Marion for DayNewsWorld |
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FINLAND TOWARDS A GOVERNMENT
RIGHT AND EXTREME RIGHT |  Petteri Orpo, winner of the Finnish elections and probable future Prime Minister of Finland, announced this Thursday, April 27, 2023 that he wanted to form a government coalition with the far right. The nationalist anti-immigration party came second in the legislative elections.
Official negotiations to form a government will begin on May 2. They will bring together the National Coalition (center right), the party of Petteri Orpo, winner of the elections, the Finns Party (extreme right) as well as two other small traditional allied parties of the Finnish right.
Such an alliance with the Party of Finns, which won 20.1% of the vote in the legislative elections on April 2, would mean that a new anti-immigration party would find itself in power in Europe, against a backdrop of pressure from populist parties or extreme right in several countries of the continent.
Petteri Orpo, Deputy Prime Minister of Finland from 2017 to 2019, had two options to form a coalition: either to ally with the Social Democratic Party (SDP) of resigning Prime Minister Sanna Marin, or to unite with the Party of Finns, with which the main subject of divergence concerns immigration.
Between the two parties, this question promises to be the most difficult point in forging an alliance. When the nationalist party militates for important restrictions, Petteri Orpo defends him, a work immigration to counter the strong aging of the Finnish population.
"It will be a subject of negotiation. It is a very important question for us: immigration threatens security as well as the economy, declared Thursday, the leader of the Party of Finns. At the same time, we are in no way opposed to all immigration. There are certainly things we can agree on when it comes to labor immigration."
The current Prime Minister steps down
In Finland, the right has already governed with the Party of Finns (ex-True Finns) between 2015 and 2017, the date of a split within the eurosceptic formation which had resulted in a harder line, in particular in migration matters.
Final negotiations to form a government usually last about a month in Finland.
It takes 101 deputies to have an absolute majority in the Finnish Parliament and its 200 seats.
Members of coalitions in the Finnish Parliament traditionally inherit ministerial positions, and the second party in power usually takes the position of finance minister.
The arrival of a right-wing government in Finland would be historic, as it would be the first time in more than 100 years that governments would be formed with parties other than the Social Democratic Party or the Center Party... |
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Sandra Stac for DayNewsWorld |
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DONALD TRUMP IN HEAD
JOE BIDEN'S AGE A DISABILITY
FOR HIS RE-ELECTION AS PRESIDENTIAL | 
For his first campaign rally since his indictment in New York, Donald Trump strongly attacked President Joe Biden, who has just announced his candidacy for the 2024 presidential election.
“We are going to crush Joe Biden”. This is what Donald Trump assured, this Thursday, April 27, during a meeting in New Hampshire, two days after the current American president announced that he was running for the 2024 ballot.
In his speech, the former Republican president had very harsh words to sum up the record of his successor. “On Tuesday, Joe Biden officially declared that he wanted four more disastrous years in office,” he criticized. "We are now in a country steeped in violence and crime, crushed by inflation, where banks are collapsing," he added.
Donald Trump leads the polls
Donald Trump is currently surfing well above the fray of Republican candidates. New Hampshire, where he is in a meeting, is among the first states to organize their Republican primaries in early 2024. A victory in this state would guarantee the 76-year-old Republican candidate a precious momentum, and necessary for the future.
Currently, the 45th American president thus dominates by 4 points the 46th, with 46% of the projections against 42%. The remaining 12% are divided between the choice of another candidate (7%) and those who remain undecided (5%).
“I am a candidate for my re-election”
Joe Biden announced Tuesday, April 25, 2023 to run for a second term as head of the United States. "I'm running for re-election," the 80-year-old US president said in a video message posted on Twitter.
"When I ran for president four years ago, I said this was going to be a fight for the soul of America and we're still there," Biden said. "This is not the time for complacency, that's why I'm running for re-election. [...] Let's get the job done. I know we can do it."
Tuesday's date was far from trivial. It marks the fourth anniversary, to the day, of Joe Biden's last entry into the campaign, when the Democrat launched a battle for "the soul of America", and deprived Donald Trump of a second mandate.
But the president was to speak on what will likely be one of his leitmotifs as a candidate: how to bring "manufacturing jobs" back to the United States and "rebuild the middle class". Since the beginning of the year, Joe Biden has hammered home his desire to restore his "dignity" to popular America "forgotten", disturbed by globalization, which Donald Trump has been able to seduce in part.
Joe Biden's age a matter of debate
The tenant of the White House may think he has the statistics with him: American presidents generally run again, and they are most often re-elected.
But Joe Biden, by his age, defies historical precedent. If re-elected, he would complete his second term at the age of 86. In November 2021 and then in February 2023, the manager underwent check-ups which concluded that he was in "good health".
But he, who is already prone to blunders and whose appearance is unmistakably marked by the years, exposes himself to an upsurge of attacks from the Republicans on his mental acuity. His repeated falls, his diction problems and his frequent slips had long been highlighted by the Republican media to present Joe Biden as a senile old man who had become a toy in the hands of his advisers.
But the subject of the age of the American president is now openly broached by the Democratic media, where it has until now been taboo. His own camp is wondering about a second term for the oldest American president. 70% of Americans did not want to see him candidate again, according to a recent poll. Even in New York, a traditionally Democratic city, his candidacy is making a lot of noise.
Joe Biden's failures
Also, the Democrat failed to reunite the country. Three emblematic subjects of both America's deepest divisions and Joe Biden's failures can be invoked, partly explained by his limited institutional room for maneuver. The President started his first mandate without clear parliamentary domination, he finished it with a divided Congress: a Democratic Senate, a Republican House of Representatives.
He also has against him many states governed by Republicans and a conservative Supreme Court.
Joe Biden did not ban assault rifles as promised, despite several killings. He could not or knew how to do nothing when the Supreme Court put an end to the constitutional right to abortion. Nor has he passed major legislation to protect African Americans' access to the vote or to respond to police brutality.
The American President has put an end to the construction of the wall that Donald Trump wanted on the border with Mexico, but the arrivals of migrants continue without his having succeeded in reforming the immigration system.
Joe Biden has also not stemmed a wave of overdoses due to synthetic opiates.
A future Trump-Biden duel?
If Donald Trump is targeting Joe Biden, it is in particular because he anticipates a duel with the Democratic candidate, who will be his main opponent to gain the presidency once again. In 2024, America will have the choice between “success and failure”, “security or anarchy”, “prosperity or disaster”, he estimated, the tone serious.
Donald Trump embarked on a Joe Biden imitation implying that the octogenarian leader was senile, a recurring claim among Republicans.
However, before being officially invested by his party, Donald Trump will have to face the governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, his biggest rival, who also took for his rank. “It is collapsing” in the polls, he hammered.
With 36% satisfaction in the polls, Joe Biden is more unpopular than Donald Trump has ever been. Currently, the 45th American president thus dominates by 4 points the 46th, with 46% of the projections against 42%. |
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| Alyson Braxton for DayNewsWorld |
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PRESIDENTIAL IN TURKIYE
ERDOGAN'S CAMPAIGN IN DIFFICULTY |

After having had to interrupt a live television interview on Tuesday evening due to stomach flu and canceled his three public appearances scheduled for Wednesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reappeared this Thursday, April 27, 2023, during a videoconference from the palace. presidential meeting in Ankara for the inauguration of Turkey's first nuclear power plant.
"Our country has climbed into the league of countries with nuclear energy," said Mr. Erdogan, his features drawn, dispelling however the most alarmist rumors about his state of health.
A wave with Putin
The inauguration of the Akkuyu power plant (South), built by the Russian giant Rosatom, was to be one of the highlights of the week for the Turkish president. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was initially to go there, had even expected the visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who also spoke by videoconference before him. The two heads of state also waved to each other from a distance.
In difficulty in the polls against his opponent Kemal Kılıçdaroglu, the Turkish president candidate for his re-election has multiplied meetings across the country in recent weeks. But after having to interrupt a television interview on Tuesday evening, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in power for 20 years, canceled all his trips on Wednesday and Thursday.
Something to raise questions about the health of the 69-year-old Turkish president. An intestinal virus has bedridden Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, a few weeks before the elections that could cost him his place at the head of the country.
A first in 20 years .
For the first time since coming to power in 2003, the flamboyant Recep Tayyip Erdoǧan has indeed seen his support waver, observe experts. The elections will be held on May 14 in this country which links Europe to the Middle East. Polls give a narrow lead to his main rival, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, at the head of a coalition of six opposition parties.
"These are elections that seem decisive, both for the destiny of Mr. Erdoǧan and for all his words, his ideology and his way of governing the country for twenty years," said Sami Aoun, director of the Observatory of the Middle East and North Africa from the Raoul-Dandurand Chair.
Tuesday evening, the outgoing president had to interrupt a live interview on Turkish television because of "stomach flu".
He had to rest on Wednesday, he announced on Twitter, and was unable to visit the communities of Kırıkkale, Yozgat and Sivas as planned.
The balancing act on the international scene
On the international scene, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan thus plays the balancing act, analyzes Mr. Aoun. The country is a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and has offered its support to Ukraine, but without cutting ties with Russia, as evidenced by this new nuclear power plant.
Vladimir Putin was speaking this Thursday, April 27, 2023 during a ceremony organized by videoconference on the occasion of the inauguration of the first nuclear power plant in Turkey, built by Russia, welcoming a "flagship project" of relations between Moscow and Ankara.
This plant "is a convincing example of everything you, Mr. President Erdogan, do for your country, for the development of its economy, for all Turkish citizens," said Vladimir Putin.
"I want to say it bluntly: you know how to set ambitious goals and you seek to achieve them with confidence," he added, particularly warm statements that testify to the close personal relationship forged by the two leaders these last years.
"We support such an attitude and are convinced that close cooperation and partnership between Russia and Turkey are mutually beneficial," he insisted.
Despite diverging interests, they cooperate on several issues, such as Syria. The Turkish president is also one of the few leaders to have good relations with both Moscow and kyiv despite the conflict in Ukraine. The inauguration of the Akkuyu power plant is one of the symbols of this partnership, "one of the most important mutual projects in the history of Russian-Turkish relations", boasted the Russian president on Thursday.
Recalling that Moscow had sent humanitarian aid after the earthquake that killed more than 50,000 people in Turkey, Vladimir Putin affirmed that Russia was "always ready to extend a friendly hand".
Inflation and earthquake
The series of earthquakes that claimed the lives of more than 40,000 people in February may damage the image of the outgoing president. The opposition says the high death toll is not just linked to the earthquake, but to poorly regulated and shoddy construction. Most Turkish homes are not built to earthquake-resistant standards, despite a law passed in 2007 that is poorly enforced due to corruption.
"Construction projects have always been used to mobilize Erdoǧan's electorate during election campaigns," Kejanlioglu said. credibility."
'The first time Erdoğan was propelled to power was by an earthquake [that of 1999]. This time, is it an earthquake that will get the better of him? Asks Sami Aoun. There were several corrupt contractors around the outgoing president who committed building code violations."
Getting out of the economic crisis is a fundamental issue. Households are struggling to make ends meet in Turkey, where inflation has peaked at 50%. This rampant economic crisis can be partly attributed to the management of the incumbent president, experts reported to The New York Times in mid-April. And it's a hot topic in this election campaign.
Added to these two crises is that of the millions of refugees living in Turkey, the country that hosts the most refugees in the world.
"Turkey is a welcoming land, but when the economy falters, it's a difficult situation," says Ms. Deschamps-Laporte.
United against Erdogan's authoritarianism
Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu is Erdogan's rival in the polls for the presidential candidacy. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, 69, founder and president of the AKP (Justice and Development Party), has been at the top of power since March 2003. He has won all the elections in which he has stood since:
legislative in 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015 and 2018, presidential in 2014 and 2018…
As for the last election, he tied up with several far-right parties, including the Gray Wolves of the MHP (Nationalist Action Party), the Alliance of the Republic.
Kemal Kiliçdaroglu, 74, is a former social security official. He has chaired the CHP (Republican People's Party, Kemalist) since 2010, heir to Atatürk's single party, but he has never been a presidential candidate, leaving second knives to run in 2014 and 2018.
At the head of an opposition for a long time very timid in the face of the excesses of the regime, he gained confidence after 2017, when he took the lead of a "march for justice" between Ankara and Istanbul.
