BAC 2023 in France: 12th grade students are working on written specialty exams this afternoon

Amid threats by several unions to strike against pension reform by several unions, 12th graders are starting this afternoon on the written specialty exams, which are being held for the first time in March. Born of the 2019 baccalaureate reform, these tests take place from 14:00, then Tuesday and Wednesday, and next week for Réunion. Due to Covid-19, they were postponed to May last year. For this session, 536,081 candidates (390,710 in general education, 145,371 in technological studies) will each take two specialty tests: the two “major” subjects chosen by each high school student in the 12th grade.

State visit: Xi Jinping to Russia “for peace” this Monday

Chinese President Xi Jinping seeks to play a mediator in Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine. In nearly four years, Xi is beginning his first three-day stay with neighboring Russia, an important diplomatic and economic partner of China. According to the Kremlin's diplomatic adviser, Yuri Ushakov, Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart will have an initial “informal” meeting on Monday before dinner, then talks on Tuesday.

Banking crisis: UBS bank to buy Credit Suisse

After several negotiations, the Swiss banking group UBS will buy its struggling rival Credit Suisse. It promises important guarantees from the government, which thus hopes to have escaped a major crisis and regain the “confidence” of investors around the world. This takeover was immediately welcomed by those who feared a new surge in markets already made febrile by the recent bankruptcy of Silicon Valley Bank in the United States, and from the American Treasury to the European Central Bank (ECB). For a bank that was worth nearly three times as much as Friday at the close of trading, the amount of the Credit Suisse takeover, which had been going through an intense phase of turbulence since the start of the week, amounts to 3 billion Swiss francs (3.02 billion euros), payable in UBS shares.

Global warming: UN climate experts meeting in Switzerland deliver the latest scientific consensus

After nearly nine months of the latest summaries, UN climate experts meeting in Switzerland will deliver the latest scientific consensus on global warming and on humanity's urgent response to this existential challenge this Monday. Indeed, the summary of the 6th assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is due to be published at 14:00 (13:00 GMT). A summary of the more than 10,000 pages of work that he has published since his previous summary at the end of 2014. The scientific community has established that global warming caused by human activity is happening faster and stronger than expected in nine years.

IN SHORT

The Mayor of Bambari and a local security source announced that nine Chinese people working on “a Chinese mining site” from the “Gold Coast Group” mining company were killed at a mining site in the Bambari region, in the central Central African Republic, which has been beset by a civil war for several years.

The North Korean State Agency KCNA announced that North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un led two-day military exercises “simulating a nuclear counterattack” and including launching a ballistic missile equipped with a “false nuclear warhead.”

The Malian branch of the NGO announced that on Twitter that two employees of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) kidnapped two weeks ago in northern Mali were released “safe and sound” Sunday evening.

Frenchman Sébastien Ogier (Toyota) set a new record by winning this stage of the World Rally Championship (WRC) for the seventh time. He won the Mexico Rally, the third event of the season.

Olympique de Marseille regained second place in the standings seven points behind PSG to close matchday 28 of Ligue 1. He won with difficulty in Reims, which is experiencing its first defeat in 19 matches.