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L’UE “ne renonce pas” à son partenariat avec les Etats-Unis, selon son commissaire à l’Economie

Madagascar: EDF entre au capital d’un projet de barrage à plus de 500 M EUR

Le géant français de l’électricité EDF a signé un accord pour entrer au capital d’un projet de barrage à Madagascar estimé à plus de 500 millions d’euros ont annoncé mercredi les chefs d’Etat malgache et français à l’occasion de la visite d’Emmanuel Macron dans l’île-Etat de l’océan Indien.Ce barrage dont la construction est prévue à 350 km de la capitale, près de la côte est de l’île, est l’un des deux projets hydroélectriques majeurs du pays, d’une capacité estimée à plus de 120 mégawatts d’électricité.”Le coût de la production est très élevé et l’accès de la population très faible”, a observé devant la presse le président malgache Andry Rajoelina avant d’annoncer la signature par EDF d’un accord pour “rejoindre le projet Volobe”.L’entreprise française doit entrer, via sa filiale EDF Renouvelables, à hauteur de 37,5% au capital du consortium chargé du projet, la Compagnie générale d’hydroélectricité de Volobe (CGHV), d’après un communiqué de cette dernière.Serpent de mer de cet Etat insulaire pauvre de l’océan Indien, ce projet de barrage a été lancé en 2017 par le prédécesseur d’Andry Rajoelina.Le coût de sa réalisation est chiffré entre 525 et 700 millions d’euros par la présidence française.L’ouvrage de 25 mètres de haut et de 300 mètres de large sur le fleuve Ivondro doit permettre “l’accès à l’électricité à près de 2 millions de personnes”, d’après le même communiqué de l’Elysée.

US will ‘walk away’ unless Russia and Ukraine agree deal: Vance

Vice President JD Vance warned Wednesday that the United States would “walk away” unless Russia and Ukraine agree a peace deal, as envoys from Washington, Kyiv and European nations gathered for downgraded talks in Britain.”We’ve issued a very explicit proposal to both the Russians and the Ukrainians, and it’s time for them to either say ‘yes’, or for the United States to walk away from this process,” Vance told reporters in India.US media reported that President Donald Trump was ready to accept recognition of annexed land in Crimea as Russian territory, and Vance said land swaps would be fundamental to any deal.”That means the Ukrainians and the Russians are both going to have to give up some of the territory they currently own,” he added.The reports said the proposal was first raised at a meeting with European nations in Paris last week.But French President Emmanuel Macron’s office told AFP on Wednesday that “Ukraine’s territorial integrity and European aspirations are very strong requirements for Europeans”.The latest round of diplomacy comes after a fresh wave of Russian air strikes that shattered a brief Easter truce.A Russian drone strike on a bus transporting workers in the southeastern city of Marganets killed nine people and wounded at least 30 more, the Dnipropetrovsk regional governor said Wednesday.Ukrainian authorities also reported strikes in the regions of Kyiv, Kharkiv, Poltava and Odesa.In light of the attacks, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky called for an “immediate, full, and unconditional ceasefire”.In Russia, one person was reported wounded by shelling in the Belgorod region.- ‘Work for peace’ -UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy had been due to lead a meeting of foreign ministers in London on Wednesday but his ministry said the talks had been downgraded to “official level” — a sign of the difficulties surrounding the negotiations. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that “it has not yet been possible to reconcile positions on any issues, which is why this meeting did not take place”.US Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg was still expected to attend, as was Macron’s diplomatic adviser Emmanuel Bonne.Andriy Yermak, a top aide to Zelensky, said he had arrived in London with Defence Minister Rustem Umerov and Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga, who was “likely” to meet Lammy.”Despite everything, we will work for peace,” Yermak wrote on Telegram.A Ukraine presidency source later told AFP that the delegation would meet Kellogg, and “there will be more meetings with Europeans”.US presidential envoy Steve Witkoff is to visit Moscow this week.According to the Financial Times, President Vladimir Putin told Witkoff he was prepared to halt the invasion and freeze the current front line if Russia’s sovereignty over the Crimean Peninsula, annexed in 2014, was recognised.Peskov responded by saying that “a lot of fakes are being published at the moment”, according to the RIA Novosti news agency.Zelensky said Tuesday that his country would be ready for direct talks with Russia only after a ceasefire, though the Kremlin has said it cannot rush into a ceasefire deal.Trump promised on the campaign trail to strike a deal between Moscow and Kyiv in 24 hours but has since failed to secure concessions from Putin to halt his troops in Ukraine.He said at the weekend he hoped an agreement could be struck “this week”.- Trump ‘frustrated’ -Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he had presented a US plan to end the war and discussed it with Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov during a phone conversation after the Paris meeting last week. Both Rubio and Trump have warned since that the United States could walk away from peace talks unless it saw quick progress.In response to the US ultimatums, a spokesperson for UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer told reporters “it has to be up to Ukraine to decide its future” and “we will never walk away from Ukraine”.Rubio had said in Paris he would go to London if he thought his attendance could be useful.But Lammy wrote on X late Tuesday that he had instead had a “productive call” with Rubio.Trump proposed an unconditional ceasefire in March, the principle of which was accepted by Kyiv but rejected by Putin.The White House welcomed a separate agreement by both sides to halt attacks on energy infrastructure for 30 days but the Kremlin has said it considers that moratorium to have expired.

