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After lighting up a previously goal-shy Africa Cup of Nations with a 4-1 thrashing of Ethiopia on Thursday, tournament hosts Cameroon face minnows Cape Verde as they hope to entrench themselves as one of the favourites to win the trophy. Follow the match at 5 pm local time (GMT+1) on FRANCE 24’s liveblog.

Arsenal striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has been allowed to leave the Gabon squad at the Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon and return to his club to continue his recovery from Covid-19, his national team coach said on Monday.

Eric Zemmour, vying for France’s top job, was convicted for anti-immigrant remarks 

Journalist and essayist Eric Zemmour, who is running in the 2022 French presidential election, was fined €10,000 ($11,400) on Monday for inciting hatred against migrants on TV. 

A Paris court tried Zemmour for the remarks he made on a TV show in September 2020. 

While speaking about unaccompanied minors entering the country, the journalist said: “They’ve got no reason being here, they are thieves, they are killers, they are rapists, that’s all they do, they should be sent back.”

The broadcast took place days after a Pakistani-born Islamist went on a stabbing spree outside the former office of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris, wounding two people. 

The prosecution argued that Zemmour “crossed the limits of the freedom of expression.”  

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Zemmour’s lawyer Olivier Pardo said his client will appeal Monday’s verdict. He added that Zemmour was voicing his political views and describing “the reality,” sometimes “in a brutal way.” 

The presidential candidate himself dismissed the ruling as “ideological and stupid.” 

Zemmour, known for his anti-migrant and anti-Islam statements, is a highly divisive figure in France. He was prosecuted around 15 times and convicted of incitement of hatred in 2011 and 2019. An appeal of the 2019 ruling will be decided on Thursday.

The French will vote for their president in April. 

Human rights group believes Italian anti-Covid-19 restrictions to be too harsh 

Amnesty International has issued a statement calling on Italy to change its strict anti-Covid-19 policies to prevent possible discrimination against unvaccinated people after a recent government decree.

In an official statement, issued by Amnesty International on Saturday, the organization urged the Italian government to provide alternative protective measures, such as wearing masks or taking tests, in order to allow unvaccinated citizens to continue their work and use public transport. 

It also insisted that all safety measures “must respond to the principles of necessity, temporariness and proportionality,” and called for the government to reconsider if the national state of emergency should be extended beyond March 2022. 

According to the current restrictions, which will remain in place until June 15, 2022, it is no longer sufficient to wear a mask or have a negative Covid-19 test in order to use public transport or, for people aged over 50, to access their workplace. 

Amnesty International Italia, local chapter of the international organization, noted that mandatory vaccination might be justified and enforced under exceptional circumstances. However, such restrictive measures should be targeted, limited in time and accompanied by evidence-based logic, as well as proportionate to a legitimate purpose of public health protection. 

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“The government must continue to ensure that the entire population can enjoy its fundamental rights, such as the right to education, work and medical treatment, with particular regard to non-Covid patients who need urgent surgery,” it said, according to Reuters.  

Earlier this month, the Italian government declared the Covid-19 vaccination mandatory for everyone over the age of 50. The jab is also required for access to public transportation and a range of other services. Italy was one of the few European countries to take such measures, aiming to ease pressure on the health services and reduce possible fatalities.

Before that, Prime Minister Mario Draghi’s government had made vaccination mandatory for teachers and health workers, and all employees were obliged to be vaccinated or provide negative Covid-19 test results in order to access their workplace. Refusal would lead to suspension from work without pay. 

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control has issued a warning about the twin threat of Covid and influenza across the EU

The spread of influenza across Europe has sparked concerns about the risk of a prolonged ‘twindemic’, as the high Covid transmission rate raises fears about the pressure on already overstretched European health systems.

A combination of Covid lockdowns, enforced mask-wearing, and social distancing requirements throughout the continent helped to almost eradicate the flu last winter, experts said.

However, the ECDC believes relaxed restrictions are set to result in a resurgence of influenza cases. The European organization has reported that the flu virus is spreading across the continent at a higher-than-expected rate, with cases in intensive care units rising at the end of December.

Speaking to Reuters, the ECDC’s influenza expert, Pais Penttinen, expressed “big concern” about influenza as countries “start to lift all measures,” warning cases might “shift away from normal seasonal patterns.”

Removing Covid restrictions before the end of spring could see a prolonging of the twindemic with Covid and influenza beyond May, according to the ECDC, putting extra pressure on health services that are already overstretched.

Concerns have been exacerbated by the flu variant that has become dominant this season, as the H3 of the A virus usually causes severe cases of the illness among elderly patients, potentially impacting hospitalization rates.

Six regional countries – Armenia, Belarus, Serbia, France, Georgia, and Estonia – have recorded seasonal influenza activity above the normal threshold in primary care. A further seven nations have recorded widespread influenza activity and/or medium flu intensity.

Amid the number of influenza cases, France has seen three regions already declare a flu epidemic, according to French Health Ministry data, with the department warning there “is still large room for improvement” in the uptake of flu shots to limit the impact of the virus.

