Bar Crobar

Covid-19: this country will pay its nationals to be vaccinated

Serbs who have already been vaccinated or who will be vaccinated before the end of May will receive €25.

This is clearly a world first. In Serbia, getting vaccinated against Covid-19 is rewarded. According to Le Figaro, the President of the Republic of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, has announced that each person vaccinated will receive 25 euros, and that all those vaccinated between now and the end of May will also be rewarded. His short-term objective is to have vaccinated three million people by the end of the month.

Serbia is a good pupil when it comes to vaccination. With a population of around seven million, 1.3 million people have already received at least one dose. But according to our colleagues, public interest in the anti-Covid serum has waned. In terms of its vaccination strategy, Serbia has drawn on the expertise of various laboratories, including Western, Russian and Chinese. The vaccine is "proof of responsibility", added President Vucic, who went further with regard to public sector employees: all those who contract Covid-19 and have not been vaccinated will no longer receive sick pay.

Donuts in the US, beer and pizza in Israel

While companies in some countries have offered benefits to their employees, a Serbian epidemiologist argues that there has never been a financial reward. As the Huffington Post recalled, New Jersey (USA) decided to offer a beer to all those vaccinated, with the support of several local breweries. In West Virginia, the authorities encouraged young people to get vaccinated by offering savings vouchers worth around €80.

A more far-fetched initiative, noted the Huffington Post, is that of Krispy Kreme, which is offering a free doughnut to anyone vaccinated between now and the end of the year. Finally, in Israel, the authorities are offering beer, pizza or local dishes for every person vaccinated. It remains to be seen how the population will react in Serbia, with the poorest likely to be attracted by the operation, and others more resistant.

Written by Xavier Martinage

The Pokémon card market has gone mad

Sales are rocketing, prices are soaring and appraisal firms are no longer able to keep up

If you've got some old Pokémon cards in a drawer, you might want to take a look. Probably the result of a global lockdown that has forced millions of adults to kill time and try to earn a bit of money any way they can, 2020 is already a vintage year for the world's most lucrative licence, which celebrates its quarter-century this year.

Inspired by star YouTubers like American Logan Paul, everyone is selling their old cards in the hope of hitting the jackpot.

Between 2019 and 2020, according to Les Echos in February, the volume of Pokémon cards traded on eBay increased by 574%. And contrary to what capitalism teaches us about the relationship between supply and demand, this increase in volume has gone hand in hand with a stratospheric rise in prices.

In January, a lot of 103 cards dating from 1999 was valued at 750,000 dollars; the following month, a Firecracker went for 418,000 euros on eBay. A final folly? At the moment, eBay is offering an assortment of first edition cards for the modest sum of... 6 million dollars (4.98 million euros).

The craze surrounding the Pokémon cards market, the umpteenth collectibles market to be contaminated by the bitcoinisation of the world, is not entirely new.

But how do you assess their value? For sellers, there are two solutions: they can rely on the "argus" of cards on eBay and assess the value of each card using its serial number and the index of the PWCC auction house, which acts as a reference, or they can have their card assessed by a rating agency.

These companies provide a 'grading' of each card, from 1 to 10, according to a series of precise aesthetic criteria, which accurately assesses its state of wear and authenticates it.

Centring, colours, condition of corners, scratches, stains... the specifications are meticulous. A 1 card is "very poor while a 10+ card is "Collector" - the Grail of the collector. The same card, whether graded 1 or 10, can have its value multiplied by 10.

Tsunami of Pikachus

In the United States, grading is managed by Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA), Certified Guaranty Company (CGC) and Beckett Grading Services (BGS).

In France, Professional Cards Authenticator (PCA) has been doing this since 2016. Two years later, these certified cards were sold for the first time at Drouot. But demand for gradation is growing so fast that even the American behemoths can no longer keep up, Vice reported on 30 April.

Despite a great deal of overtime, the recruitment of dozens of employees and even investment in artificial intelligence solutions for the automatic appraisal of low-value cards, waiting times are getting inexorably longer: it now takes several months, and sometimes almost a year, to have the rarest cards appraised.