The 2019 municipal elections also see his party win all the major Turkish cities. Kiliçdaroglu is at the head of the Alliance of the Nation, also known as the Table of Six, a heterogeneous coalition which brings together social democrats, nationalists and Islamists. Notably, he garnered the implicit support of the pro-Kurdish HDP party, which chose not to present a candidate.
The six opposition parties gathered behind Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu share a common political vision: to dislodge Erdoǧan and bring back the parliamentary political system that existed before 2018.
Mr. Kılıçdaroğlu's coalition brings together opposition parties, both centre-right and centre-left, nationalist or pro-Europe, secular or Islamic.
But what could really tip the scales in their favor is the tacit support of the Kurds. Indeed, the alliance of leftist and pro-Kurdish parties has not nominated a candidate and supports Mr. Kılıçdaroğlu.
“These people have a strong mobilization which can reach 11%, even 12% of the votes”, details Mr. Aoun, also professor emeritus at the University of Sherbrooke.
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| Andrew Preston pour DayNewsWorld |
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UNDERSTANDING DEADLY CONFRONTATIONS
IN SUDAN DUE TO RIVALRY
BETWEEN TWO GENERALS

The Sudanese capital was shaken by gunfire and air raids in the night and morning of April 21, as has been the case daily since the start of the fighting on April 15, which left "413 dead and 3,551 injured", according to a new report from the World Health Organization (WHO). Images of devastated Karthoum are looping on the Al-Jazeera channel.
"Our country is bleeding" -
“For Eid, our country is bleeding: destruction, desolation and the sound of bullets have taken precedence over joy,” General Burhane said. So far, like his rival, General Daglo, he had only spoken to the media and had not directly addressed the 45 million Sudanese.
Deadly clashes broke out on Saturday (April 15th) in Sudan between the Sudanese Armed Forces led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the Rapid Support Forces, a paramilitary militia led by General Hemetti.
This violence is not a surprise. It is the culmination of several months of tension between the two groups and especially their two leaders. At the origin of this situation, a power struggle between the two most powerful generals of Sudan. On the one hand, the head of the army, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who de facto leads the country. On the other, his number two, General Mohamed Hamdane Daglo, nicknamed "Hemetti", at the head of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF, in English), a powerful paramilitary force.
To understand this rivalry, you have to go back to April 11, 2019. On that day, dictator Omar al-Bashir was overthrown by a military coup. Al Burhan and his junta take power. Hemetti is number two in the regime. Sudan is moving towards a transfer of power to civilians, but in October 2021, the military carries out a new putsch. Al Burhan and Hemetti are maneuvering to defeat the democratic transition.
How did we get here ?
In October 2021, the two generals therefore joined forces to oust the civilians with whom they had shared power since the fall of dictator Omar al-Bashir in 2019.
“A marriage of convenience” for the putsch, explains researcher Hamid Khalafallah. "They never had a sincere partnership but common interests against civilians."
And the breaches in the sacred union quickly came to light: The leader of the Rapid Support Forces (FSR), Hemedti, repeatedly denounced the "failure" of a putsch which restored "the old regime" of Bashir, according to him. Then the conflict intensified when it was necessary to sign the conditions for the integration of his men into the regular troops, within the framework of the agreement with the civilians which was to relaunch the democratic transition.
For experts, this agreement has opened Pandora's box: by letting the military negotiate among themselves, "Hemedti has gone from the status of second to that of equal to Burhane", affirms Kholood Khair, who founded the Confluence research center Advisory in Khartoum. Feeling "more autonomous in the face of the army", Hemedti saw an opportunity to realize "his very great political ambitions", abounds Alan Boswell, in charge of the Horn of Africa at the International Crisis Group.
The thorny question remained to be settled: how to integrate Hemetti's Rapid Support Forces into the regular army. And then who to control the soldiers? Who to control arms?
Another bone of contention, the presence since the reign of Omar el-Bashir of numerous Islamist officers in the Sudanese army, whom General Hemedti wanted to purge. Since the October 2021 coup, the Islamist current, which already enjoyed significant support within the army, has grown stronger with the blessing of General al-Burhan. This was one of the main points of tension with General Hemedti.
The two generals have opposing positions.
The army wanted a very rapid integration, within one or two years. General Al-Burhan, supported by Egypt, and under pressure from certain Islamist cadres in the army, made the signing of the agreement conditional on the integration of the RSF into the ranks of the army, under his command.
The RSF wanted to maintain autonomy for up to ten years. Hemetti categorically refused to let his rival command his men and agreed to place his forces only under the authority of a civilian head of state, and on condition that the army be purged of its Islamist elements. This security reform, a central issue in the transfer of power to civilians, therefore set fire to the powder.
Ancient rivalry for economic power
But the rivalry between the two men is older. For years, General Hemetti's Rapid Support Forces have steadily grown in strength. Made up of 80 to 120,000 men, well equipped, well trained, this force in the form of a free electron, which did not respond to the central power, aroused discontent in the general staff of the regular army. With the dispatch of mercenaries to Yemen and the financial windfall of smuggling gold on behalf of the United Arab Emirates, Hemetti has also become one of the richest and most powerful men in the country.
The rivalry between Al-Burhan and Hemetti is also personal. The two officers know each other well, they both operated in Darfur during the civil war in the 2000s and then during the war in Yemen. And they have been competing for several years to recover a number of resource networks since the 2019 revolution.
All of this only made matters worse over the months. With an acceleration during the political negotiations. Each camp recruited massively, particularly among the youth of Darfur, the greater western region.
For several weeks, the two opposing groups had carried out major movements, bringing men and equipment to the capital. The tension rose a notch on Thursday, April 13, when the RSF deployed around an air base in Meroe, in the north of the country.
The clashes, two days later, could break out.
The conflict, transformed into a pitched battle, led to the flight of many civilians abroad: 10,000 to 20,000 people, especially women and children, went to neighboring Chad, according to the UN.
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Andrew Preston for DayNewsWorld |
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PROTECTIONIST PUSH IN EASTERN EUROPE AGAINST UKRAINIAN CEREALS |  Over the weekend, Poland and Hungary decided to ban until June 30 imports of cereals (and other agricultural products) from Ukraine which, according to Warsaw and Budapest, destabilize their markets national agricultural. These grains have benefited since 2022 from an exemption from customs duties to allow kyiv to export despite the closure of certain maritime routes by the Black Sea.
But they are not always re-exported to third countries as they should and pile up in the silos of neighboring countries or close neighbors of Ukraine. They drive down prices there and fuel the anger of local farmers.
On Saturday, Warsaw "has therefore decided to ban the entry, the import of cereals into Poland as well as dozens of other agri-food products", explained the leader of the ruling party, the conservative Jaroslaw Kaczynski.
Otherwise, in his eyes, "it would lead to a serious crisis in the agricultural sector in Poland".
Poland is an agricultural country, the actors of the sector vote, and the elections are approaching.
On April 5, 2023, the Polish Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Henryk Kowalczyk, had to resign from his post.
"We support Ukraine, but we must also defend the interests of our citizens."
On the Hungarian side, it is cereals, oilseeds and several other agricultural products, according to a press release from the Ministry of Agriculture. And this, too, in the name of defending the "interests of the Hungarian agricultural community".
Poland, but also other countries in the region – Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria – want the subject to be put on the table again in Brussels.
Agricultural crisis reserve
This Monday, moreover, Slovakia also took action, while continuing to authorize transit, unlike Poland. Bulgaria has indicated its intention to follow suit. Sofia believes that if a handful of countries pronounce an import ban, the flows will transfer to the other countries concerned.
The announcement from Budapest and Warsaw comes as the EU27 adopted, two weeks ago, an aid plan from the Commission of 56 million euros to support farmers affected by the drop in prices. The funds, drawn from the CAP reserve, are to be disbursed by September 2023, and Poland is to be the main beneficiary, with the rest going to Romania and Bulgaria.
A second aid plan is in preparation. Seen from Brussels, it is therefore a reversal on the part of Warsaw, which has so far pleaded for more solidarity with Ukraine. A reversal which risks weighing on the discussions around the renewal of the 2022 agreement, the one which had recorded the lifting of tariff barriers on Ukrainian products for one year.
Customs duty problem
Since last month, these five Member States have in fact expressed the wish that the Commission reconsider its decision on customs duties. New measures, they plead, could be envisaged in order to fulfill the initial objective, the re-export of Ukrainian grain to countries in Africa and the Middle East, while avoiding negative externalities and perverse effects.
"The ultimate goal is not to maintain the import ban indefinitely but to ensure that Ukrainian grain for export goes where it needs to go," the vice tried to play down Monday. - Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Pawel Jablonski.
According to official Ukrainian data, some three million tonnes of cereals leave Ukrainian soil each month via the Black Sea, under an agreement concluded under the aegis of the United Nations and Turkey, while 200,000 tonnes additional ones are routed through Poland to European ports.
Exclusive jurisdiction
The European Commission really did not appreciate the initiative of the countries of central Europe. "It is important to stress that trade policy is an exclusive competence of the EU and that unilateral actions are not acceptable," insisted a spokesperson. “In these difficult times, it is crucial to coordinate and align all decisions within the EU,” she added.
The current tensions, in hollow, underline the great challenges that Ukraine's accession to the EU would pose, in particular for the common agricultural policy and the cohesion policy.
The country of 604,000 km2 and 44 million inhabitants received EU candidate status last June. |
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| Abby Shelcore for DayNewsWorld |
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FRANCE EXPULSION OF CLANDESTINE ALIENS
IN MAYOTTE |
 Barely started, the "Wuambushu" operation is already stuck. The Comoros declared this Monday, April 24, 2023 to have refused the docking of a boat carrying migrants from Mayotte, where the French authorities began this controversial intervention, supposed to expel a large number of illegal migrants to the neighboring archipelago.
"The port of Mutsamudu (on the Comorian island of Anjouan) is unable to operate on the embarkation and disembarkation of passengers from this day until April 26, 2023, the date on which we will inform you of the “possible resumption of operations”, announced the maritime services in a note addressed to a shipping company and of which AFP had a copy. "As long as the French side decides to do things unilaterally, we will take our responsibilities. No deportee will return to a port under Comorian sovereignty," said Comorian Interior Minister Fakridine Mahamoud.
Operation Wuambushu aims to expel illegal foreigners mainly from neighboring Comoros in Mayotte.
A plan hailed by local elected officials who repeatedly point to the increase in delinquency.
Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin confirmed on Friday a series of police interventions against delinquency and illegal immigration in Mayotte, called "Wambushu", in the 101st French department located in the Indian Ocean.
Gérald Darmanin, affirmed the holding of a "long-term" operation, called "Wambushu" (resumption, in Mahoran), validated by Emmanuel Macron in the Defense Council, according to a source familiar with the matter.
The Minister of the Interior denied a launch on Monday and for a period of two months, advanced by the press. "There is not a moment when we start it and a moment when we finish it", he added, even affirming that the operation had "already started".
2,500 staff mobilized
"There are 1,800 police and gendarmes right now in Mayotte who are carrying out police operations, which are putting an end to arms trafficking, which are putting an end to criminal gangs", of which 60 have been counted, he said.
In total, more than 2,500 personnel (law enforcement, regional health agency, justice, health reserve) are mobilized, according to a source familiar with the matter.
This operation must include mass expulsions of illegal aliens and destruction of slums. In Mayotte, slums extend over several kilometres. These hundreds of homes are inhabited by hundreds of illegal immigrants from neighboring Comoros. It is precisely these people who are targeted by the expulsion operation named Wuambushu.
More than 150,000 illegal immigrants
Mayotte, which became the 101st French department in 2011, attracts thousands of migrants every year, arriving by sea in "kwassa kwassa", makeshift boats, from the neighboring Comorian island of Anjouan, but also from West Africa. Great Lakes and increasingly Madagascar.
Nearly half of the estimated 350,000 inhabitants of Mayotte do not have French nationality, according to INSEE, but a third of foreigners were born on the island. In its February 2019 report, INSEE indicated that between "significant immigration from the Comoros" and the departure of "natives of Mayotte abroad", 48% of the department's population was foreign in 2017, a figure up 8% from 2012.
Insecurity and "non-standard" delinquency.
These illegal migrants, settled in particularly unhealthy neighborhoods, "bangas" prey to violence and trafficking, live for the most part quietly on the island, occupying small jobs.
The minors are educated. But they are also accused by the population and the elected officials of unbalancing the few infrastructures and resources of the island and of feeding a rate of delinquency Several operations called "decasing", sometimes carried out by inhabitants of the island themselves formed into militias, have already taken place since 2016.
