United States: for the 20th anniversary of September 11, Biden calls for « unity »

The United States honor this Saturday the memory of the victims of the attacks of September 11, 2001, which left 2,977 dead.

Unity is strength. This, in essence, is the message sent to Americans by Joe Biden in a video published this Friday, on the eve of the commemoration of the 20th anniversary of September 11 .

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“In the days following September 11, 2001, we saw something far too rare: true national unity (…) This is for me the central lesson of September 11. It is that when we are the most vulnerable (…), unity is our greatest strength, ”declared the American president, filmed at the White House, in a message of a little over six minutes. He also paid tribute to the 2,977 victims and their loved ones , but also to all those who lost their lives « in the minutes, hours, months and years that followed » the attacks while trying to rescue victims or clearing the land. the places .https://d-37426898662328515175.ampproject.net/2108280007001/frame.html

« Unity doesn’t mean we all have to believe the same thing, but it’s essential that we respect each other, and have faith in each other, » Joe Biden said in his video message to America. deeply divided.

No speaking

The president and his wife Jill Biden are due to visit, this Saturday, the three emblematic places of the attacks of September 11, 2001: in New York, on the Pentagon site and in Pennsylvania, where a plane hijacked by jihadists crashed. twenty years ago.null

But it is not expected that Joe Biden, much criticized for his management of the withdrawal from Afghanistan and who is struggling to contain the Covid-19 pandemic, to speak in public during the ceremonies . He will preside – in silence, therefore – the tribute to the 2,977 dead (including 2,753 in New York alone) from the impressive Manhattan memorial built at the foot of new skyscrapers, on « Ground Zero », where s ‘once stood the twin towers of the World Trade Center.

A musical tribute, several minutes of silence and the reading of all the names of the victims are planned near the two huge black basins which replaced the base of the towers. The commemorations will start at 8.46am in the United States – the time at which the first plane hacked by five of the 19 terrorists had struck the north tower of the World Trade Center

Google will block the connection of old smartphones from next September

The smartphones running Android 2.3.7 or earlier will no longer have access to Google services from September 27

According to the company, this step is taken in order to protect the privacy of user accounts, which can no longer be as secure as on the most recent versions.

The smartphones running Android 2.3.7 or earlier will no longer have access to Google services from September 27, the company announced Tuesday. In order to justify this decision, Google has put forward its « permanent efforts to ensure the safety of users », their accounts can no longer be as secure as on the most recent versions, reports Phonandroid .

Thus, the Californian giant recommended to those concerned to opt « for a more recent version of Android, 3.0 » or a later version. Among the Google applications that will no longer be available from September 27 include Google Maps, YouTube and Gmail. After the deadline, the system will no longer recognize the usernames and passwords of clients using an older operating system and an error message will be displayed.

Possibility to go through the web version of the applications

Owners of a smartphone that does not allow an Android update will still be able to continue using some of Google’s portals through their web versions. For example, their Google account will be accessible via the URL myaccount.google.com and their Gmail email on mail.google.com. The other solution is to buy a newer terminal, added  Phonandroid .

Users of Android version 2.3.7 or later will also be unable to log in with their username and password if they create a new Google account on their smartphone or if they delete their account and try to add it. It also won’t work if they reset their phone to factory settings or change their password.

Source : 20 minutes

« It’s an Industry Created to Hack You »: Edward Snowden Responds to Pegasus Spyware Revelations

The American whistleblower commented to the “Guardian”,  the revelations of 17 international media about the software, which targeted smartphones of political and media personalities.

“It’s like a spy in your pocket (…) . It shouldn’t exist. «  The American whistleblower Edward Snowden returned, Monday, July 19, on the revelations of 17 international media , for powerful Pegasus spyware developed by the Israeli company NSO Group .

“What we are seeing now is an industry created to hack these smartphones, and go beyond what we knew existed. These people take full control of the phone and turn it against the person who bought it, but doesn’t really own it anymore , ” Snowden said in an interview with The Guardian , partner of the World on“ Project Pegasus ”.

# le Monde

Bill Gates and wife Melinda divorce after 27 years together

Billionaire and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates announced his divorce from Melinda Gates on Twitter on Monday.

Bill and Melinda Gates, September 26, 2018. AFP / Ludovic Marin .

Bill and Melinda Gates , it’s over. After 27 years of marriage, Microsoft founder and Melinda Gates announced their divorce on Twitter on Monday. « After careful consideration and a lot of work on our relationship, we made the decision to end our marriage, » wrote the couple in a statement relayed by the account of the big boss.https://d-4299929262000587094.ampproject.net/2104170104001/frame.html

The Gates, who have three children, announced that they would continue to « work together in their foundation », the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation which fights against poverty and disease, but that they did not believe « could any more evolve. together as a couple ”. They met in the late 1980s when Melinda joined Microsoft.null

In the famous press release, the spouses do not say anything about the reasons that push them to separate.

Bill Gates is, according to the latest Forbes ranking, the fourth richest man in the world, with a fortune estimated at $ 124 billion. It places him behind two other Americans, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk and Frenchman Bernard Arnault, and ahead of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.

