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by Juliette Collen PARIS, France (AFP) — The first Ariane space rocket lifted off over the forests of French Guiana 40 years ago, enabling Europe to at last take its place as an independent player in the international race for space. Following a number of delays and technical setbacks, Ariane 1 finally left the launch pad in Kourou at 2:13 pm local time on December 24, 1979. Its maiden flight was a so-called qualification […]
PARIS, France (AFP) — Journalists working for the Reuters news agency in France went on strike on Tuesday, six months after more than half the news agency’s French service was laid off. The walkout, backed by “a huge majority” of reporters, was sparked by six people on its photo desk being told by telephone that they were also to be sacked, staff said. They feared the “incomprehensible” wave of cuts would hit the quality of […]
MARSEILLE, France (AFP) — Three emergency workers were killed in a helicopter crash near Marseille while on a rescue mission in southern France where floods have left two dead, officials said Monday. Their EC145 helicopter lost radio and radar contact while on a rescue and reconnaissance flight in the Var region Sunday night. The three were found dead at 1:30 am near the town of Rove, Interior Minister Christophe Castaner and his secretary of state […]
NICE, France (AFP) — Two people were killed on Sunday by floods in the French Riviera, which has been hit by fresh torrential rains a week after extreme weather left six dead, authorities said. In the Var region, a shepherd has swept away as he was trying to cross a ford in his 4×4 while tending to his flock. His body was found in his vehicle late Sunday night 300 meters (330 yards) downstream from […]
VENICE, Italy (AFP) — Torrential rains across northern Italy and southern France killed three people at the weekend, sweeping away part of a motorway viaduct in northern Italy and causing fresh flooding in Venice on Sunday. The rains, which left at least three people dead and two missing across the two countries, were the latest in a two-week wave of extreme weather in the region. Part of a viaduct serving Italy’s A6 motorway near Savona […]
TOULOUSE, France (AFP) — A suspension bridge over the Tarn river in southwest France collapsed on Monday, sweeping away a car and a truck, rescue workers said. No information on casualties were immediately available. The bridge connects the towns of Mirepoix-sur-Tarn and Bessieres, about 30 kilometres (18 miles) north of the city of Toulouse. The head of the Haute-Garonne department Georges Meric told AFP that three vehicles were caught in the bridge collapse, without […]
PARIS, France (AFP) — Heavy snowfall across a large swath of southeast France has left one person dead and cut power to some 300,000 homes, with icy conditions snarling train and road traffic Friday. A 63-year-old man was killed Thursday evening in the Isere department after a snow-laden tree fell on him while he was trying to clear away another downed tree, local officials said. Grid operator Enedis said 300,000 homes were without electricity Friday, […]
LYON, France (AFP) — An unusually strong earthquake hit southeastern France on Monday, injuring four people, one of them seriously, authorities said. A physicist at a geophysics institute the IPGP said that quakes of this strength are rare in that region, but warned of possible aftershocks and said people should leave fragile buildings. The quake, with a magnitude of 5.4, was felt in a vast area between the cities of Lyon and Montelimar which are […]
by Karine Perret Agence France Presse LOURDES, France (AFP) — French bishops on Saturday approved a program of payouts to victims of sex abuse by priests — but survivors have already objected that the Catholic Church has not gone far enough in admitting responsibility. Voting at the bi-annual Conference of French Bishops (CEF) in the southern city of Lourdes, a large majority of the 120 bishops approved the payments to those who had suffered […]
by Jérôme RIVET Agence France Presse BEIJING, China (AFP) — Chinese leader Xi Jinping and French President Emmanuel Macron declared on Wednesday that the Paris climate pact was “irreversible”, showing a united front after Washington formally withdrew from the accord this week. The joint declaration came at the end of Macron’s second visit to China, which started on Monday in Shanghai and included talks on trade and the Iranian nuclear issue. The French leader […]
LILLE, France (AFP) — Thirty-three people were injured on Sunday, at least four seriously, when a Paris-London bus with passengers from nine countries overturned in northern France, local authorities said. The Flixbus vehicle toppled onto its side around midday (1100 GMT) as it took an exit from the A1 motorway, France’s busiest route, the Somme prefecture said in a statement. Of the 33 people on board, 29 sustained light injuries and four were seriously hurt, […]
by Amélie BOTTOLLIER-DEPOIS Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — In 1919 a pioneering aviator took iconic photos of the Mont Blanc glaciers. A century later, a team of experts has recreated the images to highlight the drastic ice melt caused by rising temperatures. Despite an overwhelming body of scientific evidence tracking humanity’s contribution to climate change, it is often difficult to grasp the enormity of a phenomenon that unfolds so gradually. Numerous studies have […]
