Stocks, bonds, and cryptocurrencies all slumped Tuesday while stalwart old gold continued its remarkable rally, with a sixth day of gains and another record high.

 

THEY MUST BE MINTING TOO MANY GOLD MEDALS FOR THE OLYMPICS....

TOP GOLD PRODUCERS: CHINA, RUSSIA, AUSTRALA....

MEANWHILE THE IMF IS TRYING HARD TO CONTAIN THE PRICE OF GOLD BELOW $2,000 AN OUNCE....

 

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it's time for being earnest.....

International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach has admitted to a pair of pranksters that Ukrainians have been asked to spy on Russian athletes online so that they could be banned from the upcoming Paris Games.   

In a video-call posted on Tuesday, in which one of the Russian duo known as Vovan and Lexus impersonated an African official, Bach claimed that by sanctioning Russian athletes, the IOC is “punishing those who are responsible for the annexation.”  

The IOC chief was apparently referring to the former Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporozhye, which overwhelmingly voted to join Russia in public referenda in 2022. They followed the Crimean Peninsula, which did the same in 2014 after a Western-backed coup in Kiev.  

“No Russian anthem can be played and no Russian flag can be raised [at the Paris 2024 Olympics],” the IOC president stated.

Answering a question on whether Russian athletes who support the Ukraine conflict deserved the right to take part in the Olympics, Bach revealed that the IOC has a special commission which monitors public statements by athletes in support of the government in Moscow.   

“We have a special supervisory commission together with an independent company which is monitoring the internet, the media, and public declarations,” he stated.   

“We also offered the Ukrainian side – and not only offered, but also asked to provide us with their knowledge about the behavior of such athletes or officials,” Bach further revealed.  

He stressed that any athletes found to have expressed support for the Russian government will be banned from the Olympics.   

Russian athletes are allowed to participate in the Games as neutrals in individual sports, but are barred from team events.  

After the start of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022, the IOC recommended that athletes from Russia and its close ally Belarus should not be allowed to compete in international events. In December last year, the body ruled that a limited number of people from the two countries could participate in the Olympics as AINs (individual neutral athletes).  

In March, the international body announced that the maximum number of Russians who could qualify for the Paris Games was 55, while Belarus is limited to 28 athletes. However, according to IOC director James Macleod, the two nations are unlikely to meet the quotas, and around 36 Russian and 22 Belarusian athletes are expected to make it to the Games.  

Several top-ranking European officials, including Latvian Foreign Minister Krisjanis Karins and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, have fallen for prank calls by Russian duo Vovan and Lexus in recent months, during which the politicians revealed their thoughts on sensitive topics such as the Ukraine conflict.

 

https://www.rt.com/news/595286-russians-prank-thomas-bach/

 

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it's time for being earnest.....

 

 

French President Emmanuel Macron’s claims that Moscow may somehow seek to undermine the Paris Olympics are entirely baseless, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday.

President Vladimir Putin’s press secretary was asked to comment on the French leader’s remarks, as well as the Czech transportation minister’s allegations that Russia has been trying to hack into the EU railway networks.

“These are absolutely unfounded accusations in both the first and second cases,” Peskov said. “They are often heard, but they are never supported by any adequate evidence or argumentation. We absolutely do not accept such accusations.”

The West often makes baseless accusations against Moscow, Peskov added, calling it “quite indecent behavior.”

On Thursday, at the ceremony for opening a new aquatics center, Macron told reporters he had “no doubt” that Russia was “targeting” the Olympics, “including in the information field.”

“Every day [Russia] is putting out stories saying that we are unable to do this or that, so [the Games] would be at risk,” the French president said.

https://www.rt.com/news/595472-macron-russia-sabotage-olympics/

 

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it's time for being earnest.....

Do the “Olympics” remain relevant despite their use by the predatory West, as a political tool excluding and favoring certain countries according to its own hegemonic objectives? “Olympic Games” as conceived by Baron de Coubertin, with his “International Olympic Committee” and his “Olympic Charter”? Nothing seems to have survived after the passage of Attila's followers!

Let's summarize what the “Olympic Charter” says. (Ref. Wikipedia)

The Olympic Charter, first published in 1908, establishes the fundamental rules and principles of the Olympic Games and the Olympic movement. It uses the rules set out by Pierre de Coubertin in 1899 and updated on June 26, 2019. Since 1978, it has been known by its current name.

The Charter includes six chapters and sixty-one articles

The first chapter of the Olympic Movement highlights the IOC's role in promoting non-discrimination, gender equality and sustainable development. He also mentions International Federations and National Olympic Committees as key players.

The second chapter presents the International Olympic Committee as a non-profit NGO headquartered in Switzerland. Its objective is to fulfill the mission, role and responsibilities defined by the Olympic Charter.

The third chapter explains the mission and function of the International Federations. These are international non-governmental organizations responsible for the management of sports on a global scale, including national bodies.

