Tour de France: le phénomène Squiban récidive à Chambéry
Et de deux pour Maëva Squiban ! La Bretonne s’est imposée comme la révélation du Tour de France 2025 en signant sa deuxième victoire d’affilée au terme d’un nouveau solo impressionnant vendredi à Chambéry où les favorites se sont neutralisées.Au terme d’une journée à nouveau marquée par un engouement populaire impressionnant, la Mauricienne Kim Le Court, 6e de l’étape après avoir réglé le groupe des candidates au maillot jaune final, a conservé sa place de leader au général non sans avoir montré quelques signe de faiblesse dans l’ascension du Col du Granier (8,9 km à 5,4% de dénivelé).C’est là , à deux bornes du sommet, à 20 kilomètres de la ligne, que Maëva Squiban a placé l’accélération qui l’a propulsée vers un deuxième succès de prestige, elle qui, à 23 ans, n’avait levé les bras qu’à deux reprises chez les pros avant cette Grande Boucle 2025.La Brestoise faisait partie des dix-sept échappées qui ont pris les devants dès les premiers hectomètres de course à la sortie de Bourg-en-Bresse. Un groupe qui a fondu au rythme des trois ascensions du jour, regroupées dans les 50 derniers kilomètres d’un parcours de  160 km tracé entre l’Ain et la Savoie. Et comme la veille entre Clermont-Ferrand et Ambert, Squiban a senti la course en attaquant au bon moment pour décrocher son ultime rivale, la Néerlandaise Mareille Meijering.”J’ai encore moins de mots qu’hier. (Avant l’étape) j’avais dit pour rigoler que j’attaquerai au kilomètre zéro. Finalement ce n’était pas une blague, je l’ai fait”, a déclaré la Brestoise.La Madeleine en juge de paixRenversée par une voiture en mai dernier, touchée aux cervicales sans certitude de pouvoir participer au Tour, celle qui estime avoir eu la vie sauve “grâce à (son) casque” a savouré son succès avec ses proches. Un triomphe français complété par la deuxième place d’une autre Brestoise, Cédrine Kerbaol, qui a échoué à 51 secondes de la vainqueure du jour avec quelques longueurs d’avance sur les principales prétendantes au classement général.Un classement toujours dominé donc par Kim Le Court qui n’a “pas vécu une journée facile”.”Mais je me suis accrochée par respect pour mes équipière qui font tellement d’efforts pour moi depuis le week-end dernier. Je suis toujours en jaune. Demain, ce sera une autre histoire. Mais je ne regarde pas les autres. Je me concentre sur moi”, a-t-elle indiqué.Ses difficultés dans la Col du Granier augurent d’une journée compliquée samedi où il faudra enchaîner le Col de Plainpalais (1re catégorie), la côte de Saint-Georges-d’Huitrières (2e) et surtout le monstre que constitue le Col hors catégorie de la Madeleine et ses dix-huit kilomètres à 8,1 % de moyenne à 2000 mètres d’altitude. Et sur un revêtement rugueux.Le toit du Tour, arrivée de cette avant-dernière étape, fera probablement office de juge de paix au terme de sept jours d’observation entre des favorites qui ont jusqu’ici hésité à se dévoiler.Une chose semble évidente: toutes les candidates à la victoire finale dimanche soir à Châtel ont de bonnes jambes. Deuxième du général, la Française Pauline Ferrand-Prévot semble attendre son heure, à l’instar de la vainqueure sortante, la Polonaise Katarzyna Niewiadoma et de celle qui est toujours considérée comme la favorite, la Néerlandaise Demi Vollering.Une demi-minute derrière Le Court, ces trois-là se tiennent en cinq secondes. Et elle ne sont pas à l’abri d’un exploit d’une poursuivante, le top dix se tenant en une minute et demi.Pour rappel, il y a un an, Niewiadoma l’avait emporté pour quatre secondes seulement devant Vollering.