The monstrous profits of these companies aren't enough: they simply can't keep up with demand. And without these essential cogs in the wheel, the whole Pokémon card economy is on the rocks.

The sellers, reduced to sending their cards by post with no idea of when they'll get them back, become impatient, annoyed and demand accountability. Twenty-five years on, everyone wants to catch Pokémon - but children have grown up, and so have their priorities.

Korii

Thibault Prévost

Chloé Zhao's victory censored by China

While the historic victory of Chloé Zhao, who won the Oscar for Best Director for her film Nomadland, was reported in all the media in America, in China, her country of origin, there was no trace of her success. Experts attribute this reaction to China's desire to "erase" the filmmaker, who dared to criticise the Beijing regime eight years ago.

On Sunday evening, Chloé Zhao became the first woman of colour to be named best director for her feature film Nomadlandwhich itself won the Oscar for Best Film. A double victory celebrated here as in the United States in the name of diversity, which has been called for for years on both the small and the big screen. But in China, his country of origin, his victory was greeted with a repressive silence.

On Chinese social networks, articles and messages about the ceremony and M^meZhao were quickly silenced. A keyword entitled "Chloé Zhao wins the Best Achievement Award" was censored from digital platforms. When users typed in the keyword, they were met with an error message stating that "in accordance with the laws, regulations and policies in force, the page cannot be found". The two state media, CCTV and Xinhua, also remained silent about his victory.

Not by chance

For researcher Gabrielle Gendron, of the Raoul-Dandurand Chair's Observatory of Multidimensional Conflicts, it is no coincidence that this event is taking place just a few months before the 100th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.^e anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party, on 1^erJuly.

"In the run-up to the centenary, China has set in motion a series of political defences to strengthen the loyalty and unity [of its citizens] around the Communist Party", explains Mr. Kouchner.^meGendron. For example, the Chinese authorities have ordered cinemas to show at least two propaganda films a week by the end of the year. They have also encouraged the public to denounce "malicious defamation, attacks and distortions" against China.

On the one hand, Beijing is much quicker with its repression and censorship, and on the other, Chloé Zhao represents treachery in China's eyes.

Researcher Gabrielle Gendron

She is referring to the controversy caused by the director last March. Remarks she made to the American magazine Filmmaker in 2013, describing China as a country "where there are lies everywhere", resurfaced in the midst of the promotional campaign for his film.

"I suddenly went to England and relearned my history. Studying political science at a liberal university was a way for me to understand what was real," she told Filmmaker.

The initial release date of Nomadland in China was 23 April, but the film was never released in cinemas.

"It could have been China's child prodigy. It only took one criticism for it to become a political tool to rally the Chinese people under the Communist government", notes M^meGendron.

Deleted from social networks

Beijing's reaction comes as no surprise to Guy Saint-Jacques, Canada's former ambassador to China. It is part of a decade of authoritarian repression, marked by Xi Jinping's rise to power. "Before 2013, citizens could still express personal opinions. Today, the government would make their lives unbearable", says the diplomat.

And that's what he believes happened to Chloé Zhao. Not only has she become a persona non grata in the eyes of the Chinese government, but the latter has completely erased it from social networks.

A post announcing the director's victory published by the film magazine Watch Movieswhich has over 14 million followers on the Weibo social network, was censored a few hours after it was published on Monday morning. Doubanan application popular with film fans, has banned searches for Nomadland, stating that "the search results could not be displayed in accordance with the laws and regulations in force".

The Chinese regime is extremely authoritarian, but it is also very effective. It can literally wipe out a person's existence.

Guy Saint-Jacques, former Canadian ambassador to China

On social networks, users were creative in congratulating the filmmaker. Some used the initials "zt" (Zhao Ting, her full name in Chinese) to evade the censors.

Tense Sino-American relations

During her acceptance speech on the stage set up at Los Angeles' Union Station, Chloé Zhao quoted a line from a poem she had memorised with her father when she was a child, which translates as: "People, at birth, are good."

