Air disaster: 67 dead over Washington.
An air disaster has killed 67 people over Washington. US President Donald Trump on Thursday questioned his Democratic predecessors and programs promoting diversity in the recruitment of civil servants. Sixty-four people were on the civilian plane that collided with an army helicopter, with three soldiers on board, over the Potomac River. Donald Trump said that “it was a dark and atrocious night in the capital and in the history of our country.”

Immigration: another explosive vote is being prepared on Friday

With a new vote in Parliament on immigration that could see conservatives still ally with the extreme right, Germany is preparing for a new political psychodrama on Friday in the middle of the election campaign. On Wednesday, conservatives already voted with the far-right AfD to narrowly pass a motion in the Chamber of Deputies to refuse entry to Germany of all undocumented foreigners, including asylum seekers

Agriculture: End of a tough campaign in a fragile agricultural world

At the end of a tough campaign, in rural France weakened by successive crises, the elections to the Chambers of Agriculture end on Friday at midnight. This election will shape the new balance of power between agricultural unions for the next six years. The results are expected on 6 February. Some 2.2 million voters, including nearly 400,000 farm managers but also retirees, employees or landowners, have until midnight to elect their representatives - by electronic or postal means everywhere in France, with the exception of Mayotte, where the vote was postponed after cyclone Chido.

Civil peace: Interim Syrian president promises national dialogue

During his first speech to the nation, interim Syrian President Ahmad al-Shareh promised on Thursday to hold a “national dialogue conference” and said he wanted to preserve “civil peace” in a country ravaged by 13 years of war. He delivered his speech after welcoming to Damascus the Emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, who paid the first visit by a head of state to Syria since the ousted president fled to Moscow and the installation of the new authorities in the Syrian capital.

IN SHORT

After the death of a high school student in a school bus accident on Thursday morning near Châteaudun (Eure-et-Loir), the Minister in charge of Transport Philippe Tabarot announced on RTL that “increasingly important checks” of drivers would be carried out, in particular “at the level narcotics.”

The peak of the flood could be less than feared until now in Redon, in Ille-et-Vilaine, a department which remains on red alert for floods until Friday, as well as Morbihan and Loire-Atlantique.

Three Israeli hostages and five Thais were released in Gaza in exchange for 110 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. This process is marked by scenes of chaos during the release of captives in Palestinian territory

Folk-rock icon British singer and actress Marianne Faithfull died on Thursday at the age of 78. His death garnered a shower of tributes, especially from the Rolling Stones

Phenomenon Victor Wembanyama was chosen on Thursday to play his first All-Star Game in February.