Ukraine crisis: Baltic leaders in Berlin

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz receives the leaders of the Baltic countries, former Soviet republics that have become members of NATO, on Thursday in Berlin, at the forefront of the Russian-Ukrainian crisis and the fear of war on the borders of Europe. "The mission is to ensure security in Europe and I believe that we will achieve this," the German Chancellor said on Wednesday, showing optimism by assuring that he believed in the "progress" born of the resumption of intense diplomatic exchanges between Russia and the West. After welcoming Danish head of government Mette Frederiksen on Wednesday, Angela Merkel's successor will try to share his optimism with Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, which border Russia. This meeting is all the more strategic in that NATO's commitment in Poland and the Baltic States, the eastern and strategically sensitive flank of the Atlantic Alliance, is one of the main bones of contention with Russia, which is asking NATO to reconsider its deployment in the region.

Covid-19: the government evokes the imminent end of the vaccine pass

Is France getting closer, after other countries, to the lifting of the vaccination pass? The government is considering it for the end of March or the beginning of April, when a new round of anti-Covid restrictions must already disappear in a week. After Israel, England, Denmark, which have removed their vaccination or health pass, France could in turn give up this contested device. The "Mister vaccine" of the government, Alain Fischer, set the tone Wednesday at the end of the morning, before a commission of inquiry of the Senate. According to him, a lifting of the vaccination pass is possible "by the end of March" or the beginning of "April", if, and only if, several conditions are met: an incidence rate "10 or 20 times lower" that currently, the end of the hospital overload and a very high proportion of vaccinated.

IN SHORT

The far-right candidate Eric Zemmour called on Wednesday evening for the construction of a "wall" at "all the external borders" of the European Union to fight against immigration and wants to financially support countries ready to build one.

The controversy around the video showing the French footballer Kurt Zouma hitting his cat was gaining momentum in England: nearly 200,000 people demanded legal action, his cats were taken away from him and Adidas broke its contract with him.

Nice, led by a royal trio Gouiri-Delort-Kluivert, largely beat Marseille (4-1), Wednesday evening at the Allianz Riviera and qualified for the semi-finals of the Coupe de France.