L’alpiniste Benjamin Védrines a réalisé un nouvel exploit marquant encore davantage l’histoire de sa discipline. Son exploit, il l’a signé sur la voie BASE, un itinéraire ultra technique aux Drus (massif du Mont-Blanc), un sommet emblématique. L’alpiniste a réussi cette ascension en cinq jours, en solo et donc en hiver, sur cette voie BASE qui a été ouverte en 2021. À 32 ans, il est l’une des figures de proue d’une génération qui enchaîne les performances d’envergure. Il était l’invité du journal des sports pour nous raconter son exploit, ses aventures et ses prochains défis.

Beijing gets tough on Trump’s protectionist measures, targeting US oil and gas and tech giant Google.

The trade war between the world’s two leading powers is escalating. In response to the additional tariffs imposed by President Trump, China announced on Tuesday February 4 a series of retaliatory measures aimed directly at American economic interests.

American hydrocarbons in Beijing’s crosshairs

China’s Ministry of Commerce has unveiled a new taxation regime that will take effect on February 10. Imports of coal and liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the United States will now be subject to a 15% tariff. American oil is not spared, with a 10% tax that will also apply to other product categories.

China takes its case to the WTO, opening a new front against Google

In addition to customs measures, Beijing has also lodged a complaint with the World Trade Organization, denouncing a serious violation of international rules by Washington. In a parallel development, the Chinese authorities have launched an anti-monopoly investigation against Google, stepping up the pressure on US technology companies.

A context of growing tensions

These announcements come in a particularly tense climate, after Donald Trump unleashed an all-out trade offensive on Saturday, imposing tariffs of 10% on Chinese products and 25% on Canadian and Mexican imports. A meeting between Xi Jinping and Donald Trump is being considered, while Washington has temporarily suspended its measures against Canada and Mexico for a month.

Les hostilités de façade sont ouvertes. Quelques minutes après l’annonce de nouveaux tarifs douaniers de 10% sur les produits chinois importés aux US, la Chine annonce des mesures de rétortion contre les produits énergétiques américains (charbon, GNL), mais aussi et surtout sur… pic.twitter.com/oJsyI55kjJ

— Laurent Michelon Officiel (@LH_86_) February 4, 2025

Info éco – Etats-Unis – Chine : la guerre commerciale relancée
➡️ https://t.co/pSo8PU1D0l pic.twitter.com/N4LMBeVQCx

— FRANCE 24 Français (@France24_fr) February 4, 2025

Issued on: 04/03/2025 – 18:06Modified: 04/03/2025 – 20:51

4 min

During Monday’s debate in the National Assembly on how best to back Ukraine and protect European security, French MPs from all sides expressed their support for Kyiv and saluted the country’s ambassador to France, Omelchenko Vadym, who was in attendance.

However, MPs from the far right refrained from applauding Prime Minister Francois Bayrou’s denunciation of US President Donald Trump’s treatment of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House last week.

The debate, which did not lead to a vote, was symbolic and allowed parties to position themselves on European and French security, but also to reiterate support – or opposition – to Emmanuel Macron’s diplomatic efforts towards European solutions.

Ukraine in the EU

Bayrou addressed the Assembly to lay out the government’s “vision” on a need for European countries to come together, as the US pulls away from its traditional alliance, declaring: “It is up to us, Europeans, to guarantee the security and defence of Europe.”

The alliances created after the Second World War are “finished,” he said, adding that the European Union is the “only path and the only possible strategy,” with France playing a “central role in building this new world”.

‘Europe must do the heavy lifting’ in Ukraine, needs ‘US backing’: UK’s Starmer

The head of each political group in the Assembly then presented their position. Former prime minister Gabriel Attal, head of the Ensemble pour la republique group, which allies itself with Macron, called for an “acceleration” of the process of admitting Ukraine into the EU.

“It is the solution that will enable us to stand up to future exchanges,” he said, adding that there should be “safeguarding clauses” to protect agriculture from Ukrainian competition – a concern raised by the far-right National Rally (RN).

Far right on Russia

For their part, the RN’s leader, Marine Le Pen, called for “realism” in France’s support for Ukraine, “keeping in mind our own national interests”.

She praised the “heroism” of the Ukrainian people against the “indefensible Russian aggression,” but reiterated her opposition to Ukraine’s joining either the EU or NATO.

Has France’s far-right National Rally really turned on Russia?

Throwing out a barb to the government, she added that there should be concern about “France’s gradual abandoning of its unique role as a balancing power” and blamed what she called “the consolidation of a Russia-China axis” on “Western intransigence towards Russia in recent years”.

Throwing back the barb, Attal denounced what he called the RN’s “capitulatory instinct, saying: “Ukraine is burning, and you are still looking the other way.”

He called for France to reconsider its position on frozen Russian assets and use them to “help Ukraine” – a move supported by Boris Vallaud, leader of the Socialists in the Assembly. 