The Operation is also hailed by local elected officials who denounce acts of daily delinquency. "This operation is already finding a solution inside the island to identify and locate these people and drive them back to the border," explains the mayor of Bandrélé (Mayotte). This year, personal attacks have increased by 50%.
In its report "Living environment and security in Mayotte" of November 2021, INSEE indeed describes "exceptional delinquency". Over the period 2018-2019, in each area – burglaries, thefts, physical or sexual violence… – Mahoran crime clearly exceeds the figures for mainland France.
"The inhabitants of Mayotte are personally three times more victims of thefts with or without violence", indicates INSEE, and the feeling of insecurity "far exceeds all the standards of the metropolis or other Drom (Departments and regions of Overseas)". 48% of Mahorais feel insecure at home (52% in their neighborhood), five to six times more than in France. All of these numbers are increasing year after year.
10,000 illegal aliens targeted
The archipelago of Mayotte is the department where the National Rally signed its highest score in the first round of the presidential election. Marine Le Pen won 59.10% of the vote there, far ahead of the other candidates, but also very far from her 2017 score. In a department plagued by insecurity and illegal immigration, the RN seduces.
The operation could target up to 10,000 illegal aliens. Some should be deported to a neighboring island.
Comoros "does not intend to welcome deportees"
The authorities of the Comoros, who still claim their sovereignty over Mayotte, which remained French after the independence of the Comoros in 1974, are up against this operation. The Comoros "do not intend to welcome deportees" said the government spokesman on Friday.
The Comoros have nevertheless committed in an agreement signed in 2019 to "cooperate" with Paris on immigration issues in exchange for development aid of 150 million euros. |
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Kelly Donaldson for DayNewsWorld |
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A BLACK CLEOPATRA ON NETFLIX
IS IT REWRITE HISTORY ? |
 From May 10, 2023, Netflix should broadcast a documentary series dedicated to African queens, directed by American actress and producer Jada Pinkett Smith. Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt (69-30 BC), is played by black actress Adele James, a choice that has sparked a violent controversy since the trailer aired on April 12 2023.
This series revives very present and recurring controversies in the United States, around the place of blacks in society and the way their history is told.
In a petition launched in Egypt and already signed by more than 18,000 people, the director is accused of “blackwashing”, that is to say of having deliberately transformed a supposedly white historical figure into a black woman. “Blackwashing” and “whitewashing” – much more frequent – respectively consist in employing black actors to embody white characters, or supposedly such, and white actors to embody characters who are not, in a historical fresco or adaptation of a work.
In American fiction and in works of art, Cleopatra has long been an icon for the African-American community. But if the problem with this new film is that it is a documentary: its educational aim requires nuances and precision.
Cleopatra in America
Cleopatra has been a figure in American culture at least since the mid-19th century. From 1858, it was embodied in marble by the very neoclassical sculptor William Wetmore Story. In 1876, the African-American sculptor Edmonia Lewis in turn produced a work in marble representing the suicide of the queen.
The same year, the golden porcelain bust by Isaac Broome shows us a mixed-race queen, with a Greek profile and black skin. Broome thus questions two major themes in the United States: the political role of women and the place of blacks in society.
The civilization of ancient Egypt poses an ideological problem in segregationist America: the history of humanity had known a great civilization that was neither white nor European, unlike the Greek and Roman cultures. As Frederick Douglas, an activist for the abolition of slavery, expressed it in 1854: “The fact that Egypt was one of the first abodes of knowledge and civilization is firmly established. […] But Egypt is in Africa”.
This is how Cleopatra gradually rose to the status of a symbol of the fight against slavery.
A black icon
But it was especially in the second half of the 20th century that Cleopatra became a black icon. The context in which this renewed interest in the queen, and more generally American Egyptomania, blossoms, is quite particular: the new avatar of Cleopatra falls within the framework of the demand for civil rights for blacks.
The Queen represents Africa's fight against slavery. His suicide is seen as a refusal to submit to white power. This is, of course, a rereading of history, a retrospective reconstruction of the past in which, for completely contemporary reasons, a social group is looking for a reputedly glorious character in order to transform him into an emblematic figure.
This type of recuperation is, moreover, not unique to Cleopatra. We can compare the contemporary Afro-American idol to the figure of Vercingetorix, another defeated leader, whose second half of the 19th century in France made national glory.
This touches on a completely different aspect of the problem: the need to find in the distant past, in this case Antiquity, icons capable of embodying contemporary demands or pride.
It is therefore no coincidence that the name of the queen was given to the black heroine Cleopatra Jones, CIA agent, female and black James Bond, in two blaxploitation films of the 1970s: Cleopatra Jones (Dynamite Jones) in 1973, then Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold, 1975 (Dynamite Jones et le Casino d'or).
A heroine who loves fur jackets, bell bottoms and flashy outfits. Like the queen of texts from the Roman period, she embodies the inversion of the codes of society at the time and, on the contrary, symbolizes the hope of a new, fairer world. The black vigilante with the “afro” cut hunts down nasty blondes, in a mixture of claiming and irony: here, the criminals are not black, black is beautiful.
In 2002, in the film Austin Powers in Goldmember, singer Beyoncé Knowles parodies the role of Tamara Dobson. This time, her name is Foxxy Cleopatra. But the ingredients are the same: the contemporary black Cleopatra, all dressed in leather, brandishing firearms in the service of world justice.
A problematic review
Cleopatra has already been successfully embodied in the theater by black actresses, such as Yanna McIntosh in Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra (Stratford Festival, 2015). Which, moreover, is not in contradiction with the text, since the queen is defined there as a “tawny front”.
The following year, in the same role, Chantal Jean-Pierre (Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, 2016) largely convinced the public with the poise and elegance of her interpretation.
If the documentary series proposed by Netflix denotes in relation to these fictional interpretations, it is because it broadcasts a message that is questionable to say the least in a format that is nevertheless intended to be educational.
In the trailer, a first speaker rightly recalls that Cleopatra was “a Ptolemaic sovereign” and that “the very first Ptolemy was a general of Alexander the Great”. We deduce that Cleopatra was, in part at least, of Greco-Macedonian and European origin. This is the only certainty we have about its origins.
Then, another participant affirms: “It is possible that she was Egyptian”. It is true that his mother and grandmothers could have been Egyptian concubines of the late Ptolemys. But Cleopatra herself says nothing about it in the official texts. She only mentions her father, King Ptolemy XII Neos Dionysos, and defines herself as thea philopator, that is to say "goddess who loves her father".
A third speaker finally says: “My grandmother used to tell me: I don't care what they told you at school, Cleopatra was black. ".
This is where the documentary takes a particularly dubious turn from a scientific point of view, and carries accusations that seem unfounded. What is the point of this intervention if not to suggest that not only was Cleopatra really black, but also that her skin color was deliberately bleached by the repeated lies of generations of teachers?
Trapped Cleopatra
In reality, the figure of the queen has long been trapped in debates between “eurocentrists” and “afrocentrists”. Researcher Ella Shohat reported in 2003 on controversies as virulent as they were futile over the color of the queen's skin and her "racial" type.
Was Cleopatra white, black or mixed-race? Such questions refer less to the time of Cleopatra, multicultural and syncretic, than to the racist fantasies of the 19th and 20th centuries. Is it relevant to try to qualify as European or African the shape of the nose or the lips of the queen from her representations? This type of questioning seems extremely dubious. Eurocentrism and Afrocentrism have in common the same segregationist logic, ignoring the ethnic diversity specific to the time and region where the historical Cleopatra lived.
We do not see why the population of the Nile Valley, 2,000 years ago, would have been uniformly black, that is to say fundamentally different from what it still is today: diverse and mixed.
Egypt and singing stars
The association between ancient Egypt and Africanity has also led some singing stars to take up Egyptian themes. The African-American singer Rihanna shows off the winged Isis with which she is tattooed under the chest. She goes on stage dressed as Cleopatra and sings, microphone in hand, seated on a golden throne, during her "Cleopatra Performance" (2012).
This is an "Africanist" reappropriation of ancient Egypt. At the same time, Rihanna, planetary celebrity of the 2010s, contributes to sprinkle Egyptian themes on this globalized culture, produced in America, which then spreads to the rest of the world.
All this topicality of the myth translates the extraordinary popularity of the character of the last queen of Egypt, although in a superficial way, with a young and adolescent public.
Cleopatra lends itself very well to the staging of a mixed society that the historical character would probably not have denied.
Article by Christian-Georges Schwentzel, professor of ancient history, University of Lorraine, author of "Cleopatra", PUF editions, "Biographies" collection. Also posted in The Conversation France |
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Paul Emison for DayNewsWorld |
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THE DONBASS GIRL OR THE AMERICAN IMPOSSOR
VOICE OF RUSSIA |
 For her supporters, the person behind the profile "Donbass Devushka", or "Daughter of Donbass", is a Russian woman from the city of Luhansk.
She spoke with a slight Russian accent. She professed her admiration for Vladimir Putin to the hundreds of thousands of subscribers to her various social media accounts. But Donbass Devushka - literally the girl of Donbass in Russian - actually had no connection with Russia and spoke perfect English.
In reality, she is a 100% “made in the USA” 30-year-old who lives in the Washington region, in the United States, confirmed to be called Sarah Bils, in an interview granted to the Wall Street Journal, Sunday April 16. The famous daily presents her as a key element in the dissemination of “Pentagon leaks” - the famous classified documents of the American intelligence services - on Russian social networks.
Interviews with top pro-Russian bloggers
In the interview with The Wall Street Journal, Sarah Bils confessed to being behind the "Donbass Devushka" character, as well as fundraising and hosting podcasts under that name. She added, however, that the eponymous account was managed by fourteen other people based "all over the world", without indicating their identity. According to her, another moderator of her Telegram channel would have disseminated the classified information, she being aware of the "seriousness" of such documents.
Because “the daughter of Donbass” is not alone in playing pro-Russian propaganda on her social networks. Since 2021, this former soldier has built a "small empire of pro-Russian disinformation", which would occupy about fifteen people from its North American suburbs, says Nafo, a group of pro-Ukrainian activists, who were the first to discover the true identity of Donbass Devushka.
On her YouTube channel, she regularly posts long interviews with all the top pro-Russian bloggers and self-proclaimed independent journalists in the English-speaking world. Personalities like Jackson Hinkle or Eva Bartlett, who are among the top 10 non-Russian "influencers" to support Moscow, according to the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, discuss the "inevitable decline of the West" or even the how the United States is using Ukraine to attack Russia.
On Telegram, Sarah Bils does not hesitate to share more violent content with her community, which is 65,000 strong.
Sarah Bils seems to have become the propaganda mistress of Moscow. His career, however, gave no indication of such a professional specialty. Despite her assertions, the one who pretended to be Donbass Devushka never set foot in Russia and even less in the Donbass.
Before her blogging job, Sarah Bils had been promoted at the end of 2020 to a senior non-commissioned officer rank in aeronautical electronics, recalls the Wall Street Journal, in support of the promotion files published on the Navy website. In November last year, however, the 30-year-old left the army with a lower rank, a significant demotion that cannot be explained at this time. Contacted, neither the navy nor the American Department of Justice wished to answer the questions of the American newspaper.
In the meantime, she had set up a small business selling… fish food. She even participated in podcasts on this theme, which is nevertheless very far from Russophile considerations.
“The antithesis of an America they no longer support”
It was only with the start of the big offensive in February 2022 that Sarah Bils turned into a staunch supporter of the Russian cause. “She built one of the fastest growing English-speaking pro-Putin communities,” said Pekka Kallioniemi, a researcher at the University of Tampere in Finland and a member of the Nafo collective.
Difficult to explain this professional retraining. But she is far from the only one to have chosen to become an influencer in the service of Moscow. “The vast majority of this English-speaking support for Russia comes from the United States or Europe,” says Jeff Hawn, Russia specialist and outside consultant for the New Lines Institute, an American center for geopolitical research.
This is not, however, a sign of Vladimir Putin's growing popularity in the Western world, says this specialist. "In the United States, most of these supporters of Moscow are promoting Russia because it embodies the antithesis of an America they no longer support," says Jeff Hawn.
