This Thursday, you can read: Jean Castex's latest announcements, how the United States intends to tighten the noose on Facebook. And the meeting between Boris Johnson and Ursula von der Leyen did not lead to anything (as usual).

Dear subscribers, hello,

I hope you enjoy Patrick Sébastien and the traditional New Year's Eve TV bloopers. This year, the New Year's Eve will take place at home or will not happen, there will be no exception to the curfew announced by Jean Castex, yesterday, except Christmas. If 2020 were in the flesh, how many people could sit at his table and say "I'm more depressing than you?" No more than six adults in any case, according to the Prime Minister's recommendations.

See you on Monday, have a great weekend,

Ronan Planchon, journalist at Le Figaro

• Featured

After the lockdown, the France under curfew

Probably not so long ago, duly vaccinated communication students will look at the linguistic pirouettes used by the government to bring the French their share of bad news. How to tell them that they will have to give up feasting on New Year's Eve? By adding to this new constraint a dose of hope in the absence, for the moment, of a dose of vaccine. "The best way to celebrate 2021 is to give yourself the means to move to a freer year," Jean Castex announced yesterday. The executive has been clear. Given the epidemic situation (more than 10,000 daily cases), a curfew from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. will be put in place from Tuesday until January  20 with an exception for Christmas and only that evening. In any case, the world of culture no longer has the heart to celebrate  since the Prime Minister informed it that cinemas and museums will finally wait until January 7 before hoping to reopen.

To dissuade revelers from defying the ban, the Prime Minister has planned to mobilize 100,000 gendarmes and police on New Year's Eve. Still it is necessary that the forces of order put theirs and it is not won, the officials still have trouble digesting the latest statements of Emmanuel Macron on their propensity to practice the "control to the facies".

There is one who must look forward to the end of the year holidays, it is Jerome Salomon. The Senate commission of inquiry has just released a damning document on the "belated reaction" and "mask fiasco" of the France. The number 2 of the Ministry of Health is in the panacea. The parliamentarians accuse him, emails in support, of having "modified a posteriori the conclusions of an expert report" recommending the constitution of a stock of one billion masks. Catherine Deroche, Senator LR of Maine-et-Loire, added a layer by considering that it "weakens the executive".  It is easy to blame politics, but we must not forget that our rulers also pay for the lack of humility of scientists, analyzes Guillaume Tabard.

• The other Thursday file

Facebook: Mark Zuckerberg's empire threatened with dismantling

In 2014, Mark Zuckerberg raised a toast; rejoiced that he had been given the green light to buy WhatsApp; reserved a cup wondering which of his competitors he would soon swallow. He was smiling, happy. When suddenly, the FTC whistled the end of recess. It's time, the US Competition Commission just said, to sell Instagram and WhatsApp. A procedure has been launched with 46 US states, another should probably follow in the hope that Amazon will stop its not very ethical practices vis-à-vis its competitors. The authorities have a wagon or even a train late, notes Enguérand Renault, even if they have difficulty admitting it.

Against the anti-competitive practices of the Gafa, the EU has long thought that it would be enough to impose fines of billions on them. With the success that we know. For some time now, it has changed its tune and wants to put in place a "Digital Market Act", a kind of list of prohibited behavior and sanctions that could go as far as banning people from practising in Europe. Unlike the American Democrats, Brussels is not (yet) talking about dismantling.

The reputation of the CEO of Facebook is badly damaged. The proof, the hospital "Zuckerberg" of San Francisco baptized so since the billionaire made a donation of $ 75 million does not want to see his name associated with that of his generous donor. It must also be said that Mark Zuckerberg has looked for it a little. In addition to the behavior of his social network, he pays for his communication like Martine's album. Mark learns Mandarin, Mark reads a book, Mark challenges himself... The boss has spread his privacy for one purpose: to better encourage users to do the same.

• Editorial

"Gafa: the end of hegemony?"

The tide is turning for the gifted in Silicon Valley. Every day more worried about their growing power, America itself has decided to attack the most symbolic of them, Facebook. Exceptional entrepreneur, celebrated for his vista and inventiveness, expected to one day become president of the United States, the hero Zuckerberg is now a scarecrow. It was thought to be out of reach; he will have to fight tooth and nail to avoid the disintegration of his group.

The proceedings brought in the United States against Facebook mark a turning point in the fight against the hegemony of the Gafa. For the first time in their native land, there is an official request for the dismantling of one of them. To get to this point, the limit of what a liberal and competitive economy can accept had to be reached. That the omnipotence and sense of impunity of these modern-day ogres have become unacceptable. No one disputes the credit that goes to Facebook and its cronies for their exceptional success. Like the others, the king of social networks has built its success on unparalleled technology, impeccable services, ingenious innovations, strategic choices without fail. But, for a long time now, the rest of the adventure is extremely questionable. With its ultra-dominant position, Facebook - like Google or Amazon in their sectors - uses all means, including the least confessable, to destroy competition and monopolize all the revenues of the web. His forays into politics, through the Cambridge Analytica scandal, or into the sovereign realm with the creation of his own currency, the libra, finally convinced that it was high time to regain control.

The American offensive comes at the right time, at a time when Europe is finally waking up, under the determined impetus of French Commissioner Thierry Breton, to loosen the grip of the Gafa. Even with the help of Uncle Sam, it will be a long-term work.

• Articles to read

Israel at the heart of the "breakage of the century" on the carbon tax - September 2019: Vanessa is on track to win the Israeli version of "Master Chef". On set, her husband Eddie Abittan gets excited, "it smells good, honey, it smells good!" A year later, the smell is much more fetid. A journalist in front of her TV that night recognized this Franco-Israeli real estate agent on the run after being sentenced to six years in prison and 2 million euros for playing a role in a gigantic carbon tax scam in the late 2000s. There is everything in this saga told by Thierry Oberlé: organized crime, extortion, settling scores, politicians, showbiz stars. Take the case of Arnaud Mimran for example. This wealthy investor is suspected of having ordered the assassination of his associate nicknamed "the king of racetracks", shot before his eyes. Take that, Netflix.

