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MotoGP: second consecutive title for Bagnaia

Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) celebrated a second consecutive MotoGP title. The Italian won the GP of Valencia during which his last rival, Spaniard Jorge Martin (Ducati-Pramac), crashed out.

Bagnaia completed a hat-trick of Ducati victories, ahead of his compatriot Fabio di Giannantonio (Ducati-Gresini) and Frenchman Johann Zarco (Ducati-Pramac). The race was marred by a number of crashes, including one involving Martin, who tangled with Marc Marquez (Honda) after a few laps and ruined his last slim hopes of a world title.

Starting from 6th position, Martin got off to a very good start and was back on the wheel of Bagnaia, who had started from pole position, from the very first corner. The Spaniard then put a lot of pressure on the rider from Turin, but he was soon at fault: at the start of the 3rd lap, at the end of the first straight, Martin was trapped by Bagnaia's slipstream, touched him slightly and was unable to brake.

Martin falls in the 6th round

He then went wide and lost more than 2 seconds, dropping back to 8th place. Three laps later, when he was battling with his compatriot Marc Marquez for 6th place, the two competitors touched and the six-time world champion, who was contesting his last race with Honda, crashed heavily while Martin went straight into the gravel before crashing back.

Bagnaia, warned that he would be crowned champion, initially let the KTMs go ahead. But both Jack Miller and Brad Binder made mistakes and he found himself back in front, resisting to the end the comeback of his pursuers.

Text by RTS.ch ats/pza

Texas teacher sacked after reading Anne Frank's "Diary" to pupils

The teacher was dismissed after reading an extract adapted as a graphic novel.

UNITED STATES - At school, you may have read the Journal Anne Frank in class, the diary of a young Jewish girl exiled to the Netherlands during the Nazi regime. But in early September, a teacher in Texas was fired for reading extracts from the novel to his pupils in the fourth grade. According to the school district concerned, this version of Journal contains pornographic material.

The controversial extract is taken from a graphic novel adapted from the original work, which includes passages cut from other editions. And one of these passages concerns, among other things, a description of the clitoris written by Anne Frank. The teenager also mentions her attraction to another girl.

After parents complained about these passages being read " inappropriate "The teacher was dismissed, reports the television channel KFDM. This is not the first time that this adaptation has been contested: last year in Texas, the book was withdrawn from certain libraries.

However, the Anne Frank Fund, which manages the copyright for the various editions of the newspaper, had already defended the content of this graphic novel, explaining that a book written by a 12-year-old girl was perfectly appropriate for her peers.

A worrying wave of censorship

But the controversy doesn't stop there: the graphic novel has also been banned in several districts of Florida. This is just one of many examples in the United States, where school libraries have been facing a growing wave of censorship since 2021. A growing number of restrictive laws have been passed by Republican elected representatives, and unsurprisingly it is books about marginalised communities and dealing with subjects such as discrimination, gender and sexuality that are being banned.

Examples abound, particularly in conservative states: in one district in Florida, a book about two male penguins raising a baby penguin together was banned from nursery and primary schools. In South Carolina, it was Ta-Nehisi Coates' memoir on systemic racism, Black anger, which had been singled out by students who had managed to censor the book at their school.

The controversy is growing, to the point that on Tuesday 19 September, 175 artists and activists, including Ariana Grande, Roxane Gay and Mark Ruffalo, signed an open letter condemning this wave of censorship. " Soon these regressive ideologues will turn their attention to other forms of art and entertainment, persisting in their attacks that scapegoat marginalised communities, particularly racialised people and those from the LGBTQ+ community, "The text also calls for the defence of artistic freedom.

Text by huffingtonpost.fr /Émilie Rappeneau

Jean Dujardin to be Zorro for France Télévisions

The French actor will play the horseman who emerges from the night.

Jean Dujardin will don the mask of Zorro in a series for France Télévisions. Benjamin Charbit ("Les Sauvages") will be writing the script, reports "Satellifacts".

The hero - and his alter ego Don Diego Vega, a wealthy 24-year-old nobleman from the village of Reina in Los Angeles - was created by novelist Johnston McCulley in 1919. It has inspired numerous TV series, films and even cartoons. Douglas Fairbanks, Antonio Banderas and Alain Delon have all worn the cape, flat hat and wolf in films. Guy Williams (Zorro and Don Diego "de la" Vega, in the 1957 cult series).

Disney+ and Amazon in the race

Jean Dujardin has already had the opportunity to play him on television. It was in an episode of the series "Platane" in 2013.

