Afghanistan, Covid-19 overseas, Joséphine Baker at the Pantheon … the five things to remember from the weekend – archyworldys

• Difficult evacuation from Kabul continues, Taliban consult for government

Airport congested and threats to security: a week after the Taliban seizure of power in Afghanistan, thousands of people are still trying, Sunday August 22, to flee their country at the risk of their lives while the evacuation operations carried out by foreign countries continue under extremely difficult conditions.

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Scenes of panic and despair, which have been unfolding for a week at Kabul airport, have resulted in the deaths of civilians. Seven Afghans died in the crush, the British Ministry of Defense said on Sunday, without providing further details.

A senior Taliban official said, for his part, that the United States was responsible for this chaos. “There is peace and calm all over the country, but there is only chaos at Kabul airport (…). This must end as soon as possible ”said Amir Khan Muttaqi, former education minister in the Taliban government and member of the movement’s political leadership.

Read also: Dramatic scenes at Kabul airport, last chance to flee the new Taliban regime

While the evacuations continue, the co-founder and number two of the Taliban, Abdul Ghani Baradar, arrived in Kabul on Saturday. This mullah, who until now headed the Taliban political bureau in Qatar, must meet with jihadist and political leaders to form a government. The Taliban assured that their rule would be ” different “ of the previous one (1996-2001), marked by its extreme cruelty, especially towards women. They repeated that they wanted to form a government “Inclusive”, without specifying what that meant.

• Sixth weekend of opposition to the health pass and vaccination

As the start of the school year approaches, opponents of the health pass and vaccination tried to increase pressure on the government. For this sixth consecutive weekend of mobilization, 220 parades took place from north to south, in relative calm, on Saturday, August 21. According to the Interior Ministry, they gathered 175,503 people – a figure down slightly from the previous week with 214,845 demonstrators counted.

Outside Paris, where the demonstrations gathered 14,700 people, according to the same source, the two most important processions marched in Montpellier (9,500 people) and in Toulon (6,000). Next come Strasbourg (4,100), Bordeaux and Toulouse (3,400) and Bayonne (3,000).

Article reserved for our subscribers Read also Childhood vaccination, a new fear of anti-health pass protesters

Among the watchwords of the demonstrations was first of all the refusal of the health pass, perceived as “A disguised vaccination obligation” or a measure “Discriminatory”. This document, which attesting to a complete vaccination, an antigen test of less than seventy-two hours or proof of illness in the last six months, is required in many public places (restaurants, cinemas, museums, stadiums, etc.). Since Monday, its use has been extended to more than 120 large shopping centers in the Paris region and the southern half of France.

• Overseas coronavirus circulation saturates hospitals

The Delta variant, combined with limited vaccine coverage against Covid-19, has plunged several overseas territories into a critical situation. More than 40% of French deaths from Covid-19 recorded on Saturday, or 53 deaths out of 127, were in Guadeloupe and Martinique. In Polynesia, the incidence rate reached 2,800 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, the highest rate in France.

Tons of medical equipment, in particular oxygen extractors allowing certain patients to be treated at home rather than in hospital, are transported to the West Indies and medical evacuations carried out to the metropolis, hospital capacities being saturated at the Martinique and Guadeloupe. To relieve congestion in hospitals, some patients not suffering from Covid are also transported to mainland France on regular flights: four from Pointe-à-Pitre and three from Fort-de-France since the start of the week, according to a spokesperson for Air France.

In French Polynesia, schools, colleges and high schools will close ” starting Monday “ , and for two weeks, due to the outbreak of Covid-19, announced the president of the archipelago, Edouard Fritch, on Saturday. Many schools and colleges have already closed after the virus spread among children or teachers.

Read also: In French Polynesia, caregivers forced to practice “war medicine”

• Joséphine Baker will enter the Pantheon on November 30

The famous Franco-American music hall artist Joséphine Baker will enter the Pantheon on November 30. The singer, dancer and figure of the Resistance and the fight against racism will be the first black woman to rest in the secular necropolis in central Paris.

The file in favor of the performer of the famous song I have two loves had been examined for the first time at the end of June by the Elysee. A petition launched two years ago by Laurent Kupferman in favor of the “pantheonization” of the artist – born Freda Josephine McDonald – had gathered 38,000 signatures. Only five women are currently buried there, including Simone Veil, the latest personality to have been, in 2018.

In 1926, to launch the Folies-Bergère, she became the headliner of the show Madness of the day, a satire of the colonialist vision of the “good savage”. In her country of birth, she will oppose the Ku Klux Klan and work for the civil rights of African Americans, alongside Martin Luther King. In Europe, to fight Nazism, she will do counter-espionage by becoming a French intelligence agent. The Resistance Medal was awarded to him after the Second World War.

• In schools, no health pass but vaccination campaigns

While twelve million students will return to school on September 2, the Minister of National Education, Jean-Michel Blanquer, detailed Sunday part of the health protocol: face-to-face classes in schools, colleges and high schools; mask compulsory indoors from primary school; limitation of mixing and reinforced ventilation.

Read also: Jean-Michel Blanquer is considering four scenarios for the start of the school year

A protocol “Which allows us to have the most normal possible return to school, with the students in class, while preserving everyone’s health”, believes the minister in the Sunday newspaper. While vaccination is open in France to over 12s, a vaccination campaign will begin, in middle and high schools, from the start of the school year for students over 12 who wish – a track mentioned by the president of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, from July 12.

For teachers, Jean-Michel Blanquer ruled “Neither legitimate, neither desirable, nor useful” to require a health pass. In the event of contamination in a class, the isolation period of seven days, therefore of school in distance, will not be required for the vaccinated pupils. In primary – a level in which children are not old enough to be vaccinated – the rule remains the closure of the entire class for seven days in the event of contamination.

And also…

Weather. The northeast coast of the United States prepared all weekend for the arrival of Tropical Storm Henri. The expected winds could reach 120 kilometers per hour in Long Island, New York.

Motor sports. The # 7 Toyota of Briton Mike Conway, Japanese Kamui Kobayashi and Argentinian José Maria Lopez won the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Sunday. The Japanese brand also finished in second place (with the n ° 8) and theunique Alpine in contention takes third place.

Justice. The creator of the anti-Semitic “They’re everywhere” website, Samuel Goujon, was indicted and placed under judicial supervision on Saturday. Now closed, the site for which he was responsible claimed to present a “Duly verified census of personalities” of Jewish faith.

Le Monde with AFP, AP and Reuters