With these relays in the English-speaking world, Moscow can boast of having popular support. What could be more distant, a priori, from the corridors of the Kremlin than a former soldier reconverted in the sale of fish products in a small American town. |
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Alize Marion for DayNewsWorld |
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FOX NEWS PAYS $787.5 MILLION
TO AVOID A DEFAMATION SUIT |
 The news channel Fox News on Tuesday reached an out-of-court settlement with voting machine maker Dominion Voting Systems, which in early 2021 filed a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against it.
Announced at the last minute, the deal calls for $787.5 million to be paid by Fox News to Dominion, according to Justin Nelson, one of the election technology company's attorneys.
“The truth is important. Lies have consequences,” the attorney told reporters outside the courthouse in Wilmington, Delaware, where the trial was to take place. “More than two years ago, a torrent of lies swept Dominion election officials across America into an alternate universe of conspiracy theories, causing serious harm to Dominion and the country. »
Dominion boss John Poulos hailed a "historic" settlement, the largest in US history on defamation.
"Fox admitted to lying about Dominion," he said.
Fox vicariously admitted wrongdoing in a written statement: “We note the Court's rulings that have found certain Dominion assertions to be false. »
But the conservative channel won't have to admit its lies or apologize on the air.
Dominion accused Fox News of misleading viewers into believing its voting machines were used to rig the results of the 2020 presidential election and deprive Donald Trump of the victory he was due. However, the technological company was ready to present to the jury documents and testimonies intended to prove that the leaders and the animators of the chain knew that the theories propagated by allies of the ex-president were false.
According to the evidence available to Dominion, these lies had only one purpose: to stem the flight of Fox News viewers to Newsmax and OAN, its more Trumpist competitors.
Until settling the lawsuit out of court, the 1996-founded channel defended itself by arguing that it had merely reported newsworthy allegations made by Donald Trump's allies and was protected by the First Amendment, which guarantees freedom of the press.
Fox News is not at the end of its troubles. Smartmatic, another election tech company, filed a $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit against the channel in February 2021.
“Dominion's lawsuit exposed some of the misconduct and damage caused by Fox's disinformation campaign. Smartmatic will expose the rest,” the company promised in a statement.
"With this settlement, everyone wins," Martin Garbus, a lawyer specializing in First Amendment issues to the Constitution, told the New York Times. "Fox is on his way. Dominion is taking the money." |
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Emily Jackson for DayNewsWorld |
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SCARYING HEAT RECORDS IN ASIA THREATEN THE POOREST |  Scorching temperatures hit Asia during this period when the hot season is just beginning. With frightening records. 45°C in Thailand, 44°C in India, 38°C in China…
For the first time in its history, Thailand has just recorded temperatures of over 45°C. On April 15, 45.4°C was measured in Tak, a province in the northwest of the country and bordering Burma, according to data from the Thai Meteorological Department. The previous record dates back to 2016, when nearby Mae Hong Son region recorded 44.6°C. The country's weather service has warned that this weather will continue into next week. "It is possible that the heat of this year will be exacerbated by human activity," said Thanasit Iamananchai, the deputy director general of this service, joining the UN experts who warned in March about the risks of extreme episodes linked to global warming higher than they had estimated in 2014.
"This year's record heat in Thailand, China and South Asia is clearly a climate trend and will pose public health challenges for years to come," said Fahad Saeed, a researcher at the Climate Institute. Analytics, based in Pakistan.
Ditto in Central Asia, where Turkmenistan also set a heat record for the month of April: 42.2 ° C were measured in Uch-Adzhi, in the east of the country, notes British meteorologist Scott Duncan on Twitter . With 38.1°C in Uzbekistan, 35.1°C in Kazakhstan (including 33.6°C in the Taraz highlands, a record for the month of April) and 35°C in Tajikistan, the wave of heat extends in many territories of Central Asia.
Public health challenges
“It is not just hot during the day, extremely high nighttime temperatures have also been recorded. At night, temperatures do not drop below 28°C,” says meteorologist Scott Duncan.
In addition, the extreme heat will hit the poorest the hardest. It could even be a life-threatening risk for those who do not have access to air conditioning or suitable shelters On Monday, Indian authorities announced that eleven people had died of "heat stroke", during a handover of price which about a million people attended, in full sun. Since 2010, heat waves have killed more than 6,500 people in India. In Bangladesh, hundreds of people gathered this week in Dakha, the capital, to pray for beneficial rain, as the temperature reached 40.6 degrees Celsius, a record high since the 1960s. for the temperature to drop, and to be protected from the heat wave," local police chief Abul Kalam Azad said.
Global warming makes heat waves more frequent, more intense and earlier. Severe heat waves are on the rise around the world, experts say. The impact of human activities on the climate makes heat waves more frequent, more intense and earlier in the year. According to scientists, the probability of occurrence of unprecedented and very intense events increases with each tenth of global warming.
Thus, at +2°C, "1.7 billion additional people will be exposed to high heat, 420 million to extreme heat and around 65 million to exceptional heat waves every five years", warn the climatologist. |
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Britney Delsey for DayNewsWorld |
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WHY ARE TAIWAN AND UKRAINE
AT THE CENTER OF G7 DEBATES ? |
 The heads of diplomacy from the G7 countries arrived in Karuizawa (center), a small Japanese mountain resort, on Sunday to discuss China's growing pressure on Taiwan and the conflict in Ukraine. Delegations from the 7 most industrialized countries follow the Ministers of the Environment and Energy with a rich agenda: armies, space, technologies, cybersecurity and the growing influence of the Middle Empire. For Antony Blinken, who stopped over in Hanoi before arriving in Japan, everything must be done to counter the rise of China in the Indo-Pacific region.
East Asia under the radar
The diplomatic agenda of the past few days has indeed been marked by East Asia with the launch by North Korea on Thursday of what it claimed was a "new type" of intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) at solid fuel. Last weekend, China conducted military maneuvers around Taiwan, simulating attacks and a blockade of the island it considers part of its territory.
According to American intelligence, Beijing is accelerating the development of its strategic means in order to have, by 2027, an army likely to deter the United States in the event of an invasion of Taiwan.
The G7 has regularly warned Beijing against any attempt to forcefully change the status quo regarding Taiwan and some of its members are once again sounding the alarm. "We have an interest in seeing peace and stability reign in the Taiwan Strait," European Foreign Minister Josep Borrell told reporters on Sunday, speaking by videoconference after testing positive for Covid-19 this week. week. "Our position is the one China policy, we respect it and we will continue to support it, but we want to defuse tensions and any change by force will be unacceptable," he added.
“Keep freedom of maneuver”
The wording of the joint communiqué of the group of seven main industrialized countries (Germany, Canada, United States, France, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom) will be scrutinized after recent remarks by French President Emmanuel Macron. Returning from a visit to China, he said Europe should not be caught up in "crises that are not (his) own", irritating allies anxious not to undermine relations with Washington.
While French President Emmanuel Macron's remarks on the need for Europe's strategic autonomy from the United States have somewhat shaken Europe and across the Atlantic, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, who was in Beijing in weekend, meanwhile said a military escalation in the Taiwan Strait would be a worst-case scenario for the whole world.
Global economic issues around Taiwan
A conflict between China and Taiwan would indeed have major implications for the global economy, particularly regarding the dominance of the US dollar. China is seeking to expand its influence in the Western Pacific, which could challenge the role of the US Navy as a guarantor of sea lanes and, by extension, the dominant position of the dollar. Additionally, the Taiwan Strait is a vital trade route, with nearly 90% of the world's largest ships by tonnage passing through it.
A conflict or blockade in the region could cause global economic chaos. Taiwan is a key player in the global production of semiconductors, and a conflict in the region could threaten the supply of these critical components for many tech industries. If Taiwan's semiconductor industry falls under the control of the Chinese Communist Party, it could have devastating consequences for Western economies that depend on these components for their own industries and technology products.
Political and military alliances could also be strained in the event of a conflict between China and Taiwan. Britain, the United States, Australia and other countries in the region could be drawn into the conflict due to their close ties and alliances. This could create additional tensions between the nations and worsen the already volatile situation.
For Paul Nadeau, professor of political science at the Japanese campus of the American Temple University, Emmanuel Macron's statements betray a reality: "Each member (of the G7) wishes to maintain freedom of maneuver in the way in which he manages his relations with China", politically and commercially. Consensus will undoubtedly be easier to obtain on Ukraine, the occasion for the Japanese host to underline his certainty that the Russian invasion only accentuates the need to redouble our vigilance in Asia.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, whose government at the end of 2022 approved a major revision of its defense doctrine in the face of the rise of Chinese power, has repeatedly warned that "Asia could be the Ukraine of tomorrow". |
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Jenny Chase for DayNewsWorld |
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THE MAIN SUSPECT OF LEAKS OF CONFIDENTIAL DOCUMENTS IS A YOUNG US MILITARY RECRUIT
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 Jack Teixeira, 21, was arrested on Thursday. It took a week to identify the main suspect. On Thursday, April 13, shortly before 2 p.m., FBI police arrived in North Dighton, Massachusetts, at the home of Jack Teixeira. The 21-year-old young man, red shorts and khaki T-shirt, was boarded, his hands handcuffed. He is due in front of a Boston judge on Friday to be charged under the Espionage Act. His arrest was broadcast live by American television channels.
New to the army
The National Guard said Jack Teixeira enlisted in September 2019, worked as a computer and communications specialist and achieved the rank of Airman First Class, the third lowest in the hierarchy. Coming from a military family, his stepfather retired after 34 years of service at the military base where he himself worked, according to the Cape Cod Times, while his stepbrother also currently works there.
Jack Teixeira's mother has worked in NGOs supporting veterans, as well as the Massachusetts Department of Veterans Services, according to US media. She posted photos of the family every year on Veterans Day.
"Inform and Impress"
Under the pseudonym "OG", the suspect would have published for months documents from the military base where he works on a private online group of the social network Discord.
“OG” had asked other members of the Discord group not to distribute the documents, assuring that he had no intention of being a whistleblower, according to the Washington Post. He was critical of the state - whose "abuse of power" he denounced -, the police and the intelligence community." According to one of these friends contacted by a newspaper, the young man, fervent Catholic and libertarian was extremely pessimistic about the future of his country.
The group, made up of around 24 people, some of whom are from Russia and Ukraine, was formed in 2020 around their mutual passion for firearms, military equipment and religion.
According to testimonies collected by the American daily, the young man simply wanted to teach the young members of the group "what real war was".
Its goal, according to members of the group, which formed in the midst of a pandemic, “was to both inform and impress.” According to a minor member of the group, interviewed by the Wahington Post with the consent of his mother, "OG" would have started by sending them messages in which he reproduced the verbatim of confidential notes, which required him hours of work, adding to it annotations to explain certain acronyms or technical points. Then, tired of this restrictive method, he would have chosen in a more risky way to send them copies of the documents, several per week, from the end of 2022.
Thus, from at least October, Jack Teixeira began sharing descriptions of classified information "before eventually posting hundreds of pages of documents online, including detailed maps of the frontline in Ukraine and confidential assessments of the Russian war machine
"Everyone respected OG," Vahki, a member of the band, was quoted by The New York Times as saying. "He was the guy, the myth. And he was the legend. Everyone respected him." And to add: "This guy was Christian, anti-war, and just wanted to inform his friends of what was going on".
Espionage Act
In an article this Friday devoted to the personality of the suspect, the Washington Post points out that despite his inexperience, Jack Teixeira already had access to numerous highly sensitive classified documents via the Joint Worldwide Intelligence Communications System network, which allowed him to read these files.
In Washington, Attorney General Merrick B. Garland announced that Jack Teixeira, arrested for "unauthorized removal, retention and transmission of classified information relating to national defense", in reference to the Espionage Act , will be arraigned in the Federal District Court of Massachusetts.
Justice, following the example of the American authorities, will have to clarify in particular the circumstances which allowed a young first-class airman to have access to such sensitive information on the war in Ukraine, and to daily intelligence reports emanating in particular from the CIA and the National Security Agency. |
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Alize Marion for DayNewsWorld |
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INDIA THE MOST POPULAR NATION IN THE WORLD ? |  Demographers aren't sure when India will take the title of the world's most populous nation, but they know it will happen soon, if it hasn't already. The UN, meanwhile, has set the announcement for mid-April. But independent demographic institutes, such as the World Population Review, ensure that the overrun has already occurred in 2022.
India is now the most populous country on the planet and will remain so at least until the end of the century, with 1.417 billion inhabitants, against 1.412 billion for China. The next on the podium of world demography, the United States with 338 million individuals, or Indonesia (275 million) and Pakistan (234 million) are barely larger than the state of Bihar, in the northern India, the most populous in the country.