"Zorro" has been all the rage for several months now. A new version described as respectful of the codes but contemporary is being prepared for Amazon Prime, with Spaniard Miguel Bernardeau ("Elite") as Don Diego de la Vega and Mexican actress Renata Notni as Lolita Marquez. Disney+ has the same ambition, preparing a remake with Wilmer Valderrama ("That '70s Show", "NCIS") in the lead role. Éric Judor is reportedly still working on a series for Canal+, a project he first mooted almost ten years ago.

Text by lematin.ch L.F.

Russia: Vladimir Putin accepts Kim Jong-un's invitation to visit North Korea

ALLIANCE Washington said on Wednesday it was "concerned" by the rapprochement between Moscow and Pyongyang

The romance between Moscow and Pyongyang continues. Russian President Vladimir Putin has agreed to visit North Korea at the invitation of its leader Kim Jong-un, who is currently visiting Russia to strengthen their military ties. For the time being, however, nothing has been officially announced about a possible agreement to deliver military equipment to Russia to support its offensive in Ukraine, as suggested by Washington.

Following a meeting on Wednesday, "Kim Jong-un courteously invited Putin to visit the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) at his convenience", the official North Korean news agency KCNA reported on Thursday, using North Korea's official name. That same day, the North Korean leader assured Vladimir Putin that Moscow would win a "great victory" over its enemies.

Prospects" for military cooperation

For his part, Putin toasted the "future strengthening of cooperation" with Pyongyang, speaking to the press about the "prospects" for military cooperation with North Korea despite the international sanctions.

Following the North Korean leader's arrival in Russia on Tuesday aboard his armoured train, Kim Jong-un and Vladimir Putin visited facilities at the Vostotchny cosmodrome in the Far East, which was completed in 2016 and will eventually replace the historic Baikonur space base. They then held official discussions lasting around two hours with their delegations and on a one-to-one basis. Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Industry Minister Denis Manturov took part in the discussions.

According to Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong-un will also attend a "demonstration" by the Russian navy in the Pacific in Vladivostok. The North Korean leader will also visit "civil and military" aeronautical equipment factories in the Far East, according to the Russian head of state.

Washington threatens new sanctions

The US has expressed "concern" that Russia is interested in buying North Korean munitions to support its invasion of Ukraine. "We are obviously concerned about any emerging defence relationship between North Korea and Russia," said National Security Council spokesman John Kirby.

In Vostotchny, Vladimir Putin raised the possibility of Russia helping Pyongyang to build satellites, after North Korea recently failed twice to put a military spy satellite into orbit. Matthew Miller, spokesman for the US State Department, expressed concern that any cooperation on satellites would be "in violation of several UN resolutions". The US "will not hesitate" to impose sanctions against Pyongyang and Moscow if necessary, he warned.

Text by 20 Minutes with AFP

SPAIN | LUIS RUBIALES AND THE FORCED KISS TO JENNIFER HERMOSO: "IT WAS A RECIPROCAL ACT".

Luis Rubiales may have decided to resign as President of the Spanish Football Federation, but he is still defending himself over the kiss he gave to player Jennifer Hermoso after La Roja won the FIFA Women's World Cup. For him, it was simply a "reciprocal act", he assured journalist Piers Morgan in an interview.

Luis Rubiales strikes back. In an interview granted to journalist Piers Morgan and broadcast on the British channel TalkTV on Tuesday, the now ex-president of the Spanish Football Association went back over the episode of the kiss to player Jennifer Hermoso after the women's 'Roja' were crowned world champions.

" It was a reciprocal act, she came to me, very happy" he said, referring to a gesture that has since led to his resignation and the fact that he has been summoned by an examining magistrate on Friday to appear as an accused to answer charges of sexual assault.

" She lifted me up, lifted me into the air (...) We were both moved. When we touched down, I had a brief exchange with her and we congratulated each other. I gave her a quick kiss. I asked her, "Can I give you a little kiss? Which is normal in our country (...) I remember that she gave me one or two pats on the side. She laughed and that was that." explained the former CEO during this interview on the Piers Morgan sans filtre programme.

MY INTENTIONS WERE NOBLE

" No (malicious) intent. And of course no sexual connotations or anything like that. Nothing other than a moment of happiness, a great joy at that moment." says Rubiales in this interview. " My intentions were noble, 100% not sexual, 100%, I repeat 100%," he claims.

Jenni Hermoso denied this, saying that she had " felt vulnerable and a victim (...) of an impulsive and sexist act, inappropriate and without any consent on (my) part" . Rubiales even argued before Piers Morgan that he would have acted the same way if it had been a man: " There's no doubt about it... When I was a player, there were times, when we were avoiding relegation or winning promotion in particular, when we kissed each other on the mouth..." .

Since a recent reform of the Spanish Penal Code, a non-consensual kiss can be considered a sexual assault, a criminal category that includes all types of sexual violence.

