Macron outlines his priorities for the French EU Presidency

Emmanuel Macron presents Thursday his priorities for the French presidency of the Council of the European Union which, starting on January 1, comes to hit head-on the campaign for the presidential election in France. During a press conference, scheduled for 4:00 p.m. at the Elysée, the head of state planned to focus on Europe. But journalists should seize this rare opportunity to question him on political issues, and in particular on his candidacy not yet confirmed for the presidential election of April 2022. "The campaign will come in due time", yet continues to hammer Gabriel Attal, the government spokesman, defending a head of state "at work" until the end of the five-year term. Before answering the questions, Emmanuel Macron will explain why he attaches so much importance to this rotating six-month presidency of the 27, the 13th exercised by France since the 1950s and the first since 2008.

Covid-19: Omicron seems to have a higher rate of reinfection, warns WHO

Omicron appears to have a higher rate of reinfection, but may cause less severe symptoms, the World Health Organization (WHO) has announced, while Pfizer and BioNTech Laboratories have assured that their Covid-19 vaccine is " still effective" after three doses against this variant. “Preliminary data from South Africa suggests a higher risk of re-infection” of people cured of the disease or vaccinated “with Omicron, but more data is needed” to draw firmer conclusions, the boss of WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “There is also evidence that Omicron causes less severe symptoms than Delta – currently the most common variant – but again it is too early to be certain,” he added.

A third of household products "potentially harmful", according to 60 million consumers

Behind the lists of products with often unpronounceable names, a third of household products contain a significant amount of "potentially harmful" substances, assures the magazine 60 Millions de consommateurs in a special issue published Thursday. The magazine published by the National Consumer Institute (INC) studied the composition of 119 cleaning products from 52 brands purchased in April and July 2021, based on the labels, the lists of ingredients published by manufacturers on their site and safety data sheets, which indicate the concentration of the substances. A total of 39 references are not recommended because they are rated D or E. They contain a large quantity of irritating or allergenic substances, such as certain perfumes, as well as substances "very harmful to health or the environment", some of which are suspected of be carcinogenic, mutagenic, toxic for reproduction or be endocrine disruptors.

IN SHORT

Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai and two other pro-democracy activists were sentenced on Thursday for participating in a banned rally in 2020 to commemorate the Tiananmen Square crackdown.

An interministerial committee for secularism (CIL) is held in Matignon on Thursday on "secularism" day to clarify several provisions of the law against "separatism", while National Education publishes the number of attacks identified on this topic at school.

Former Brazilian football legend Pelé has returned to hospital "to continue his treatment" of a colon tumor, the Sao Paulo medical facility said on Wednesday where he spent a month in September.