Real Madrid: Privé de son statut d’intouchable, Vinicius dégoupille

Alors qu’il semblait revenir à son meilleur niveau, l’attaquant du Real Madrid Vinicius Junior a hurlé sa frustration lorsque son entraîneur Xabi Alonso l’a remplacé lors du Clasico contre le Barça (2-1) dimanche, démontrant qu’il ne supporte pas de perdre son statut d’intouchable.Furieux d’être remplacé par son compatriote Rodrygo à la 72e minute de jeu, le Brésilien a dégoupillé:”Moi? Mister? Encore moi? Va te faire… ! C’est toujours moi! Je quitte l’équipe, c’est trop, c’est mieux que je m’en aille!”, a-t-il pesté devant les caméras du monde entier, en rentrant directement aux vestiaires, sans saluer son entraîneur Xabi Alonso.Il est ensuite revenu s’asseoir sur son banc plusieurs minutes plus tard, pas pour célébrer la victoire solide du géant madrilène, mais pour provoquer le jeune prodige barcelonais Lamine Yamal, dont les déclarations avaient enflammé l’avant-match.Xabi Alonso, dont l’approche “méritocratique” tranche avec le management plus docile de Carlo Ancelotti, a bien tenté d’éteindre l’incendie, assurant qu’il préférait garder “toutes les choses positives” du match de “Vini” et que les deux hommes allaient “reparler” de cet incident ensemble.Mais cette séquence, largement relayée sur les réseaux sociaux, est considéré en Espagne comme un énorme manque de respect et une nouvelle limite franchie par l’ailier de 25 ans, incapable de mettre son égo de côté pour le bien de son équipe.”Le Real Madrid ne peut pas se permettre d’avoir un joueur star qui n’accepte pas de faire partie d’une équipe”, écrit notamment le quotidien sportif AS, estimant que cette polémique pouvait marquer “un avant et un après” dans l’avenir de “Vini”, qui refuse toujours de prolonger son contrat expirant en juin 2027.- Plus intouchable -Ce nouveau craquage de l’attaquant brésilien, dont le tempérament volcanique, les provocations et les crises de nerfs agacent de plus en plus dans la capitale espagnole, révèle un profond mal-être et une immense frustration concernant son nouveau statut, dans l’ombre d’un Kylian Mbappé étincelant.Le N.7 merengue ne semble toujours pas accepter de devoir partager l’affiche avec le capitaine des Bleus et de ne plus être “intouchable” aux yeux de son nouvel entraîneur, comme pouvaient l’être Karim Benzema ou Cristiano Ronaldo, qui ne sortaient que très rarement en cours de match sauf en cas de blessure.La star de la Seleção a ainsi débuté sur le banc à trois reprises depuis le début de saison, sans être blessé, et il n’a disputé que trois rencontres au complet sur les dix autres où il était titulaire. Et il a vu Mbappé s’imposer, dans le même temps, comme le leader d’attaque de la Maison Blanche, avec des statistiques affolantes: 19 buts en 16 matchs toutes compétitions confondues en club et en sélection.Un déclassement considéré comme injuste par le dribbleur brésilien, qui n’a toujours pas digéré sa deuxième place au Ballon d’Or 2024 derrière l’Espagnol Rodri alors qu’il était annoncé vainqueur.Selon la presse espagnole, les négociations contractuelles sont à l’arrêt entre le club et l’entourage du joueur, qui utiliserait une offre “impossible à refuser” en Arabie saoudite pour réclamer un salaire supérieur ou au moins équivalent à celui de Mbappé, entre 20 et 25 millions net par an. Difficile d’imaginer les dirigeant madrilènes s’aligner sur cette somme, d’autant plus après un nouvel incident pouvant fragiliser l’effectif de Xabi Alonso, qui venait pourtant de signer un match référence sur lequel s’appuyer. 