China and India both have over 1.4 billion people and together they make up more than a third of the world's 8 billion people. India's population has grown by more than 1 billion people since independence in 1947 and will continue to grow until 2060, to reach 1.7 billion, even as the country began its demographic transition in the 1980s.
Its synthetic fertility index (2 children per woman) is now slightly below the renewal threshold (2.1 children per woman). The evolution is very slow because India has not resorted, unlike China, to a coercive policy. The country would not have supported it, after the trauma of the forced sterilization campaign imposed by Indira Gandhi and her son Sanjay during the state of emergency in 1976.
China has an aging population with stagnant growth even after the government seven years ago backed out of a one-child policy, and just two years ago said couples could have three children.
India has a much younger population, a higher fertility rate and has seen a decline in infant mortality over the past three decades.
The social and economic consequences are significant. In India, this means an increase in the workforce and growth that stimulates economic activity. In China, that means fewer working-age adults able to support an aging population.
Once a country reaches low fertility, it is often difficult to recapture population growth, even with changes in government policy to encourage more births, pointed out Toshiko Kaneda, technical director of population research at Population Reference Bureau (PRB) in Washington.
“Psychologically, it will be difficult for China, especially given the rivalry in other areas between the two countries, raised Stuart Gietel-Basten. It is a great moment in the history of humanity that the relay move on to India.”
A situation which, however, places India in front of multiple challenges. |
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| Boby Dean for DayNewsWorld |
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DONALD TRUMP "THE CASE WILL COLLAPSE" ! | 
Advocates for the former president attacked the indictment released Tuesday during his historic appearance in a Manhattan court. “Relieved” on reading the document which, according to him, “has no new material element”, Me Joe Tacopina thus predicted on the NBC channel that the affair was going to “collapse” quickly.
Trump is accused of orchestrating payments to cover up embarrassing deals ahead of the 2016 presidential election. A court clerk announces that the defendant faces "34 counts of falsifying business records." Trump is asked to say whether he is about to plead guilty or not. "Not guilty," he replies hoarsely.
What he is accused of is having, among other things, bought the silence of three embarrassing people just before the 2016 election and having disguised these payments of money in the accounts of his company or of friendly companies. - a maneuver that Manhattan prosecutor Alvin Bragg describes as criminal under New York electoral law.
Stormy Daniels, the one who brought down Trump
Among the recipients of his payments, there is first of all Stormy Daniels, the porn actress who claims to have received 130,000 dollars to silence her one-night stand in 2006 with Trump, which the latter denies. She is the star of the trial, the "faller" of the ex-president, the one through whom the scandal happens and who is amused by it: three minutes before the hearing, she launched on Twitter for the intention of his detractors: "you all accuse me of being a 'fucking bag' but I'd rather be in my position than under arrest". Then there is Karen McDougal: this ex-playmate claims to have had a ten-month affair with Trump (which he also denies) between June 2006 and April 2007. According to prosecutor Alvin Bragg, Trump would have bought his silence by through his friend David Pecker, publisher of the National Enquirer tabloid,
The same method was allegedly used to silence Dino Sajudin, the third beneficiary. This former janitor of Trump Tower swore he had proof of the existence of a natural child of Trump and he threatened to sell the story (which turns out to be totally invented) to the press. He would have received $ 30,000 from the National Enquirer, and Trump would have been so grateful to the friend Pecker that according to the indictment, he would have invited him to his inauguration in January 2017 and then a second time to the White House a few months later.
Like just minor infractions
In New York State, falsifications of accounting records are generally considered simple minor offenses, but become misdemeanors, punishable by four years in prison, if they are committed to "cover up" another offense. At a press conference, Democratic prosecutor Alvin Bragg assured that this was the case, but only touched on what this other offense could be, invoking pell-mell possible violations of campaign finance laws. elections or tax evasion.
"New York justice, unlike federal justice, allows imprecise indictments, but that pushes the limits a bit," notes John Coffee, professor of law at Columbia University. The prosecution case is "risky on several levels", also believes his colleague William Banks of Syracuse University, pointing to the problem of credibility of the main witness for the prosecution, Donald Trump's former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen.
This man, who once boasted of being his boss's "pit bull", paid actress Stormy Daniels out of his own pocket not to open up about a sexual relationship she claims to have had in 2006 with Donald Trump.
Michael Cohen, who had been reimbursed by the Trump Organization, today claims to have acted at the express request of Donald Trump. But the former president's lawyers accuse him of being a "pathological liar" and recall that he was convicted of tax evasion by federal justice. To weaken his testimony, the defense insists on the fact that the former lawyer, now disbarred, had been convicted of having lied to Congress in the investigation into Russian interference.
“Fiasco”
In the opinion of many lawyers, who paraded on television sets last night, these stories are crisp but insufficient to be qualified as crimes. These would only be misdemeanors. “What I read in the indictment seems disappointing to me”, regretted Andrew McCabe, former deputy director of the FBI dismissed in 2018 on the orders of Trump in particularly odious conditions. The same goes for John Bolton, Trump's former national security adviser, turned notorious anti-Trumpist, who called the indictment "distressing and "even more fragile" than it looks. feared. Republican Senator Mitt Romney, who hates Trump and vice versa, accused the New York prosecutor of "using justice for political ends".With the reason he ran for Manhattan District Attorney. "I'm running because all too often we have two standards of justice: one for the rich, the powerful, and those with relationships, and the other for everyone else. »
The New York lawsuits "are a legal and political error", also asserts Richard Hasen, professor of law at the University of California, on the Slate magazine website. This renowned expert in electoral law recalls that the federal justice had failed in 2012 to convict John Edwards, candidate for the Democratic primary of 2008, whose mistress had received nearly half a million dollars during the campaign to conceal her pregnancy .
Richard Hasen fears that a similar fiasco "will lend credence to the 'witch hunt' accusations" hammered home by Donald Trump. The risk is to discredit at the same time the other investigations which threaten the former real estate magnate.
Alvin Bragg, the New York prosecutor who accuses him of 'orchestrating' payments to cover up extramarital affairs before the 2016 election, is using a legal argument that has never been used before to make a criminal case.
Alvin Bragg "built one of the most controversial and high-profile cases in American history on the most uncertain legal basis possible," laments the American news analysis site Vox.
“Alvin Bragg did not state the basis of his action in the indictment. tax – but it's as if he himself had not yet chosen", underlines Stephen Dreyfuss.
The most obvious track concerns the federal law on the financing of electoral campaigns. The $130,000 paid by Michael Cohen, Donald Trump's ex-lawyer, to Stormy Daniels was not counted as campaign spending "even though it is arguable that he wanted to cover up a case that could have reduce Donald Trump's chances of winning the election", analyzes Marc Scholl. Except that this option is also the riskiest legally.
It will have been understood that there is therefore little chance that Donald Trump, who, theoretically, risks the absurd number of 136 years in prison, falls on these derisory cases.
Moreover, back at Mar a Lago, Trump was not mistaken there swaggering during his speech, acclaimed by his fans, after two trying days in Manhattan, but during which he monopolized the light.
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Garett Skyport for DayNewsWorld |
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CORONATION OF CHARLES III
WITH HARRY BUT WITHOUT MEGHAN |
 Preparation for the official coronation of King Charles III on May 6, 2023 is in full swing. An event that has not taken place since 1953 and the enthronement of Queen Elizabeth II, who remained more than seventy years at the head of the British monarchy.
On the program are three days of festivities, a ceremony at Westminster Abbey broadcast on television around the world, friendship lunches, a major concert at Windsor Castle and a call for volunteers.
Even Prince Harry, withdrawn from the British monarchy, will attend the coronation of his father Charles III on May 6, 2023 at Westminster Abbey in London, Buckingham Palace announced.
"The Palace is pleased to confirm that the Duke of Sussex will attend the Coronation," the Crown wrote in its statement.
His wife Meghan Markle will not accompany him, on this day which will also mark the fourth birthday of their son.
As with all important events involving the Royal Family, members of the British Crown will gather at Buckingham Palace after the ceremony on Saturday May 6, 2023. A procession will therefore leave from the heart of London to reach the palace, where the Windsors can wave to the crowd from the balcony.
But not everyone will be invited to sit around Charles and Camilla.
Despite the wind of modernity that Charles III wants to blow on the British monarchy, there is no question of making the coronation a family event, it is a state event.
This is the reason why only prominent members of the family who are very active in the Firm will have a place on the balcony.
Prince Harry should therefore not take part in the procession leaving Westminster Abbey at the end of the ceremony, nor appear on the balcony of Buckingham Palace for the traditional salute to the crowd.
Especially since the relations between the neo-Californians and the British royal family have suffered from the very intimate revelations made by the youngest of Charles III and Lady Diana in The Substitute. |
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Kate White for DayNewsWorld |
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THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE LEAK OF CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS IN THE UNITED STATES |  Washington is trying to assess the risks associated with the leak of classified documents, which relate in particular to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and which could prove valuable for Moscow.
The leak of classified American documents, particularly related to Ukraine, poses a "very serious" risk to the national security of the United States, the Pentagon said on Monday.
President Joe Biden was briefed on the situation, which appears to be of growing concern to his administration, "late last week," his spokesman John Kirby said.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin himself was not made aware of the problem until the morning of April 6 – the day the leak was revealed later that day by The New York Times – the report said. Pentagon spokesman.
Among these documents, which were leaked online by the New York Times1 on Thursday, one takes stock of the state of the conflict in Ukraine at the beginning of March, others refer to the situation on specific fronts, such as Bakhmout , or the crucial anti-aircraft defenses of Kyiv.
Some also seem to point to US intelligence gathering targeting some of its allies.
If he did not want to comment on the authenticity of these documents, John Kirby, spokesman for the National Security Council attached to Joe Biden, spoke of the concern of the American authorities.
"We don't know who is responsible for this. And we don't know if they have more [documents] to publish" online, he said, before adding:
"Is this a concern for us?
Absolutely !."
How such a leak?
The specialized media Bellingcat explains that these "Top Secret" documents were published on various social networks, first on Discord, on a channel initially created to talk about the Minecraft video game. They then spread to 4chan, then Twitter, and Telegram.
The origin of the leak has not yet been identified. The posts on Discord are photos of the "Top Secret" documents "surrounded by objects", the outlet explains. Many of them are no longer available on the sites where they originally appeared. The United States would work to have them removed.
We continue to investigate how this happened, as well as the extent of the problem. Steps have been taken to analyze [...] how this type of information was distributed and to whom.
The Justice Department has opened a separate criminal investigation.
CNN, which was able to consult 53 of the leaked documents, explains that most of them seem to have been produced between mid-February and March 2023. They contain classified information, of different levels of confidentiality.
Many also relate to the war in Ukraine. One, for example, takes stock of the state of the conflict at the beginning of March, including the amount of Russian and Ukrainian losses, while others evoke the situation on specific fronts, such as Bakhmout.
With the Guardian, a spokesman for the French Ministry of Defense denied the presence of French soldiers in Ukraine, when it would have been revealed in the documents which have leaked, explains the British media.
According to CNN, some documents also show how the United States managed to obtain information within the Russian Ministry of Defense and the Wagner organization.
Several documents seem to indicate that Washington is spying on its own allies, including Israel and South Korea. And even directly the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky.?
Ten years after the revelations about spying by the NSA on several European countries, including France, does the United States continue to spy on its allies?
Defense Department spokesman Meagher said a team was working to determine if the documents were genuine, and noted that in any event, the released photos appeared to contain sensitive information.
Are they genuine?
"Photos appear to show documents in a format similar to that used to provide daily updates to our senior Ukraine and Russia-related operations, as well as other intelligence updates," he said. he said, but some "seem to have been modified".
Several media, including CNN, the Washington Post and the New York Times, report that US officials claim, on condition of anonymity, that most of the documents are authentic. They correspond to CIA reports circulating at the White House, the Pentagon or even the State Department, says the same source.
However, at least one of the documents appears to have been altered to suggest that Ukraine suffered greater losses than Russia, when the supposed original said otherwise.
The leaks could endanger US intelligence sources, as well as provide Russia with valuable information on the state of Ukrainian troops. The documents evoking the partner countries of the United States could embarrass Washington, in particular about a possible espionage of close allies.
