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On the front page of the press, the double explosion which struck Beirut, the Lebanese capital yesterday, killing at least 78 people and injuring nearly 4,000.

"The Apocalypse", this morning's headline L'Orient Le Jour , which wonders what it can "say", what it can "write", faced with "the scale of the catastrophe". "Beirut, last night, looked like a theater of war. In a Lebanon already on its knees, we were totally stunned by this umpteenth twist of fate": the newspaper says it is "stunned" "by the violence of the explosions", "stunned" "by the death toll", "by the images of gutted buildings, blown windows, torn doors", "by the chaos in the hospitals, some of which were heavily damaged".

"When the sun rises, Beirut, my city, will no longer exist": after having crisscrossed the capital on a motorcycle, just after the explosions, a reporter for the newspaper evokes, late at night, "a destruction worthy of a film of fiction ", a city of which" there is nothing left but its inhabitants, who have learned to survive, to make a living, to be resilient ". "There is nothing left in Beirut. Nothing. And when the sun rises, she writes, we will see that the city is no more."

The shock wave of these explosions spread through the international press. The National notes that the second explosion was so strong that it was felt as far away as Cyprus. "The traces of these massive explosions are visible everywhere in the capital, as is the solidarity of the Lebanese people, accustomed to crises," notes the Emirati daily.

"Broken Beirut": in the United Kingdom, The Independent reports the testimony of a nurse at Saint-Georges hospital, who says she went through the civil war of 1975-1990 and the war of 2006 against Israel without ever having known such a blast. "We're doomed. And even if it's an accident, it's the last thing we could afford," an injured young man in his twenties told The Guardian . The British daily speaks of "a disaster of such magnitude that it is difficult to measure it, in a country which was already on the brink of a precipice".

In France, more and more mayors are making it compulsory to wear masks outdoors, to avoid a resumption of the Covid-19 epidemic. "Sleeve effect or real health measure?" : Le Parisien wonders about this decision, but believes that it has "at least the merit of reminding everyone that the virus is still running and that the specter of a second wave is approaching".

The newspaper, which recalls that "it is from now on very often within private events that the clusters, the centers of infection, multiply", invites each one "to be disciplined", and to show "civility" and of "spirit of responsibility".

While several people have been attacked in France for asking others to put on their masks, L'Obs asked researcher Christine Jeoffrion why wearing a mask seems to crystallize so much tension. According to her, this situation is linked to a different "risk perception", with on the one hand "those who perceive the risk in a significant way. And on the other those who minimize it, who are not at all aware of the risk. role that they can play with regard to others and to themselves. This can happen as long as one is not touched personally ". The researcher evokes a "very anxiety-provoking context because it is full of uncertainties". Uncertainties which in turn generate violence.

We do not leave each other on this. In the delinquency section, again, The Colombo Gazette reports that a small cat which had been captured on Saturday in the main prison of Sri Lanka, after having tried to introduce heroin and SIM cards, was finally found yesterday on the premises of the establishment, from which he seemed to have escaped. The feline was reportedly apprehended this time while prowling near the food stocks. A repeat offender, obviously.

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