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Le jour de ses 70 ans, un astronaute américain de retour sur Terre avec deux cosmonautes russes

Le jour-même de ses 70 ans, l’astronaute américain Donald Pettit est rentré dimanche sur Terre en compagnie des deux cosmonautes russes Alexeï Ovchinin et Ivan Vagner, après sept mois passés dans la Station spatiale internationale (ISS), a annoncé la Nasa.”Le trio a quitté la station spatiale (samedi) à 18H57 (heure de Washington, soit 22H57 GMT) à bord du vaisseau Soyouz MS-26 avant d’atterrir sans encombre à l’aide d’un parachute à 21H20 (dimanche à 06H20 au Kazakhstan) au sud-est de la ville de Zhezkazgan (ou Jezkazgan)”, a indiqué l’agence spatiale américaine.La Nasa s’est réjouie dans son communiqué que M. Pettit soit rentré le jour de “son 70e anniversaire dimanche 20 avril”, ce qui en fait selon la presse américaine l’astronaute en activité le plus âgé.L’atterrissage de leur vaisseau Soyouz MS-26 dans la steppe du Kazakhstan a été confirmé par l’agence spatiale russe Roscosmos.Des photos fournies par la Nasa montrent les deux cosmonautes russes de l’agence spatiale Roscosmos, MM. Ovchinin et Vagner, et M. Pettit, souriants, entourés et assistés par des équipes au sol au Kazakhstan.Les trois hommes avaient quitté la Terre le 11 septembre pour “passer 220 jours dans l’espace, tournant en orbite autour de la Terre 3.520 fois, parcourant 93,3 millions de miles”, soit 150 millions de kilomètres, selon l’agence spatiale des Etats-Unis.Durant ses sept mois à bord de l’ISS, Don Pettit “a conduit des recherches pour améliorer les capacités en orbite d’impression en 3D, les technologies de traitement des eaux usées, la culture de plantes et la gestion d’un incendie en micro-gravité”, a détaillé la Nasa.Le 8 avril, le vaisseau russe Soyouz MS-27 transportant les cosmonautes russes Sergueï Ryjikov et Alexeï Zoubritskiy, ainsi que l’astronaute de la Nasa Jonny Kim, s’est arrimé à l’ISS pour y mener 50 expériences scientifiques dans l’espace, selon Roscomos. Leur retour sur Terre est prévu le 9 décembre.L’espace est l’un des derniers domaines de coopération entre la Russie et les Etats-Unis, dont les relations ont été au plus bas en raison de l’offensive russe en Ukraine, avant l’arrivée au pouvoir de Donald Trump qui a initié un rapprochement avec Vladimir Poutine.Après plus de neuf mois coincés dans l’ISS, deux astronautes américains, Suni Williams et Butch Wilmore, sont rentrés le 19 mars sur Terre, grâce à un appareil de l’entreprise SpaceX du multimilliardaire et allié de Donald Trump, Elon Musk.

Le jour de ses 70 ans, un astronaute américain de retour sur Terre avec deux cosmonautes russes

Proportionnelle: Bayrou va engager une “consultation” à partir du 28 avril

François Bayrou va engager à partir du 28 avril une “consultation” avec les partis et les groupes parlementaires sur la proportionnelle, qu’il souhaite voir adoptée pour l’élection des députés, a indiqué le ministre des Relations avec le Parlement, Patrick Mignola.”Le Premier ministre souhaite aller vers la proportionnelle aux législatives. A la rentrée du 28 avril, il engagera une consultation de tous les partis, avec les groupes parlementaires”, a déclaré M. Mignola dans un entretien au Journal du dimanche.”Tout le monde ou presque est d’accord sur le principe: il faut plus de proportionnelle. Reste à déterminer la forme: régionale ? Départementale ? Mixte ? Nous aurons ce débat”, ajoute ce proche de François Bayrou, qui laisse entendre que cette réforme pourrait être examinée à l’automne.Le chef du gouvernement est un défenseur historique du mode de scrutin proportionnel pour l’Assemblée nationale. Depuis l’instauration de la Ve République, et à l’exception des législatives de 1986, les députés sont élus au scrutin uninominal majoritaire à deux tours.En 2018, le président de la République Emmanuel Macron avait souhaité l’instauration d’un système mixte avec 15% des députés élus à la proportionnelle, mais la réforme avait été abandonnée.La présidente de l’Assemblée Yaël Braun-Pivet est favorable à la proportionnelle dans les départements comptant au moins 11 députés. Avant d’accéder à Matignon, François Bayrou penchait, lui, pour une proportionnelle dans l’ensemble des départements.De nombreux partis, notamment à gauche, souhaitent une évolution du mode de scrutin. A droite, Les Républicains (LR) et Horizons y sont opposés. Le RN revendique également la proportionnelle, mais avec l’établissement d’une prime majoritaire pour la liste arrivée en tête.Par ailleurs, Patrick Mignola a indiqué au JDD que le choix d’ouvrir ou non une session extraordinaire au Parlement n’était “pas encore arbitré”, évoquant “deux options”, une session en juillet ou une en septembre.”Ouvrir une session extraordinaire, c’est aussi une opportunité, pour certains, de replonger le pays dans l’instabilité. Cela dit, la peur n’éloigne pas le danger”, a observé le ministre, en allusion à un possible dépôt d’une motion de censure.Vendredi, Yaël Braun-Pivet a dit souhaiter une session extraordinaire “en juillet et probablement au mois de septembre” pour parachever l’adoption des textes en cours d’examen.”Je ne me résous pas à avoir un Parlement qui tourne au ralenti”, a-t-elle insisté, alors que l’exécutif ne semblait pas envisager cette prolongation des travaux.

