Lhe withdrawal of the Yadan bill on April 16, which sought to criminalize comments calling for the destruction of a state, briefly shed light on older legislation: that of the Pleven law. If the renunciation of the vote of parliamentarians was requested and obtained, it was by virtue of the obstacles to freedom of expression contained in this new text making it almost impossible to criticize the deadly actions of the State of Israel. But the aspect that made me most uncomfortable in this legislative project is the forgetting, which now seems confirmed, of this other law dating from 1972 and which bears the name of the Minister of Justice René Pleven (1901-1993). A law which offers a framework that is as universal as it is clear and offensive on questions of incitement to hatred.

Conceived in the 1970s, when post-colonial immigration and the deadly phobias that accompanied it were developing, the Pleven law clarified a health rule against an autoimmune danger contained in freedom of expression: the possibility of it ravaging the speech of certain categories of the population, to the point of affecting them in their flesh. The text of this law has the limpid beauty of legal texts whose technicality almost blends into the language of ordinary morality: it prohibits incitement to hatred because of origin or belonging to a specific ethnic group, nation, race or religion which, thus defined, enters the field of criminal justice.

The invention of a new law aimed at protecting Jewish people from a certain type of hate speech highlights the extent to which this text has fallen into oblivion. As if it became necessary to create specific legislation for each rhetorical renewal of hatred, while the Pleven law is this open legal space which allows, in theory, protection against television channels which treat black mayors as monkeys, against newspapers which recycle rhetoric from old anti-Semitic clichés, against political candidates who call for the banishment of immigrant children by claiming that they are all murderers, or against calls to kill illegal aliens on social networks…

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“I remember my anger and my indignation. » Eva Joly keeps an intact memory of May 5, 1996, the day when gigantic flames ravaged the legendary headquarters of Crédit Lyonnais, at 19, boulevard desItaliens, in the heart of the 9th arrondissement of Paris. As an investigating judge at the financial center of the Paris courthouse, she led investigations into the public bank at the time: from the so-called “Tapie-Adidas” affair to questionable real estate transactions, including suspicions of embezzlement in subsidiaries, the establishment was at the heart of several cases. “In the months that followed, we were very worried about the possible destruction of evidence linked to our investigations,” recalled the former judge by telephone on March 23.

The fire is one of the most resounding in the post-war history of the capital, larger in size than that which occurred at Notre-Dame Cathedral in 2019. Thirty years later, the disaster still conceals some mysteries: how can we explain that more than two thirds of the surface of the largest civil building in Paris were destroyed? Was its origin purely accidental, as the first experts who looked into the disaster concluded? The fantasies continued to circulate. Whatever the case, it remains the symbol of the dark years of Crédit Lyonnais, since, literally and figuratively, the establishment went up in flames.

Pascal Lamy, 79 years old today, who will become European Commissioner three years after the fire, was, on this Sunday morning in May 1996, one of the first on site. From Pigalle, the neighborhood where he lives, he notices black smoke in the distance, without paying attention to it at first. But the marathon runner, on his way to the Bois de Boulogne, understands what is happening while listening to his car radio: Crédit Lyonnais is burning. He has been the general director since 1994, and no one had thought to warn him, he recounts three decades later. He immediately turns around and arrives “in his tracksuit” in front of the headquarters, where the firefighters are already busy. “There was a curse,” he whispers, in reference to the financial misadventures of the Lyonnais at the same time.

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“It’s a French team with five players in the thirty best in the world, it’s been a very long time since that happened,” says the former sportsman, Saturday on franceinfo, as the Blues enter the competition in London.

A victory “is not unattainable”, said Saturday May 2 on franceinfo, Jean-Philippe Gatien, world table tennis champion in 1993, as the French team entered the competition in London.

According to the Olympic vice-champion at the 1992 Olympic Games and 13-time French table tennis champion, “there are some great things to look for”. As a reminder, the Blues are the reigning European team champions and vice-world champions in 2024. “It’s a French team with five players in the thirty best in the world, it’s been a very long time since that happened,” underlines Jean-Philippe Gatien. The Blues can also count on the Lebrun brothers, Félix and Alexis, who are “in good shape”.

“Obviously the Chinese ogre is still the favorite, however we have seen in recent months that they have lost feathers in different battles,” analyzes Jean-Philippe Gatien. He recalls that the Chinese are losing ground: “The world number one seems to be above the rest but otherwise, at one time, there were four or five in the top ten in the world, today there are only two and the French are inexorably getting closer. »

The World Table Tennis Championships take place in London, England from April 28 to May 10.

Now in the hands of the national center dedicated to the treatment of serial or unsolved crimes, known as the “cold cases” center, of the Nanterre public prosecutor’s office, one of the most insoluble criminal enigmas of the last twenty years in the Lyon region is the subject of new investigations, after recent twists and turns.

In the fall of 2025, two young women, tenants of a residence located near Voiron (Isère), were the recipients of anonymous missives alluding to the murder of Christiane Commeau, 54, who suddenly disappeared from her home in Chassieu (Métropole de Lyon), on October 22, 2004. Her body was discovered on February 18, 2005, buried in a wood a few kilometers away, in Niévroz (Ain). According to forensic doctors, the fifty-year-old with a smooth and modest existence was killed by two 22LR caliber bullets, fired into the back of the head. Twenty years after this crime with incomprehensible motives, the victim’s relatives are hoping for a serious lead, with these curious messages, left by an unknown person in the mailboxes of young women, 70 kilometers from the scene of the tragedy.