"'Police violence': the ultra-left has won the cultural battle once again" - This is the problem when we are used to taking electoral deculottées, we forget what a victory looks like. The left of the left of the left should, however, slash the champagne. She managed to make a few police blunders the debate of the time by watering down the long litany of violence against the police. Pierre-Henri Tavoillot saw what a real police regime looked like when he found himself with a gun to his head in 1986 in Tunisia, and this is somewhat different from what our protesters describe. It is time for the Liberal Democrats to launch a cultural counter-attack, argues the philosopher.

Europe dragged towards 'no-deal' - Who said Ursula von der Leyen and Boris Johnson were unable to reach an agreement? It's not true. At their "last chance" dinner during which fisheries, conditions of competition and the governance of the agreement were discussed, the two leaders made a joint decision: that they will take a decision on Sunday. No white smoke, then. In Brussels, we are starting to be as pessimistic as a French nightclub owner, say our correspondents in Brussels and London.

(Re)travel in France or at the end of the world: our 25 favorites of winter - In an article in Le Figaro of August 2, 1937, the writer Marie de Heredia - under a pseudonym - describes the ideal holidays of her friends. "These are the blessed and too rare days when I have, well!, far from the worries and occupations that absorb him, my husband all to me, "says a lady. "Holidays," admits a bad male mood, "are not for me if I spend them with my family. My beloved children keep asking me for money; my wife, still there, surpasses me." We have not planned to go so far into your intimacy but we know that some of you have desires elsewhere after the confinement. In the Kalahari Desert, the Tuamotu Islands or Angoisse (a charming Ardèche village that bears its bad name), our journalists have selected for you places for all tastes and all budgets.

• Other information you need to know this morning

The ticket Joe Biden and Kamala Harris voted "person of the year" of Time magazine - The US president-elect and the future vice president were preferred to Donald Trump, Dr. Fauci and the anti-racist movement born of the death of George Floyd. [ Read more ]

Turkey: Summit deal to sanction Ankara - EU leaders have decided to sanction Turkey's "illegal and aggressive" actions in the Mediterranean against Athens and Nicosia. [ Read more ]

Gaston Flosse sentenced to five years of ineligibility for embezzlement of public funds - The former president of French Polynesia was accused of having made the citizens of his commune bear the water bills of his home for twenty years, located in another municipality. [ Read more ]

Hong Kong: Jimmy Lai charged under National Security Law - China accuses the pro-democracy tycoon of "colluding with a foreign country or with external elements in order to compromise national security." [ Read more ]

• An archive of Le Figaro to conclude

From New York to Le Bourget, the feat of Charles Lindbergh on May 21, 1927

Article published in Le Figaro on May 22, 1927.

Lindbergh arrived, on May 21, 1927, at Le Bourget, at 10:25 a.m., after having crossed the Atlantic alone and on a single stage.

This daring raid, the moving phases of which the whole world has been following for two days, thus ends in a glorious apotheosis. Parisians appropriately cheered the brave aviator and hailed his success. The painful memory of Nungesser and Coli's expedition added to the emotion that hugged the audience at the announcement of the landing of the American aviator. The crowd, one can guess, had come in imposing numbers to Le Bourget; where from 8 o'clock in the evening more than 100,000 people crowded around the airfield.

The road to Le Bourget did not take long to be totally congested, so many vehicles of all kinds. Above the airfield, lighthouses crisscross the sky with their beams and flares trace their luminous trails into the night. 10:05 a.m. Here is a plane barely visible at 500 meters, and heading towards Saint-Denis. The crowd recognized him. "It's him! it's him!" they shout from all sides. The rockets redouble at this time and the bird, which has visibly slowed down its march, begins to turn over the airfield, which it will fly over three times before landing. There is no longer any doubt it is him.

The crowd breaks the dams, the enthusiasm is at its peak, and as the plane has just landed southwest of the field, rushes to meet him. In an instant the plane is surrounded by several thousand people. Lindbergh, caught by all these hands, has come out of his cabin, carried in triumph, and his personal friends have the greatest difficulty in approaching him. The plane also has its share of triumph, and everyone would like to tear off a piece of canvas from its glorious wings.

Lindbergh is literally carried to the airfield management building amid cheers and vivats, he is taken away from the ever-growing popular enthusiasm and while he takes a well-earned rest Mr. Myron Herrick, Ambassador of the United States, appears in a window. It is a moment of real delirium, the ambassador thanks with the hand the crowd that besieges the building. But it is necessary to respect the sleep of the hero, and little by little the calm is restored and the departure is organized, not without some difficulties.

Lindbergh, after a few hours of rest, reached Paris by car, accompanied by some friends.

The aircraft was parked in the hangars of the International Air Navigation Company, in front of which a security service was immediately established. The device was also in perfect condition. In the pilot's musette two bananas and a chocolate bar were found, and on the fuselage was fixed the small deflated canvas canoe that was to save the pilot in case of landing. There was still a rudimentary compass and a geographical map of Cherbourg in Paris of surprising simplicity, which made the admiration and, let us say, the astonishment of the sports personalities present.

It seems, in fact, that the aviator Lindbergh like a carrier pigeon, was guided during this formidable leap, much more by a staggering instinct than by the technical means usually used.

Let us add that Lindbergh who, although tired, is in good health, immediately made it known that he was carrying a letter from President Coolidge to President Doumergue.

Let us hope that the highest award will officially attest to the admiration of the France for this brave man.