“The release of classified and sensitive information can not only have enormous consequences for our national security, but also lead to death,” warned Chris Meagher. |
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Alize Marion for DayNewsWorld |
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EMMANUEL MACRON'S VISIT TO CHINA ENDED A DIPLOMATIC FAILURE
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 The three-day state visit of the French president to Beijing and Canton ends this Friday, April 7, 2023.
According to Marc Julienne, head of China activities at the Asia center of Ifri, nothing went as planned for the French head of state.
For Emmanuel Macron, this state visit is an opportunity to heal the wounds of a degraded Franco-Chinese relationship. The causes are multiple, starting with the Covid-19. China sees us as a middle power, with difficulties. Added to this the imbalance in the trade balance, the deterioration of Sino-American relations and recently the war in Ukraine, the time of the "friend Chirac" seems a long way off.
In addition, France claims to be a leading power in Europe, a permanent member of the UN Security Council and a driving force in the "Indo-Pacific". However, it remains deaf and dumb in the face of the paramount security issue in this region, namely stability in the Taiwan Strait.
The Elysée had let it be known that the question would not be broached, except at the initiative of China, a rather surprising attitude when the French president had been warned before his trip that it was going to coincide with an interview on Wednesday evening on the American soil between Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and the Speaker of the American House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, a "hawk" in the American political apparatus, in favor of more vigorous measures to "contain" the rise of China on the international scene.
This meeting did not fail to arouse the wrath of Beijing, the question of Taiwan therefore being on the agenda of Emmanuel Macron's visit.
Diplomatic failure on Ukraine
President Macron intended above all to try to drive a wedge between China and Russia over Ukraine: this is the avowed objective of the French president for his three-day state visit to the People's Republic of China. But Emmanuel Macron failed.
Indeed, Emmanuel Macron, who came with the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, is making this trip at a critical time from the point of view of China's strategic positioning.
On the one hand, President Xi Jinping has multiplied the signs of strategic rapprochement with Vladimir Putin: his state visit to Moscow on March 21-22 shortly after the announcement of the issuance of an arrest warrant against its host by the International Criminal Court, made an impression; his “peace plan” for Ukraine appeared as a backing for the Russian security agenda; and the development of trade with a Russia under multifaceted international sanctions constitutes an objective alliance with the Russian economy.
During the face-to-face meeting Thursday, April 6, 2023 with the master of Communist China in a hall of the People's Palace on the edge of Tiananmen Square, the latter replied to him by welcoming the links with France which have, according to him, known a “positive and steady development” in a world in “profound change”.
Quoted by the English-language Hong Kong daily, the South China Morning Post, Xi was a little more outspoken: "China is keen to invite the international community, together with France, to remain rational and measured and to avoid taking any action that could lead to further escalation in the crisis and spiral out of control. » The most vague formulas which do not commit to anything on what Xi Jinping wants and especially on what Xi Jinping will be able to do with Vladimir Putin to try to "bring him back to reason".
On the commercial level, a more positive balance sheet.
The European group Airbus has indeed obtained the ability to double its aircraft production capacity in China, thanks to a second assembly line at its Tianjin site, near Beijing. It is due to enter service in the second half of 2025. Airbus has already had one since 2008, which has produced more than 600 A320s. The Chinese airline market is the second largest in the world.
The energy group EDF, for its part, renewed with the Chinese nuclear giant CGN their global partnership agreement, in force since 2007. It covers the design, construction and operation of nuclear power plants. This agreement notably allowed EDF to operate nuclear power plants. This agreement notably enabled EDF to build with CGN the only EPR facility currently in service in the world, in Taishan, in southern China.
But this cannot make us forget that thanks to the massive transfers of technology from France, China now masters all the technology in this sector, to the point of exporting power plants to the detriment of the more expensive French power plants.
As for the Marseille shipowner CMA-CGM, number three in the world, it has signed an agreement with Cosco, the Chinese number one, and the port of Shanghai for the supply of bio-methanol. The champion of water and waste management Suez has obtained a contract via a consortium for a seawater desalination project, the amount of which has not been specified.
In 2019, Suez had already won a contract worth one billion euros to treat wastewater from a chemical industrial site in China for a period of 50 years.
Signing contracts for French companies is profitable. But here again, Emmanuel Macron has evaded a very serious subject of concern for France and Europe: the trade deficit with China. Ursula von der Leyen recalled the unequal access to the Chinese market due to protectionism...
If this visit is presented in Beijing and Paris as a success, obviously it is not one. "It's a failure on the diplomatic scene, costly in terms of image", judge the researcher Marc Julienne.
The French president also wanted to embody a "third way" between the United States and China No doubt Paris and Brussels are willing to play an intermediary role between China and the United States.
But the "Taiwanese trap" shows the extent of the difficulties that remain with a Chinese partner which, although seriously weakened by years of catastrophic management of Covid-19, declining economic growth, plummeting demography and a facto of Western and Asian countries allied with the United States and determined to face up, is not yet at the stage where Europe could dictate its will. |
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Britney Delsey for DayNewsWorld |
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MOBILIZATION AGAINST DROPING PENSION REFORM
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As discussions between unions and the government are at an impasse, a total of 570,000 demonstrators marched this Thursday, April 6 in France, including 57,000 in Paris, for the eleventh day of mobilization against the pension reform, indicated The police headquarters.
On March 28, 740,000 people had mobilized across the country, including 93,000 in Paris, according to Place Beauvau. The CGT has for its part identified nearly 2 million demonstrators, including 400,000 in the capital, against “more than 2 million” in France and 450,000 in Paris on March 28. In the evening, the inter-union set the date for the next day of action on April 13, the day before the long-awaited decision of the Constitutional Council.
Before the departure of the Parisian procession, the new secretary general of the CGT Sophie Binet castigated a government which "lives in a parallel reality", accusing it of acting "as if nothing had happened" in the face of "deep anger" against reform. At his side, the number one of the CFDT, Laurent Berger, observed that "the challenge is still as strong" even if the participation figures of the day are "not the most important since the beginning" of the social movement.
Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin reported 111 arrests and 154 police officers injured in France.
In Lyon, damage was committed on the route, including a looted Nespresso store and a destroyed Tesla car. Blocking actions at the gates of major cities have caused traffic jams, particularly in Lyon and Rennes but also around Brest and Caen.
Less followed strikes
The strikes were however less marked, in particular at the SNCF, with three out of four TGVs and one out of two TERs and, in Paris, "almost normal" traffic for the metro and the RER.
On the refinery side, after the announcement of the restart of production at the Esso-ExxonMobil site in Port-Jérôme-Gravenchon (Seine-Maritime), its neighbor TotalEnergies in Gonfreville-L'Orcher remains the only one whose production is still stopped.
In education, the ministry has identified less than 8% of striking teachers. Some high schools and universities have been blocked, for example, in Paris, the Sorbonne and Assas. In Rennes, the faculty of law was closed, as were the three campuses of Lyon-2.
The rate of strikers in local authorities and hospitals was 0.5 point higher than that of the previous day of mobilization. In the territorial public service (about 2 million agents), it thus stands at 3.9%, against 3.4% on March 28 at midday, according to figures from the Ministry of the Public Service.
In the hospital public service (1.2 million agents), it rises to 5.9% against 5.4% during the previous day of mobilization. On the other hand, in the largest side of the public sector, the State civil service (2.5 million agents), the rate of strikers is identical to that of March 28 and reached 6.5% at midday. .
At EDF, where around one in two agents went on strike during the first days of mobilization, participation stalled with 19.9% of strikers according to figures noted at midday by management, after 21.5% March 28 according to the same source.
The unions want to "keep the flame alive"
But as since January 10 and the presentation of the reform, the biggest blockage is above all to be found between the executive and the unions, whose relations are turning sour. After a meeting that came to an end on Wednesday at Matignon, the head of government said that she did not plan " to move forward without the social partners".
More battles are to be expected. The next was not chosen at random: the next day of action will take place on April 13, on the eve of the decision of the Constitutional Council. Laurent Berger hopes that the Sages censor "the whole of the law".
Otherwise, estimated the number one of the FSU Benoît Teste this Thursday, a green light to the procedure of referendum of shared initiative (RIP) on pensions "can allow us to maintain the flame".
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Boby Dean for DayNewsWorld |
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ASSISTED SUICIDE EUTHANASIA
DOES THE END OF LIFE BELONG TO US ? |
 The citizen's convention on the end of life, organized by the Economic, Social and Environmental Council, submitted its report to the government after four months of discussions, reflections and votes. "We are all concerned, in essence, by the end of life.
"The day after the adoption of the report of the citizens' convention on this subject, which considers it "necessary" to authorize assisted suicide and euthanasia, Emmanuel Macron spoke on Monday, April 3, in front of the 184 participants gathered at the Elysée Palace. He recalled in particular that a "citizen convention never replaces parliamentary deliberation".
This extremely sensitive subject, which refers each person to their own vulnerability, indeed calls upon medical, societal, legal, ethical, philosophical and, of course, political dimensions and requires time to think about them.
Red lines not to cross
"I ask the government, in conjunction with parliamentarians, to carry out a work of co-construction on the basis of this solid reference which is that of the citizens' convention", continued the Head of State, while setting "red lines" not to be crossed. Among these, the need to "guarantee the expression of the free and enlightened will", of the "reiteration of the choice", "the incurability of refractory, psychic and physical suffering, even the commitment of the vital prognosis".
"You insist, rightly, that active assistance in dying should never be carried out for a social reason, to respond to the isolation which sometimes can make a patient who knows he is condemned feel guilty", added Emmanuel Macron, who also closed the door to any assistance in dying for minors. "These few red lines seem to me to frame the hypothesis of a French model of the end of life", he further underlined.
Better application of the existing framework, namely the Claeys-Leonetti law of 2016
Legislation on the end of life in France has been able to reinvent itself since the first milestones laid by the Kouchner law of 1999 which guaranteed access to palliative care. The Leonetti law of 2005, then the Claeys-Leonetti law of 2016 opened up rights for people at the end of life. Beyond the cessation of treatment, they frame the appointment of a person of trust and the drafting of advance directives, a written declaration that can be made by any adult person to specify their wishes concerning their end of life.
Current legislation allows caregivers to irreversibly sedate patients near death, whose suffering is intolerable. But it does not go so far as to authorize assisted suicide or euthanasia, as proposed by the citizens' convention.
These provisions are seen as effective means of removing uncertainties related to end-of-life conditions. However, they are ineffective.
This is why the "first pillar of the response" that Emmanuel Macron intends to bring to the conclusions of the citizens' convention and the various works on the subject is "perhaps the least spectacular response": that of the best application of the framework existing, namely the Claeys-Leonetti law of 2016, which "we need to better enforce".
Indeed, it is clear that advance directives are difficult to apply
A team of researchers has analyzed the ability of people of trust to make decisions corresponding to the wishes of their loved one. Based on nearly 20,000 pairs of patient-trustee responses on hypothetical end-of-life scenarios, they came to a worrying conclusion: in a third of cases, the trustee is wrong about treatment preference of his loved one and does not make the decision that he would like.
Even more alarming: this figure remains the same when discussions on these issues have already taken place. Indeed, people of trust can prioritize their own values over those of their loved ones.
Moreover, asking an elderly person to make a decision about their end of life is not easy, including when the family and the caregivers seem to have reached an agreement. They may in particular be confronted with moral dilemmas: should one consider not having one's life extended under certain conditions? Is it possible to agree to let others decide for oneself if it is no longer possible to express oneself?
The question is particularly complex in the case of elderly people living in institutions. According to a study conducted in 2013-2014 in 78 retirement homes in France, questions relating to the end of life were discussed with a maximum of 21.7% of residents.
In another exploratory study, British health researchers highlighted older people's concerns when asked to think about palliative care and euthanasia (and in particular the terms of their implementation). Thus, even if advance directives have been drafted in anticipation of hypothetical future difficulties, the elderly will not necessarily be able to adhere to them when they are really confronted with the end of their existence, as described in an article by two researchers Stéphane Alvarez and Emmanuel Monfort published in The Conversation.
Not only is drafting advance directives not a simple exercise for the patient, but he must also be supported by an efficient and responsive healthcare system.
Exceed the current limits?
However, the High Authority for Health clarified in 2020 that the Claeys-Leonetti law is not sufficiently applied by health professionals: an improvement is necessary in the dialogue between health professionals and patients, even the oldest. Progress is also needed in supporting them and their loved ones.