Trump pleads not guilty to attempted election manipulation

Former US President Donald Trump has pleaded not guilty, according to a court document filed on Thursday. He is charged with attempting to reverse the outcome of the 2020 presidential election in the state of Georgia.

This is the fourth criminal case against the tycoon, who is once again running for the White House and remains the favourite for the Republican primaries. His trial date in this case has not yet been set.

Summoned on 6 September for his public arraignment in Georgia, the ex-President indicated in the court document that he was waiving his right to appear before the judge and should therefore not travel to Atlanta again.

Mr Trump and 18 others, including his former lawyer Rudy Giuliani, were charged in mid-August with unlawful attempts to reverse the outcome of the 2020 election in this key state, won by current Democratic President Joe Biden.

The law on organised crime, used by the prosecutor in this case, provides for sentences of five to twenty years' imprisonment.

In this case, Donald Trump had to go to an Atlanta prison last week to be put on file. There, he was subjected to a mug shot, a first for a former US president, before quickly leaving.

Legal marathon

The septuagenarian is also accused in New York of making suspicious payments to a former X-rated actress, and by the federal justice system of lobbying during the 2020 presidential election, as well as negligent handling of confidential documents after he left the White House.

The former president has pleaded not guilty in all these cases. He systematically attributes his legal setbacks to the Biden administration, which he accuses of "electoral interference" to block his path to the White House. Joe Biden is also a candidate for the next presidential election.

"I have done nothing wrong" by calling into question the results of the 2020 presidential election, the tribune insisted.

In any case, the tempestuous Republican is gearing up for an extraordinary year in 2024, with an election campaign and several trials in March and May - a timetable that could still change. The presidential election will be held in November.

Paradoxically, each legal twist brings him millions of dollars in campaign donations from Trump supporters convinced that he is the victim of a political cabal.

Text by Keystone-ATS

Kylian Mbappé

Kylian Mbappé has reportedly given PSG bosses an ultimatum to decide between himself and Neymar, once again demanding the Brazilian's departure.

Twitter becomes "X", Elon Musk announces a change of name and logo for the social network

Gone is the little blue bird, 'X' replaces Twitter and the social network becomes accessible from the address 'x.com'.

MEDIA - "X". This is the incomplete message published by Elon Musk in the early hours of Monday 24 July to announce Twitter's new name and logo. The social network is thus living out its final hours in this form and is set to undergo a complete identity change: no more blue and no more bird. At 11am on Monday, the application's logo had already become an "X" on a black background.

Several months ago, the whimsical businessman and SpaceX boss announced that he wanted to turn Twitter into an "X", in homage to his favourite letter, as reported by the online media Numerama.

On Saturday evening, the project gathered pace when the billionaire tweeted: "we'll soon be saying goodbye to the Twitter brand and, gradually, to all the birds".before suggesting that the new logo could be a " X ".

The new logo projected onto the headquarters in San Francisco

On Sunday, playing with suspense, he pinned to his Twitter profile a video posted by a user of the platform showing the current Twitter logo, a blue bird, replaced by a flashing X. "If a good enough X logo is posted tonight, we'll put it online worldwide tomorrow".he added.

Linda Yaccarino, Twitter's new CEO since May, has confirmed this project. X will create "a global marketplace for ideas, goods, services and opportunities".she said on her account on Monday, adding: "Powered by AI, X will connect us all in ways we've only just begun to imagine".. She also posted an image of the new logo projected onto Twitter's headquarters in San Francisco.

After buying Twitter last year for 44 billion dollars, Elon Musk changed the name of the company to "X Corp in April 2023, and regularly mentions its nebulous plans to transform it into a multi-faceted application, with financial services, like WeChat in China.

Tweets become 'X's

In response to a question from an Internet user asking whether Twitter would be accessible from the x.com address, Elon Musk replied: "Of course. X.com was the name and website of the online bank founded by the businessman which later became the online payment service PayPal.

Asked by another user, Musk also said that tweets would be called Xs after the name change.

The name change comes at a time of difficulty for Twitter, where Elon Musk has laid off around half the staff and advertising revenues have halved, according to the billionaire. The social network faces a myriad of competing applications, including newcomer Threads, launched by Meta.

Text by Le HuffPost with AFP

Wimbledon. King Carlitos", "Sir Carlos": the Spanish press praise Alcaraz

A prophet in his own country and admired abroad, Carlos Alcaraz has been hailed by the entire European sports press following his triumph over Novak Djokovic in the Wimbledon final on Sunday 16 July.

Second title for Carlos Alcaraz. On Sunday, after a Dantesque match against the most successful Grand Slam player in history, Novak Djokovic, the 20-year-old Spaniard won the second Major of his career after the US Open in 2022. Many in the media have associated his coronation with that of Juan Carlos I, King of Spain between 1975 and 2014.