Jailed Palestinian leader Barghouti can unify Palestinians says son

Jailed Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti’s son urged US President Donald Trump to “seize the opportunity” created by the Gaza truce to secure his father’s release and revive the two-state solution to the Middle East conflict.Sometimes dubbed the “Mandela of Palestine” by his supporters, Marwan Barghouti, 66, was one of the leaders of the second intifada, the Palestinian uprising in the early 2000s, and is often cited as a possible successor to Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas. In June 2004, an Israeli court sentenced him to five life sentences after finding him guilty of involvement in four anti-Israeli attacks that killed five people.But the heavy sentences have not diminished his popularity among Palestinians.”He’s capable and has the track record to unify the Palestinian people,” Arab Barghouti told AFP in an interview on Sunday in English in the Israeli-occupied West Bank city of Ramallah.”Someone like him represents a great opportunity for the international community to prove that they are serious about supporting the two-state solution.”Arab Barghouti’s comments come after several countries — including France, Britain and Canada — formally recognised a Palestinian state last month.He is the second member of the family to appeal to the US president to secure his father’s release. Earlier this month, Marwan Barghouti’s wife Fadwa also urged Trump to intervene.Trump said in an interview with US magazine Time on October 15 that he would be “making a decision” on the matter, without specifying a timeline.- ‘Pressure’ -“I really hope he can do that, pressure the Israelis into releasing my father, because he is a partner for peace,” Arab Barghouti said, adding that his family “really welcome” Trump’s comment.Though the two have not been allowed to speak in three years, Arab Barghouti said his father represents Palestinian unity and the best chance for a two-state solution for Israelis and Palestinians.A longtime member of Abbas’ Fatah party, Marwan Barghouti has consistently been re-elected to the party’s central committee, including twice while in jail.With his likeness painted on many walls in the occupied West Bank and, until recently, in Gaza, Marwan Barghouti is considered one of the few figures who could be accepted as a leader by all Palestinian political factions, including Hamas. The Islamist movement, which violently pushed Fatah out of the Gaza Strip after winning the elections there in 2006, has nevertheless repeatedly called for Marwan Barghouti’s release, including during ceasefire negotiations in Gaza.According to a poll conducted last May by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PCPSR), an independent institute in Ramallah, Marwan Barghouti would win if new Palestinian presidential elections were held, twenty years after Abbas came to power.Marwan Barghouti continues to carry out his political responsibilities through his lawyer, whom he has seen five or six times over the past two years, which he has largely spent in solitary confinement, Arab Barghouti said.- ‘Life mission’ -“We have corruption issues that we need to address as Palestinians, and we need to be brave enough to look in the mirror and to take responsibility for our mistakes,” Arab Barghouti said, speaking to AFP at a campaign office and calling for his father’s release.But with the war in Gaza ending, Western countries including the US “need to seize the opportunity of having a Palestinian leader who is well-respected and trusted and has the same vision that they have”.Israel has so far refused to release Marwan Barghouti including in any prisoner exchanges carried out since the Gaza war broke out after Hamas’ unprecedented October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.”The last few weeks have been very tough on us as a family because it’s been a roller coaster” of emotions, Arab Barghouti said.He added that released prisoners reported his father had been beaten during a prison transfer in September, sustaining severe injuries.”Four of his ribs got broken, he got severe injuries in his head, and he lost consciousness,” said Arab Barghouti.In a video he shared on social media in August, Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir was seen threatening a physically weak Marwan Barghouti in jail.Asked whether his father might want to rest should he be released, Arab Barghouti said he did not foresee that happening.”Knowing my father, I know that he will be playing an active role in stopping the suffering, the rebuilding of Gaza, helping the Palestinian people overall, because that’s been his life mission,” he said.