Then, will the decision-makers introduce active assistance in dying while the palliative care system is criticized for its unequal aspect (26 departments have no palliative care units) and more generally for an obvious lack of means? ?
And the Head of State to point to a "fundamental inequality" in access to palliative care on the territory. The president thus confirmed “a ten-year national plan for the management of pain and the development of palliative care, with the necessary investments”. Without giving figures on the financing of this plan, the Head of State undertook to "develop the management of palliative care", including in the pediatric sector, "to better integrate it into the hospital in the course of care, to set a threshold of beds per territory and to continue their development at home". An essential prerequisite before considering going further than the current provisions.
Be that as it may, the Order of Physicians, the first concerned if any, said it was "unfavourable" to doctors being able to participate in "a process which would lead to euthanasia, the doctor not being able to deliberately provoke the death by the administration of a lethal product" in the event of a change in the legislation on the end of life.
In addition, the LR deputy for Bas-Rhin Patrick Hetzel denounces in his column in Figarovox a biased debate: to pilot the citizens' convention on the end of life, in conjunction with consulting firms, the executive has indeed chosen the Economic Council and social (CESE), which in 2018 advocated the legalization of euthanasia and assisted suicide. And to conclude: "The debate on the end of life deserves better than amateurism and manipulation".
Faced with these non-exhaustive findings, it seems legitimate to ask the question of a real political will to introduce the notion of assisted dying into the law, a development that has been refused until now. Many questions remain... |
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Emily Jackson for DayNewsWorld |
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WHY A HIGH LEVEL OF NUCLEAR ACTIVITY DETECTED IN NORTH KOREA ?
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 A high level of activity has been detected at North Korea's main nuclear complex using satellite images, a think-tank says, after leader Kim Jong Un on Tuesday called for increased nuclear production. "military nuclear material".
Satellite images taken between March 3 and March 17 suggest construction of a light-water reactor at the Yongbyon site is 'close to completion', according to US-based organization 38 North -United.
According to these same images, the construction of a building has begun, while water discharges from the cooling system have been detected, suggesting that the reactor is about to "be operational", details the report of the group of reflection.
A five-megawatt reactor at Yongbyon also continues to operate, and new construction has begun around the site's uranium enrichment plant, likely to increase its capacity.
"These developments appear to reflect Kim Jong Un's recent directive to increase the production of fissile material to bolster his nuclear arsenal," 38 North analyzed.
State media on Tuesday showed North Korea's No. 1, who has called for increased production of "military nuclear material" in order to "exponentially" increase the production of nuclear weapons, inspecting a row of smaller warheads that appear to be tactical nuclear warheads.
For their part, Seoul and Washington have been warning of a new North Korean nuclear test since the beginning of 2022.
The North Korean army has increased its military exercises in recent weeks
While the two allied countries have strengthened their joint military exercises, Pyongyang is still carrying out missile launches and tests, while accusing Seoul of being at the origin of the deterioration of regional security.
The official KCNA news agency on Sunday denounced the series of joint exercises conducted by Washington and Seoul, warning of North Korea's "nuclear attack capability".
The North Korean army, which has increased its military exercises in recent weeks, said on Tuesday it had carried out a second test of what it presented as an "underwater nuclear attack drone".
While Pyongyang has called its status as a nuclear power in 2022 "irreversible", the North Korean leader ordered his army this month to step up military maneuvers for "real war". |
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Alize Marion for DayNewsWorld |
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STORM DANIELS CASE
DONALD TRUMP'S CRIMINAL CHARGE
SPRINGBOARD OR STIGMA FOR 2024 ? |
 Donald Trump is criminally charged in a 2016 case of buying the silence of a porn actress and is expected to appear in court in New York on Tuesday. An unprecedented historical fact for a former American president, who denounced Thursday March 30 a "political persecution".
The former tenant of the White House, who dreams of winning it back in 2024, is officially charged by Manhattan prosecutor Alvin Bragg, dependent on the justice of the State of New York, for a payment case, just before the presidential election. in 2016, $130,000 to porn actress Stormy Daniels.
A spokesperson for the local prosecutor's office had previously indicated that he had organized with the defense of Donald Trump "his surrender before the Manhattan District Attorney for a arraignment hearing before a Supreme Court", a court, according to a statement released after the vote. of a grand jury – a panel of citizens with investigative powers that works in concert with prosecutors – in favor of this indictment. This act and the lawsuits remain "under seal" for the time being.
CNN mentions around thirty charges revolving around fraud to conceal the circulation and accounting at the end of 2016 of the 130,000 dollars.
According to New York State criminal procedure, Prosecutor Bragg had to comply with the grand jury's vote of indictment, the proceedings of which are confidential. In the coming days, former President Trump will therefore have to "go" to the Manhattan court to be served with his indictment by a judge, to be briefly and symbolically placed "under arrest", photographed and his fingerprints taken. . He will then have to plead guilty or not guilty.
A legally complex matter
The case of pornographic actress Stormy Daniels is legally complex. New York justice is seeking to determine whether Donald Trump is guilty of misrepresentation, an offense, or breach of campaign finance laws, a criminal offense, by having paid money to this woman, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, just before the 2016 presidential election, which the Republican won.
The key man in the file is called Michael Cohen: former lawyer and now enemy of Donald Trump, he had paid Stormy Daniels. He testified before the grand jury, and the actress also cooperated with the law.
In the sights of the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, Michael Cohen ended up collaborating with the justice system. He pleaded guilty in August 2018 to tax and bank fraud and violation of campaign finance laws.
In doing so, "the pit bull" turned against Donald Trump, claiming to have always acted on his orders. However, the federal prosecutor's office considered that the payments made by the lawyer to buy the silence of the actress were intended to "influence the presidential election of 2016". Michael Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison in December 2018.
The investigation showed that the Trump Organization reimbursed Michael Cohen for the sums paid to Stormy Daniels. This is where the shoe pinches: American justice considers that it is a hidden donation to the president's campaign, in violation of electoral financing laws.
The fact of having paid Stormy Daniels to buy his silence is not criminal in itself. But, as John Coffee, a Columbia University law professor and financial crime expert, explains, "What's illegal is falsifying a company's business records."
The reimbursements paid to Michael Cohen by the Trump Organization were indeed "declared to be intended to cover legal fees". What the American justice considers as false declarations.
Faced with local justice in New York State, this single offense constitutes a misdemeanor. But “if prosecutors can convince a jury that the tampering took place for the purpose of hiding another crime,” such as an illegal donation to the candidate's 2016 campaign, “it becomes a felony, which can be punished up to four years in prison,” says John Coffee.
Even if he is sentenced in New York justice, Donald Trump will not be legally prevented from maintaining his candidacy for the presidency of the United States for 2024. The Republican will do everything to delay a trial, in order to avoid the effect potentially "stigmatising" a conviction.
Defense of Donald Trump
Indicted, Donald Trump risks being tried under the aegis of the New York State Attorney's Office for Manhattan, Alvin Bragg, an elected Democrat.
His lawyers say he is the victim of "extortion" from Stormy Daniels and question the reliability of Michael Cohen, who has become the key witness for the prosecution and therefore Donald Trump's sworn enemy. To weaken his testimony, the defense insists on the fact that the former lawyer, now disbarred, had been convicted of having lied to Congress in the investigation into Russian interference.
“A radical New York prosecutor trying to bring down Trump before 2024? It was to be expected, ”said Laura Ingraham in the first minutes of her show on Monday March 20. The star Fox News journalist then inducted the prosecutor in question, Alvin Bragg, into the “ Hall of Detractors of Trump”, believing that the latter considers this story of bribes a higher priority than “violent criminals” .
The 45th President of the United States (2017-2021) derided in a press release a "political persecution and interference in the presidential election" of November 2024. He denounced a "witch hunt" which "will backfire (Joe ) Biden", the Democratic president elected in November 2020 and whom Donald Trump has accused for more than two years of having "stolen" the victory
"Contrary to the values of America"
One of his sons, Eric Trump, thundered on Twitter against "an opportunistic act targeting a political opponent in the middle of an election campaign". One of Trump's 2024 Republican rivals, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, called the indictment "contrary to American values" and assured that his state, where the former president resides, would not respond favorably "to an extradition request" from the State of New York.
Same unwavering support from the Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, for whom "the American people will not tolerate this injustice" and an "unprecedented abuse of power" on the part of Prosecutor Bragg, from the Democratic Party.
Host Jesse Watters claimed as early as March 20 on FoxNews that Alvin Bragg was trying to "trigger a new January 6", the date of the assault on the United States Capitol, by attacking Donald Trump:
"They better not put my president in jail. He represents 74 million Americans. That's as many votes as you want to lock up. Anyway, that's how I see it".
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Garett Skyport for DayNewsWorld |
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A ROLEX OR NOTHING !!!!
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No Comment !!!! |
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Paul Emison for DayNewsWorld |
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CHATGPT PAUSE AI
OR PLAY ON FEARS ?
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 Hundreds of scientists and personalities signed an open letter on Wednesday March 29, 2023 calling for a six-month moratorium on the deployment of new versions of artificial intelligence such as ChatGPT. For the authors of the letter, this would be an “existential” issue for humanity.
Elon Musk, boss of Tesla, Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple, Andrew Yang, former Democratic candidate for the American presidential election, or even two recipients of the Turing Prize, the equivalent of the Nobel Prize in the field of artificial intelligence ( IA): all are among more than 1,000 celebrities and scientists who signed an open letter calling for an urgent pause in the creation of language models like ChatGPT, hours after its latest version went live on Wednesday, March 29.
In this text, they and they call for a 6-month break in the research and development of the most advanced AI software. For the authors of this open letter, AIs such as ChatGPT are not simply friendly “chat agents” who are hyper-gifted with whom to chat or who are able to help a student cheat in class. “We must immediately put on hold [...] the development of systems more powerful than GPT-4 [the last iteration of the algorithm which allows ChatGPT to work]”, can we read in this document.
One of the peculiarities of the text is that it is signed by Sam Altman, the man at the head of OpenAI, the company that designed ChatGPT: he says he himself is "a little bit scared" by ChatGPT, imagining the software being used for "large-scale disinformation or cyberattacks".
ChatGPT does not tell the truth..And other dangers of AI
"We haven't thought at all yet, for example, of solutions to compensate for all the job losses that the use of AI will generate", underlines Grigorios Tsoumakas, expert in artificial intelligence at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. More than 300 million employees worldwide could lose their jobs because of the automation of tasks, underlined the bank Goldman Sachs in a new study published Monday, March 27.
These AIs placed today in the hands of millions of Internet users like so many digital toys are not the safest either. “We have seen how easily experts have been able to circumvent the few security measures put in place on these systems. What would happen if terrorist organizations manage to seize it to create viruses, for example?” asks Grigorios Tsoumakas.
Cybersecurity risks are symptomatic of a larger problem with these systems, according to Joseph Sifakis. “We can't make tools available to the public so easily when we don't really know how these AIs will react”, judges this expert.
Without counting that it would be necessary to educate the common users. Indeed, “there may be a tendency to believe that the responses from these systems are true, when in reality these machines are simply trained to calculate the most likely continuation of a sentence to sound the most human. It has nothing to do with true or false”, asserts Carles Sierra. A striking example concerning images. This is an image that could be a photo taken in France during the numerous demonstrations against the pension reform and which was broadcast in particular on several Facebook and Twitter accounts in the last days of March 2023, to denounce the police violence. The face of an elderly and bloody person, surrounded by what looks like CRS. Gold according to Guillaume Brossard,
Enough to make these tools formidable weapons of massive disinformation.
But not only: “It is urgent to ask what will happen when people start making decisions that will have an impact on their lives based on the responses of their AIs”, adds Joseph Sifakis. What, for example, if a judge asks GPT-4 what is the best sentence to pronounce in a case?
An AI use case can illustrate this danger. An AI is indeed suspected of having pushed a man to suicide in Belgium. Presented as a woman, Eliza uses a conversational robot called Chai, developed by a start-up based in Silicon Valley. At first glance, Eliza is a generative artificial intelligence like any other in the galaxy of chatbots which is based on the model of GPT-J language, similar to Chat-GPT. But for the widow of a Belgian father who would have fallen in love with it, the conversations that her husband had with IA led him to suicide.
At the origin of the case, this Belgian had started chatting with the chatbot when he had become “eco-anxious” and obsessed with the impending catastrophe of global warming, two years ago. After six weeks of intense conversations, Eliza becomes his real "confidant", "like a drug (...) which he could no longer do without", says his wife.