US promises Gaza food plan after envoy visit
President Donald Trump’s special envoy promised a plan to deliver more food to Gaza after inspecting a US-backed distribution centre on Friday, as the United Nations said Israeli forces had killed hundreds of hungry Palestinians waiting for aid over the past two months.The visit by US envoy Steve Witkoff came as a report from global advocacy group Human Rights Watch accused Israeli forces of presiding over “regular bloodbaths” close to aid points run by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).The UN human rights office in the Palestinian territories said at least 1,373 Palestinians seeking aid in Gaza had been killed since May 27 — 105 of them in the last two days of July.”Most of these killings were committed by the Israeli military,” the UN office said, breaking down the death toll into 859 killed near GHF sites and 514 along routes used by UN and aid agency convoys.Witkoff said he had spent more than five hours inside Gaza, in an online post accompanied by a photograph of himself wearing a protective vest and meeting staff at a GHF distribution centre.The visit intended to give Trump “a clear understanding of the humanitarian situation and help craft a plan to deliver food and medical aid to the people of Gaza,” Witkoff said.Trump echoed this in a phone call with US news site Axios touting a plan to “get people fed”.”We want to help people. We want to help them live. We want to get people fed. It is something that should have happened long time ago,” Trump said according to Axios.- ‘Gunning them down’ -The US president did not say whether his plan would involve reinforcing GHF or a whole new mechanism, the report said.The GHF largely sidelined the longstanding UN-led aid distribution system in Gaza just as Israel in late May began easing a more than two-month aid blockade that exacerbated existing shortages.The foundation said it had delivered its 100-millionth meal in Gaza during the visit by Witkoff and US ambassador Mike Huckabee.Gaza’s civil defence agency said 22 people were killed by Israeli gunfire and air strikes on Friday, including eight who were waiting to collect food aid.In its report on the GHF centres, Human Rights Watch accused the Israeli military of using starvation as a weapon of war.”Israeli forces are not only deliberately starving Palestinian civilians, but they are now gunning them down almost every day as they desperately seek food for their families,” said HRW’s associate crisis and conflict director, Belkis Wille.”US-backed Israeli forces and private contractors have put in place a flawed, militarised aid distribution system that has turned aid distributions into regular bloodbaths.”The Israeli military said in response that the GHF worked independently, but that troops operated near aid sites “to enable the orderly delivery of food” while trying to “minimise… any friction between the civilian population” and its forces.The military accused Hamas of trying to prevent food distribution, and said it was conducting a review of reported deaths.Witkoff on Thursday held talks with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has vowed to destroy Hamas and rescue hostages seized in the Palestinian group’s October 2023 attack that triggered the war.But Netanyahu is under mounting international pressure to end the bloodshed that has killed more than 60,000 Palestinians, according to Hamas-run Gaza’s health ministry, and threatened many more with famine.- Hostage video -Following his discussions with Witkoff, Netanyahu met Germany’s Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul, who warned that “the humanitarian disaster in Gaza is beyond imagination.”Wadephul urged Israel “to provide humanitarian and medical aid to prevent mass starvation from becoming a reality”.In an investigative report published on Friday, British public broadcaster the BBC said it had gathered accounts from witnesses, medics and other sources of more than 160 children shot in the war, including 95 hit in the head or chest, some by Israeli forces.Responding in a statement to AFP, the Israeli military said any “intentional harm to civilians, and especially to children, is strictly prohibited” by international law and the army’s orders.Hamas’s 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to a tally based on official figures.The retaliatory Israeli offensive has killed at least 60,249 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to the Gaza health ministry.Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties accessing many areas mean AFP cannot independently verify tolls and details provided by the civil defence and other parties.Of the 251 people taken hostage during the Hamas attack on southern Israel, 49 are still held in Gaza, including 27 declared dead by the Israeli military.After Witkoff’s Gaza visit, the armed wing of Hamas released a short online video showing 24-year-old Israeli hostage Evyatar David, looking emaciated and weak in a narrow concrete tunnel.burs-dc/ami
India’s Krishna and Siraj rock England in series finale
Prasidh Krishna and Mohammed Siraj took four wickets each as India fought back in the fifth and deciding Test against England at the Oval on Friday.England were 129-1 in reply to India’s 224 all out as they threatened to build a substantial first-innings lead.But they were eventually dismissed for 247, just 23 runs ahead, following a rain delay.In a match India must win to end the series level at 2-2, the recalled Krishna had figures of 4-62 in 16 overs and fellow paceman Siraj 4-86 in 16.2.Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett shared a blistering first-wicket stand of 92 in just 13 overs after England paceman Gus Atkinson marked his return to Test cricket with a five-wicket haul.Both openers fell either side of lunch, however, before stand-in England captain Ollie Pope, leading the side in place of the injured Ben Stokes, was lbw to Siraj for 22.Crawley and Duckett dominated India’s attack with a blizzard of boundaries before Akash Deep sparked the latest flare-up of a fractious series.Deep had Duckett caught behind for 43 off an attempted scoop, then put his arm round the unimpressed batsman’s shoulder and appeared to say a few words as he walked off.India’s KL Rahul pulled Deep away from Duckett before the bowler could say anything else.This incident came after India captain Shubman Gill accused England of ignoring the “spirit of cricket” by time-wasting in the third Test at Lord’s.England were then angered by the India’s decision to bat on in the fourth Test at Old Trafford rather than agree a draw as soon as possible.- Siraj stars -Ater Duckett’s exit, Crawley holed out off a miscued pull against Krishna for 64, with 56 of those runs coming in boundaries. The usually mild-mannered Joe Root, second in the all-time list of Test match run scorers, found himself exchanging words with Krishna before he was lbw to Siraj for 29.And when Siraj had Jacob Bethell lbw as the all-rounder played down the wrong line, England were 195-5.Jamie Smith then saw his edged drive off Krishna well caught by Rahul at second slip.Four balls later Jamie Overton was lbw to Krishna for a duck. Atkinson hit two well-struck boundaries before he mistimed a pull of Krishna to mid-on.Harry Brook gave England fans something to cheer with an extraordinary ‘falling’ sweep for six off Siraj during a 57-ball fifty. But Siraj bowled him for 53, with Brook the last man out as the injured Chris Woakes was unable to bat. England suffered a setback before Friday’s play, with paceman Woakes effectively ruled out of the rest of the match after suffering a shoulder injury when diving in an attempt to prevent a boundary on Thursday.But Atkinson responded with a superb return of 5-33 in 21.4 overs after striking twice on Thursday, when he also ran out the in-form Gill.The 27-year-old’s fourth five-wicket haul in just 13 Tests was all the more creditable as this was Atkinson’s first senior match since being sidelined with hamstring trouble following a one-off Test against Zimbabwe in May.India, who resumed on 204-6, lost their last four wickets for just 20 more runs in 5.4 overs on Friday.Â