After Brussels and Mayotte, Emmanuel Macron will go this Friday, December 20 to Djibouti this Friday. The President of the Republic will share a Christmas meal with the French soldiers deployed on this strategic basis. Djibouti, where 1,500 French soldiers are located, houses the largest contingent of French troops abroad.
Emmanuel Macron will also be causing himself with his counterpart Ismaïl Omar Guelleh of the situation in the Red Sea and in the Horn of Africa, especially in Somalia and Sudan. On Saturday, the head of state will go to Ethiopia to meet the Prime Minister to inaugurate the National Palace of Addis Ababa together. The president will return to France on Sunday morning.
2 – Verdict of the Matteo Salvini trial
The verdict of the trial of the former Italian interior minister, Matteo Salvini, will be announced this Friday, December 20 at the Palermo court. He is accused of sequestration of people, abuse of power and negligence. In 2019, Matteo Salvini had decided to prevent the NGO Open Arms ship for three weeks from accostering Lampedusa, with 147 migrants on board.
He risks six years in prison for human rights violation. Matteo Salvini had defended himself on X in these terms: “I would do it again if I had to do it again: defending the borders against the illegal migrants is not a crime”.
3 – 25th anniversary of Macao retrocession
This Friday, December 20 will mark the 25th anniversary of the retrocession of the old Portuguese colony Macao. After intense negotiations between Portugal and China, it was decided in 1987 that Macao returned under Chinese sovereignty on December 20, 1999. This date marked the end of the Portuguese colonial presence, which lasted 442 years.
Macao, which today has more than 700,000 inhabitants, was then placed under a special administration regime, similar to that developed for Hong Kong. Macao became semi-autonomous: defense and foreign affairs were placed under the authority of the Chinese government. Tomorrow, the leader of Macao Sam Hou Fa will take an oath for the occasion.
4 – Futé bison turns red
Christmas is approaching and with celebrations, traffic jams. Bison Futé said Red Friday in Île-de-France and Orange on the rest of the territory, in the direction of departures. The first slowdowns should arrive tomorrow at the end of the morning and continue until the early evening. Saturday, the day will be orange in the direction of departures.
5 – The good news of the day
The Royal Opera orchestra of Versailles will give a free Christmas concert on December 21, in Neuilly (Hauts-de-Seine). He will interpret The four seasons From the French composer Joseph Bodin de Boismortier, a 18th century baroque work. This score, which brings together all popular musical genres from the 16th to the 18th century, is rarely played in public. The song was composed a year after the famous violin concerto of Antonio Vivaldi entitled The four seasons.
The orchestra will be led by the harpsichordist Chloé de Guillebon. The sung parts will be interpreted by the soprano Lili Aymonino and the baritone Igor Bouin.
