After seven months of deprivation due to the Covid-19 epidemic, activities are resuming. Resuming indoor sports or swimming in the indoor pool, enjoying your coffee indoors in the event of rain or going bowling... all this becomes possible again this Wednesday. Three weeks after the reopening of terraces, cinemas and museums and specialized shops with reduced gauges, this is the second stage of deconfinement, with the added bonus of a curfew which goes to 11:00 p.m. instead of 9:00 p.m. In particular, this will allow spectators to enjoy the evening matches of the Roland Garros tournament. Cafés and restaurants can again welcome the public indoors, at 50% of their capacity, which will allow many small establishments without a terrace or of an insufficient size to be profitable, to reopen.

Macron slapped by a man, the political class is indignant

In a video posted on Twitter and authenticated by the entourage of the Head of State, we see Emmanuel Macron, who has just visited a hotel school, advancing quickly towards a small group of people massed behind barriers to greet them. He then approaches a man wearing a khaki T-shirt, a black beard and long hair. Seizing the forearm of the president, the individual then strikes him on the cheek. A first during his five-year term, condemned by the entire political class but which he put into perspective as "an isolated fact".

In this same video, just before the slap, the man lets out the royalist battle cry "Montjoie Saint Denis!" (also heard in the film "Les Visiteurs" in 1993) and "A bas la macronie". Two men - 28-year-old Drômois, according to Alex Perrin, public prosecutor in Valence - including the author of the slap, were immediately arrested and heard by the gendarmes.

Thousands of Canadians pay tribute to a slain Muslim family

On a hot summer evening, thousands of people of all backgrounds and religions gathered outside the main mosque in this southern Ontario town, where the tragedy has caused shock and anger within the Muslim community, and a surge of solidarity among the population in general. Representatives of the Muslim community have called for action against "hate" and "Islamophobia", a message echoed in unison by the leaders of the five political parties represented in the House of Commons in Ottawa, all present at the ceremony.

The US Senate approves a "historic" text to counter China

The US Senate on Tuesday adopted a bill providing for ambitious investments in science and technology, presented as a "historic" text to counter the economic threat from China and its "authoritarian" model. This plan earmarks more than 170 billion dollars for research and development, aiming in particular to encourage companies to produce semiconductors in the United States, which are now mainly manufactured in Asia. The text was approved by 68 votes to 32 in the Senate and must now be adopted definitively, on a date which has not yet been set, by the House of Representatives before being promulgated by Joe Biden. This global shortage is hitting many key sectors, from automotive to communications.

The pandemic shakes up the ranking of the most pleasant cities in the world

In London, the pandemic has shaken up the ranking of cities where it is good to live, with European metropolises in decline and Australia, Japan or New Zealand in the lead thanks to their rapid measures against Covid-19, after a study. Auckland tops the weekly The Economist's annual survey of the best cities to live in, according to the 2021 edition released on Wednesday, followed by Osaka in Japan, Adelaide (Australia), Tokyo and Wellington (New Zealand). ). Conversely, "European cities had a particularly poor performance in this year's edition. Vienna, previously judged the most pleasant city between 2018 and 2020, fell to 12th place while Hamburg, Germany, tumbled 34 places to 47th."Auckland has risen to the top of the rankings thanks to its successful approach to containing the Covid-19 pandemic, which has allowed society to remain open and the city to have a better performance in terms of education, culture and environment", underlines the press release accompanying the study.

IN SHORT

US President Joe Biden flies to the United Kingdom on Wednesday, the first leg of a summit-rich European tour that will end with a face-to-face meeting with Vladimir Putin.

According to Ohio, Google is a utility, like a power company. The American State is therefore asking the courts to requalify the search engine, accused of abuse of a dominant position.

He is not on the dock but, since the opening of the Bygmalion trial on the excessive spending of the presidential campaign of Nicolas Sarkozy in 2012, his name is on everyone's lips. Jean-François Copé will have the opportunity to explain himself on Wednesday before the Paris court.

Designer chair, lamp or (fake) brand sofa: the health crisis has caused an "upsurge" of counterfeit products in the design sector in France, "massively distributed on the internet", alerted the association of companies engaged in the fight against counterfeiting (Unifab).