For London-based journalist and China specialist Amy Hawkins, M^meZhao testifies that a dialogue between the United States and China is still possible. "The Chinese government and the recent Trump administration have pushed China and the West into increasingly polarised political spheres. Chloé Zhao's success in the West and her adoption by Hollywood undermine the Chinese government's claim that America is fundamentally hostile to the Chinese people," she says.

In this regard, the Global Timesa conservative Chinese newspaper, broke the media silence on Monday by urging Mr. M^meZhao to play a "mediating role" between China and the US and "avoid being a point of friction". "We hope that she can become increasingly mature", wrote the newspaper in an editorial that is no longer accessible.

LÉA CARRIER
THE PRESS

UEFA allows heavy sanctions against 12 Super League clubs

Although the Super League project has fallen by the wayside with the withdrawal of ten clubs, the European governing body is brandishing the threat of possible sanctions. The twelve teams behind the project could be heavily penalised.

The Super League was a short-lived project. Officialised on Sunday night, the future competition has met with a huge outcry in the football microcosm in recent hours. In the face of this collective outcry, ten clubs have already resigned in the last few hours.

Officially, only Real Madrid and Barcelona have not yet withdrawn from the project. A victory for football and UEFA, even if the latter will clearly have to review its plans in the coming days, particularly with regard to the Champions League. Exasperated by the turn of events, the European body does not intend to stop there. The collateral damage remains considerable despite the backtracking of ten of the twelve clubs involved in the project.

UEFA ready to strike hard

Interviewed by the FotbollskanalenKarl-Erik Nilsson, one of UEFA's vice-presidents, has taken up the cause. The main protagonist is adamant that the aborted Super League project has not been digested internally, and the twelve clubs concerned can expect reprisals. "The project has already had an impact, in a way, because they have to live with their shame. says this UEFA Executive Committee member.

While the notoriety of the twelve clubs has already taken a huge hit, those concerned can also expect sanctions in sporting terms, reveals the Scandinavian leader. "We will have to discuss any additional consequences. But there will be consequences in any case, on issues of trust in particular, and on their credibility in the future." UEFA will leave no stone unturned when it comes to the twelve dissidents. European football remains as turbulent as ever...

By footmercato.net Cedric Rablat

"No hands!" Elon Musk posts a video of a monkey playing a video game via a brain implant

TECHNOLOGY "Soon our monkeys will be on Twitch and Discord haha", tweeted the billionaire entrepreneur

The video has already been viewed more than 300,000 times. On Friday, the American billionaire Elon Musk posted a video on his Twitter account of a monkey playing the video game Pong with no controller other than the power of its brain, thanks to a connected chip implanted in its skull by the start-up Neuralink.

"A monkey plays a video game telepathically thanks to a chip in its brain", tweeted the futuristic entrepreneur, boss of Neuralink and founder of Tesla and SpaceX. "Soon our monkeys will be on Twitch and Discord haha", he added.

In the video, Pager the macaque can be seen using his eyes to control the movements of a racket to prevent the ball from falling into the void, as you might do with a joystick, a touch screen or the arrows on a keyboard.

"Helping people who are paralysed or suffer from neurological diseases".

The aim of the operation is to unveil Neuralink's potential to the general public. "The first Neuralink products will enable a paralysed person to use their smartphone by thought faster than someone using their fingers," said Elon Musk. He hopes that Neuralink's chips will initially be used to help people who are paralysed or suffering from neurological diseases. But the long-term goal is to make the implants so safe, reliable and simple that they would be elective (comfort) surgery.

Last August, the start-up presented pigs to which she had implanted the prototype wireless chip23 mm in diameter and 8 mm thick (like a small coin).

Other brain-machine interfaces are currently being developed. Facebook is funding a project to translate brain activity into words, using algorithms, to enable people rendered mute by neurodegenerative diseases to speak again.

DMX is dead, the American rapper was 50 years old

The DMX rapper was hospitalised a few days ago after suffering a heart attack.

