Latest news with #Franceinfo
The Sun
2 hours ago
- Sport
- The Sun
Leon Marchand drops two events for world championships in Singapore
FOUR -time Olympic champion Leon Marchand has decided to drop two of his usual events at the upcoming world championships in Singapore. The French swimmer will only compete in the 200 and 400 metres individual medley, skipping the 200 butterfly and 200 breaststroke. His coach, Nicolas Castel, confirmed the decision, stating it was a strategic choice for the post-Olympic season. 'He won't be doing the 200m butterfly and 200m breaststroke,' Castel told Franceinfo. The move allows Marchand to focus solely on the medley events without the fatigue of back-to-back races. Marchand, 23, had a stellar performance at the Paris Games, securing gold in the 200 breaststroke, 200 butterfly, 200 IM, and 400 IM, along with a bronze in the 4x100m medley relay. Castel explained, 'He wanted to test this isolated 200m medley and see what he was capable of.' The swimming segment of the world championships will run from July 27 to August 3 in Singapore. - Reuters
Reuters
9 hours ago
- Sport
- Reuters
Marchand drops 200 butterfly, breaststroke for world championships
July 22 (Reuters) - Four-time Olympic champion Leon Marchand will only compete in the 200 and 400 metres individual medley events at the world championships in Singapore after opting out of the 200 butterfly and 200 breaststroke, his coach Nicolas Castel said. The 23-year-old Frenchman won gold in the 200 breaststroke, 200 butterfly, 200 and 400 IM at the Paris Games, as well as a bronze in 4x100m medley. "He won't be doing the 200m butterfly and 200m breaststroke," Castel told Franceinfo on Monday. "It's a choice we made because we're in a post-Olympic year and he's never had the opportunity to do a 200m medley without having a race before or after it on the same day. He wanted to test this isolated 200m medley and see what he was capable of." The swimming events at the world championships will take place in Singapore from July 27 to August 3.
The Star
9 hours ago
- Sport
- The Star
Swimming-Marchand drops 200 butterfly, breaststroke for world championships
FILE PHOTO: Swimming - Men's 200m Individual Medley Final - Paris La Defense Arena, Nanterre, France - August 02, 2024. Leon Marchand of France celebrates after setting an Olympic record to win gold REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino/File Photo (Reuters) -Four-time Olympic champion Leon Marchand will only compete in the 200 and 400 metres individual medley events at the world championships in Singapore after opting out of the 200 butterfly and 200 breaststroke, his coach Nicolas Castel said. The 23-year-old Frenchman won gold in the 200 breaststroke, 200 butterfly, 200 and 400 IM at the Paris Games, as well as a bronze in 4x100m medley. "He won't be doing the 200m butterfly and 200m breaststroke," Castel told Franceinfo on Monday. "It's a choice we made because we're in a post-Olympic year and he's never had the opportunity to do a 200m medley without having a race before or after it on the same day. He wanted to test this isolated 200m medley and see what he was capable of." The swimming events at the world championships will take place in Singapore from July 27 to August 3. (Reporting by Pearl Josephine Nazare in Goa; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
LeMonde
2 days ago
- Politics
- LeMonde
One million sign French petition against law unbanning bee-killing pesticide
More than a million people had by Sunday, July 20, signed a petition urging the French government to ditch a law allowing the reintroduction of a banned pesticide known to kill bees. The so-called "Duplomb law" has stirred public anger for permitting a return of acetamiprid – a chemical known to be toxic to pollinators such as bees and to ecosystems. It was adopted on July 8 but has not yet come into effect. A 23-year-old master's student launched the petition against the law on July 10, with support quickly snowballing with the backing of many, including actors and several left-wing lawmakers. More than 500,000 people signed it in 24 hours from Saturday and Sunday alone. The law's proponents argue farmers face too much regulation in France as is, and allowing them to use acetamiprid again would help reduce the constraints they face. President Assemblée Nationale Yaël Braun-Pivet on Sunday ruled out abandoning the legislation, named after the conservative lawmaker who proposed it, as it would "save a certain number of our farmers." The petition's author, Eléonore Pattery, who describes herself as "a future environmental health professional," called the new law a "scientific, ethical, environmental and public health aberration." "It represents a frontal attack on public health, biodiversity, the coherence of climate policies, food security, and common sense," she said. 