deadly attack at the Magdeburg Christmas market, humanitarian aid expected in Mayotte…

• Attack on Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, leaves 5 dead and more than 200 injured

Nearly forty-eight hours after the vehicular attack which left at least five dead and more than 200 injured at the Christmas market in Magdeburg (Germany), Friday evening, December 20, the profile of the suspect is becoming clearer. He was taken into police custody then placed in pre-trial detention on Saturday evening, before being placed in detention on Sunday morning.

Presented in the media as Taleb A, this 50-year-old doctor from Saudi Arabia, who worked as a psychiatrist in the Land of Saxony-Anhalt, arrived in Germany in 2006 and has had refugee status since 2016. On Saturday, the minister Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said that “the only thing” that she was able to confirm is that the alleged perpetrator is “Islamophobic”in view of his known positions. On his social networks, his publications paint the portrait of a man feeling persecuted, having broken with Islam and denouncing « dangers » of an Islamization of Germany.

The trail of an Islamist attack thus became more distant as the weekend progressed, even if the motive for the attack remains unclear. Meanwhile, the German government, led by (social democratic) Chancellor Olaf Scholz, is facing pressure from oppositions, in the middle of the campaign for early legislative elections. The government has promised an investigation to clarify possible errors by authorities in preventing the attack.

• The announcement from the Bayrou government is long overdue

Will there be a government “before Christmas”, as François Bayrou hoped this week? While Emmanuel Macron returned to Paris on Sunday morning, after a tour of Mayotte and East Africa, and the Prime Minister said on Thursday that he wanted to present his team “during the weekend”, this window finally closed in the early evening. The Bayrou government will not be announced on Sunday evening, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

However, several signals had suggested the opposite on Sunday, when a day of national mourning is due to take place on Monday, in solidarity with Mayotte, and the French will be busy with the Christmas celebrations from Tuesday evening. Appointed on December 13 in Matignon, the president of MoDem has continued to refine his team, which he wants to be tighter, in number, and as open as possible, politically.

“It’s moving forward. (…) The structure of the major ministerial centers is fixed”had notably explained the president of the MoDem deputies, Marc Fesneau, Sunday morning in La Tribune Sundayconfirming that the government's full list should be presented “in one go”. In the afternoon, Matignon announced that Mr. Bayrou had spoken twice with Emmanuel Macron during the day, in order to work on the final arbitrations. But the announcement of the government's non-appointment finally came shortly after 6:30 p.m., when the president was to receive François Bayrou at the Elysée for a third consultation. Negotiations are therefore continuing for the allocation of ministries.

• In Mayotte, a week after Cyclone Chido, the population is still waiting for help

Faced with emergency aid arriving in dribs and drabs, the inhabitants of Mayotte are growing impatient a week after the devastating cyclone Chido. Water has been distributed to Mamoudzou, the capital of the archipelago, while running water has also partially returned. “As of the end of this weekend, 90% of the population will be connected to running water, two days out of three for eight hours, via what we call water towers”promised the resigning Minister of the Interior, Bruno Retailleau, on Sunday.

While the provisional toll established by the authorities currently stands at 35 dead and 2,500 injured, the outgoing Minister for Overseas Territories, François-Noël Buffet, recalled on Sunday the difficulty in carrying out this count and accessing the areas. disaster victims. “The vegetation has completely disappeared, the bangas have been blown away, there is a pile of metal sheets and rubbish everywhere”he said on RTL, before adding, pessimistically: “Will the human toll be known? We are not able to say it today. »

The head of state declared a day of national mourning on Monday in solidarity with Mayotte. Flags will be flown at half-mast and a minute of silence will be observed throughout France at midday.

• The United States avoids budgetary paralysis

The Christmas shutdown will not take place across the Atlantic. On Saturday, December 21, the United States narrowly avoided a budgetary paralysis that would have sent hundreds of thousands of civil servants home for the holidays without pay.

Ending a tumultuous sequence of several days involving Donald Trump and Elon Musk, Congress largely adopted a law which ensures federal funding until mid-March. The text notably includes more than 100 billion dollars in aid for American regions recently devastated by natural disasters.

The final vote in the Senate took place shortly after the midnight deadline. Joe Biden then promulgated the text on Saturday morning. The outgoing American president welcomed, in a press release, a ” compromise “ between Democrats and Republicans. “This is good news for Americans” before the end of year holidays, continued the Democrat.

• The Flamanville EPR reactor connected to the electricity network

At the end of seventeen years of construction, and twelve years late, the EPR nuclear reactor in Flamanville (Manche) was connected on Saturday to the national electricity network, announced the EDF group. This first connection of a new reactor in France since 1999 was initially planned for Friday morning, but had been postponed by several hours.

Emmanuel Macron welcomed the entry into operation of the most powerful reactor in France, which, according to him, “strengthens our competitiveness and protects the climate”. This launch of a new design reactor, from the most nuclear-armed country in the world (per capita), was particularly awaited, at the end of a project launched at the end of 2007.

It comes twelve years late compared to the initial schedule, due to technical hazards and poor workmanship which delayed its commissioning. The final bill was multiplied by at least six compared to the estimated cost, reaching more than 19 billion euros.

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