Second crown for Carlos Alcaraz. This Sunday, after a Dantesque match against the most successful Grand Slam champion in historyNovak Djokovic, the 20-year-old Spaniard, has won the second Major of his career after the US Open in 2022. Many in the media have associated his triumph with that of Juan Carlos I, King of Spain between 1975 and 2014.

King in his own country

In France, as in Spain, royal references flooded into the sports media. Asas L'Équipe referred to King Juan Carlos with "El Rey Carlitos" and "Le Roi Carlos" for the French newspaper.

Always in this comparison with the king, Marca played with the English anthem "God save the king" to give the Spanish title "Dios salve al nuevo rey" (God save the new king).

In the same style, Mundo Deportivo wanted to highlight Carlos Alcaraz's new title by adding the noble prefix "Sir".

In Italy too, the Corriere dello Sport is having fun with 'AlcaRe', 'Re' meaning king in Italian.

Generational change

Other media were more interested in highlighting the change of dynasty. El Pais headline "Alcaraz dethrones Djokovic", while El Mundo is heralding the start of a new sporting era. "Wimbledon inaugurates the Alcaraz era" at the end of "an unforgettable battle of generational change".

When you think of Alcaraz ushering in a new era in Spanish tennis, it is impossible not to think of Rafael Nadal. A lifelong supporter of Real Madrid, the ties that bind Nadal and the Casa Blanca are well known. On Sunday, Real took to Twitter to praise the performance of Alcaraz, who is also a fan of the Madrid club.

Text by Ouest-France / Marin BOBOT.

RIOTS AFTER NAHEL'S DEATH: FRANCE'S CATASTROPHIC IMAGE IN THE FOREIGN MEDIA

The foreign press is taking a very hard look at France, after a week of very high tensions.

France has been on the front pages of the foreign media for a week now. And the image of our country is catastrophic. Seen through the mirror of the foreign press, France is a country where nothing goes right any more. "The French model is broken", says the Sunday Telegraph which states that discrimination, racism and anti-Semitism are far more widespread in France than in the UK.

Another British newspaper, "La France a mal" (France is in pain), believes that "France has descended into chaos". Die Zeit in Germany. The Russian media, close to the Kremlin, spoke of "decadence and disorder". The Algerian press denounced France's racism and its stubborn refusal to acknowledge its violent colonial past. As for the images of the riots, they were broadcast around the world. They were on the front page as far away as China.

Foreign commentators denounce the failure of our integration model. All these articles have been compiled over the past week by "Courrier international". The New York Times sees the crisis as a specifically French problem, a crisis of identity and integration in France, illustrated not only by the riots but also by the ban on women footballers wearing the hijab. The English press is in the same vein.

The Observer explains that the French motto of "Liberté-Egalité-Fraternité" (Liberty-Equality-Fraternity) appears to be a delusion, even a lie, in the eyes of the inhabitants of the suburbs. Because France refuses to discuss racial issues. France does not recognise ethnic differences, since it is even forbidden to compile statistics on the issue. The French can't solve their problem of discrimination because they don't know how widespread it is.

Le Times in London says much the same thing, stating that the English model is superior to the French model. The English model can be summed up as 'laissez faire', in other words, encouraging the expression of diversity.

POLICING AT THE HEART OF THE INTERNATIONAL DEBATE

The issue of police management was raised, not to highlight the fact that some 800 police officers have been injured in the last week, but rather to denounce the scene that sparked off the riots, the shooting of the Nanterre police officer.

"When will the French police finally change? asks the German Süddeutsche Zeitung, which takes the view that in France the security forces primarily protect the state and not citizens.

And the newspaper believes that what happened in Nanterre is not exceptional. Last year, 13 people lost their lives during road checks. "It's a disgrace for France", concludes the German newspaper.

There is a general problem of police violence in France, also believes Die Zeit, who believes that the Nanterre affair is a blunder that could be the French George Floyd affair.

In the United States, a star presenter on CNN said he was stunned that a police union had referred to the rioters as "pests" or hordes of savages. "It would be impossible to use those words here," he said.

IS FRANCE CAPABLE OF ORGANISING THE OLYMPICS?

Le New York Times speaks of two France's, with on one side a France that favours order and on the other a camp that sees racism and the mistreatment of minorities. Two camps that seem irreconcilable.

All this paints a very negative picture of France. It's undoubtedly a harsh, even caricatured image, but the European newspapers are asking themselves one question: will France be able to organise the Olympic Games in a year's time with peace of mind? It's a cause for concern...

Text by Nicolas Poincaré (edited by J.A.) RMC BFMTV