CULTURE - The American rapper DMX died on Friday 9 April in a hospital in the New York suburbs, where he had been in a critical condition for a week. He was 50 years old.

DMX, whose real name is Earl Simmons, one of the great hip-hop figures of the late 90s and early 2000s, was admitted to hospital last Friday after suffering a heart attack at White Plains Hospital, north of New York. When questioned, his lawyer Murray Richman told theAFP that he died at around 11am on Friday, confirming US media reports.

"Earl was a fighter who fought to the end", said his family. in a press release which was widely echoed on social networks just after the announcement of his death. "He loved his family with all his heart, and we cherish the moments spent with him (...) "His music inspired countless fans around the world."

"DMX was a brilliant artist and an inspiration to millions of people around the world," said Def Jam Recordings, the label with which he released several of his best-known albums, in a separate statement.

"His message of victory through struggle, his search for the light to emerge from the darkness, his quest for truth and grace brought us closer to our own humanity. He was nothing less than a giant (...) His legend will live forever".

His family will shortly be announcing the organisation of his funeral. On Monday 5 April, several hundred of her fans gathered outside the hospital to pray for her recovery.

Commercial and critical success

Author of eight albums, the most recent in 2015, DMX is one of the darkest figures in hip-hop, exposing his inner demons in anthems that have earned him both commercial and critical success.

Known to have had drug problems, he had notably undergone rehab in 2019.

Throughout his career, he has often come into conflict with the law, being charged with possession of narcotics, cruelty to animals, dangerous driving, non-payment of child support and impersonating a federal agent.

His first big single, "Get At Me Dog", with Def Jam, was released in 1998, taken from his first studio album, "It's Dark and Hell Is Hot."

The album reached number one in the Billboard charts, with a second hit, "Ruff Ryders' Anthem", marking the start of a commercial success that would last several years.

By AFP huffingtonpost.fr

Space Jam 2 trailer: LeBron James, Bugs Bunny and the Toons play basketball

The first trailer for "Space Jam - New Era" is online. On the programme: LeBron James, basketball, CGI Toons, Game of Thrones dragons and a virtual world full of pop references.

Same sport, new era. For its return to the big screen, 24 years after the first film starring Michael Jordan, the Space Jam universe is going 2.0 by plunging the "King" LeBron James into a virtual world where he must team up with Bugs Bunny and the Looney Tunes in a basketball match against the Goon Squad, to save his son kidnapped by Don Cheadle, king of the "World Server".

Somewhere between a basketball film, Ready Player One and Ralph 2.0, Space Jam - New Era draws on a host of pop references, from Game of Thrones and The Flintstones to The Iron Giant and Yogi Bear. As for the Toons, they are moving on from traditional 2D animation to computer-generated images. The show will kick off on 14 July 2021.

by Yoann Sardet

The flight of SpaceX's Starship SN11 has ended badly again

SpaceX has failed to land its Starship SN11 prototype correctly. This is the fourth unsuccessful attempt by the American company.

Initially scheduled for 26 March, then 29 March, SpaceX finally organised another test of a prototype Starship spacecraft on 30 March. But while the flight could have turned the page on the previous tests, which all ended in one way or another with an explosion, either directly on landing or a few minutes later, things did not go according to plan.

The circumstances surrounding the loss of the SN11 prototype are still not very clear. It has to be said that the weather conditions were frankly poor, preventing a clear view of the launcher - fog had set in at Boca Chica, Texas, on the very day of the test launch. To make matters worse, the live broadcast provided by SpaceX was just as poor, with jerks and interruptions.

A POSSIBLE PROBLEM WITH ONE OF THE ENGINES

It was clearly during the second half of the flight that the SN11 prototype encountered an unforeseen event: the rocket was able to take off normally from its launch pad, reach the desired altitude, shut down each of the three Raptor engines one after the other, and flip onto its side to return to Earth. We were able to see this in the few moments when the video managed to display an image.

