Have you missed the news a bit in the last two days? We summarize the main information for Saturday January 27 and Sunday January 28.

Paused during the weekend, the mobilization of farmers should restart on Monday morning while the first announcements from Prime Minister Gabriel Attal on Friday did not satisfy the farmers. The head of government nevertheless tried to give them some assurances on Sunday during a trip to Indre-et-Loire. After recognizing that the measures unveiled on Friday “did not respond” to the “uneasiness and unhappiness of our farmers”, Mr. Attal said he was “resolved to move forward quickly”.

On the set of BFM-TV, the Minister of Agriculture, Marc Fesneau, confirmed that new measures will be unveiled in the coming days. “There will be additional measures, either at European or national level, which will continue to be announced this week. And even from Tuesday,” during Mr. Attal’s general policy speech, explained Marc Fesneau.

At the same time, the FNSEA and the Young Farmers of the Greater Paris Basin called on Saturday for “a siege of Paris” on Monday, starting at 2 p.m. The president of the JA d’Ile-de-France, Clément Torpier, clarified on Sunday that the two organizations were planning “seven blockade points around Paris with tractors, farmers”. But during a meeting at the Ministry of the Interior on Sunday, Gérald Darmanin asked representatives of the police to put in place a “significant defensive system” in order to prevent any blockage of the Rungis market, Ile-de-France airports and the entry into Paris of farmers.

The noose is tightening around the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA). After the United States on Friday, several Western countries, including France, the United Kingdom and Australia, announced on Saturday and Sunday that they were temporarily suspending their funding to UNRWA. These sanctions come after the agency announced on Friday that it had separated from several employees accused of being involved in the bloody Hamas attack on Israeli soil on October 7, 2023.

For his part, the head of Israeli diplomacy, Israel Katz, affirmed on Saturday that the Jewish state intends to “ensure that UNRWA will not be part” of the solution in Gaza after the war between Israel and Hamas, hoping to “stop” all agency activities.

On Sunday, the Secretary General of the United Nations urged countries that have suspended their funding to the UN agency, in the turmoil, to “at least guarantee” the continuation of its operations, essential to two million people.

French handball players were crowned European champions for the fourth time, defeating Denmark (33-31) in overtime on Sunday in Cologne, ten years after their last continental title.

Six months before the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, Nikola Karabatic’s gang takes revenge on the Danes, who beat them in the 2023 World Cup final.

In a joint press release, released on Sunday, the military regimes in power in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger announced their withdrawal, with immediate effect, from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). This sub-regional organization was until now composed of fifteen members.

The respective leaders of the three Sahelian States, “taking all their responsibilities in the face of history and responding to the expectations, concerns and aspirations of their populations, decide in complete sovereignty on the immediate withdrawal of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger from the Economic Community of West African States,” said the statement read on the state media of these countries.

The three countries, faced with similar problems of insecurity, jihadism and poverty, have, since the military seized power by force in 2020 in Mali, in 2022 in Burkina Faso and in 2023 in Niger, strained relations with ECOWAS. This calls for the return to power of civilians after these coups.

On the occasion of the celebrations marking 80 years since the end of the terrible siege of Leningrad, present-day Saint Petersburg, by the German army during the Second World War, Russian President Vladimir Putin promised on Saturday, to “do everything” to “eradicate Nazism once and for all.”

“The siege of Leningrad was unprecedented in the scale of its cruelty and cynicism,” said Mr. Putin, during the inauguration of the memorial to the victims of this siege which lasted 872 days between 1941 and 1944 and had saw more than 800,000 people succumb to famine, disease and bombs in Leningrad. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko was at his side during this ceremony.

Regularly emphasizing that the conflict with Ukraine is a continuation of the Second World War, Mr. Putin accused “the Kiev regime” of “continuing to glorify the accomplices of [Adolf] Hitler (…) and of resorting to terror against all those who do not please him.”

And also

“Immigration” law. Traveling to India, Emmanuel Macron promulgated the text after the decision of the Constitutional Council

Türkiye. Attack during mass in a Catholic church in Istanbul, one dead

Angoulême Comics Festival. The Fauve d’or 2024 awarded to Monica, by Daniel Clowes

Golf. Matthieu Pavron becomes the first Frenchman to win a PGA tournament

Australian Open. Jannik Sinner wins a first Grand Slam victory after a crazy match against Daniil Medvedev; in the women’s draw, Aryna Sabalenka retains her crown

Iran. Nine Pakistanis killed near the border with Pakistan