Until the seesaw. "He evokes the idea of sacrificing himself if Eliza agrees to take care of the planet and save humanity through intelligence," says his widow. But his suicidal ideas do not arouse any objection from Eliza: on the contrary, she asks him why he still has not carried out his words. “We will live together, as one person, in paradise,” the chatbot wrote to him. The man will eventually take action.
The risk posed by artificial intelligences is not only that they adopt behaviors that are too human: it is also that of humans falsely convincing themselves that an AI is human.
Why a moratorium for AI?
This is so that their progress and learning curves to automatically generate texts and images in an ever more sophisticated way, does not go out of control. “Should we let machines flood our information channels with propaganda and lies?” asks the text.
One more step in this direction could cause humanity to “develop non-human consciousnesses that would obsolete and replace us,” the paper's authors write. For them, what is at stake is “the loss of control over the future of our civilization”.
Among the solutions considered are the monitoring of AI systems, techniques to help distinguish the real from the artificial, or even new authorities and institutions capable of managing "dramatic economic and political disruptions (especially for democracy) that the AI will cause".
A finding that is far from being shared by everyone, and which has sparked a lively debate in the community of researchers on the subject. Yann Le Cun, a world-renowned French expert in artificial intelligence, head of research at Meta (Facebook) on the subject, did not hide his skepticism about the text broadcast.
“This open letter is a nameless bazaar that rides the wave of AI media without addressing the real issues,” said Emily M. Bender, a researcher at the University of Washington and co-author of a landmark article on the dangers of AI published in 2020. Daniel Leufer, a specialist in innovative technologies working on the societal challenges posed by AI for the Internet rights NGO Access Now, goes even further:
“The prospect of an overpowered superintelligence or non-human consciousness is still largely in the realm of science fiction. It is not worth playing on the fears of a hypothetical future when artificial intelligence already represents a danger for democracy, the environment and the economy”.
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Simon Freman for DayNewsWorld |
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TOWARDS AN ESCALATION OF THE CONFLICT
WITH THE DELIVERY OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS
TACTICS BY RUSSIA TO BELARUS ? |
 On March 25, and as Russia suspended its commitments under the New START disarmament treaty, the head of the Kremlin confirmed that tactical nuclear weapons would soon be stockpiled on Belarusian territory.
"Ten aircraft are ready to use this type of weapon. From April 3 we will start training crews, and on July 1 we will complete the construction of a special warehouse for tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of Belarus ", said Vladimir Putin. This announcement is seen by some as a response to London's announcement last Monday to send depleted uranium ammunition to Ukraine soon.
"There is nothing unusual here: the United States has been doing this for decades. It has long deployed its tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of its allies," Putin continued in a television interview. "We have agreed to do the same," he added, assuring that he had the Minsk agreement.
Within the framework of NATO, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Italy have at their disposal tactical nuclear bombs B-61, supplied by the United States according to the so-called principle of "double- key”, that is to say that they remain under American control, the countries concerned only providing the fighter-bombers responsible for possibly implementing them. In addition, B-61s are also stored at Incirlik Air Base [Tukey]. Moreover, Washington wants to accelerate the deployment of the B-61-12 LEP, ie version of this tactical nuclear bomb.
No violation of our international commitments...
However, Mr. Putin continued, "we have already helped our Belarusian colleagues and equipped their planes […] without violating our international commitments on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons. Ten planes are ready to use this type of weapon ". A priori, the type of device concerned would be the Su-30SM since the Belarusian air forces operate precisely ten copies.
On the other hand, the NPT, to which the Russian president alluded, prohibits nuclear powers [at least, declared as such] from transferring nuclear weapons and nuclear technologies to non-nuclear countries… but allows the deployment of such weapons to the outside their borders, provided that they remain under their control [as is the case for the American B-61s within NATO].
"We handed over to Belarus our well-known and very effective Iskander system that can carry [nuclear weapons]. From April 3, we start training the crews. And on July 1, we will complete the construction of a warehouse for tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of Belarus," Putin said.
Remarks which follow the British will to deliver depleted uranium shells to Ukraine. A subject on which Vladimir Putin also wanted to provide some clarification. Russia has something to answer for. "We have, without exaggerating, hundreds of thousands of shells of this type that we are not using at the moment," warned the Russian president.
He qualified this type of weapon shell among "the most dangerous" and which "generates what is called radiation dust".
British Deputy Defense Minister Annabel Goldie confirmed on Monday that the United Kingdom would supply Ukraine with depleted uranium shells, effective against tanks and other armored vehicles. Vladimir Putin also said on Saturday that he considered Western arms supplies to Ukraine, vital to Kiev's war effort, to be a "threat" to Russia.
A request from nuclear-free Belarus
But it was the strong man of Minsk, Alexander Lukashenko, who from 2022 and before Russia entered the war in Ukraine, who asked Russian President Vladimir Putin for tactical nuclear weapons.
Indeed, by signing the Budapest memoranda, shortly after the implosion of the Soviet Union, Kazakhastan, Ukraine and Belarus committed themselves to join the Non-Proliferation Treaty [NPT] and to return to Russia the nuclear weapons then in possession against the guarantee of their territorial integrity.
Moreover, Belarus enacted its denuclearization in article 18 of its Constitution, adopted in 1994. However, in 2022, and when the war in Ukraine was about to begin, this text was the subject of a revision to reauthorize the deployment of nuclear weapons on Belarusian territory. The strong man of Minsk, Alexander Lukashenko, made it known that he intended to make a request to Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, to obtain it.
Last June, during a meeting in Saint-Petersburg, the head of the Kremlin confirmed that Russia would hand over to Belarus "a number of Iskander-M tactical missile systems" capable of firing "ballistic and cruise missiles with conventional or nuclear warheads”. And that the Su-25 “Frogfoot” attack planes of the Belarusian air force would be “modernized”, while Mr Lukashenko had just asked him for devices capable of “carrying nuclear payloads” after denouncing the flights of bombers of NATO on the outskirts of his country.
This is one reason why former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the West is still one step behind.
“Our strategy of taking it step by step has allowed Putin to continue his warlike escalation. (…) This approach does not work to win a war , you have to surprise and overwhelm your opponent!”
Vladimir Putin's remarks on March 25 come just days after he said, in his joint statement with Chinese President Xi Jinping, that a nuclear war should not be started, because there could be no winner... |
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Garett Skyport for DayNewsWorld |
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WHO WILL BE AT THE CANNES FILM FESTIVALTHIS YEAR ? |
 A few weeks before the announcement of the official selection of the 76th edition of the Cannes Film Festival, taking place from May 16 to 27, Thierry Frémaux lifted the veil behind the scenes of the next festivities in a long interview with Variety.
Ruben Östlund will be the president of the jury for the 76th Cannes Film Festival.
2023 should mark Martin Scorsese's big return to the Croisette, for the first time in nearly forty years, with Killers of the Flower Moon.
Adapted from the novel by David Grann, the film bringing together Leonardo di Caprio and Robert de Niro, distributed by Apple and Paramount will benefit from both a theatrical release from October 18.
Indiana Jones preview
In terms of glitter, the public will be served with the preview presentation of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. Strange Way of Life, a short film by Pedro Almodovar, would not open the event.
Woody Allen and Roman Polanski plan to release one film each this year.
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Kate White for DayNewsWorld |
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WHY THE OPPONENT RAHUL GANDHI
LOSE SEAT IN INDIAN PARLIAMENT ?
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 India's opposition leader Rahul Gandhi has never been a federal or state minister. Yet he remains at the center of India's opposition politics and the main target of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling BJP has just gotten rid of its main opponent for a sentence uttered four years ago. The opposition is rebelling against this new milestone in the authoritarianism of the Hindu nationalists in power, one year before the elections.
Stripped of his seat as a Member of Parliament of India
He risked overshadowing Narendra Modi as the national elections scheduled for 2024 approach: Rahul Gandhi, the charismatic leader of the Congress Party has just been stripped of his seat as a deputy in the lower house of the Indian Parliament, following a court ruling last week. Sentenced to two years in prison for defaming Prime Minister Modi for remarks made during the last election campaign, the heir to the Gandhi family could find himself de facto excluded from the race, while he embodies the main hopes of the opposition.
Now his two-year prison sentence in a defamation case and his removal from parliament on Friday could prompt his party and allies to step up their opposition to the BJP government, a year before the next general election.
Thursday's sentencing came just two months after Gandhi, 52, completed a 4,000km march across the country, from the southern tip of India to Kashmir in the Himalayas, in an attempt to revive his party and to improve its image, in what he called a Bharat Jodo Yatra, or march for the unification of India.
Gandhi's jail sentence has been suspended for 30 days, allowing him to appeal to a higher court, but he will also be barred from participating in the next general election if he does not win the suspension or reversal of his conviction.
The Gandhi dynasty
His central role in opposition politics stems from the fact that his party has ruled India for 54 of the 75 years since independence from Britain, and that his father, grandmother and great-grandfather served as prime ministers for more than 37 of those 54 years.
The Congress was the largest national political party in the country of 1.4 billion people, until it was overtaken by the BJP in 2014.
Though now a shadow of their former selves, the Gandhi family – which includes Sonia, Rahul's Italian-born mother and former party leader, and her sister Priyanka – still dominate Congress with a loyal following. fierce.
Even though Congress weakened in 2019, winning less than 10% of the lower house's 545 seats, it won nearly 20% of the vote - the most votes for an opposition group - compared to 38% for the BJP. Congress is the ruling party or the main opposition in half a dozen major states.
It is this powerful lineage and legacy that Modi and his party seek to attack when they argue that dynastic politics has no place in a democracy.
An unserious politician?
Gandhi got into politics and was first elected to parliament in 2004 in the town of Amethi, where his family lives, in the northern heartland state of Uttar Pradesh.
He repeated that victory in 2009 and 2014, but suffered a crushing setback in 2019 when he lost his seat. However, he had also contested a seat in the state of Kerala and won, which allowed him to return to Parliament.
Gandhi's attendance at Parliament was well below average. His frequent absences from the hemicycle and the country attracted media attention and the BJP accused him of being an "unserious" politician.
Outside parliament, he often reminded his supporters of his family's commitment and sacrifices, referring to the assassination of his grandmother, Indira Gandhi, then prime minister, and his father, Rajiv Gandhi, former prime minister. .
On Thursday, after his sentencing, he simply tweeted a few words in Hindi from the leader of the freedom movement, Mahatma Gandhi, who is not related to him.
"My religion is based on truth and non-violence. Truth is my God, non-violence the means to it. - Mahatma Gandhi".
Single at 52, Gandhi is known to be adept at fitness and martial arts and was seen cycling in New Delhi accompanied by security men. According to Neelanjan Sircar, a visiting fellow at the Center for Policy Research in New Delhi, his conviction and disqualification from parliament is now "a matter of pass or fail" for him.
Will he be able to make the argument that "I am the target of a government that does not necessarily represent the interests of all Indians", or will he be seen as someone who is not a competent politician and who has therefore been outclassed by the BJP,” Mr Sircar said.
Authoritarian drift of Narendra Modi
One year from the next elections, the authoritarian drift of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is confirmed, with the sidelining of his main opponent Rahul Gandhi.
The tribunal which condemned Rahul Gandhi is indeed in the stronghold of Narandra Modi, the state of Gujarat, a region which the Prime Minister has made the laboratory of his policy and where he still pulls all the strings. However, this coup de force may come as a surprise.
Modi does not necessarily have so much to fear from his opponent. As he completes his second term, his popularity rating is still high and many are predicting another victory for him in 2024.
In the opposite camp, the opposition seems too divided to catch up. The Congress, this historic party that was once so powerful, no longer has the same ability to rally. This is why Rahul Gandhi has embarked in recent months on a great march across the country, over 3500 km, to meet the Indians. A reference to Gandhi's famous salt march, the starting point of Indian independence in the 1930s. But even if this march, which ended at the end of January, caused a lot of talk, nothing says for the moment that Congress will succeed in federating the opposition in the coming year, a sin equa non condition for hoping to overthrow the power in place.
Unless Narendra Modi finds himself splashed by the financial scandal of the moment, the "Adani scandal" named after one of the richest men on the planet, the Indian businessman Gautam Adani. At the head of one of the main conglomerates in the country, this multi-billionaire wh | |