Earthquake in Turkey and Syria: already 7,800 dead

The toll of the earthquake in Turkey and Syria continues to rise. Now, the death toll has reached 7,800. Rescuers continue to race against time in the freezing cold to try to rescue survivors of the 7.8 magnitude earthquake, which struck at dawn on Monday and shook south-eastern Turkey and neighbouring Syria. Images of a newborn baby rescued alive from the rubble and of a father shaking hands with his deceased daughter.

The Turkish Interior Minister warned on Tuesday that the next 48 hours would be “crucial” in finding survivors, but bad weather is making it difficult to rescue.

Renewable energies in Paris: a bill definitively adopted

The bill to accelerate renewable energies proposed by Agnès Pannier-Runacher, which provides in particular for the development of offshore wind and solar power, was definitively adopted by a final vote of the Senate. The aim of this text is to help France catch up with its great delay in the midst of the energy crisis and under the pressure of the climate emergency. This bill will meet the objective set by President Emmanuel Macron for 2050 to multiply solar power generation capacity tenfold to exceed 100 GW and to deploy 50 offshore wind farms to reach 40 GW.

War in Ukraine: Three European countries ready to supply 100 heavy tanks

To help the Ukrainian army repel Russian forces who say they are “successfully” conducting an offensive in eastern Ukraine, three European countries pledged on Tuesday to provide 100 heavy tanks “in the coming months”. They announced this during a surprise visit to Kiev by the new German Defense Minister, Boris Pistorius, and at a time when Ukraine is urging its Western allies to speed up the delivery of the heavy tanks that were promised to it. Indeed, “at least 100 Leopard 1 A5 tanks” will be delivered “in the coming months.” This was stated by the defense ministers of Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark in a joint statement.

IN SHORT

Addressing a speech that already had campaign overtones, Joe Biden, who is planning to run for a second term, said on Tuesday that he wanted to “finish the job,” return to popular America its “pride” and to the divided nation its “unity.”

SNCF, which plans an average of 2 TGVs out of 3, nearly 1 Intercity out of 2, and difficulties in Ile-de-France, indicated that train traffic will remain “disrupted” on Wednesday, a day when CGT railways and SUD Rail are still calling for an end to work against pension reform.

Union sources announce that BNP Paribas plans to cut 921 jobs in France at its consumer credit subsidiary, BNP Paribas Personal Finance.

A new study published Wednesday in The Lancet mentions that at the end of the so-called “zero-Covid” policy decided by China at the end of last year did not lead to the emergence of new variants.

Frenchman Alexis Pinturault won the first men's race of the competition, at the station where he partly grew up.