Presidential: Macron first (potential) candidate to win 500 sponsorships, his rivals in the region

Not yet officially a candidate but already qualified: Emmanuel Macron crossed the threshold of the 500 signatures of elected officials necessary for the presidential election on the first Thursday. Far ahead of its competitors who are campaigning in the regions to mobilize their troops. With 529 sponsorships, the outgoing president took off ahead of his right-wing rival Valérie Pécresse (324 signatures) and the socialist candidate Anne Hidalgo (266), struggling in the opinion polls but with a party with good local relays ground. At 66 days from the first round, the sponsorship figures remain largely decorrelated from voting intentions: on the far right, Marine Le Pen has so far only collected 35 and her rival Eric Zemmour 58 while they are engaged in a fierce battle with candidate LR to qualify for the second round. Four other candidates cross the bar of 100 sponsorships: the communist Fabien Roussel (159), the candidate of Lutte Ouvrière Nathalie Arthaud (138), the Insoumis Jean-Luc Mélenchon (100), leading the polls on the left (around 10 %), as well as Jean Lassalle (124).

Canada: the anti-sanitary measures challenge continues, Trudeau rules out the intervention of the army

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Thursday ruled out the possibility of sending the army to dislodge truckers who oppose sanitary measures and have occupied the federal capital Ottawa for several days, against a backdrop of fed up with pandemic restrictions. Ottawa has been the scene since Saturday of a protest movement, initiated by truckers to denounce the health restrictions and the policy of the government of Justin Trudeau in the face of the pandemic. Carrying the Canadian flag on their shoulders, or anti-Trudeau signs, the most determined demonstrators still occupied several streets in the city center on Thursday, noted an AFP journalist. Saturday, they were hundreds of trucks and 15,000 people.

JO-2022: Beijing will go down in history in a freezing climate

After 2008, 2022: Beijing will become the first city on Friday to organize the Summer and Winter Olympics and thus enter Olympic history, in a heavy context, between Covid, diplomatic tensions and controversies. As in 2008, the astonishing national stadium in Beijing, better known by the nickname "Bird's Nest", will be from 8:00 p.m. (1:00 p.m. French) the setting for the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games-2022. As fourteen years ago, this show was conceived by the Chinese director Zhang Yimou, author in 2008 of a breathtaking patriotic and colorful celebration, featuring 14,000 extras, dancers and acrobats, under a profusion of fireworks and special effects.

IN SHORT

Joe Biden assured Thursday that the United States would continue to track jihadists around the world after the death of the leader of the Islamic State (IS) group, who blew himself up Thursday during a raid by American special forces in Syria.

A judo teacher was indicted and imprisoned last November for sexual assaults on minors, AFP learned Thursday from the Pointe-à-Pitre prosecutor's office, confirming information from RCI Guadeloupe.

Britain's Gus Kenworthy, a freestyle skier who won silver at the 2014 Olympics, and US skating coach Adam Rippon have criticized awarding the 2022 Winter Games to Beijing over the rights issue of humans in China.