However, as Starship SN11 continued its descent, with the four ailerons on the sides adjusting the rocket's aerodynamics, it was clearly at the moment when the rocket was due to recover to the vertical position that there was a problem. The video doesn't show anything, but at an altitude of one kilometre, the engines started up again. It was then that an unusual noise could be heard.

Did the rocket disintegrate in flight or did it explode when it hit the ground? According to Elon Musk, it was the second scenario: " At least the crater's in the right place! "he wrote on Twitter. An initial lead shared by the entrepreneur suggests that it was the No. 2 engine that was experiencing problems, and that this happened as soon as the rocket ascended - something that was difficult to ascertain due to the lack of a suitable live feed.

" It seems that engine 2 had problems during ascent and did not reach the chamber operating pressure level during combustion on landing, but in theory this was not necessary. "continued the SpaceX founder. " Something important happened shortly after the start of the landing burn "he added, referring to the debris scattered around the site.

In the sequence below, a huge explosion can be heard more clearly at the test site, followed by a shower of debris falling from the sky. Given the direction of the objects, the hypothesis of a remote explosion, while the rocket was still in the air, has been put forward. In fact, the shrapnel does not appear to have come from the launch pad - i.e. from the opposite direction, in the video embedded in the tweet.

The good news, obviously, is that SpaceX seems to have mastered most of the manoeuvres expected of the Starship, at least those performed as part of its tests (jumps of no more than 10 or 20 kilometres in altitude, to test the final stages of the return to Earth, with a limited number of Raptor engines). This was even after engine 2 had encountered a glitch.

However, the company still has problems with the final phase of its round trips, when the rocket has to decelerate hard enough not to land heavily on the launch pad. This is the most perilous stage, as it requires the rocket to be quickly tilted back into the vertical position while aiming for the landing zone. But at least SpaceX has data from four identical tests.

text numerama.com by Julien Lausson

Is there an alternative to the Suez Canal via Siberia?

The Suez Canal has been out of service since 24 March 2021. This could last for several more days, the time it takes to get Ever Given back up and running. But ships could also pass through Siberia. This northern sea route represents a credible alternative for linking Asia to Europe.

Since Wednesday 24 March, the Suez Canal has been blocked by a container ship (theEver Given) 400 metres long that got in the way, blocking traffic in both directions. Egypt is doing its utmost to unblock this crucial trade route between Europe and Asia. But clearing such a behemoth could take several days, or even weeks...

6,500 km diversions

Several hundred ships are currently stranded. Some have turned back and are hoping to reach Europe by rounding Africa via the Cape of Good Hope. This diversions represents some 6,500 kilometres and takes between five and nine days at sea, depending on the speed of the ship.

This will lead to delays in the supply chain and prices could soar in certain areas.

One route could be exploited in the future. This is the Northern Sea Route (NSR), which links the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean along the northern coast of Russia. It is the shortest route from Europe to Asia, via the Bering Strait, without using the Suez Canal. Most of the journey takes place in the Arctic seas. The Cossack navigator Simon Dejnev crossed the Bering Strait for the first time in 1648. The only problem is that it is only navigable in summer.

Russian interest

But global warming is changing all that. The melting of the pack ice is opening up new prospects for the Russians. Until now, pack ice has always been the main obstacle to development in the region.

Around twenty ships use this passage every year between July and December. The Russians would like to open this route to trade all year round by 2035.

In four years' time, the Russian Ministry of Transport hopes to increase the number of tonnes carried on the RMN to 80 million, compared with 10.05 million today. The Northern Route (Sevmorput in Russian) cuts the journey to Asia by a fortnight. It is also strategically important for avoiding the Strait of Gibraltar in the south and reaching the Pacific in less than three weeks.

Today, only the Russian icebreakers pass through in winter. "Russia currently has twice as many icebreakers as all the other countries in the world combined.As researcher Mikaa Mered pointed out in an article published on Slate.fr. The warmer these waters get, the more other countries will be able to interfere in the region.

Russia is believed to have around forty of these ships, ten of which are nuclear-powered. These metal monsters are capable of ripping open the pack ice over 30 metres in length and creating a passage for other ships, such as tankers or LNG carriers. Maritime routes to Rotterdam would then be considerably reduced.

