Paris mayor dips into the Seine River to showcase its improved cleanliness before Olympic events
PARIS (AP) — After months of anticipation, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo took a dip in the Seine River on Wednesday, fulfilling a promise she made months ago to show the river is clean enough to host open-swimming competitions during the 2024 Olympics — and the opening ceremony on the river nine days away.
Clad in a wetsuit, Hidalgo plunged into the river near the imposing-looking City Hall, her office, and the Notre Dame Cathedral. Paris 2024 chief Tony Estanguet and the top government official for the Paris region, Marc Guillaume, joined her.
“The water is very, very good. A little cool, but not so bad,’’ Hidalgo said upon emerging.
It’s part of a broader effort to showcase the river’s improved cleanliness ahead of the Summer Games which will kick off July 26 with a lavish open-air ceremony that includes an athletes’ parade on boats on the Seine. Daily water quality tests in early June indicated unsafe levels of E. coli bacteria, followed by recent improvements.
Since 2015, organizers have invested heavily — $1.5 billion — to prepare the Seine for the Olympics and to ensure Parisians have a cleaner river in the years after the Games.
Water rescues underway in Arkansas after a new wave of storms across U.S.
YELLVILLE, Ark. (AP) — Flash flooding in Arkansas led to evacuations and water rescues Wednesday after a new wave of severe storms that have pummelled a vast swath of the U.S. and Canada, officials said. High winds, tornadoes and flooding have caused damage or deaths this week from the Plains to New England amid baking heat.
As much as 11 inches (nearly 28 centimetres) of rain fell overnight into Wednesday on parts of Marion County, Arkansas, in the Ozark Mountains, the National Weather Service said.
There were no immediate reports of injuries from the flooding.
Storms toppled trees and damaged homes Tuesday in New Hampshire. They also caused damage in upstate New York, where cities declared states of emergency. Around Toronto, flooding temporarily closed several major roads, the Canadian Press reported Wednesday.
About 200,000 homes and businesses lacked power Wednesday in northeastern states, according to PowerOutage.us. The East Coast from Maine to the Carolinas was warned of weather that could make it feel hotter than 100 degrees (37.8 Celsius) in some places.
Nearly two-thirds of Democrats want Biden to withdraw, new AP-NORC poll finds
By: Darlene Superville, Amelia Thomson-deveaux And Emily Swanson
WASHINGTON (AP) — Nearly two-thirds of Democrats say President Joe Biden should withdraw from the presidential race and let his party nominate a different candidate, according to a new poll, sharply undercutting his post-debate claim that “average Democrats” are still with him even if some “big names” are turning on him.
The new survey by the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, conducted as Biden works to salvage his candidacy two weeks after his debate flop, also found that only about 3 in 10 Democrats are extremely or very confident that he has the mental capability to serve effectively as president, down slightly from 40% in an AP-NORC poll in February.
The findings underscore the challenges the 81-year-old president faces as he tries to silence calls from within his own party to leave the race and tries to convince Democrats that he’s the best candidate to defeat Donald Trump. The poll was conducted mostly before Saturday’s assassination attempt on Trump at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. It’s unclear whether the shooting influenced people’s views of Biden, but the small number of poll interviews completed after the shooting provided no early indication that his prospects improved.
House Speaker to seek the resignation of the Secret Service director
(AP) – House Speaker Mike Johnson says he will be calling on the Secret Service director Kimberly Cheatle to resign in the aftermath of the assassination attempt on Donald Trump.
Johnson said Wednesday on Fox News that “it’s inexcusable” what happened and that the House will be launching a task force to investigate the security at the Trump rally last weekend.
“We need answers,” he said in a social media post. Cheatle was scheduled to appear before a House committee next Monday, but Johnson said he’s been told she may not appear.
Former White House official Peter Navarro expected to speak at RNC, AP source says
(AP) – Former White House official Peter Navarro was released Wednesday from prison and was expected to speak just hours later at the Republican National Convention, according to a person familiar with the schedule who spoke on condition of anonymity before its official release.
Navarro was released from custody after completing his four-month sentence for refusing to cooperate with a congressional investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, according to the federal Bureau of Prisons.
Navarro will be heading straight to Milwaukee to speak at the third night of the Republican National Convention.
He is scheduled to speak in the 6 p.m. hour.
Israeli delegation arrives in Cairo for Gaza cease-fire talks
CAIRO (AP) – An Israeli delegation has arrived in Egypt to continue cease-fire talks as Israel and Hamas consider the latest proposal. That’s according to three Egyptian airport officials who didn’t give details. International mediators continue to push Israel and Hamas toward a phased deal that would halt the fighting and free about 120 hostages held by the militant group in Gaza.
Talks between the sides were rattled over the weekend when Israel said it targeted Hamas’ military commander in a massive strike. His status remains unclear.
Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack sparked the war when militants stormed into southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and abducting about 250. Since then, Israeli ground offensives and bombardments have killed more than 38,600 people in Gaza, according to the territory’s Health Ministry. It does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count.
Greece shuts Acropolis during the hottest part of the day as southern Europe swelters in a heat wave
By: Elena Becatoros And Srdjan Nedeljkovic
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece’s Culture Ministry ordered the closure of the Acropolis — the country’s biggest cultural attraction — for several hours in the middle of the day Wednesday, while authorities warned of extreme conditions across much of the country as southern Europe sweltered in a heat wave that sent temperatures spiralling.
Meteorologists said the hot air from Africa was forecast to continue baking Greece for several more days and at least through Sunday, with the heat wave peaking on Wednesday and Thursday when temperatures were expected to reach 43 degrees C (109 F).
In neighbouring Italy, authorities added Palermo, Sicily, to the list of 13 cities with a severe heat warning as the entire Italian peninsula broiled in the same heat wave.
Across the northern border in North Macedonia, authorities were struggling to tame dozens of wildfires that had broken out in the previous 24 hours, with one major blaze stretching across nearly 30 kilometres (21 miles).
Interpol arrests 300 people in a global crackdown on West African crime groups across 5 continents
By: Monika Pronczuk
DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — In a global operation targeting West African organized crime groups across five continents, police arrested 300 people, seized $3 million and blocked 720 bank accounts, Interpol said Tuesday.
Operation Jackal III, which ran from 10 April to 3 July in 21 countries, aimed to fight online financial fraud and the West African syndicates behind it, the agency said in a statement.
One of the targeted groups was Black Axe, one of the most prominent criminal networks in West Africa. Black Axe operates in cyber fraud, human trafficking, drug smuggling, and is responsible for violent crimes both within Africa and globally, the agency added.
Black Axe used money mules to open bank accounts worldwide and is now under investigation in over 40 countries for related money laundering activities, the agency said. The suspects include citizens from Argentina, Colombia, Nigeria and Venezuela.
9 crew members rescued, search still on for others after oil tanker capsizes in Arabian Sea off Oman
(AP) – Search teams rescued nine crewmembers, mostly Indians, and were searching for seven others after an oil tanker capsized this week off the coast of Oman, the Indian Navy said Wednesday.
The tanker, the MT Prestige Falcon, capsized in the Arabian Sea late Monday about 25 nautical miles (29 miles) southeast of Oman’s Ras Madrakah area, according to Oman’s Maritime Security Agency.
The cause of the capsizing and the condition of the tanker and its cargo were not immediately known. But the Indian Navy, which sent a warship to help in the search operations, said the rescue teams were dealing with rough sea and strong winds.
In a statement, the Navy said eight Indians and another crewmember had been rescued, and that Indian and Omani teams were continuing to search for others. The crew included 13 Indians and three Sri Lankans, it said.
