Floods in Paris - River Seine in spate

Fears of floods in Paris mounts as River Seine is in spate with floodwaters forecast to peak with the river due to reach 19 ft above its normal level. As a precautionary measure, the world-famous Louvre and Orsay museums have been closed so that staff can move priceless artwork to safety.
This has been reported in zeenews.india.com dated 3 June 2016.

Rainfall of up to 50 mm is expected to fall in some regions in just a few hours as indicated by the weather officials. In Paris, emergency barriers have been put up along the Seine, which has already burst its banks in places. The Rail operator SNCF has also closed a line that runs alongside the Seine in central Paris.
It seems nearly 25,000 people are without power in Paris and central France while in Nemours, 3,000 people have been evacuated from the town center. The levels of Loing river, a tributary of the Seine, have not seen since the devastating floods of 1910. The extent of rainfall is equivalent of six weeks` worth which has fallen in three days time in the Loiret department. It has led to submerging of roads with drivers forced to abandon their cars. It is forecast that the downpours will continue through the weekend.
President Francois Hollande could be declaring a state of natural disaster in the worst-hit areas.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

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EgyptAir Airbus A320 from Paris to Cairo crashes with 66 passengers and crew on board

It has been confirmed by officials of Egyptian aviation that an EgyptAir flight from Paris to Cairo with 66 passengers and crew on board has crashed. It was EgyptAir Flight 804 and it lost contact with ground radar while flying at 37,000 feet. the Airbus A320 had vanished 10 miles (16 kilometers) after it entered Egyptian airspace. A search has been started to locate the debris. The "possibility that the plane crashed has been confirmed," because it has not landed at any of the nearby airports.
French president Francois Hollande has spoken telephonically with his Egyptian counterpart Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi and assured to "closely cooperate to establish as soon as possible the circumstances" in which the EgyptAir flight disappeared.
This has been reported intimesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 19 May 2016.

Egyptian military aircraft were searching for the plane. It was carrying 56 passengers, including one child and two babies, and 10 crew members and its pilot had 6,000 flight hours. EgyptAir has said that those on board included 15 French passengers, 30 Egyptians, one Briton, two Iraqis, one Kuwaiti, one Saudi, one Sudanese, one Chadian, one Portuguese, one Belgian, one Algerian and one Canadian.
It seems the pilot did not send a distress call, and the last contact was made 10 minutes before it disappeared from radar.
France continues to remain under a state of emergency after Islamic extremist attacks had killed 130 people in a spree of attacks in November - the ISIS had claimed responsibility for the attacks.


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Labrador and German Shepherd dogs to guard Prime Minister Modi

#NarendraModi #barackobama #FrancoisHollande #dogsquad Labrador and German Shepherd dogs trained by the National Training Center for Dogs (NTCD), Bhanu, near Panchkula in Haryana, is now imparting training to the dogs who will be guarding the Prime Minister Narendra Modi. A contingent of Special Protection Group (SPG) comprising Labrador and German Shepherd breed of dogs, along with their handlers, is undergoing necessary training at the state-of-the-art training center of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP).
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 30 January 2016.

It is an intensive training program and the dogs have already completed seven weeks of training and have 17 more weeks before they can qualify and pass out for deployment in the PM's security. The dogs will be trained in anti-sabotage checks and these would be at par with the elite ITBP crack K9 units. After passing out these canines would be a part of the PM's sniffer service.
ITBP's dog squad of "K9 explosive detection unit" is the only one in India to be trained following highly classified module at NTCD Bhanu - these will certify the canines only with 100% accuracy.
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Most popular world leaders - Barack Obama No 1, Narendra Modi No 7

#barackobama #NarendraModi #FrancoisHollande #AngelaMerkel #VladimirPutin Results of the WIN/Gallup survey for ORB International's 'International World Leader Index' reveal that Barack Obama is undoubtedly the No 1 while India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi is placed at 7th position. This has been reported in ibnlive.com dated 24 December 2015.

For Narendra Modi, the breakdown of the percentage is: favourable view from 24 per cent of people polled throughout 65 countries around the world as opposed to 20 per cent unfavorable - his score, thus, was +4 per cent in the WIN/Gallup survey.
Barack Obama grabbed the topmost spot with a score of +30 per cent - there was a whopping 59 per cent in his favor and 29 per cent unfavorable.
At No 2 position is German Chancellor Angela Merkel - her score is +13 per cent
Next comes British Prime Minister David Cameron at No 3 - his score is +10 per cent. He scored a 37 per cent favorable rating while another 28 per cent viewed him unfavorably
4th - French President Francois Hollande
5th - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin
6th - Chinese President Xi Jinping
8th - Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff
9th - Saudi Arabia King Salman bin Abdulaziz al Saud
10th - Iranian President Hassan Rouhani
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Terrorist attack in Lyon, France – man beheaded by IS militants

In a terrorist attack in Saint-Quentin-Fallavier, Lyon, a man has been decapitated and several others injured at a chemicals factory in France. The attack has been labeled as a terrorist attack by President Francois Hollande. The dead man had Arabic inscriptions on him and there was an Islamist flag found near the site.
This has been reported on bbc.com dated 26 June 2015.