There are constraints

However, this northern sea route does have a few drawbacks. The first is that the Russian authorities require all ships to declare their passage forty-five days in advance. Russia considers the Northern Sea Route to be part of its territorial waters, as it is less than 200 miles (370 kilometres) from its coastline.

The second is the ecological cost of opening up traffic in this region. Arctic shipping could accelerate the warming of Siberia. With unexpected consequences, such as the melting of permafrost, the frozen ground on which many cities were built during the Soviet era.

"Around 20 % of infrastructure and 50 % of homes in these areas will be at risk by 2050.warns geographer Dmitriy Streleskiy in an American publication.

Russia will have to choose between trade and environmental protection.

ouest-france.fr/Par Olivier DUPLESSIX

Against all the odds, "Zack Snyder's Justice League" is a success.

Released in 2017, the version of "Justice League" envisaged by Zack Snyder, director of "Man of Steel" and "Batman vs Superman", was a mere shadow of a film. The reunion of Batman, Aquaman, Flash, Cyborg, Wonder Woman and Superman to fight against an interplanetary threat had become an execrable mush at the end of a chaotic production.

Everything that was supposed to go wrong did. Even before his departure from the set following a family tragedy, Zack Snyder had had his wings clipped by a studio, Warner Bros., obsessed with the success of Disney/Marvel films and disorientated by the relative failure of its rival productions. The arrival of Josh Whedon, as script doctor before Snyder's departure and then charged with picking up the pieces afterwards, only made matters worse. In the end, "Justice League" was nothing more than a succession of soporific action scenes linked by long tunnels of insipid dialogue culminating in a grotesque finale.

The weight of fans

The industrial disaster was such that we would never have believed that Snyder, supported by his fans and the majority of the cast, could have fixed anything. But that's exactly what happened. Launched last Thursday on HBO Max, Warner Studios' Netflix, 'Zack Snyder's Justice League', despite being made up of existing scenes and new ones shot after the fact, punches Whedon's replastering in every department. The magic of the editing, the rediscovered rhythm and numerous reintroduced elements... whereas the two-hour version knocked us out, the four-hour version managed to keep us riveted without fail. That's the extent of the miracle.

So as not to reveal anything that might detract from your enjoyment (provided you don't develop an allergy to this type of digital blockbuster), let's just mention the introduction of a number of purely visual sequences, with no dialogue whatsoever, which enhance a narrative that badly needed it. There were also a number of elements missing to give the newcomers, Cyborg and Flash in particular, something to hold on to, and this has now been done. There are also significant changes to the nature of the main antagonists and Superman. As for Batman's 'premonitory' dreams, glimpsed in 'Batman vs Superman', here they are reinstated in the most beautiful of ways.

Snyder's touch rediscovered

All this means that Zack Snyder's highly recognisable style can flourish once his coherence has been restored. He certainly has his fans and detractors, but we're grateful to him for having been able to integrate the slow-motion sequences that are his trademark with greater relevance. We can also easily forgive him for the coquettishness of presenting his montage in a radical Imax format, close to the 4:3 of yesteryear, which leaves black bars appearing to the left and right of our 16:9 screens. Surprised at first, but without noticing any imbalance in the composition, we quickly conceded that this choice in no way detracted from the show.

It remains to be seen whether this reset of the clock, initially viewed with reluctance by Warner, will put the DC Extended Universe back on the right track. Zack Snyder's cut certainly introduces some intriguing new hooks for future trains, but there's no telling whether the convoy will reform or remain scattered around a battered marshalling yard.

Announced for release on 20 May on Hollystar.ch - which does not rule out other platforms active in Switzerland announcing themselves - the film is not being shown in cinemas. There is also the prospect of a physical release (Blu-ray and 4K Blu-ray) on 31 December, and for those in a hurry, the temptation of downloading or using 'grey' streaming platforms.

Le Matin.ch by Jean-Charles Canet