Prince Philip, Husband of Queen Elizabeth II, Is Dead at 99

Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, husband of Queen Elizabeth II, father of Prince Charles and patriarch of a turbulent royal family that he sought to ensure would not be Britain’s last, died on Friday at Windsor Castle in England. He was 99.

« Prince Philip, Husband of Queen Elizabeth II, Is Dead at 99 – https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/09/obituaries/prince-philip-dead.html

Perseverance’s landing on Mars in « seven minutes of terror »

Source : NASA

published by Jules Bercy

About seven months after taking off, NASA’s last vehicle, Perseverance, will still have to survive « seven minutes of terror, » as the ultra-perilous maneuver preceding its landing on Mars is dubbed. 

The chosen location, Jezero Crater, is the most dangerous landing site ever attempted. In seven minutes, the rover must go from a speed of 20,000 km / h to zero. 

The landing will take place at 8:55 p.m. GMT Thursday (3:55 p.m. Washington).

-130km: entry into the atmosphere-

Ten minutes before entering the Martian atmosphere, the vessel separated from the cruise stage which supplied it with fuel during the trip. 

It is then only composed of a rear shield, a heat shield at the front, and, caught between the two, the descent stage, connected to the rover itself. 

At about 130km altitude, it enters the atmosphere at a speed of 20,000km / h, causing friction raising the temperature to 1,300 ° C. The heat shield protects the rover from this infernal heat. 

-11km: opening of the parachute-

But the atmosphere is not enough to slow the ship enough, which is still going at 1,500 km / h. 

At about 11km altitude, at an opportune moment calculated according to the distance remaining to the landing place, a huge supersonic parachute 21 meters in diameter, located in the rear shield, is deployed. 

This slows down the ship to about 300 km / h. 

-9km: heat shield released-

20 seconds after opening the parachute, the heat shield is released: the rover it was protecting is exposed for the first time to the Martian atmosphere. 

A whole new technology, called “Terrain Relative Navigation” (TRN), comes into play: the images recorded live by the cameras of the vessel are compared to maps recorded in its system, where the dangerous zones to be avoided are pre-defined. Taking these data into account, the ship decides on the final landing place.

-2km: retro-propelled phase-

At an altitude of around 2km, the rear shield – and its parachute – are dropped. 

The rover is no longer attached to the descent stage, equipped with eight motors pointed downwards, which light up to finish slowing it down. After performing a maneuver to get away from the parachute, the rover ended up descending vertically, right above its landing site.

-20m: separation of the rover-

At about 20m from the ground, it reached a speed of 2.7km / h, slower than that at which a man walks. The rover then descends along the cables thanks to a system of pulleys, during a final fifteen seconds (stage called « skycrane »). 

The vehicle deploys its wheels at this time. When the latter feel the ground, the lines are cut and the descent stage makes a final push to crash as far as possible. 

Because of the transmission delay between Earth and Mars, when the landing will be confirmed by NASA, it will actually have taken place several minutes earlier. 

Source: Orange with NASA

United States: Joe Biden tackles the death penalty

The US president could ask the Department of Justice to stop scheduling new executions. Before an abolition at the federal level?

Joe Biden is the first sitting president to speak publicly against the death penalty, a sentence still in effect across the Atlantic. Barely installed in the White House, the Democrat would have discussed the possibility of asking the Department of Justice to stop the programming of new executions . 

This information remains confidential, and no official announcement is planned – White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki assured it. If this measure were to be confirmed, it will certainly push supporters of the abolition of the death penalty to lift the pressure they exert on  Joe Biden . But they will quickly want the US president to go further by closing, for example, the death row that belongs to the federal government, located in Terre Haute, Indiana. And why not, that he abolish the death penalty altogether  from  American laws.

The position of the 46th American president contrasts with that of his predecessor. Throughout his tenure, Donald Trump  has been a staunch supporter of capital punishment , and everything has escalated over the past six months. 13 people were thus executed by the federal justice – unheard of in 120 years. The former president even appeared to hasten the executions  as his departure from the White House arrived  . The last execution took place just four days before Joe Biden was inaugurated president. Americans are therefore very aware of the issue.   

A divisive decision

One situation particularly shocked the Americans: it was prisoners suffering from mental illnesses who were executed. It therefore seems natural that Joe Biden wants to return to the practice of the Obama era – the latter had unofficially prohibited executions from 2014. But he did not dare to go all the way, which allowed Donald Trump to enforce sentences. 

Joe Biden could, however, attract the wrath of many Republicans, in favor of capital punishment. And even some members of his own camp might blame him, believing it to be political suicide . Not to mention that this decision would save some controversial criminals, such as Dylann Roof, a white supremacist who  killed nine black parishioners  who attended a small church in South Carolina. It might be difficult for Joe Biden to explain to the families of the victims why the murderer of their loved ones must not die. 

Towards an abolition of the death penalty at the federal level?