Turquie: un séisme de magnitude 6,2 secoue Istanbul, nombreuses répliques

Un puissant séisme de magnitude 6,2, dont l’épicentre se trouvait à 7 km de profondeur en mer de Marmara, a secoué mercredi Istanbul, suivi de dizaines de répliques, sans faire de victimes ni de dégâts, selon les premiers constats des autorités turques.Selon le ministre de l’Intérieur Ali Yerlikaya, plus d’une cinquantaine de répliques dont une de 5.9 ont été enregistrées dans les deux heures suivant le tremblement de terre qui s’est produit à 12H49 locales (9H49 GMT).”Un tremblement de terre de magnitude 6.2 s’est produit dans la mer de Marmara aujourd’hui à 12H49 (9H49 GMT). Le tremblement de terre, d’une profondeur d’environ 7 km, a duré au total 13 secondes. (Il) s’est produit à 24 km de la côte de Silivri et a été ressenti dans les provinces environnantes dont Istanbul. À 15H12 (12H15 GMT), 51 répliques ont été enregistrées, dont la plus importante était de magnitude 5,9″, a précisé sur X le ministre.Le séisme et ses répliques ont été ressentis dans tous les quartiers de l’immense ville de 16 millions d’habitants, située sur le Bosphore et la Mer de Marmara.- réfugiés dans les parcs -Des milliers de personnes se sont jetées dans les rues, en proie à la panique, ont constaté des journalistes de l’AFP, et la plupart restaient réfugiées dans des parcs à ciel ouvert, certains munis de tentes, sans oser rentrer chez elles.Le 23 avril étant un jour férié en Turquie, les institutions, les écoles et de nombreux commerces sont fermés. “J’ai senti la secousse, je me suis jeté dehors” confie un peintre, rencontré près de la Tour de Galata après avoir dévalé ses quatre étages. “Nous avons paniqué, mais c’est tout… on a juste pris nos jambes à notre cou. Nous ne pouvons rien faire, absolument rien”, a confié à l’AFP un vendeur-ambulant.La puissante secousse de 6.2 a été ressentie selon l’Afad dans les villes voisines d’Istanbul, dans un rayon de plusieurs centaines de km jusqu’à Izmir sur la côte égéenne, ainsi qu’à Sofia, la capitale de la Bulgarie, et sur l’île grecque de Lesbos, selon les bureaux de l’AFP.Les autorités n’ont pas fait état de victimes ni de dégâts. La chaîne NTV a rapporté l’effondrement d’un immeuble inoccupé selon elle depuis près de 30 ans, dans le quartier de Fatih.Le président Recep Tayyip Erdogan a indiqué “suivre les développements de près”.”Tous nos services d’urgence sont en état d’alerte. Aucun bâtiment ne s’est effondré selon les informations dont nous disposons à ce stade. Nous poursuivons les recherches”, a indiqué le gouvernorat d’Istanbul qui appelle “les citoyens à ne pas s’approcher de bâtiments endommagés”.Le ministre des Transports a de son côté relevé l’absence de dégâts aux infrastructures, “autoroutes, chemins de fer, aéroports, métros”, selon les premières observations.- La hantise du “Big one” – La Turquie est traversée par deux failles qui ont causé de nombreux drames par le passé.Istanbul vit dans la hantise du “Big one”: elle est située à 20 km de la faille nord-anatolienne et les plus pessimistes des experts prévoient un séime de magnitude 7 au moins d’ici à 2030, qui provoquerait l’effondrement partiel ou total de centaines de milliers d’édifices.Se voulant rassurant, le Pr Naci Görur, un des sismologues réputés du pays, a affirmé sur X que celui de mercredi n’était pas encore le bon: “Ces secousses ne sont pas les tremblements de terre majeurs auxquels nous nous attendons à Marmara” a-t-il indiqué.”Le véritable tremblement de terre ici sera plus fort et supérieur à 7″, insiste-t-il, tout en appelant “la population et le gouvernement à prendre des précautions même lorsqu’il n’y a pas de tremblement de terre” (…) pour préparer la ville”.Le sud-est du pays a subi un violent tremblement de terre en février 2023 qui a fait au moins 53.000 morts et dévasté la cité antique d’Antakya, l’ex Antioche.Le district de Silivri abrite notamment l’une des principales prisons du pays, où se trouvent incarcérés le maire d’oppposition d’Istanbul Ekrem Imamoglu et le mécène et philanthrope Osman Kavala.C’est également là qu’ont été conduits de très nombreux manifestants interpellés lors de la vague de contestation qui a suivi l’arrestation de M. Imamoglu le 19 mars, incarcéré à Silivri six jours plus tard.Le réseau d’entraide des parents des jeunes détenus a affirmé sur X que l’établissement n’avait pas subi de dégâts.