‘It adds up’: NY cost of living propels socialist’s mayoral bid

A giant yellow banner on a busy expressway linking New York’s Brooklyn and Queens boroughs proclaims: “Vote Zohran — for a city we can afford.”The city’s soaring cost of living, perhaps more than any other issue, has propelled the unlikely Democratic socialist candidate Zohran Mamdani to the front of the Big Apple’s mayoral race. Early voting began Saturday and election day is November 4.Astronomical rents and housing scarcity are pervasive problems in America’s most populous city of 8.5 million people where one in four people cannot afford life’s essentials. In June, the median New York rent exceeded $4,000 for the first time, according to the StreetEasy property site — more than double the US average.Unregulated rents increased 5.6 percent in the first quarter of 2025 compared to 2024.Mamdani has said he wants to freeze rents for the two million rent-stabilized tenants whose housing increases are governed by the city, and build 200,000 additional homes in the next decade.Critics say his policies will deter maintenance and investment.”Whatever you need to live in this city, that is not something that you should be priced out of,” he said on the hugely popular Breakfast Club radio show.”We can’t let the market determine who gets to live that dignified life.”Under outgoing mayor Eric Adams, regulated rents have gone up 12.6 percent since he took over in 2022, approved by an independent board Mamdani could shake up.”(Mamdani) realizes that everything is — after Covid (and) inflation — very expensive, and people feel strained,” said Daniel Schlozman, an associate professor of political science at Johns Hopkins University.”He was speaking to those issues in ways that his leading rival Andrew Cuomo was not.”- ‘Politics of affordability’ -Outside a recent Mamdani rally, Santiago, a 69-year-old retiree who did not give his last name, brandished a banner reading “we want affordable housing for our community.” “We are overwhelmed by housing costs,” he said in the shadow of the George Washington Bridge that links the city to New Jersey, the neighboring state where many New York families have been forced to move in search of lower rents.Santiago gave the Bronx as an example where lower average wages have been outstripped by rising rents. For community organizer Lex Rountree, “tenants make up 70 percent of New York, so we are the majority.” “We have, if we come together, a real chance to make a huge impact,” the 27-year-old added, wearing tenant rights pins on her shirt.Mamdani painted Cuomo, the former New York state governor, as a friend of landlords and big business, attacking him in a debate for policies that neglect the cost of living. “That’s why he lost the primary. That’s why he’ll lose the general election,” Mamdani said in a TV debate.Surging grocery prices compete with outlandish rents for the top spot among New Yorkers’ economic complaints.Prices of eggs, meat, poultry and fish have surged by 8.9 percent in the city in the last year.”Grocery prices are out of control — as mayor, I will create a network of city-owned grocery stores,” Mamdani said on Instagram.Nine in 10 New Yorkers say grocery costs are going up faster than their incomes, according to Mamdani’s campaign.The proposal drew criticism from the right, and from fellow Democrat Cuomo, who questioned “Why would you subsidize rich people’s purchase of food?”US President Donald Trump, a fierce critic of Mamdani, has called the frontrunner a “communist.”But a Data for Progress Poll showed that two-thirds of New Yorkers backed the proposal.”He realized that the politics of affordability were absolutely critical,” Schlozman said.Steven Looez, a 41-year-old bartender, told AFP he has considered leaving New York for a more affordable city.”We’re always kind of perplexed where our money goes,” he said. “It adds up.””But I’m a little spoiled being in New York City, where everything you need culturally and socially is here, so it’s hard to match that.”

Suspension de neuf journalistes locaux de la Deutsche Welle en Ethiopie

La radio-télévision internationale allemande Deutsche Welle a protesté vendredi contre la suspension de neuf de ses correspondants locaux en Ethiopie ordonnée par les autorités de ce pays, dans un contexte de recul de liberté de la presse.A l’approche d’élections législatives prévues en juin ou juillet 2026, plusieurs journalistes de différents médias ont été arrêtés ces …

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Le navigateur internet, nouveau champ de bataille de l’IA grand public

Les géants de l’intelligence artificielle (IA) grand public ne veulent plus se contenter de simples agents conversationnels mais repenser toute la navigation sur internet autour de l’IA générative, comme OpenAI avec son nouveau-né Atlas, afin de contester la suprématie de Google.”La ligne de front” de l’IA, aujourd’hui, “c’est le navigateur et le téléphone, parce que …

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