Supporters of the death penalty are declining – they now represent only half of Americans. But many still want to keep the possibility of sentencing the perpetrators of terrorist attacks to death – the author of the Boston Marathon bombs, moreover, was found guilty and sentenced to death by his jury. Another court commuted the sentence – but the Trump administration has appealed. The Biden administration will soon have to decide whether to pursue this appeal, or whether to accept this sentencing change. 

The abolition of the death penalty at the federal level is in any case a campaign promise of candidate Biden. He didn’t give a lot of details though, remaining very factual. Presumably he is feeling a little guilty and could reallyunravel the laws around the death penalty – to which he nevertheless contributed as a senator. In 1994, it was he who proposed to expand the range of federal crimes punishable by capital punishment. Supporters of ending the death penalty know he has an Achilles heel and they are unlikely to let go until they get a guarantee. 

Source : RTL

Investiture of Joe Biden: imminent departure of the White House for Donald Trump

INVESTITURE – D-Day for Joe Biden: the new American president is sworn in this Wednesday, January 20 at noon local time . Donald Trump, whose departure is imminent, has granted his presidential pardon to 73 people before leaving the White House. 

TRUMP SOON ON THE START

The future ex-tenant of the Oval Office has already packed his bags and will leave the White House at 8 am aboard the presidential helicopter. Head to Andrews Air Force Base, where a military ceremony awaits him. Donald Trump will then travel for the last time aboard Air Force 1. He is due to land in Florida  when the new president-elect Joe Biden will be sworn in at the foot of the Capitol. The Republican billionaire will return to his residence in Mar-a-Lago, where a moving truck was seen last Monday.

Tesla founder Elon Musk becomes richest man in the world

With the surge in Tesla’s securities on the stock market, of which he holds 18%, the whimsical 49-year-old entrepreneur has passed Jeff Bezos, the boss of Amazon.

Elon Musk, the boss of high-end electric vehicle maker Tesla, rose to the rank of the richest man in the world on Thursday (January 7) thanks to the soaring stock market shares, according to Bloomberg News calculations .

With Tesla’s stock market soaring , in which he owns 18%, the whimsical 49-year-old entrepreneur, who also runs SpaceX, passed Jeff Bezos, the Amazon boss who held the title of richest man in the planet since 2017.

While Tesla stock, which saw its value more than 7-fold in 2020 and still rose sharply on Wall Street on Thursday, the South African-born engineer’s fortune hit $ 188.5 billion soon after. the opening of the session, exceeding that of Jeff Bezos by 1.5 billion.

The enthusiasm of investors

The day before, Tesla broke the $ 700 billion mark for the first time at the close as the stock finished up almost 3% to $ 755.98. Thursday morning, the action was close to $ 800 climbing 5.7%.

The group’s sales, however, remain a long way from traditional manufacturers: Tesla only sold 499,550 cars in 2020, a long way from Volkswagen, for example, and its 11 million vehicles sold in 2019.

But Tesla is benefiting from investor enthusiasm for electric vehicles and the fact that it has managed to make money for five consecutive quarters, which allowed it to enter the prestigious S&P 500 index in December.

Source AFP

Valéry Giscard the former President of the French Republic died of the consequences of Covid-19

Giscard had been hospitalized since mid-November, the former head of state in France from 1974 to 1981, he died of Covid-19, he was 94 years old. On September 14, « VGE » had already been hospitalized on September 14 at the Georges Pompidou hospital, in Paris, for « a slight infection in the lungs ».

Valéry Giscard d’Estaing died this Wednesday evening at the age of 94 , his entourage announced. He passed away  « surrounded by his family »  on his property in Authon in Loir-et-Cher. He died  « as a result of the Covid »  then said his family.

The former head of state was admitted to  » the cardiology department  » of  the Tours hospital on November 17 for  « heart failure »  , said his entourage. In September, the former head of state had already been hospitalized at the Georges Pompidou hospital in Paris for  « a slight infection in the lungs » . He had already been hospitalized several times at the Georges Pompidou hospital a few years ago, in cardiology for the placement of stents.

The youngest president of the Fifth Republic when he was elected in 1974, he had made one of his last public appearances on September 30, 2019 during the funeral in Paris  of another President of the Republic, Jacques Chirac , who was his prime minister from 1974 to 1976.

Valéry Giscard was only 48 years old when he acceded to the Élysée in 1974, beating François Mitterrand on the wire, and thus became, in a France which buried the Thirty-Glorious Years and digested May-68, the first non-Gaullist to seize the Élysée. He wanted to be the incarnation of a triumphant modernity, resulting from the liberal center-right and Christian Democrat which built post-war Europe.

Polytechnician and Enarque, from a large bourgeois family, VGE had entered the government since 1959, multiplying the ministerial posts in the Economy and Finance in the 1960s and 1970s. However, on May 10, 1981, he lost the elections facing François Mitterrand. A convinced European, in 2001 he took the helm of the Convention for Europe, responsible for drafting a European constitution, which would be rejected by referendum. A brilliant economist, author of several books, he was elected in 2003 to the French Academy.