It seems there were a number of explosions before two men drove into the Air Products gas factory near Lyon and crashed into it in a car. The Air Products is a US-based firm. One of the suspects, a 30-year-old who was known to police, has been arrested.
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls has ordered that security be stepped up at sensitive sites around Lyon. The attack has come nearly six months after Islamist attacks in and around Paris that had killed 17 people.
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Ukraine peace deal agreed upon with Putin – rebels to withdraw heavy artillery

#ukraine #minsk #putin #ceasefire It was a marathon session with people who mattered and who had met to resolve the crisis in Ukraine that appeared to be gradually going out of control. Present were President Vladimir Putin, President Petro Poroshenko, Chancellor Angela Markel and President Francois Hollande - and, at the end of the day, it was possible to secure a ceasefire in Ukraine's war with pro-Russian separatists.
The negotiations in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, to halt the spiraling bloodshed went on through the night and finally President Vladimir Putin emerged from the summit with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and the French and German leaders to announce that an agreement had been reached on the 'main' points as reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 12 February 2015.
The Russian President indicated that a ceasefire would take effect on Sunday and that heavy weapons would be withdrawn from frontlines of the conflict. Already over 5,300 people have been killed in the violence.
French President Francois Hollande and Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko stressed that separatist leaders had signed the truce and this would replace an earlier ceasefire agreement that had been reached in Minsk in September but rarely observed.
At one point of time there were signs that all was not well but, finally, better sense appears to have prevailed and, one can only hope that the ceasefire will be honored this time.

President Obama says arming Ukraine is an option in case all others fail

#angelamerkel #barackobama #ukraine #EU #francoishollande Ukraine is gradually becoming a major issue between the two super powers and both the US and Russia are snapping at each other’s feet while the whole world waits with bated breath for the outcome. President Obama is, apparently, losing patience and he has confirmed that his administration is examining an alternative like sending arms to Ukraine to help the country beat back Russian-backed separatists, in case diplomacy fails as reported in foxnews.com dated 9 February 2015.
The President made these comments at the time of a joint press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, following a meeting between the two leaders at the White House.
Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande have been trying to push through a peace plan. They have plans for a summit later this week with the leaders of both Russia and Ukraine and president Obama wants to give sufficient time for those talks space to play out.
He has once again stressed that a diplomatic resolution to this issue must be encouraged – however, lethal military aid is on the table. He has added that he has yet to take a decision on whether to approve such a plan.
Of course, Angela Merkel does not favor the arming of Ukraine by the US and wants to pursue a peaceful solution.
Already plenty of sanctions have been imposed on Russia because of its annexing Crimea and the European Union has decided to temporarily hold off slapping more sanctions on Russians and Ukrainian separatists as they wait for the outcome of the peace talks.
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Peace in Ukraine is the need of the hour – Merkel and Hollande to present plan to Putin

#ukrainepeacetalks #AngelaMerkel #FrancoisHollande #JohnKerry With over 5000 dead already in the violence in Ukraine and with the numbers increasing on a regular basis, the need of the hour is to work out a peace plan for Ukraine and, Angela Merkel and Francois Hollande have taken up this task as reported in theguardian.com dated 6 February 2015. The German and French leaders will be meeting Putin to put up the peace plan to him in the hope of getting a possible breakthrough.
This meeting has been convened in a hurry after Putin put forth his own plan and France and Germany responded with counter-proposals. The urgency was due to an upsurge of fighting and growing European fears of US intervention.
The US had taken a decision to supply arms to Kiev and, in case that really happened, it could trigger an uncontrollable rise in violence.
US Secretary of State John Kerry has indicated that the US wanted a diplomatic solution but was keeping all of its options open and these included “the possibility of providing defensive systems to Ukraine”.
Following a temporary ceasefire between pro-Russia rebels and the Ukrainian authorities, a human corridor was created to remove civilians from the heart of fighting in eastern Ukraine. As per the agreement, the understanding was to evacuate civilians from Debaltseve. This is a railway hub and has become the main target of a rebel offensive because of its strategic location.