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WHO warns we’re not ready to treat Covid like flu

The fears of a twindemic come amid reports of ‘flurona’, with an Israeli woman becoming the latest individual to be infected with Covid and flu simultaneously.

The World Health Organization (WHO) recently called for continued vigilance against Covid due to the spread of the Omicron strain providing a “huge amount of uncertainty.” 

Addressing the situation, the WHO’s regional director for Europe, Dr. Hans Kluge, warned there is a “closing window of opportunity” to prevent health systems from being overwhelmed.

Authorities say no further action will be taken after a photo of the author’s home was published on Twitter

Scottish police have said they will take no action against transgender rights activists who posted a photo of J.K. Rowling’s Edinburgh home on Twitter. Law enforcement said the actions were deemed “not criminal.”

On Monday, Police Scotland confirmed that they had made inquiries into the alleged “doxxing” of J.K. Rowling but no criminality was established. The police gave no further information. 

In November, the author claimed her home address in Edinburgh was exposed when a group of trans rights activists posed outside her house and shared the image on Twitter. Rowling said they had carefully positioned themselves to ensure the address was visible.

“I have to assume [they] thought doxxing (the act of publishing private personal information) me would intimidate me out of speaking up for women’s sex-based rights,” the 56-year-old tweeted in response. 

“Perhaps, and I’m just throwing this out there, the best way to prove your movement isn’t a threat to women, is to stop stalking, harassing and threatening us,” she added. 

The activists deleted the photo one day later, after they allegedly received “serious and threatening transphobic messages.” 

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Rowling claimed the activists were attempting to “intimidate” her, but said she had received “so many death threats I could paper the house with them” and still would not stop speaking her mind.

The author has sparked controversy over transgender issues in the past. She has frequently spoken up in defense of safe spaces for women, and caused a stir when she objected to the phrase “people who menstruate” being used in an op-ed article in place of the word “women.” 

Scotland, however, has pushed forward with several policies aimed at making life easier for the trans community. For example, people can now self-identify as male or female in the Scottish census this year. 

A conservative nominee from South Korea’s main opposition party believes that peace can only be achieved through “overwhelming power”

South Korean presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol has reiterated his promise to make sure the country develops capabilities to carry out a preemptive strike against North Korea if it opts to put its nuclear weapons to use.

Yoon, who is running in the election this March for the country’s People Power Party – the second largest in the National Assembly – took to Facebook on Monday shortly after Pyongyang carried out its fourth missile test in recent weeks. The conservative politician described the move as a “provocation” and vowed to do everything to protect the people of the Republic of Korea (ROK) from the nuclear and missile threat coming from its archrival if he’s elected. “We will secure preemptive strike capabilities” in order to avert a potential nuclear attack by Pyongyang, the 61-year-old added.

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“Peace is the result of overwhelming power,” he insisted, arguing that Seoul should be armed with ultra-precision and hypersonic missiles, boost its missile defenses, including with laser weapons, and develop surveillance capabilities to monitor the territory of North Korea.

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Yoon first floated the idea of a preemptive strike against North Korea last week, after Pyongyang’s hypersonic missile test. His main rival Lee Jae-myung of the ruling Democratic Party accused Yoon of “extremely dangerous security populism” for choosing to play the North Korean card to gain votes.

The statements by the conservative candidate, including the idea of a preemptive strike, “heighten the risk of war” and “could instigate a North Korean provocation,” he wrote on Facebook on Sunday.

Angela Glover was swept away by the tsunami as she tried to rescue her dogs, her brother says.

A French court on Monday found far-right presidential hopeful Eric Zemmour guilty of racist hate speech for a tirade against unaccompanied child migrants.

Keir Starmer insists he did nothing wrong when he was meeting colleagues for drinks

The leader of the UK’s Labour Party has refused to apologize over images of him drinking with colleagues amid Covid-19 restrictions after he called on Prime Minister Boris Johnson to resign over a similar scandal.

Speaking to LBC on Monday, Keir Starmer dismissed calls for him to apologize over an incident in which he allegedly broke lockdown rules in May 2021. In the picture, which had surfaced in the past, Starmer can be seen having a drink in an office with colleagues. 

The controversy comes after Starmer called on Prime Minister Boris Johnson last week to resign over images of him sitting in the Downing Street garden with colleagues, one of several alleged lockdown breaches. Starmer has since been dubbed a hypocrite, and senior Tories, including Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi have demanded he apologize.

“I think it’s very straightforward. It was a very busy time; it was three or four days before the local elections. We were working in the office, and a takeaway turned up and we stopped and we ate it,” Starmer told LBC, responding to his critics. 

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The Labour leader then suggested his alleged misdemeanor was not as bad as those committed by the government, noting two Downing Street parties “the night before Prince Philip’s funeral with suitcases of wine” – the prime minister is not believed to have been at these events.

“I understand what’s going on here which is exactly what happened with Owen Paterson,” Starmer said, referencing a Tory MP who resigned following a sleaze scandal last year.

“There comes a time when the Tories try to take everyone into the gutter with them. We did nothing wrong,” he concluded.