Presidential: Macron and Le Pen throw themselves into a duel that promises to be tight

Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen throw themselves Monday into the battle for the second round of April 24, this time with a postponement of the left votes determining after the good score of Jean-Luc Mélenchon as well as the debacle of the PS and LR.

   Because if Emmanuel Macron made a higher score than in 2017 (27-28% against 23-24% for Marine Le Pen), the gap with his far-right rival promises to be closer in the second round, with a score between 54% and 51% against 46%-49%, according to polls conducted on Sunday after the first round.

   Both candidates will have to mobilize voters while the first round, marked by a higher abstention of four to six points more than five years ago, confirms the recomposition of the political chessboard, consecrating the rel The two government parties of the Fifth Republic, which achieved the worst score in their history: Valérie Pécresse (LR) around 5% of the vote, threshold for reimbursement of campaign expenses, and Anne Hidalgo (PS) with less than 2%.

   Everyone will therefore try to recover the nearly 22% of voters who chose the Insoumise Jean-Luc Mélenchon. The candidate, who managed to capitalize on the useful vote on the left, clearly called not to vote far right. "We must not give a voice to Mrs. Le Pen!" he repeated several times on Sunday evening.

   France : A very broad call from the political class to vote for Emmanuel Macron

  The vast majority of the political class called to vote for Emmanuel Macron in the second round of the presidential election against the far-right candidate Marine Le Pen, who for her part received the support of 'Eric Zemmour.

   The outgoing President of the Republic thanked the candidates -- Anne Hidalgo, Yannick Jadot, Fabien Roussel and Valérie Pécresse -- who gave him their "support" on Sunday and praised the "clarity" of those who call like LFI to "block the extreme right".

   Reaching out to all those who want to work for the France", he said he was "ready to invent something new to bring together diverse convictions and sensibilities".

   Ms. Le Pen has, for her part, called for the "great alternation that (the) France needs", inviting "all those who did not vote" for Emmanuel Macron to "join" her.

   Ukraine: Austrian Chancellor in Moscow, Kiev prepares for massive offensive in the east

Ens austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer on Monday becomes the first European leader to visit Moscow since the start of the invasion of Ukraine, a "risky mission" as Kiev prepares for a massive Russian offensive in the 'is.

   After revising its plans downwards and withdrawing its troops from the Kiev region and northern Ukraine, Russia has made its priority the total conquest of Donbass, in the east, part of which has been controlled since 2014 by s& eacute;pro-Russian paratists.

   "Next week will be no less important than this one or the previous ones. Russian troops will move on to even larger operations in the east of our state," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned in a statement late Sunday.

   "The battle for Donbass will last several days, and during these days our cities could be completely destroyed," Sergi Gaidai, the governor of the Luhansk region in the Donbass.

 Controversial pro-Russian protests in Germany

Several controversial pro-Russian rallies were held this weekend in Germany at the initiative of the country's large Russian-speaking community, which considers itself a victim of discrimination since the invasion of Ukraine by Moscow troops.

   About 800 people, according to police, gathered Sunday in central Frankfurt behind the slogan "against hatred and harassment" and waving a tide of Russian tricolor flags.

   In Hanover, in the north of the country, 600 people gathered at the same time at the call of members of the Russian-speaking community. The day before the similar demonstrations were held in Lübeck, in the north, with 150 participants, according to the police, as well as in Stuttgart (southwest).

 The Israeli army on the "offensive", two Palestinian women killed in the West Bank

The Israeli army conducted a new heavy-handed operation in the Jenin area, a stronghold of armed Palestinian factions in the occupied West Bank, the scene of security incidents that cost the life of two Palestinian women.

   Following two deadly attacks in two weeks in Tel Aviv by Palestinians from the Jenin area, Israeli soldiers on Sunday conducted a series of operations that led to e to exchanges of fire and about twenty arrests.

   Israeli forces, which this weekend limited access to the Jenin area, said they had seized weapons stolen from Israel during these operations that left a dozen wounded.

   In the evening, the situation remained tense in Jenin, local sources said, reporting Israeli army fire in the aftermath of an army operation that killed one Jihad fighter Islamic, the main armed Islamist movement after Hamas.

   IN BRIEF

   - Incidents broke out Sunday night in the center of Rennes and Lyon, where several hundred people gathered to announce the result of the first round of the presidential election, causing damage.

   - Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador will remain in power after Sunday's referendum where Mexicans largely validated the continuation of his mandate, but with very low turnout.

   - Polish President Andrzej Duda said he would bring the Katyn massacre - the murder of nearly 22,000 Poles by Stalin's police in 1940 - to international justice.

   - Marseille took back in Rennes the second place of Ligue 1 thanks to its victory against Montpellier (2-0), in a 31st day unfavorable to Lyon and Nice, who moved away from the podium.