Turquie: un séisme de magnitude 6,2 secoue Istanbul, nombreuses répliques

Tears and hope as Jerusalem pays tribute to Pope Francis

Tears mixed with smiles as a dense crowd flocked to the requiem mass for the pope at Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre on Wednesday. “He gave us hope, and we will keep that hope with us forever even in this situation in Palestine”, said Na’ma Tarsha, a retiree from the Mount of Olives in east Jerusalem, a part of the city occupied and annexed by Israel in 1967. Dressed entirely in black, the 75-year-old woman said she was determined to take part in the mass for Pope Francis, who died on Monday aged 88.”I came to attend this mass because wherever he would go, I would follow him”, she said “it’s important to have this mass for him in a church with an empty tomb… because it calls for rising (resurrection), it is a great symbol”.The basilica in Jerusalem’s ancient Old City is the centre point of Christianity, built on the site where believers hold that Christ was crucified, entombed and resurrected. “I was sad, but I feel peace inside because I know that he will rise again like Jesus,” said Tarsha.Earlier that morning, a processions of clergy in cassocks ranging from brown to beige, depending on their religious order, passed through the wide doors of the building and into clouds of incense.Alongside them mingled nuns, scouts, local worshippers and a few foreign pilgrims, hoping to secure one of the few seats available.- ‘Really special moment’ -Preceded by two “kawas” — guards in traditional livery from the Ottoman era, bearing sabres and ceremonial staffs — the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Pierbattista Pizzaballa, entered the church followed by Christian religious leaders and diplomats. As the organ began to play, the patriarch kissed the Stone of Anointing, where Jesus’s body is said to have been prepared for burial, before putting his biretta hat back on.As a cardinal, Pizzaballa will be among the elite electorate that will soon gather in Rome to appoint a successor to Pope Francis and has himself been tipped for the role. “He could be the next (pope), but we need him so much here,” said a Palestinian Christian who did not wish to give his name, but said he appreciated Pizzaballa’s calls for peace.”We are so shaken, so sad. Even though we knew the pope was very sick, our feelings are all mixed, we feel so many feelings at the same time.”Pope Francis repeatedly denounced the war in Gaza and regularly phoned a small Christian congregation in the besieged territory.As the mass began, other believers recalled the late pope’s visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories in 2014 when he visited the church.The liturgy was led by the patriarch, as well as a Ukrainian cardinal. The presence of clergymen from countries at war stood as a nod to Pope Francis’s message of peace.In a hidden corner of the church, a group of young people stood on tiptoe to watch proceedings, all volunteers from various religious institutions in the Holy Land.Among them was Arthur Trusch, who said he couldn’t miss the event, even though he was a Protestant evangelical. “It’s a really special moment”, said the 20-year-old German who was volunteering at a Jerusalem monastery.”To see all these people, here for the pope and for the patriarch, is very moving”.