NASA’s oldest active astronaut returns to Earth on 70th birthday

Cake, gifts and a low-key family celebration may be how many senior citizens picture their 70th birthday.But NASA’s oldest serving astronaut Don Pettit became a septuagenarian while hurtling towards the Earth in a spacecraft to wrap up a seven-month mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS).A Soyuz capsule carrying the American and two Russian cosmonauts landed in Kazakhstan on Sunday, the day of Pettit’s milestone birthday.”Today at 0420 Moscow time (0120 GMT), the Soyuz MS-26 landing craft with Alexei Ovchinin, Ivan Vagner and Donald (Don) Pettit aboard landed near the Kazakh town of Zhezkazgan,” Russia’s space agency Roscosmos said.Spending 220 days in space, Pettit and his crewmates Ovchinin and Vagner orbited the Earth 3,520 times and completed a journey of 93.3 million miles over the course of their mission.It was the fourth spaceflight for Pettit, who has logged more than 18 months in orbit throughout his 29-year career. The trio touched down in a remote area southeast of Kazakhstan after undocking from the space station just over three hours earlier.NASA images of the landing showed the small capsule parachuting down to Earth with the sunrise as a backdrop.The astronauts gave thumbs-up gestures as rescuers carried them from the spacecraft to an inflatable medical tent.Despite looking a little worse for wear as he was pulled from the vessel, Pettit was “doing well and in the range of what is expected for him following return to Earth,” NASA said in a statement.He was then set to fly to the Kazakh city of Karaganda before boarding a NASA plane to the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Texas.The astronauts spent their time on the ISS researching areas such as water sanitization technology, plant growth in various conditions and fire behavior in microgravity, NASA said.The trio’s seven-month trip was just short of the nine months that NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams unexpectedly spent stuck on the orbital lab after the spacecraft they were testing suffered technical issues and was deemed unfit to fly them back to Earth.Space is one of the final areas of US-Russia cooperation amid an almost complete breakdown in relations between Moscow and Washington over the Ukraine conflict.

Qatar’s chief negotiator says ‘frustrated’ by pace of Gaza talksSun, 20 Apr 2025 08:34:41 GMT

Qatar’s chief negotiator says ‘frustrated’ by pace of Gaza talksSun, 20 Apr 2025 08:34:41 GMT Read More »

