France wildfires force mass evacuation
Wildfires in south-eastern France have forced the evacuation of 10,000 people overnight, officials say.
Hundreds of firefighters have been deployed to battle the fires near Bormes-les-Mimoses, in the country's Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region.
France earlier asked its EU neighbours for more help fighting the fires.
Some 4,000 hectares (15.4 sq miles) of land have burned along the Mediterranean coast, in the mountainous interior and on the island of Corsica.
"The evacuations, at least 10,000, followed the progression of the fire," a fire official was quoted as saying by the AFP news agency.
"It's an area that doubles or triples its population in summer," the official added.
One of the worst fires is raging in an area near the popular resort of Saint-Tropez.
In Corsica, hundreds of homes have been evacuated.
Anger at plan to let Chinese police patrol in Hong Kong
Critics say mini-constitution would be contravened by Chinese officers controlling part of new high-speed rail station and enforcing mainland law
A Hong Kong government plan to lease part of a new high-speed rail station to China and allow Chinese police to enforce mainland laws has sparked new fears the city is losing its autonomy.
The proposal, which has drawn heavy criticism from pro-democracy lawmakers, would see mainland police patrol Hong Kong for the first time as part of joint immigration checks at a rail terminus in the West Kowloon neighbourhood, possibly in violation of the city’s mini-constitution, the Basic Law.
Chinese police would control roughly one-fifth of the train station, including the waiting areas, most of the train platforms and inside the train cars. Police would also maintain detention cells and an arms cache, according to reports in local media.
Thirteen Bangladeshi children died from controversial insecticide only recently banned by US
Case highlights stark differences in safety regulations on either side of the Atlantic as British negotiators seek trade deal with US
A controversial insecticide blamed for the deaths of 13 Bangladeshi children was only banned in the US last year despite being blocked by the EU more than decade earlier, highlighting the stark differences in safety regulations on either side of the Atlantic.
Researchers writing in the Lancet medical journal found a direct link between the use of endosulfan and the deaths in Bangladesh in 2012.
The children died of acute encephalitis syndrome (AES) after coming into contact with powerful pesticides and fungicides sprayed on lychee orchards in the region.
Two-day general strike to begin today in Venezuela to protest Maduro
Latest update : 2017-07-26
President Nicolas Maduro’s adversaries are to stage a two-day national strike from Wednesday in a final push to pressure him into abandoning a weekend election for a super-congress they say will institutionalize autocracy in Venezuela.
Millions participated in a 24-hour shutdown last week, leaving businesses closed, families behind doors, and streets barricaded or empty across swathes of Venezuela.
“From 6 a.m. tomorrow, we are going to paralyze this country,” opposition lawmaker and street activist Juan Requesens said. “We have shown Nicolas Maduro and his group there is no love for them anywhere in Venezuela or the world.”
Silenced stones mark hard path to Sri Lankan reconciliation
Security forces have erected numerous monuments celebrating their 2009 victory over Tamil Tiger rebels. No such privilege has been accorded to the Tamil insurgents or civilians who died in the fight.
An eerie art installation near an idyllic Sri Lankan beach symbolizes many of the contradictions of this post-war society, comprising a sculpture of a man carrying his brutalized daughter, an old suitcase full of clothes and a small ‘graveyard’ punctuated by tiny stones.
The core sculpture was inaugurated on May 18, 2016 – the seventh anniversary of the end of the decades–long civil war, which the Sri Lankan government celebrates as a day of victory over the Tamil insurgents.
One year later, police obtained a court order preventing Father Elil Rajendram, the Tamil Jesuit priest behind the project (and an activist and co-spokesperson for the Tamil Civil Society Forum), from presiding over a ceremony to add some stones bearing the names of people who had died during the war.
HRW: French police routinely abuse Calais refugees
Human Rights Watch says police often use excessive force on migrants in Calais, including on those who pose no threat.
French police routinely abuse refugees and migrants in the port town of Calais, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a new report, accusing authorities of turning a blind eye to police misconduct.
Wednesday's report - titled Like Living in Hell - accuses police and riot squads of regularly using pepper spray on asylum seekers, including children, who do not pose a threat, such as while they are sleeping.
Officers have also confiscated or pepper sprayed asylum seekers' food, water, sleeping bags, blankets and clothes, the report added, saying that the conduct violates international standards of policing.
No comments:
Post a Comment