Wall Street décolle après des propos rassurants sur la crise douanières

IMF warns of ‘intensified’ risks to public finances amid US trade war

Donald Trump’s tariff plans have increased the risks to public finances, the International Monetary Fund said Wednesday, warning countries to get their spending plans under control and prepare for “sharper” trade-offs.The US president’s on-again, off-again introduction of levies against top trading partners has sent market volatility soaring and unnerved investors, who are attempting to chart a path through the increased uncertainty.Over the past six months, “global economic prospects have significantly deteriorated, and risks to the economic output are elevated and tilted to the downside” Vitor Gaspar, the head of the IMF’s Fiscal Affairs department, told reporters on Wednesday at the launch of the Fund’s Fiscal Monitor report. The forecast for public finances was published as part of the Fund and the World Bank’s Spring Meetings of global financial leaders currently under way in Washington.Under its new projections, which incorporate some — but not all — of the recently announced tariffs, the IMF now expects global general government debt to rise to more than 95 percent of economic output this year, and to approach 100 percent of GDP by 2030.In the forecasts, the IMF expects public debt to rise by about the same amount as the combined increases seen in 2023 and 2024, Gaspar told AFP in an interview ahead of the report’s publication.”There is a pronounced trend in public debt around the world,” he said.- ‘Heightened uncertainty’ -The IMF warned in its report that the “heightened uncertainty” about tariffs and economic policy, combined with rising bond yields in major economies, widening spreads in emerging markets, foreign aid cuts, and increased defense spending in Europe had all complicated the global debt outlook.”Fiscal policy now faces a sharper trade-off between reducing debt, building buffers against uncertainties and accommodating spending pressures, all amidst weaker growth prospects, higher financing costs, and heightened risks,” it added. While public spending levels may pose political challenges, the right policy can also “be a source of confidence and support in potentially very demanding macroeconomic circumstances,” Gaspar told AFP. “Communities may be severely affected by trade dislocations, and targeted and temporary support… could be a way forward,” he added. – Different paths -The IMF expects that more than a third of the world’s economies, who collectively account for 75 percent of global GDP, will see a rise in indebtedness this year. This includes many of the world’s largest economies, including the United States, China, Germany, Britain, and France. But these countries will face very different realities when it comes to handling that debt, Gaspar said in the interview.”Both China and the United States are continental economies,” he said. “They have a space that other economies don’t have.””The United States has an ample set of options, both on the revenue side and on the spending side, that it can deploy to control the deficit, stabilize the level of public debt and decrease the level of public debt, if it chooses to do so,” he added. “How it’s going to happen depends on… the choices made in the context of the US political system,” he said. For China, Gaspar noted that the authorities would “eventually” need to tackle its public debt, but should focus their attention at this moment in time on providing targeted support to transform the economy. “Fiscal support in China is welcome right now,” he said. “It is something that helps rebalancing China growth towards the domestic economy.””By doing so, it helps reduce the external imbalance.”