Qatar’s chief negotiator says ‘frustrated’ by pace of Gaza talks

Qatar’s chief negotiator voiced frustration over talks for a truce in Gaza in an interview with AFP, a month after Israel resumed its strikes on the Palestinian territory and another round of negotiations ended without a deal.”We’re definitely frustrated by the slowness, sometimes, of the process in the negotiation. This is an urgent matter. There are lives at stake here if this military operation continues day by day,” Mohammed Al-Khulaifi said on Friday.Qatar, with the United States and Egypt, brokered a truce in Gaza between Israel and Hamas which came into force on January 19 and largely halted over a year of war triggered by Palestinian militants’ October 7, 2023, attack on Israel.The initial phase of the truce ended in early March, with the two sides unable to agree on the next steps.Hamas has insisted that negotiations be held for a second phase to the truce, leading to a permanent end to the war, as outlined in the January framework.Israel, which had called for an extension to the opening phase, resumed air and ground attacks across the Gaza Strip on March 18 after earlier halting the entry of aid.Late on Thursday, Hamas signalled the group would not accept Israel’s newest proposal for a 45-day ceasefire. Israel had wanted the release of 10 living hostages held by the Palestinian group, the militant group said.- ‘Noise’ -“We’ve been working continuously in the last days to try to bring the parties together and revive the agreement that has been endorsed by the two sides,” the Qatari minister of state said.”And we will remain committed to this, in spite of the difficulties,” he added.During the long mediation process, Qatar has been the target of direct criticism from Israel and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.At least two of Netanyahu’s aides are suspected of receiving payments from the Qatari government to promote Doha’s interests in Israel, prompting an Israeli criminal probe. Qatar has dismissed the attacks as a “smear campaign”.Earlier in March, an investigation by Israel’s domestic security agency attributed funds from the Gulf state to an increase in Hamas’s military strength before the October 7 attack. Qatar has rebuffed the accusation as “false”.”We’ve been receiving those types of criticism and negative comments since the early times of our involvement,” Al-Khulaifi said.”Critiques without any context, such as the ones that we keep hearing from Netanyahu himself, are often just noise,” he added.Al-Khulaifi rejected recent remarks from Netanyahu to the US-based evangelical Christian channel Daystar that Qatar had promoted “anti-Americanism and anti-Zionism” on US college campuses.- ‘De-escalation’ -“His claims about Qatar’s educational partnerships have been repeatedly disproven. Everything we do is transparent,” the Qatari official added.Qatar, with Al-Khulaifi as its lead negotiator, has emerged as a facilitator in the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo that has flared in recent months, with the armed M23 group making a series of rapid gains in the country’s resource-rich east.In early March, Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi and his Rwandan counterpart, Paul Kagame, who is accused of backing the M23, held surprise meetings in Doha and later expressed their support for a ceasefire.”This meeting happened to really find a pathway towards de-escalation and more of an agreement on an implementation mechanism,” Al-Khulaifi said.”We’ve managed to create this flexible line of communication between the two sides, and we’re hoping there are more successes than you can hear within the next days,” the Qatari minister added.Al-Khulaifi said following the meetings between the leaders that Qatar had convinced the M23, Rwanda and the DRC to “de-escalate” near the strategic mining hub of Walikale.This allowed “a process of withdrawing from Walikale to the eastern sides, to Goma. That movement by itself was, in our view, a positive development,” he added, referring to the M23-held capital of DR Congo’s North Kivu Province.Al-Khulaifi said the United States had been “a reliable partner” in DR Congo and he hoped to discuss the conflict with the US envoy for Africa, Massad Boulos, in Washington in the coming days.In the United States, Khulaifi said he would also raise the issue of ongoing sanctions on Syria following the ousting of president Bashar al-Assad.Along with Qatari funding for gas supplies to Syria, Qatar is discussing with regional partners an increase in public sector salaries in the country.”We’re discussing it very closely with our US colleagues to see, how can we move on within this project,” Al-Khulaifi said.

Defending champion Kyren Wilson crashes out in first round of World Snooker Championship

Defending champion Kyren Wilson crashed out in the first round of the World Snooker Championship, losing 10-9 to Chinese debutant Lei Peifan as the “Crucible Curse” struck again.In a match of stark momentum swings, Wilson lost seven frames in a row in the course of becoming the 20th first-time Crucible champion to fail to defend his title.No first-time winner has been able to retain the world crown since the tournament moved to Sheffield’s Crucible Theatre in 1977.Lei, one of a record 10 Chinese players in this year’s draw, looked down and out when trailing 6-2.But he staged a stunning recovery, including a run of six consecutive half-century breaks, to move to the brink of victory on Saturday’s opening night of the championship.The 21-year-old then had to withstand a Wilson comeback before delivering a break of 66 under intense pressure in the decider to send the defending champion tumbling out.”Obviously it’s really hard to take,” said 33-year-old Wilson. “I’ve got such a strong record at the Crucible and I was nowhere near my best but it still took a 10-9 to beat me.”It’s been a really long season and I’ve done so much. I’ve never been stretched so much in all my life but I’m proud of the way I’ve handled it and I’m proud of the success I’ve had as well.”Wilson, who has won four ranking titles this season, had expressed confidence that he would be the man to put the 48-year-old curse to bed.He was in total control against Lei when he led 6-2 but the Scottish Open champion roared back to lead 9-6.Englishman Wilson, the world number two, stopped the rot with a defiant clearance of 106 and went on to set up the decider but fell at the final hurdle.”It feels amazing,” said Lei. “The Scottish Open was my first title and this was my Crucible debut —- both moments are very special to me. The emotions were just as intense.”The world number 39, who had to come through qualifying, will face Zhao Xintong or Jak Jones in the last 16.