“France’s position is that these Russian assets… belong notably to the Russian central bank,” finance minister Eric Lombard told France Info on Tuesday, adding that to use them to aid Ukraine “would be contrary to international agreements that France and Europe have signed up to”.

European defence

The question of European defence is crucial, now that the US has cut off military aid to Ukraine, and the French right would like to see higher spending in this area.

Michel Herbillon, head of the Republicans (LR) in the Assembly, agreed with Attal that the defence budget should be exempt from the 3 percent deficit limit. He also called for a “massive reorientation” towards European military equipment, as “nearly two-thirds of European defence purchases are made from American manufacturers”.

At the other end of the political spectrum, Cyrielle Chatelain, leader of the Ecologist MPs, echoed this, saying she wants the EU to become “a political and military force” and to commit to supplying equipment, training soldiers and to “the reinforcement of European troops in countries bordering Ukraine”.

For their part, Socialist leader Vallaud called for “a major joint loan of €500 billion”.

‘Absurd’ figures

The disagreement on spending came from the political extremes – on the left and right.

“These discussions of abstract figures are absurd,” said Aurélien Saintoul of the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI), who criticised France’s joining of NATO’s integrated command in 2008.

He agreed that France was too “critically dependent on the United States” but said the solution was not to outspend it. Instead, he called on a France to “reverse the logic of competition and predation on the planet”.

He also added that international law requires “the same support to the Palestinian people” be given as to Ukraine – an idea backed by Chatelain.

Front line ‘getting closer’, warns French FM as MPs prepare to debate Ukraine

Le Pen said that European security should come not from a European defence, “but from the concerted reinforcement of each of Europe’s defences” and argued strongly against France sharing its nuclear arsenal.

While Macron has opened the idea of sharing France’s nuclear deterrence with other countries, as a so-called “nuclear umbrella”, he has said that France would remain “totally sovereign” when it comes to any decision to use the weapons.

“To share deterrence is to abolish it,” Le Pen told the Assembly. “Triggering the use of nuclear weapons is inextricably linked to national and popular legitimacy.”

Several European countries require the knowledge of the local language to obtain permanent residence or citizenship, and more are introducing such policies or toughening up the level required.

In 2024, France passed a law requiring French language tests for certain types of residency card.

Sweden is currently moving ahead with language requirements for citizenship. Italy also started to demand a language test when applying for naturalisations by marriage in 2018.

And across the Atlantic, President Donald Trump has just signed into law that English is to be the US official language. Why are languages becoming such an important factor in residence and citizenship policies?

Carmen Silvestri, a linguist and postdoctoral researcher at the University of Reading in the UK, says “this trend is not surprising in current times given the rise of nationalist parties”.

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Languages as an element of national identity and belonging are historically linked to the birth of the nation-state, in 1700-1800, she says.

“Nationalism remains the foundation of the nation-state. There is no nationalism without ‘social glue’, and language is the most obvious one,” Dr Silvestri argues.

National identity

According to a recent report by the Pew Research Centre, a US-based think tank, many people say that speaking the local language is what makes someone ‘truly’ belong in a country, followed by sharing its customs and traditions, and being born there.

Views vary by country, age, education and ideology. Younger and educated people are less likely to see the language as important for belonging, while supporters of right-wing populist parties are more likely to consider it essential.

In Europe, Hungary has the largest share of respondents (74 percent) saying that speaking the local language is key for national identity.

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France and the Netherlands follow with 64 percent. Greece stands at 63 percent, Germany at 62 and Poland at 60 percent. In Italy and the UK the share was 58 percent and in Sweden 52, although it reached 83 percent for supporters of the hard-right party Sweden Democrats.

Silvestri says: “Before the nation-state, religion was the identity marker or the ‘social glue’ linking diverse communities by a shared sacred message and spiritual tradition.

“The birth of the nation-state created a new social construct using other tools to imagine people as one community, and the language was the most immediate one.

“This process was accelerated by the invention of print and the advent of newspapers, which started to spread information using a common language, and the secularisation process after the French Revolution.”

Today in Europe, the Pew research reveals, being part of the predominant religion of a country is the least important factor for the perception of identity, with the highest rates recorded in Greece and Poland (19 percent), followed by Italy (15 percent), the Netherlands (12), Hungary (8), Germany and Spain (6), France (5), and Sweden (3).

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Multicultural societies

Compared to Europe, in Canada and the US only 49 and 48 percent respectively of participants in the Pew survey said that language is an important factor of belonging.

Dr Silvestri explains the different attitude saying that “both Canada and the US have an important history of migration and they started as multicultural societies, so there are other factors at play to determine the national identity”.

On the other hand, 38 and 34 percent respectively said it is “very important to follow local customs in order to truly belong”, a share as high as 62 and 60 percent in Hungary and Greece, 42 percent for Italy and Spain, but declines to 39 percent in France, 25 percent in Germany and 17 percent in Sweden.