Chapter 4 discusses National Olympic Committees and their mission to develop, protect and promote the Olympic Movement in their country in accordance with the Olympic Charter.

Chapter 5 covers the rules of the Olympic Games: celebration, choice of host city, organizing committee, admission code, program and Olympic protocol.

The last chapter sets out the measures and sanctions in the event of non-compliance with the Olympic Charter.

Controversies

The IOC has been criticized for its intransigence and the lifetime status granted to some of its members. The mandates of Avery Brundage and Juan Antonio Samaranch were highly controversial. Samaranch's ties to the Franco regime have been heavily criticized in addition to nepotism. Brundage protected the Olympics from damaging political interference, but was accused of racism and anti-Semitism. In 1998, it was revealed that several IOC members had received bribes to influence votes in their favor. Four members resigned and six others were expelled.

Reforms have been put in place to prevent such incidents. A documentary of the with the BBC demonstrated that it was possible to bribe IOC members to influence the choice of the host city of the Olympic Games. Following the defeat of Paris for the organization of the 2012 Games, Bertrand Delanoë accused Tony Blair and the London committee of non-compliance with voting rules. Turin's selection for the 2006 Winter Olympics was also surrounded by controversy. Marc Hodler, an IOC member and supporter of rival city Sion in Switzerland, said some IOC members had been corrupted by the Turin Organizing Committee.

“Olympic” or “Atlantic-Zionist” Games?

During her visit to kyiv, Anne Hidalgo, socialist mayor of Paris, expressed her wish that Russian and Belarusian athletes would not participate in the Olympic Games. She said: “I want to tell the Russian and Belarusian athletes that they are not welcome in Paris...tell the Ukrainian athletes and...Ukrainian people, that we support them in a very strong and active way!". It would have been more coherent if it had included all the countries supporting Russia, including China. It is known that the most successful competitors are often Russian, winning the majority of medals. Without the participation of the Russians, it will be a cheap Olympics.

It is obvious that she acted hypocritically by supporting Ukraine, knowing that it was the Atlanticists, including France, who contributed to the current situation which led to the extermination of its army and its youth, going even so far as to suggest continuing “to the last Ukrainian". Hidalgo makes no mention of the 14 Donbas residents deliberately killed between 000 and 2014 simply because they are Russian. It seems to ignore the Israeli massacres in Gaza (more than 2022 civilians murdered in 33 months, mainly women and children and more than 000 injured) which France supports by providing ammunition.

These deaths did not shake her conscience or that of the corrupt regime she represents, because Israeli athletes, according to Pyotr Tolstoy, are “welcome”, just like those from kyiv. France, its second homeland, has indeed perpetrated massacres and genocides in Africa just as its Spanish ancestors committed them in the Americas; It is therefore doubtful that she does not support her peers, followers of Nazism in Ukraine and Israel. Furthermore, given the current context marked by France's submission to Zionist directives, it seems unlikely that it will act other than according to what its conscience steeped in this paradigm dictates, at the risk of being marginalized from the political scene, in the best case ! It has also been reported that some 500 migrants and homeless people have been relocated from the capital to rural areas in preparation for these Olympics. “Hide from me this “fourth world” that we…”?

As the natural rule is that for any beneficial or evil act there is a similar reaction, the Russian response was quick to come in the voice of the spokesperson for Russian diplomacy Maria Zakharova: “Do you think we should single out certain French products and say that they “are not welcome”… French products are not labeled “we are not welcome in Moscow”… Another statement like this, and the French business representatives will storm Paris town hall, following the farmers. We have a wide choice of products that can replace many French products».

Russian reactions

The International Olympic Committee announced that Russian and Belarusian athletes could participate in the individual events of the next Olympics, but without an anthem or flag and on condition that they did not support the invasion of Ukraine. Thus, an insignificant number would be eligible, compared to around sixty Ukrainians. It is also announced that they will not participate in the parade and that their medals will not be counted. Ridiculous !

It is certain that the Russians and Belarusians will not allow themselves to be humiliated. The Russian Olympic Committee has accused the IOC of acting like a “political instrumente” in the service of Westerners. It highlights the lack of objectivity of “International Court of Arbitration for Sports» towards Russia, accusing it of wanting to reduce the number of Russian athletes by imposing “humiliating criteria". Its president, Stanislav Pozdniakov, reacted as follows: “These artificial and politically motivated conditions eliminate the overwhelming majority of athletes at the forefront…», calling on Russian athletes to “carefully consider all the nuances of the proposed conditions" not to be "hostage to the interests of others". Russian President Vladimir Putin also castigated the IOC, saying it was taking the risk “to bury the Olympic movement". He added that he wantedcarefully analyze the conditions”, before making the decision to participate or boycott. In the latter case, it would be reminiscent of the Los Angeles Games in 1984, when the USSR decided not to participate.

