Russian opponent Alexeï Navalny.

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Alexander Zemlianichenko / AP / SIPA

Did you take advantage of the warmth and the first rays of the sun during the weekend?

You did well !

We have prepared for you a little summary of the unmissable news of this weekend.

Towards weekends confined to the coast in the Alpes-Maritimes?

In Nice, this Sunday February 21, 2021 - F. Binacchi / ANP / 20 Minutes

The Minister of Health, traveling to Nice on Saturday, to ask for rapid measures to stem the outbreak of coronavirus contaminations in the department.

After consultation with elected officials, the Alpes-Maritimes prefecture announced on Sunday that it had sent proposals for measures, without specifying which ones, to the government.

He will announce his decision this Sunday evening or Monday, but one hypothesis is already holding the rope, that of localized confinement at the weekend, which would be a first in metropolitan France.

Jean Leonetti, the mayor of Antibes, is already talking about local confinement for "the next two weekends", according to Nice Matin.

The incidence rate is particularly high in the Nice metropolis, with more than 700 positive cases per 100,000 inhabitants, more than three times the national average (190), while around 10% of screening tests are positive (against 6% for the whole of France), in a context of the spread of the British variant, which is more contagious.

The extra info:

In Nice, poverty is gaining ground because of the coronavirus, as our correspondent explains

here.

Alexeï Navalny sentenced on appeal and threatened with detention in a labor camp

Moscow believes these European diplomats participated in pro-Navalny rallies - Babushkinsky District Court / TASS / SIPA

The main opponent of the Kremlin, Alexeï Navalny, targeted by multiple legal proceedings, was sentenced twice this Saturday, to two and a half years of imprisonment and a fine of 850,000 rubles (about 9,500 euros) for having "defamed" a WWII veteran in one of his videos.

The 44-year-old opponent and anti-corruption activist, known for investigating the fortunes of Russia's elites, is now facing his first long prison term in nearly a decade of run-ins with the authorities and is at risk of being transferred to a labor camp.

The EU will activate its new global human rights sanctions regime against the Kremlin on Monday.

More info 

: Our video portrait of Alexeï Navalny, the Kremlin's "black beast" to (re) discover

here.

Ninth Australian Open coronation for Novak Djokovic

Novak Djokovic wins his 9th Australian Open on February 21, 2021 in Melbourne.

- David Gray / AFP

World No.1 Novak Djokovic won his 9th Australian Open this Sunday in Melbourne, a record, and his 18th Grand Slam title, outclassing Russian Daniil Medvedev (4th) in three sets 7-5, 6-2 , 6-2 in less than two hours,

Funeral of anti-junta resistance icon in Burma

Giant demonstration in Burma - / AP / SIPA

Burma paid tribute this Sunday to Mya Thwate Thwate Khaing, shot in the head and died on Friday.

The first victim of military repression, the young grocer has become an icon of the anti-junta resistance, while the crowds were still numerous to demonstrate against the coup d'état despite the murderous violence of the day before.

The funeral took place on the outskirts of the capital Naypyidaw, in the presence of several thousand people.

Almost three weeks after the putsch of February 1, pro-democracy mobilization is not weakening with tens of thousands of people in the streets this Sunday in the major cities of the country, but also in remote villages.

More info 

: Video review of the recent coup in Burma below:

First case of H5N8 avian influenza transmission to humans

A farm affected by bird flu in the Val-d'Oise (Illustration).

- G.

VARELA / 20 MINUTES

Russia announced on Saturday that it had detected the first case of transmission to humans of the H5N8 strain of bird flu, adding that it had informed the World Health Organization (WHO) of this "important discovery".

This virus was detected in seven infected people in a poultry factory in southern Russia, where an avian flu epidemic affected the animals in December 2020, said the head of the Russian health agency Rospotrebnadzor.

adding that the patients "feel good" and have no complications.

While the H5N8 strain has "crossed the interspecies barrier" by being transmitted from birds to humans, "this variant of the virus is not transmitted from person to person at the present time", she again declared.

The WHO for its part confirmed to AFP to have been informed by Russia of this discovery, which "if confirmed, would be the first time that H5N8 infects humans".

“We are in discussions with the (Russian) authorities to gather more information and assess the impact of this event on public health,” added the organization.

More info:

The insight of Professor Jean-Luc Guérin, avian virology researcher in Toulouse, on the avian influenza epidemic which is ravaging farms in the South-West

here 

Society

Lyon: Gérald Darmanin points to "the scandalous ideology" of the Greens, who are launching a unique menu without meat at school

Television

"The Voice": Marie and the production tell how her "heat stroke" was handled behind the scenes

  • Avian Flu

  • Australian Open

  • Novak Djokovic

  • Nice

  • Coronavirus

  • Alexei Navalny

  • Russia

  • Burma

  • Society