Chikungunya à La Réunion: le directeur du CHU veut des renforts

Le directeur général du centre hospitalier de La Réunion Lionel Calenge a déclaré dimanche avoir demandé l’envoi de renforts médicaux pour faire face au pic de l’épidémie de chikungunya, qui a déjà fait six morts sur l’île. “Le pic épidémique avait été annoncé pour mi-avril par les épidémiologistes. Nous y sommes”, a affirmé Lionel Calenge sur RMC, ajoutant que le CHU “est en première ligne dans cette situation de crise”.”Tous les jours depuis plusieurs semaines, on accueille entre 30 et 40 patients atteints de +chik+ sur nos deux services d’urgence”, ce qui génère “vraiment une grosse tension sur nos capacités”, alerte le directeur. Il détaille: “Nombre de lits insuffisant”, “taux d’occupation en médecine et en chirurgie de 95%”, “581 patients hospitalisés pour +chik+ depuis le début de l’année, avec 127 patients en pédiatrie, 46 en néonatologie et réanimation néonatale”.Pour faire face à une “hausse de l’activité aux urgences de 12% sur le dernier mois”, il indique avoir eu “le renfort de trois médecins de la réserve sanitaire”.”On a demandé également six médecins supplémentaires au niveau national”, ajoute-t-il. Début avril, le CHU avait déclenché le plan blanc, dispositif qui permet de déprogrammer certaines opérations ou de rappeler des personnels en congés dans les hôpitaux, face à une augmentation importante de l’activité des urgences liée à la prise en charge des patients atteints de chikungunya. Ce plan blanc a permis “l’ouverture de 14 lits de médecine supplémentaires”, ainsi que la transformation des “hôpitaux de semaine en médecine post-urgence” et la déprogrammation de 300 opérations, explique le responsable. “On a recruté des paramédicaux, des infirmiers, des personnels paramédicaux, on a eu plus de difficultés par rapport aux médecins”, témoigne-t-il.Le président Emmanuel Macron se rendra dans l’océan Indien pour une tournée de cinq jours à partir de lundi, qui comprend des étapes à La Réunion et Mayotte. Les autorités sanitaires ont recensé six décès liés au chikungunya depuis le début de l’année à La Réunion et observent l’amorce de baisse de l’épidémie sur l’île, où plus de 100.000 personnes pourraient avoir été infectées.

Exec linked to Bangkok building collapse arrested

Thai authorities said they have arrested a Chinese executive at a company that was building a Bangkok skyscraper which collapsed in a major earthquake, leaving dozens dead.The 30-storey tower was reduced to an immense pile of rubble when a 7.7-magnitude quake struck neighbouring Myanmar last month, killing 47 people at the construction site and leaving another 47 missing.Justice Minister Tawee Sodsong told a news conference Saturday that a Thai court had issued arrest warrants for four individuals, including three Thai nationals, at China Railway No.10 for breaching the Foreign Business Act.The Department of Special Investigation, which is under the justice ministry, said in a statement Saturday that one of the four had been arrested — a Chinese “company representative” who they named as Zhang. China Railway No.10 was part of a joint venture with an Italian-Thai firm to build the State Audit Office tower before its collapse.Zhang is listed as a 49-percent shareholder in the firm, while the three Thai citizens have a 51-percent stake in the company. But Tawee told journalists that “we have evidence… that the three Thais were holding shares for other foreign independents”.The Foreign Business Act says that foreigners may hold no more than 49 percent of shares in a company.Separately, Tawee said several investigations related to the collapse were ongoing, including over the possibility of bid rigging and the use of fake signatures of engineers in construction supervisor contracts.Earlier this month Thai safety officials said testing of steel rebars — struts used to reinforce concrete — from the site has found that some of the metal used was substandard.The skyscraper was the only major building in the capital to fall in the catastrophic March 28 earthquake that has killed more than 3,700 people in Thailand and neighbouring Myanmar.