La Bourse de New York a ouvert sans grand mouvement lundi, à l’entame d’une semaine marquée par l’absence de données économiques d’ampleur mais avec la publication de résultats de plusieurs grands distributeurs.Dans les premiers échanges, le Dow Jones reculait de 0,08%, l’indice Nasdaq de 0,03% et l’indice élargi S&P 500 lâchait 0,07%.
Le nouvel entraîneur du Real Madrid Xabi Alonso, qui souhaite ramener le géant espagnol au sommet du football mondial, a assuré lundi que son projet collectif avançait “pas à pas”, à la veille de ses débuts en Liga contre Osasuna.”Nous avançons pas à pas. C’est sûr qu’il nous reste du chemin à parcourir, mais le principal, et les idées fondamentales nous avons commencé à les introduire au Mondial des clubs et on a insisté dessus ces deux dernières semaines. Les sensations sont bonnes”, a résumé le technicien basque, qui succède à l’Italien Carlo Ancelotti sur le banc madrilène.Interrogé à propos de ses consignes envers ses stars Kylian Mbappé et Vinicius Junior, l’ancien entraîneur du Bayer Leverkusen a répété que ses attaquants devraient “revenir aider en défense” pour éviter que l’équipe soit déséquilibrée.”La ligne défensive doit aussi faire monter le bloc lorsque l’on attaque. Nous voulons fonctionner en tant qu’équipe. Réduire les distances entre les joueurs est essentiel, quand nous attaquons et quand nous défendons”, a-t-il ajouté.L’ex-milieu de terrain merengue s’est dit “pressé” de revenir au Santiago Bernabéu, mardi (21H), face à Osasuna, et de placer son équipe “sur le bon chemin” pour revenir au sommet du football européen après une saison décevante, sans trophée majeur.Pour sa première en Liga sur le banc de la Maison Blanche, Xabi Alonso devra faire sans le milieu de terrain français Eduardo Camavinga, touché à la cheville, et l’Anglais Jude Bellingham, qui se remet de son opération de l’épaule gauche.Le latéral français Ferland Mendy et le jeune brésilien Endrick ne se sont pas entrainés lundi et ne seront pas disponibles non plus pour cette première rencontre de la saison, où les recrues Dean Huijsen, Alvaro Carreras, Trent Alexander-Arnold et Franco Mastantuono pourraient faire leurs débuts officiels en championnat.
L’attaquant belge de Naples Romelu Lukaku, blessé à la cuisse gauche jeudi en match de préparation, va manquer le premier match de la saison des champions d’Italie en titre, a annoncé lundi le club napolitain.”Suite à sa blessure lors du match contre l’Olympiakos, Romelu Lukaku a subi des examens (….) qui ont révélé une lésion sévère du muscle fémoral droit de la cuisse gauche”, a indiqué le club dans un communiqué.L’international de 32 ans “a déjà commencé sa rééducation et passera également une consultation chirurgicale”, a ajouté le Napoli, sans préciser la durée de son indisponibilité. Mais selon les médias italiens, il pourrait être absent au moins jusqu’au mois de novembre. Naples se déplace sur la pelouse du promu Sassuolo samedi pour la première journée du Championnat d’Italie.Romelu Lukaku a été un élément clé du titre napolitain la saison dernière avec 14 buts et 10 passes décisives en 36 matches de Championnat. Cette saison, son association avec son coéquipier chez les Diables Rouges Kevin De Bruyne, transféré de Manchester City, est très attendue en Serie A et en Ligue des champions.
