Le Journal

L’affaire n’a évidemment pas fait autant de bruit que celle liée à la décision des Sénégalais de rentrer aux vestiaires après le penalty accordé au Maroc dans les derniers instants du temps réglementaire. Mais comme face au Nigeria, l’attitude des Marocains autour de la serviette d’Edouard Mendy a suscité de très vives réactions. Comme en témoignent les vidéos publiées sur les réseaux sociaux, des stadiers marocains ont en effet tenté à plusieurs reprises de subtiliser la serviette du gardien sénégalais, d’autant plus utile que la pluie redoublait. Et tandis que Yehvann Diouf, le troisième gardien sénégalais, tentait de protéger le précieux bien, certains joueurs marocains y ont à leur tour mis leur grain de sel. C’est notamment le cas d’Ismael Saibari, le milieu de terrain des Lions de l’Atlas. Après avoir lancé une des serviettes d’Edouard Mendy dans les tribunes, il n’a pas hésité à se camper devant Yehvann Diouf afin de s’emparer à nouveau de ladite serviette, offrant une scène surréaliste. Une longue poignée de mains après le match Mais le joueur du PSV Eindhoven a visiblement eu des remords. Il s’est en cout cas rendu à l’hôtel des Sénégalais, lundi, pour s’expliquer avec Edouard Mendy et présenter ses excuses. Si la teneur des échanges entre les deux hommes n’a pas filtré, une vidéo les montre se serrer longuement la main et échanger. « Pour moi, c’était juste des serviettes, rien de plus, pour sécher les gants, le visage. Peut-être qu’il y a un peu de folklore autour de ces serviettes-là, mais pour moi, c’était quelque chose de banal. J’ai été tout aussi surpris que vous quand j’ai vu qu’on a essayé de les prendre, avait confié Yehvann Diouf après le match. On avait vu avec le Nigeria déjà qu’à chaque fois qu’il y avait les serviettes qui étaient mises, en général, les stadiers passaient derrière pour les récupérer. Je ne sais pas pourquoi ils l’ont fait, mais je trouve que ce n’était pas fair-play, en tout cas de leur part. Après, j’ai essayé de faire en sorte que Doudou soit dans les meilleures conditions, parce qu’on a besoin de mecs comme lui à 100 % concentrés sur le terrain. »

Le Maroc aura du mal à s’en remettre. Alors qu’ils s’étaient mis en tête de décrocher la deuxième Coupe d’Afrique des Nations de leur histoire, un demi-siècle après leur premier sacre, en 1976, les Marocains ont en effet cédé en finale face au Sénégal (1-0 ap). Une défaite en prolongations d’autant plus difficile à digérer pour les Lions de l’Atlas qu’ils ont eu l’occasion de l’emporter dans les derniers instants du temps additionnel grâce à un penalty généreusement accordé par l’arbitre. Las, Brahim Diaz s’est complètement manqué et le Maroc a vu ses rêves s’évanouir. Les Lions de l’Atlas pourront néanmoins se consoler avec leur belle progression au Classement FIFA. Onzième avant le début de la compétition, le Maroc a en effet gagné trois places et ainsi doublé la Croatie, qui sort du Top 10, l’Allemagne et la Belgique. Désormais huitième, le Maroc n’avait jamais été à pareille fête dans son histoire, son meilleur classement restant jusqu’alors sa 10e place au printemps 1998. Le Sénégal devant l’Italie Vainqueur de la CAN, le Sénégal a connu une progression encore plus importante en gagnant sept positions. De quoi lui permettre d’occuper le 12e rang, juste devant l’Italie. Plus loin dans le classement, le Nigeria apparait désormais à la 26e place, soit un bond en avant de 12 positions, et l’Algérie suit au 28e rang après avoir gagné six places malgré son élimination en quarts de finale. L’Egypte, quatrième, a de son côté progressé de quatre places et occupe désormais la 31e position et la Côte d’Ivoire et le Cameroun occupent les 37e (+5) et 45e (+12) places. A l’inverse, la Tunisie a reculé de six places et ne pointe plus qu’au 47e rang et le Gabon a perdu huit places pour pointer en 86e position.

