9,000 silhouettes were drawn on a beach in Normandy, France, to represent the soldiers who never returned home after D-Day. Created in 2013 by artists Jamie Wardley and Andy Moss.
Alexandre Lofi (1917-1992) : un officier des commandos de la France libre
Le 7 mars 1992 disparaît le commandant Alexandre Lofi, l’un des officiers issus de la France libre et Compagnon de la Libération. Son parcours appartient à cette génération d’hommes qui, au moment de la défaite de 1940, refusèrent l’idée d’une France vaincue. Comme d’autres marins et soldats qui répondirent à l’appel du général de Gaulle, il choisit de poursuivre le combat, loin du territoire occupé, au sein des Forces françaises libres.
Dès l’été 1940, Alexandre Lofi rejoint les unités qui se constituent autour des volontaires français ralliés à la France libre. Il sert successivement au 1er bataillon de fusiliers marins puis au 2e bataillon de fusiliers marins. Ces formations regroupent des marins décidés à continuer la guerre aux côtés des Alliés. Après avoir quitté l’Angleterre, Lofi rejoint les territoires africains ralliés à la France libre, notamment le Cameroun, où ces unités se réorganisent et poursuivent leur engagement militaire dans les campagnes menées en Afrique et au Moyen-Orient.
Promu officier des équipages, il participe ensuite à différentes opérations sur plusieurs théâtres d’opérations. À la fin de l’année 1942, il est engagé dans la défense des côtes du Liban, à un moment où les forces françaises libres consolident leur présence dans la région du Levant et participent à la sécurisation de ce secteur stratégique. L’année 1943 marque un tournant décisif dans sa carrière militaire. Alexandre Lofi se porte volontaire pour rejoindre le 1er Bataillon de Fusiliers Marins Commandos, l’unité formée et commandée par le capitaine de corvette Philippe Kieffer. Ces volontaires français sont intégrés et entraînés au sein des commandos britanniques afin de participer aux futures opérations amphibies alliées.
Le 6 juin 1944, Alexandre Lofi fait partie des 177 commandos français qui débarquent en Normandie. À la tête de la 8ᵉ compagnie, il participe à l’assaut du casino fortifié de Ouistreham, objectif stratégique du secteur britannique de Sword Beach. Après ce premier combat, son unité contribue à sécuriser les ponts de l’Orne et à défendre ce secteur essentiel pour permettre aux troupes alliées de progresser vers l’intérieur de la Normandie.
La campagne ne s’arrête pas là pour les commandos franco-britanniques. À la fin de l’année 1944, Alexandre Lofi se distingue de nouveau lors des opérations menées aux Pays-Bas, notamment à Flessingue et sur l’île de Walcheren, dans le cadre de la bataille de l’Escaut. Ces combats extrêmement difficiles visent à neutraliser les défenses allemandes contrôlant l’accès maritime au port d’Anvers, un objectif vital pour la logistique alliée en Europe.
Pour son engagement et son courage au combat, Alexandre Lofi reçoit de nombreuses distinctions. Il est officier de la Légion d’honneur, commandeur de l’Ordre national du Mérite, titulaire de la Croix de guerre 1939-1945 avec trois citations et décoré de la Military Cross britannique.
Son nom reste aujourd’hui associé à celui des commandos Kieffer, seule unité française à avoir débarqué le 6 juin 1944. À travers son parcours, Alexandre Lofi incarne l’engagement de ces combattants de la France libre qui, dès 1940, décidèrent de continuer la guerre jusqu’à la libération de l’Europe.
Zelenskyy tells Putin: "We must determine what kind of future awaits the generations of Ukrainians and Russians who will come after us.
"If you do not personally come to the conclusion that it is time to end this war, Ukraine will continue fighting for its existence. We will have those who support us.
"But you, too, will have to fight much harder for your own existence — not Russia’s, but your own. And this is not a threat from me or from Ukraine. It is a fact of Russian history that you know well: when Russia grows tired, change comes."
https://t.co/tFKMp6z4Vx
Marjane Satrapi died today.
Her work incredibly matters, she showed millions of people what the regime hides.
In fact, Persepolis was so controversial that Iran’s government sent a letter to the French embassy in Tehran to protest it and pressured organizers of the 2007 Bangkok Film Festival to remove it from the lineup.
Since a “ceasefire” went into effect in mid-April, Israeli attacks in Lebanon have killed over 1200 people.
This amounts to over a third of the total number of people killed by Israel in Lebanon since March 2.
CORRECTION: Israel plans major settlement push across occupied West Bank https://t.co/1MGC3gNXdo
We will delete a post that referenced Israel’s latest settlement push as being seen by many as illegal; Israel’s settlements in the occupied West Bank are deemed illegal under international law
Marjane Satrapi
1969–2026
“Even if you calculate it in the most cynical way, a democratic Iran is good for the whole world.
A democratic Iran is a mortal blow to Russia.
A democratic Iran is a mortal blow to Hamas.
The Islamic Republic is factually dead.
And they are extremely scared of us.
And they have to be scared of us.
Because we are bold, and we are strong, and we are brave.
And no matter what they do, no matter how many times they rape us physically, mentally, whatever they do, we will fight back.”
Exclusive: In a memo sent to ICE employees, acting director David Venturella said the agency is eliminating its requirement to report deaths that occur within 30 days of people being released from its custody. https://t.co/vZVJ2iE1EQ
Anthropic calls for a global pause on building the most powerful AI systems as the latest models are beginning to show signs they could escape human control
https://t.co/VdvX4HRZFF
Some of Russia’s best-known hawks have become more open in expressing a belief that Moscow simply doesn’t have the capacity to achieve an outright victory against Ukraine. https://t.co/FK73LNYD1N
🇩🇪 Engines from the German company MAN continue to arrive in Russia, an investigation by the Dossier Center and the Süddeutsche Zeitung has shown.
They are supplied to Russia via a Turkish company, where they are installed on the Sobol border boats.
The Turkish company does not indicate Russia as the final buyer, so the manufacturer may not know where the products are going, but experts say that without engineers from the manufacturing company, the engines cannot be installed on Russian boats.
The Eiffel Tower you know is not exactly the Eiffel Tower that opened in 1889.
Its first platform was once wrapped with ornate decorative arcades — part of the architectural embellishments added by Stephen Sauvestre to soften the tower’s industrial iron structure. But for the 1937 Paris International Exposition, the first level was modernized under André Granet: the old decorative arcades were removed and replaced with cleaner, straighter galleries.
The change was so seamless that most people today have never seen the original version. What we recognize now is a simplified Eiffel Tower — less Victorian, more modern, and shaped partly by a renovation nearly 50 years after it was built.
Did you know this detail was missing?
THREAD ON ALBANIA
1. Yesterday was day 4 of major protests in Tirana, triggered by legal breaches to make way for a luxury seaside resort (in a protected natural site) linked to Trump family & local oligarch. But the protests have now expanded into a broader anti-elite movement.
Lego just dropped its latest historical set, the Sagrada Família based on Antoni Gaudí's masterpiece. It's the largest lego set ever produced in the company's history at 12,060 pieces.
The year is special because 2026 is when the famed basilica will finally be completed after 144 years of construction.
Thousands of people are protesting in Albania against Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner’s plan to build a luxury resort on an environmentally sensitive part of Albania’s coastline.
The $1.6 billion development is being led by Kushner's investment firm Affinity Partners.
Albania’s prime minister Edi Rama has defended the development, arguing it will bring investment, jobs and more tourists to the country.