He had already spoken and released some shocking sentences on December 14. Vladimir Putin spoke once again this Sunday, during his first campaign meeting. The Kremlin strongman insisted he wanted to make Russia a “sovereign power”. As far as shocking sentences go, it’s not bad. That’s counting without Catherine Colonna who, in Tel Aviv, did not keep her tongue in her pocket. The French Minister of Foreign Affairs called for a “new immediate and lasting truce” in the Gaza Strip… while emphasizing that calls for “de-escalation” applied to all parties, including Israel. And aside, peace, let’s not forget Miss France (sorry for the transition). Newly elected, Miss Nord-Pas-de-Calais has made her candidacy the symbol of female diversity. “No one should dictate who you are,” said Eve Gilles… We give you all the details below. Without forgetting sport. And, spoiler alert, for once we won’t be talking about football but about biathlon.
1. Catherine Colonna in Tel Aviv
The war between Israel and Hamas entered its 72nd day on Sunday. And French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna called on Sunday in Israel for a “new immediate and lasting truce” in the Gaza Strip. The head of French diplomacy stressed that the first one-week truce ended on December 1 had made it possible to free 105 of the 250 hostages taken by force by Hamas during the October 7 attack.
She also recalled that three French people are “detained, missing or hostages in the Gaza Strip” and that France is sparing no effort to free them. By meeting the families of the missing French people, Catherine Colonna stressed that France “did not forget” the people “murdered with absolute cruelty, including 41 compatriots” on October 7, recalling in particular the crimes of which women were victims. : “any negation, any relativization of these sexual crimes is unacceptable but above all unworthy. It is an insult to human conscience. »
To find out more, it’s in our recap of the day by here.
2. Vladimir Putin in the starting blocks
President Vladimir Putin promised this Sunday to make Russia a “sovereign power” during a speech to the ruling party, his first campaign speech ahead of the presidential election in March 2024. “Russia will be a sovereign power and self-sufficient, otherwise it will no longer exist at all,” declared the head of state before the senior officials of the United Russia party gathered at a congress to support his candidacy. “Russia cannot, like some countries, give up its sovereignty in exchange for a few sausages and become someone’s satellite,” he said, in an apparent reference to Ukraine.
To find his speech in its entirety, click in our live of the day.
3. Justine on the first step of the podium
Frenchwoman Justine Braisaz-Bouchet achieved an exceptional hat-trick this weekend in the Biathlon World Cup in Lenzerheide (Switzerland), the coronation in the mass start on Sunday completing her harvest after her successes in sprint and pursuit. Thanks to her three victories in the space of four days in the high altitude resort of Grisons (1,400 meters), Justine Braisaz-Bouchet seizes the yellow bib as leader of the World Cup. Such an individual hat-trick over a World Cup weekend is extremely rare, the last going back to the Norwegian Tiril Eckhoff in December 2019, during the French stage of Annecy/Le Grand-Bornand, in Haute-Savoie. ” I do not realize. I don’t realize it and maybe it’s for the best. I preserve myself like that,” commented the French biathlete.
To relive Justine’s race, it’s here.
4. Eve Gilles on a cloud
“No one should dictate who you are. » With short hair, Eve Gilles, 20, elected Miss France 2024, Saturday evening in Dijon, made her candidacy the symbol of female diversity during this beauty contest. During the competition, Miss Nord-Pas-de-Calais declared that her only choice of keeping her hair short was a difference compared to the other Misses, all with long hair. But after her victory, the hair argument was a little different. “I’m not just a haircut,” she said this Sunday morning on TF1. On the subject, the new Miss France also avoids specifying her position on the “beauty” contest in which she participated and which is widely contested by feminists.
But who is our new Miss France? His portrait is worth reading here.
5. The Charente above the level
The peak of the Charente river, which remains placed on orange alert, was expected on Sunday afternoon. In Saintes, a city regularly flooded when the water rises, “1,000 houses” were affected and around “150 people” evacuated in around “thirty affected streets”, indicated mayor Bruno Drapon. The weather forecasts for the coming week are favorable for the recession but this promises to be slow, centimeter by centimeter, the slope of the Charente being very slight in this sector.
“Due to the very flat level of the river, we will maintain the security system until the Christmas weekend,” continued Bruno Drapon. In the flooded streets, the sidewalks were raised with concrete blocks and wooden planks to allow local residents to circulate. Boats and kayaks made it possible to move the youngest and the oldest.
Elsa Provenzano tells you more here and in photos here.
Additional information: Saint-Etienne in the street
“I was 19 when I was hired and I worked there for forty years. » In Saint-Etienne, concern reigned Sunday in a parade of support for Casinoat the call of the inter-union to save the jobs of the distribution group, deeply anchored in local life since its creation one hundred and twenty-five years ago and now threatened with dismantling.
The procession bringing together 1,650 people, according to the authorities, 3,000 to 4,000 according to the unions, set off at the end of the morning under a blue sky and a winter sun, at 2°C from the group’s imposing headquarters, a long liner of glass located opposite the TGV station. The march lasted two hours and our journalist from 20 Minutes Lyon was on site. Here is his report, to read here.