'Bee killer' Acetamiprid has been banned in France since 2018, but remains legal within the European Union. The insecticide is particularly sought after by beet and hazelnut growers, who say they have no alternative against pests and face unfair competition. On the other hand, beekeepers have branded the chemical "a bee killer." Its effects on humans are also a source of concern but, in the absence of large-scale studies, its risks remain unclear. The petition calls for the "immediate repeal" of the law and a "citizen-led consultation involving health, agricultural, environmental and legal stakeholders." Petitions do not in themselves trigger a review or repeal of the legislation but unprecedented public support may prompt renewed parliamentary discussion on the matter. Under French rules, if a petition reaches 500,000 verified signatures, the Assemblée Nationale may choose to hold a public debate limited to the content of the petition itself. Braun-Pivet told the broadcaster Franceinfo on Sunday she would be in favour of such a debate, but lawmakers "could not in any case go back on the law which has been voted through." In late June, ahead of the law's passage, several thousand demonstrators – including farmers, environmental organisations and scientists – rallied across France calling for the bill to be withdrawn.
Local France
4 days ago
- Climate
- Local France
How France aims to keep the power on as temperatures soar
A blackout that struck the heart of Paris at the height of June's heatwave was caused by high temperatures, according to supplier Enedis. And the capital wasn't the only place affected on June 23rd, as temperatures soared - outages were reported on the same day in Occitanie, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, and Centre-Val-de-Loire – leaving some 13,000 customers without power. READ ALSO Paris blackout caused by heatwave, says network operator The city of Tours, in western France, suffered two 'successive and exceptional outages due to the heat' that left some 5,000 households without power. And this is far from being solely a French problem - a particularly intense heatwave in Sicily in 2023 saw blackouts that lasted up to a week in some areas. 'Very high temperatures over several days with temperatures that do not drop at night cause the temperature of the tarmac to rise by several dozen degrees (on the surface), which put severe strain on the underground networks,' the French grid operator Enedis explained in a statement. Advertisement So, these incidents weren't isolated and were all linked to recognised climate change. The next question is: why hasn't anything been done to mitigate the effects of climate change on a power network we're all increasingly dependent on? It's the wrong question. Because Enedis has been undertaking a major modernisation programme to replace older cables that are vulnerable to high temperatures for the past 16 years, and make the entire national grid more resilient. The city of Paris is in the middle of a massive project to replace its underground electricity cables with heat-resistant ones, after an emergency planning exercise designed to test the city's readiness for the day the temperature hits 50C revealed a major risk of blackouts. Since 2009, it has replaced 100km of underground cables annually in the French capital alone, with newer, more resilient ones capable of handling the high temperatures the city faces as a result of climate change. Cables laid as late as the 1970s were conceived to resist temperatures up to 90C. But when heat is trapped for days under the asphalt, they can reach 120-130C, increasing the risk of failure. These near 50-year-old cables are replaced with more robust modern ones that are better insulated and more able to withstand higher temperatures. As heatwaves become more frequent and more intense, urgency is understandable – but these things take time. Already, however, the effects of the upgrades are being felt. 'We are reducing the number of incidents by a factor of 33,' an Enedis spokesperson told Franceinfo . Enedis plans to phase out the obsolete cables in all French cities by 2050. And it is working with specialists to model the effect of climate change on different regions in France so it can target its €1 billion a year modernisation programme where, and how it is most needed. In Brittany, north-western France, for example, wind is a bigger issue than heat. 'So we need to have different resilience programmes for each part of the country,' Enedis said. Advertisement Flagship projects in Indre-et-Loire and Ardèche, meanwhile, are seeing electricity cables buried underground to prevent outages caused by winds, snow and storms, which can lead to outages – due, for example, to branches or trees falling on to power lines. Today, some 98.4 percent of new medium-voltage lines are buried – the higher cost of maintenance and repairs more than covered by the reduction in the number of outages caused by extreme weather.