Fresh torrential rains in northern Pakistan killed at least 20 people on Monday, local officials said, as the region is ravaged by an unusually intense monsoon season that has left more than 300 people dead in recent days.Torrential rains across the country’s north have caused flooding and landslides that have swept away entire villages, leaving many residents trapped in the rubble and around 200 still missing.”A cloudburst in Swabi completely destroyed several houses, killing more than 20 people,” an official in the district, located in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, told AFP on Monday.Several villages were wiped out by the huge amount of rain falling in a short period of time, a second local official said, confirming the death toll.Since the first heavy rains on Thursday most of the deaths — more than 340 — were reported in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, according to the provincial disaster agency, which warned of new flash floods over the next few days.The latest heavy rains halted the ongoing search efforts for the missing, with volunteers and rescue workers racing to find possible survivors and retrieve bodies.”This morning fresh rains forced a halt to relief operations,” said Nisar Ahmad, 31, a volunteer in worst-hit Buner district, adding that 12 villages had been destroyed and 219 bodies recovered.”Dozens of bodies are still buried under the mud and rocks, which can only be recovered with heavy machinery. However the makeshift tracks built to access the area have once again been destroyed by the new rains.”- ‘We feel scared’ -Many people fled to seek shelter under damaged infrastructure and in the mountains in Buner, an area with difficult terrain.”Even if it rains a little now, we feel scared because there was light rain that day. And then the unsuspecting people were swept away by the storm,” said Buner resident Ghulam Hussain, 35.”Children and women are running and screaming up the mountains to escape,” Hazrat Ullah, 18, told AFP.Volunteer Ahmad said there were also fears for the future due to a lack of food supplies and clean water.”Many livestock have also perished in the cloudburst, and their decomposing bodies are spreading a foul odour in several places. Right now, our most urgent need is clean drinking water, and I appeal to the government to provide it,” he said.The monsoon season brings about three-quarters of South Asia’s annual rainfall, which is vital for agriculture and food security but also causes widespread destruction.- ‘Lies in ruins’ -According to the National Disaster Agency, the intensity of this year’s monsoon is about 50 to 60 percent higher than last year. Preliminary government estimates put the cost of flood damage to government and private property at around $445,000, the prime minister’s office said in a statement Monday.A senior official from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) told AFP that hundreds of houses, dozens of schools, and at least 23 buildings were damaged by the heavy rains.Sharif Khan, a 47-year-old flour dealer from Buner, lost his house and moved into his cousin’s home with his wife and four children.”Nothing compares to one’s own home. I had built that house over six years… and now it lies in ruins,” Khan said. “Since most houses in my area have been destroyed, it seems likely I will have to move outside the area.”Landslides and flash floods are common during the monsoon season, which typically begins in June and lasts until the end of September.The heavy rains that have battered Pakistan since the start of the summer monsoon have claimed the lives of more than 650 people, with over 920 injured.Pakistan is among the world’s most vulnerable countries to the effects of climate change and is increasingly facing extreme weather events.In 2022, monsoon floods submerged one-third of the country and resulted in approximately 1,700 deaths.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said ahead of talks with Donald Trump on Monday that Russia should not be “rewarded” for its invasion, after the US leader pressed Ukraine to make concessions in exchange for peace.The talks, in which European leaders will also take part, follows a Friday summit between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska that failed to produce a ceasefire in the nearly three-and-a-half-year war.Trump, who dropped his insistence on a ceasefire in favor of a final peace deal after meeting Putin, said Sunday that Zelensky could end the war “almost immediately, if he wants to” but that, for Ukraine, there was “no getting back” Crimea and “NO GOING INTO NATO.”Kyiv and European leaders have warned against making political and territorial concessions to Russia, whose assault on Ukraine since February 2022 has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths.”Russia should not be rewarded for its participation in this war…. And it is Moscow that must hear the word: Stop,” Zelensky said in a Facebook post early Monday.Trump and Zelensky are expected to meet one-on-one before being joined by the leaders of Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Finland, as well as NATO chief Mark Rutte and European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen, according to the White House.The European leaders will also hold a preparatory meeting with Zelensky ahead of talks with Trump, the European Union said.Ahead of Monday’s meeting, China called for “all parties” to agree to peace “as soon as possible.”It will be the first visit by Zelensky to Washington since a February bust-up with Trump and Vice President JD Vance, when the two men berated the Ukrainian leader for being “ungrateful.”Russia kept up its attacks on Ukraine ahead of the new talks, firing at least 140 drones and four ballistic missiles at the country between late Sunday and early Monday, the Ukrainian air force said.A Russian drone attack on a five-storey apartment block in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv just before dawn killed at least seven people, including a one-and-a-half year old girl, authorities said.Zelensky called the strikes an attempt to “humiliate diplomatic efforts.”Ukrainian shelling attacks in the Russian-occupied parts of the Kherson and Donetsk regions meanwhile killed two people, Moscow-installed authorities said.- Territories at stake -Russia currently occupies a fifth of Ukraine.It annexed Crimea in 2014 following a referendum denounced as a sham by Kyiv and the West, and did the same in 2022 in four Ukrainian regions — Donetsk, Kherson, Lugansk and Zaporizhzhia — even though its forces have not fully captured them.Russia controls Crimea and is largely in control of the Lugansk region, but not the other three regions.Russia has suggested it might “freeze” the front line in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions in exchange for getting control of land not already captured in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions.A source briefed on a phone call between Trump and European leaders on Saturday told AFP that the US leader was “inclined to support” this proposal.But Zelensky has repeatedly shot down the notion of ceding territory to Moscow, and says he is constitutionally bound not to give away Crimea.Yevgeniy Sosnovsky, a photographer from the captured Ukrainian city of Mariupol, said he “cannot understand” how Ukraine would cede land already under its control.”Ukraine cannot give up any territories, not even those occupied by Russia,” he told AFP.Trump envoy Steve Witkoff said Moscow had made “some concessions” on territory, and that there was an “important discussion with regard to Donetsk and what would happen there.””That discussion is going to specifically be detailed on Monday,” he told CNN, without giving details.Washington has not placed extra sanctions on Moscow, and the lavish welcome offered to Putin in Alaska on his first visit to the West since he invaded Ukraine in 2022 was seen as a diplomatic coup for Russia.But Trump has raised the possibility of a collective defense guarantee for Ukraine similar to the one in place for NATO members, once the war is over.The promise would be outside of the framework of the Western military alliance that Ukraine wants to join and which is seen as an existential threat by Russia.Speaking in Brussels on the eve of his visit to the United States, Zelensky said he was keen to hear more about what Putin and Trump discussed in Alaska.He also hailed Washington’s offer of security guarantees to Ukraine as “historic.”