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American diplomacy notably asked Congress to approve the sale of Patriot air defense systems to Qatar for an amount of more than $4 billion.

Washington has approved a sale of the Patriot air defense system to Qatar, targeted by Iranian strikes during the conflict that began at the end of February, for an amount of more than $4 billion, the State Department announced on Friday, May 1. The United States also approved arms sales to Israel and its allies in the Middle East, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, detailed American diplomacy by asking Congress for approval of these sales, for a total amount of more than 8.6 billion dollars.

These authorizations given by Secretary of State Marco Rubio support “the foreign policy and national security objectives” of the United States, said the ministry, while the countries concerned were all the subject of strikes by Iran during the conflict triggered by Israel and the United States on February 28.

“An emergency”

In detail, the sale of Patriot systems to Qatar responds to “an emergency” intended to “improve the security of a friendly country” facing “current and future threats”. Kuwait, for its part, will receive integrated command systems worth $2.5 billion.

Israel, the Emirates and again Qatar will be able to purchase a high-precision guided weapons system (Advance Precision Kill Weapon System, APKWS), worth nearly a billion dollars respectively for Israel and Qatar, and 147 million for the Emirates.

This text corresponds to part of the transcription of the report above. Click on the video to watch it in full.

For May 1, the RN met its supporters yesterday in Mâcon (Saône-et-Loire). Your way to celebrate May 1st. Is this also your way of symbolically stealing May 1st from the left?

Oh dear, I don’t feel like we’re stealing anything from anyone. At the National Rally, there is a tradition, we celebrate every May 1st the day of those who work, of those who have worked, but also the Day of the Nation. These are the values ​​of the National Gathering that we celebrated yesterday (Friday May 1) in front of more than 6,000 people, with a festive, friendly atmosphere and, above all, deep determination. The sense of responsibility and duty too. We are one year away from the presidential election. We ask the patriots of France to mobilize, to register on the electoral lists, to take their card at the National Rally, because we will need all the votes to straighten out France, while 75% of French people believe that Emmanuel Macron is a bad President of the Republic.

There was the air of presidential speeches, of presidential meetings. What is the economic line of the National Rally? It is difficult to know whether it is social-statist or national-liberal. We hear a bit of two bells if we have Marine Le Pen in the left ear and Jordan Bardella in the right ear.

I have been hearing this for several weeks on all television sets, but our economic program is very clear. Moreover, it is available on our website. We are for freedom of enterprise, support for business leaders, support for entrepreneurs in our country. We want a State that protects, that creates the conditions for favorable economic development, which is not currently the case. In my area, 17 businesses a day closed last year. 90% of French people believe that Emmanuel Macron’s economic record is a failure, with this disastrous economic policy, so on the one hand to stop with the Macronists who have failed on everything and, above all, to prevent the new popular front with Jean-Luc Mélenchon from winning the presidential election next year because otherwise it would be a disaster for our entrepreneurs.

You defend a lot and always have, in fact, the working classes, people who have purchasing power problems. And, on the other hand, you have a speech that is quite pro-employer. However, this is exactly what these people are criticizing. Are you asking Medef, for example, to increase salaries?

In any case, our proposal on salaries is very clear. We want to offer business leaders a win-win deal, that is to say allowing them to increase salaries by 10%, in return for exemption from employer contributions. We do not oppose the working classes, the workers, the employees, the employees and the business leaders, because the two must work together. That’s national unity. There cannot be thriving companies if there are no motivated employees. This is why the State must have a role of regulator, guide, support to promote the economic development of our companies which, ultimately, will serve the employees that we always defend. Moreover, we can see it clearly in the voting intentions: more and more employees are deciding to trust us because they have seen that the left had betrayed them, that Emmanuel Macron never took care of them and that we have measures which are favorable to increasing their purchasing power.

Jordan Bardella was interviewed by Medef and there was a dinner between Marine Le Pen and bosses of the CAC 40 including, in particular, the bosses of TotalEnergies and LVMH. Do you have the feeling that the employers are now on your side for 2027?

No, not at all and it’s not a goal either. I consider that, when you are the leading party in France in terms of number of members, number of voters, number of deputies in the National Assembly, it is normal that business leaders want to meet you and that we want to meet them. We are given potentially qualified for the second round of the presidential election, potentially declared victorious in the presidential election, and it is normal for the leading party in France to discuss with the employers’ organizations. What is not normal is that unions like the CGT refuse to discuss with us, but that is not very serious. Employees and workers know that we defend them. We are moving forward in a state of mind of appeasement, of determination, because we want to bring about this national reconciliation and we believe that we are the only ones who can do it.

There is this strong opposition from the unions who marched in the streets on May 1st. Does this mean that you will govern without the opinion of the social partners?

No, not at all, because we are very respectful of institutions. But I would still like to point out the hypocrisy of all the unions which claim to defend purchasing power. I would like to remind you that they all called to vote for Emmanuel Macron, whether in 2017, in 2022, and for all the candidates supported by Emmanuel Macron in the 2024 legislative elections. So the unions are discredited. I hope that they will come to their senses and that they will be very respectful of democracy if, however, we win the presidential election next year. Thanks to our 140 deputies, with our allies in the UDR, we are on the ground. In Gironde, in my department, I am always in close collaboration, in exchange with the employees who demonstrate their trust in us and for that we send them our sincere thanks.

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