Did you miss the news this early morning? We’ve put together a recap to help you see things more clearly.
From this Wednesday, Central Africa is at the heart of the presidential agenda. Emmanuel Macron is indeed starting a four-day tour in Libreville, an opportunity to experience the “new relationship” he calls for with a continent where France’s influence continues to decline. The Head of State is expected at the end of the afternoon in the capital of Gabon, the first stage of a journey which will then take him to Angola, Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
His trip aims in particular to show that he now intends to rely on civil society and the African diasporas in France to turn the page on “Françafrique”, long made up of troubled links and support for local potentates. But the exercise promises to be tricky in Gabon where the opposition accuses him of “doubting” through his visit President Ali Bongo, elected under controversial conditions in 2016 and likely candidate for re-election this year.
According to the Greek media, it is the “worst train accident that Greece has ever experienced”. It must be said that the toll, still provisional, of the disaster on Tuesday evening is terrible: 32 people died and 85 were injured in a collision between a convoy of goods and a train carrying 350 passengers between Athens and Thessaloniki.
Several cars derailed minutes before midnight on Tuesday north of the central city of Larissa after the collision. Some 150 firefighters, as well as 40 ambulances, have been mobilized and the rescue operation is still ongoing. Cranes and mechanics were also deployed to try to clear the debris and lift the overturned wagons.
The Restos du Coeur are on the front line to measure the effects of inflation and the energy crisis. The latest statistics published on Tuesday by the association are also bad and alert on precariousness in France. The number of people welcomed to Restos du Coeur thus jumped by 22% during the “first three months” of the 2022/23 winter campaign compared to last year. Single-parent families, mainly single women with children, represent a quarter of the people received and their number has increased by 21% over one year. More than half of the people welcomed by the Restos du Coeur are under 25 years old.