US envoy Tom Barrack on Monday called on Israel to honour commitments under a ceasefire that ended its war with Hezbollah, after the Lebanese government launched a process to disarm the militant group.Under the November truce, which ended more than a year of hostilities including two months of all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah, the Iran-backed group was to withdraw its fighters from near the Israeli border and weapons were to come under the control of the Lebanese state.Israel was to withdraw its troops from the country but has kept them at five border points it deems strategic and has continued to strike Lebanon, threatening to do so until Hezbollah has been disarmed.”There’s always a step-by-step approach but I think the Lebanese government has done their part. They’ve taken the first step. Now what we need is Israel to comply,” Barrack said following a meeting in Beirut with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun.”We’re all moving in the right direction,” he said after meeting parliament speaker Nabih Berri.Berri, a Hezbollah ally, said Israel’s commitment to the ceasefire and its troop withdrawal was “the gateway to stability in Lebanon”, a statement said.- ‘Progress’ -Asked by reporters whether he expected to see Israel fully withdraw from Lebanese territory and stop its violations, Barrack said that “that’s exactly the next step” needed.”We need participation on the part of Israel, and we need an economic plan for prosperity, restoration and renovation,” the US diplomat added, with Lebanon weighed down by an economic crisis.Barrack said Washington was “in the process of now discussing with Israel what their position is”, adding that “in the next few weeks you’re going to see progress on all sides.””It means a better life for the people… and at least the beginning of a roadway to a different kind of dialogue” in the region, he said.The visit comes after Lebanon’s cabinet tasked the army with developing a plan to disarm Hezbollah by year end — an unprecedented step since civil war factions gave up their weapons decades ago.The cabinet has also tackled a US proposal that includes a timetable for Hezbollah’s disarmament, with Washington pressing Lebanon to take action.The cabinet endorsed the introduction of the US text, which lists 11 objectives including to “ensure the sustainability” of the ceasefire, and to phase out “the armed presence of all non-state actors, including Hezbollah” across all Lebanese territory.It also provides for demarcating Lebanon’s land borders with Israel and neighbouring Syria, and a process involving the international community to support reconstruction.- ‘Lebanese process’ -Aoun told Barrack that what was needed was for “other parties to adhere to the contents” of the joint declaration, “more support for the Lebanese army”, and expedited steps towards reconstruction, the presidency said.Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said Washington needed to “fulfil its responsibility in pressuring Israel halt hostilities”, withdraw troops and release Lebanese prisoners it holds.Hezbollah, the only faction that kept its weapons after Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war, emerged badly weakened from last year’s war with Israel.On Friday, Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem vowed to fight plans to disarm, saying that “the resistance will not surrender its weapons while… occupation persists”.On Sunday, Aoun told the Saudi-owned Al Arabiya channel authorities would do “everything possible… to spare Lebanon any internal or external shock”. If Lebanon rejected the US plan, “then Israel will intensify its attacks, Lebanon will be economically isolated, and none of us will be able to respond to the aggression”, he said.Barrack on Monday stressed that “dealing with Hezbollah, as we’ve always said, is a Lebanese process”.