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Federal immigration agents forced open a door and detained a U.S. citizen in his Minnesota home at gunpoint without a warrant, then led him out onto the streets in his underwear in subfreezing conditions, according to his family and videos reviewed by The Associated Press. ChongLy “Scott” Thao told the AP that his daughter-in-law woke him up from a nap Sunday afternoon and said that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were banging at the door of his residence in St. Paul. He told her not to open it. Masked agents then forced their way in and pointed guns at the family, yelling at them, Thao recalled. “I was shaking,” he said. “They didn’t show any warrant; they just broke down the door.” Amid a massive surge of federal agents into the Twin Cities, immigration authorities are facing backlash from residents and the local leaders for warrantless arrests, aggressive clashes with protestors and the fatal shooting of mother of three Renee Good. “ICE is not doing what they say they’re doing,” St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her, a Hmong American, said in a statement about Thao’s arrest. “They’re not going after hardened criminals. They’re going after anyone and everyone in their path. It is unacceptable and un-American.” Encounter caught on video Thao, who has been a U.S. citizen for decades, said that as he was being detained he asked his daughter-in-law to find his identification but the agents told him they didn’t want to see it. Instead, as his 4-year-old grandson watched and cried, Thao was led out in handcuffs wearing only sandals and underwear with just a blanket wrapped around his shoulders. Videos captured the scene, which included people blowing whistles and horns and neighbors screaming at the more than a dozen gun-toting agents to leave Thao’s family alone. Thao said agents drove him “to the middle of nowhere” and made him get out of the car in the frigid weather so they could photograph him. He said he feared they would beat him. He was asked for his ID, which agents earlier prevented him from retrieving. Agents eventually realized that he was a U.S. citizen with no criminal record, Thao said, and an hour or two later, they brought him back to his house. There they made him show his ID and then left without apologizing for detaining him or breaking his door, Thao said. DHS defends operation The U.S. Department of Homeland Security described the ICE operation at Thao’s home as a “targeted operation” seeking two convicted sex offenders. “The US citizen lives with these two convicted sex offenders at the site of the operation,” DHS said. “The individual refused to be fingerprinted or facially ID’d. He matched the description of the targets.” Thao’s family said in a statement that it “categorically disputes” the DHS account and “strongly objects to DHS’s attempt to publicly justify this conduct with false and misleading claims.” Thao told the AP that only he, his son and daughter-in-law and his grandson live at the rental home. Neither they nor the property’s owner are listed in the Minnesota sex offender registry. The nearest sex offender listed as living in the zip code is more than two blocks away. DHS did not respond to a request from The Associated Press seeking the identities of the “two convicted sex offenders” or why the agency believed they were present in Thao’s home. Thao’s son, Chris Thao, said ICE agents stopped him while he was driving to work before they went to detain his father. He said he was driving a car he borrowed from his cousin’s boyfriend. Court records show that the boyfriend shares the first name of another Asian man who has been convicted of a sex offense. Chris Thao said the two people are not the same. Family fled Laos after helping US The family said they are particularly upset by ChongLy Thao’s treatment at the hands of the U.S. government because his mother had to flee to the U.S. from Laos when communists took over in the 1970s since she had supported American…

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — Voters in a coastal Georgia county will decide Tuesday whether large homes should be allowed on remote Sapelo Island, where Black landowners fear the change could saddle them with unaffordable property taxes in one of the South’s few remaining Gullah-Geechee communities founded by freed slaves. The referendum organized by island residents seeks to override McIntosh County commissioners’ 2023 decision to double the size of homes allowed in the tiny Hogg Hummock community. Their vote weakened building limits that for decades helped keep property taxes low for one of America’s most culturally unique Black populations. Tensions between Hogg Hummock’s Black landowners and county officials have been high for more than a decade, fueled by outsiders buying land in the community and building vacation homes. Island natives worry their taxes will balloon as wealthy buyers build larges homes, increasing property values. Commissioners have blamed the changing landscape on native owners who sold their land. Black residents and their supporters brought the fight to voters after gathering more than 2,300 petition signatures and challenging commissioners before the Georgia Supreme Court to force a special election. Regardless of the outcome, the vote wasn’t expected to settle the dispute. “I strongly believe we’re going to win,” said Jazz Watts, a Hogg Hummock descendant and landowner who was among the organizers of the referendum push. “What happens next is still kind of a legal question based on what the county does.” Island may see land values spike in new tax assessment Commissioners have said that if voters repeal their zoning changes, they will consider Hogg Hummock to be without any limits on development rather than go back to building restrictions that protected the community for three decades. That could lead to another court fight. Dana Braun, an attorney for the Hogg Hummock landowners, accused county officials of “pushing this ludicrous argument” in an effort to defeat the referendum. Commissioners could also try to push through a new zoning law for Hogg Hummock. “I do believe there exists a willingness by the Board to consider a moratorium on zonings and building permits,” Commission Chairperson Kate Pontello Karwacki told The Associated Press in an email “However, the Board will have to collectively agree on next steps.” Meanwhile, county assessors are weighing a proposal to recalculate the taxable value of Hogg Hummock properties for the first time since 2012. Their chief appraiser, Blair McLinn, predicts landowners could see painful increases, with values per half-acre possibly jumping from an average of $27,500 to $145,000. McLinn said he plans to meet with island residents to hear their concerns. But given nearly 20 sales in recent years with half-acre lots fetching up to $210,000, he said, steep increases seem unavoidable. “To leave it alone is not going to be an option, as far as revaluation goes,” McLinn said in a phone interview. Recognized as a US treasure, island relies on local protection Located about 60 miles (95 kilometers) south of Savannah, Sapelo Island remains largely unspoiled. The state of Georgia owns most of its 30 square miles (78 square kilometers), and there are no roads linking the island to the mainland. Hogg Hummock, also known as Hog Hammock, sits on less than a square mile. About 30 to 50 Black residents still live in modest homes along dirt roads in the community. Gullah-Geechee communities are scattered along the Southeast coast from North Carolina to Florida, where they have endured since the Civil War ended. Scholars say separation from the mainland caused these communities to retain much of their African heritage, including a unique dialect. Hogg Hummock earned a place in 1996 on the National Register of Historic Places, the official list of treasured U.S. historic sites. But for protections to preserve the community, residents depend on the local government in McIntosh…