This can also be explained through a nationalist lens as people access local customs and traditions “through the knowledge of the language,” Dr Silvestri says.

Multilingualism

In such a context, and with nationalist parties on the rise across Europe, what is the role of multilingualism?

Dr Silvestri says “multilingualism has no correspondence with national identity”.

“If national identity has correspondence with the language, multilingualism is not a factor of identity or belonging. It is a tool to access texts and to communicate,” she said.

“It helps to connect social groups, and while it is important to have a socio-linguistic root in the native language, multilingualism helps to connect, collaborate, share, and also understand otherness developing a wider view of communities beyond the boundaries of national identity.”

This article was produced by Claudia Delpero from Europe Street News.

A South Carolina man convicted of murder was executed by firing squad Friday, March 7, the first US prisoner to die by that method in 15 years. Brad Sigmon, 67, was pronounced dead at 6:08 pm after being shot by three volunteer prison employees wielding rifles loaded with live ammunition.

Sigmon killed his ex-girlfriend’s parents with a baseball bat in their Greenville County home in 2001 in a botched plot to kidnap their daughter. He told police he planned to take her for a romantic weekend, then kill her and himself.

Sigmon’s lawyers said he chose the firing squad because the electric chair would “cook him alive,” and he feared that a lethal injection of pentobarbital into his veins would send a rush of fluid and blood into his lungs and drown him.

The details of South Carolina’s lethal injection method are kept secret in South Carolina, and Sigmon unsuccessfully asked the state Supreme Court on Thursday to pause his execution because of that.

On Friday, Sigmon wore a black jumpsuit with a hood over his head and a white target with a red bullseye over his chest. The armed prison employees stood 15 feet (4.6 meters) from where he sat in the state’s death chamber – the same distance as the backboard is from the free-throw line on a basketball court. Visible in the same small room was the state’s unused electric chair. The gurney used to carry out lethal injections had been rolled away.

The volunteers all fired at the same time through openings in a wall. They were not visible to about a dozen witnesses in a room separated from the chamber by bullet-resistant glass. Sigmon made several heavy breaths during the two minutes that elapsed from when the hood was placed to the shots being fired. His arms briefly tensed when he was shot, and the target was blasted off his chest. He appeared to give another breath or two with a red stain on his chest, and small amounts of tissue could be seen from the wound during those breaths. A doctor came out about a minute later and examined Sigmon for 90 seconds before declaring him dead.

Violent history

The firing squad is an execution method with a long and violent history in the US and around the world. Death in a hail of bullets has been used to punish mutinies and desertion in armies, as frontier justice in America’s Old West and as a tool of terror and political repression in the former Soviet Union and Nazi Germany.

Since 1977 only three other prisoners in the US have been executed by firing squad. All were in Utah, most recently Ronnie Lee Gardner in 2010. Another Utah man, Ralph Menzies, could be next; he is awaiting the result of a hearing in which his lawyers argued that his dementia makes him unfit for execution.

In South Carolina on Friday, a group of protesters holding signs with messages such as “All life is precious” and “Execute justice not people” gathered outside the prison before Sigmon’s execution.

Supporters and lawyers for Sigmon asked Republican Gov. Henry McMaster to commute his sentence to life in prison. They said he was a model prisoner trusted by guards and worked every day to atone for the killings. They also said he committed the killings after succumbing to severe mental illness. McMaster denied the clemency plea. No governor has ever commuted a death sentence in the state, where 46 other prisoners have been executed since the death penalty resumed in the US in 1976. Seven have died in the electric chair and 39 others by lethal injection.

Gerald “Bo” King, chief of the capital habeas unit in the federal public defender’s office, said Sigmon “used his final statement to call on his fellow people of faith to end the death penalty and spare the lives of the 28 men still locked up on South Carolina’s death row.”

“It is unfathomable that, in 2025, South Carolina would execute one of its citizens in this bloody spectacle,” King said in a statement. “But South Carolina has ended the life of a man who has devoted himself to his faith, and to ministry and service to all around him. Brad admitted his guilt at trial and shared his deep grief for his crimes with his jury and, in the years since, with everyone who knew him.”

One execution every five weeks

In the early 2000s, South Carolina was among the busiest death penalty states, carrying out an average of three executions a year. But officials suspended executions for 13 years, in part because they were unable to obtain lethal injection drugs.

The state Supreme Court cleared the way to resume them in July. Freddie Owens was the first to be put to death, on September 20, after McMaster denied him clemency. Richard Moore was executed on November 1 and Marion Bowman Jr. on January 31.

Going forward, the court will allow an execution every five weeks. South Carolina now has 28 inmates on its death row including two who have exhausted their appeals and are awaiting execution, most likely this spring. Just one man has been added to death row in the past decade. Before executions were paused, more than 60 people faced death sentences. Many of those have either had their sentences reduced to life or died in prison.