Une délégation du mouvement islamiste palestinien Hamas a reçu au Caire une nouvelle proposition de cessez-le-feu dans la bande de Gaza, prévoyant une trêve initiale de 60 jours et la libération en deux étapes des otages, a indiqué lundi un responsable palestinien.Les efforts des médiateurs –Egypte, Qatar et Etats-Unis– n’ont jusqu’à présent pas réussi à aboutir à un cessez-le-feu durable dans la guerre qui ravage depuis 22 mois la bande de Gaza, sous blocus israélien et menacé d’une “famine généralisée” selon l’ONU.A la mi-journée lundi, aucun responsable israélien n’avait encore commenté les discussions en cours en Egypte, où s’est rendu le Premier ministre qatari, Mohammed ben Abdelrahmane Al-Thani, pour pousser à un accord. De dizaines de milliers d’Israéliens rassemblés dimanche à Tel-Aviv ont réclamé à leur gouvernement la fin de la guerre et la libération des otages enlevés le 7 octobre 2023 lors de l’attaque sans précédent du Hamas en Israël qui a déclenché la guerre à Gaza.Le Premier ministre israélien Benjamin Netanyahu fait face à une pression croissante de son opinion publique qui craint pour le sort des 49 otages encore retenus à Gaza, dont 27 sont morts selon l’armée israélienne, pendant qu’à l’étranger, les appels se multiplient pour mettre fin aux souffrances des Gazaouis.- Libération en deux étapes -Depuis le début de la guerre, Israël assiège à Gaza 2,4 millions de Palestiniens, qu’il a soumis début mars à un blocus humanitaire total, ensuite allégé en mai puis de nouveau fin juillet face aux critiques internationales.Le texte présenté au Caire à la délégation du Hamas reprend les grandes lignes d’une précédente proposition américaine.Cette nouvelle proposition “se base sur celle de l’envoyé américain (Steve) Witkoff, qui prévoit une trêve de soixante jours et la libération des prisonniers israéliens en deux vagues”, selon une source palestinienne proche du dossier.”La proposition est un accord-cadre pour lancer des négociations sur un cessez-le-feu permanent. Le Hamas tiendra des consultations internes au sein de sa direction” et avec les dirigeants d’autres groupes alliés, a ajouté cette source qui a requis l’anonymat.Selon une source au sein du Jihad islamique, groupe palestinien allié du Hamas, ce plan prévoit un cessez-le-feu de 60 jours en échange de la libération de 10 otages israéliens, et de la restitution d’un certain nombre de corps de captifs.251 personnes avaient été prises en otage lors de l’attaque du 7-Octobre, qui a causé la mort de 1.219 personnes, en majorité des civils, côté israélien. L’offensive de représailles israélienne à Gaza y a fait 61.944, majoritairement des civils, selon les données du ministère de la Santé du Hamas, jugées fiables par l’ONU. Elle a aussi provoqué un désastre humanitaire. Selon la source au sein du Jihad islamique, “les captifs restants seraient libérés lors d’une deuxième phase, avec des négociations immédiates à suivre pour un accord plus large” visant à une fin permanente de “la guerre et de l’agression”, avec des garanties internationales. Selon son porte-parole Munther al-Hayek, le Fatah, groupe rival du Hamas, “soutient la proposition égyptienne” et a appelé le Hamas “à l’accepter immédiatement”.- “Au-delà de toute imagination” -Le ministre des Affaires étrangères égyptien, Badr Abdelatty, a indiqué lundi, lors d’une conférence de presse à Rafah, à la frontière entre Gaza et l’Egypte, que les délégations du Hamas et du Qatar intensifiaient “les efforts afin de mettre fin aux assassinats et à la famine systématiques et pour préserver le sang du peuple palestinien innocent”.”La situation actuelle sur le terrain est au-delà de toute imagination”, s’est alarmé le ministre.Amnesty International a affirmé lundi qu’Israël menait à Gaza une “campagne de famine délibérée”, avec la volonté de “détruire systématiquement la santé, le bien-être et le tissu social de la vie palestinienne”.Israël a rejeté à plusieurs reprises les accusations de famine délibérée, et affirme oeuvrer désormais pour laisser entrer plus de vivres.A Gaza, la Défense civile a fait état d’au moins 11 personnes tuées lundi dans des frappes et tirs israéliens. L’armée n’avait pas commenté ce bilan à la mi-journée.Sur ordre du Premier ministre Benjamin Netanyahu, elle se prépare désormais à conquérir la ville de Gaza et des camps de réfugiés voisins, avec l’objectif affiché de vaincre le Hamas et de libérer tous les otages.