The serious risk is to see the absence of Russians, Belarusians and Ukrainians, even Chinese and other nations! We would then witness “Paris Atlanticist Games» where only they would share the medals. “To conquer without danger, we triumph without glory". (P. Corneille)

There is quite intense lobbying from the so-called "collective" West, notably the United Kingdom, the Baltic countries, Poland, Ukraine and certain Scandinavian countries, aimed at excluding Russia from all international competitions. The question arose whether athletes would benefit from boycotting the Games, “which could serve as a means of propaganda for Vladimir Putin in the event of medals, even under a neutral banner», they say! The Russians do not seem to be falling for this fool's game. There are signs that Russian and Belarusian athletes will not be safe at all. The “neutral” banner captures the gullible. The propaganda claiming that “more than 200 Russian athletes seek to obtain another nationality» (often Israeli), constitutes another misleading maneuver aimed, as usual, at discrediting Putin and the Russians in connection with what is taking place in Ukraine!

Conclusion

We do not understand how a nation like France could reach such a level of humiliation, allowing itself to be deceived and degraded by influential Zionists who nevertheless continue to show and prove that they work for other countries to the detriment of French interests, while proclaiming themselves “French”!

France, however, has sufficient resources, renowned intellectuals and patriots, who are not those put forward by the dominant media, to put an end to this decrepitude! This situation is abnormal, paradoxical!

Things are becoming clearer as the failure of the Atlanticists against Russia is admitted. Borrell said on CNN that the US and EU pursue their own interests in Ukraine, regardless of those of the Ukrainians. He declared that “Support for Ukraine does not mean greatness or compassion, it is not even about helping the Ukrainians, but about defending the interests of the EU and the USA against Russia. Because Russia cannot win". Thus, Ukraine was sacrificed, pushing it to annihilation, in vain!

https://en.reseauinternational.net/jeux-olympiques-ou-atlantistes-de-paris-sur-le-genocide-de-gaza/

 

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it's time for being earnest.....

On July 14 at 3pm, as they have every second Sunday in July at the same time for more than 20 years, men and women, some alone and some with their families – some of them even politicians – will take the plunge into Europe's rivers. To hell with the rules, the banners will be out again: "Let's dare to swim in the Marne," "Essonne takes to the water," "I want to be able to swim again." Photos will circulate, and the authorities will be watching. They will go home with the promise of meeting again in a year's time, same day, same time, for the next European "Big Jump".

But by 2025, the mood on the banks of the Seine and Marne rivers in the Paris region could be different. Instead of defying the authorities, these swimsuit-clad activists could be celebrating what they've been campaigning for all these years: the return of swimming to the region's two main rivers.

A meeting was held on March 21 at the regional prefecture, chaired by prefect Marc Guillaume, Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo of the Parti Socialiste and metropolitan area president Patrick Ollier of Les Républicains (conservative). In the presence of numerous politicians, the three drew up the list of 32 sites – including 28 around the Paris metropolitan area – where swimming will soon be permitted again.

https://www.lemonde.fr/en/environment/article/2024/04/09/paris-region-rivers-to-be-open-to-swimming-again_6667827_114.html

 

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REMINDS ME OF BONDI A FEW YEARS AGO (1911)...:

 

 

The swimming leg of the Olympic triathlon in Paris could be delayed or canceled if water quality does not improve in the Seine River, which flows through the French capital, according to the organizers of the event.

The river is set to host several Olympic events this summer but has “alarming”bacteria levels, according to a warning issued by international NGO Surfrider Foundation Europe on Monday. The group claimed that out of 14 samples taken at the Alexandre III Bridge over a six-month period, all but one showed poor water quality.

Tony Estanguet, a three-time Olympic canoeing champion and the president of the Paris 2024 Organizing Committee, admitted on Tuesday that E. coli is “one of the bigger challenges” facing the organizers, noting that the triathlon could be delayed or the swimming leg canceled if water quality worsens.

“In sport, there’s a risk – there’s always a risk,” The Telegraph quoted Estanguet as saying. He stressed that there is “only one location” and no question of finding a back-up venue.

The main danger comes from heavy rainstorms, when water pours into the Parisian sewage system, causing an overflow risk. Excess rain is then discharged into the river and may lead to pollution. Last summer a sewage leak led to the cancelation of a pre-Olympic swimming event.

Measurements taken between September 2023 and March 2024 showed that levels of two bacteria – E. coli and enterococci – were often two and sometimes three times higher than the maximum European permitted amounts, according to the Surfrider Foundation.

Pollution levels remained high even after Paris invested over €1 billion ($1.1 billion) in a bid to provide safe swimming in the Seine for the first time in a century.

The €1.4 billion plan for the river involved a renovation of infrastructure, including new underground pipes and pumps. Water quality specialists said concentration levels for two bacteria, Enterococcus and E.coli, both used as the primary indicators of fecal material in fresh waters, were low enough to safely swim in the river.

Last month, French President Emmanuel Macron vowed to swim in the Seine in an apparent attempt to prove it is clean, ahead of the Olympic Games set to be hosted in the country’s capital in July and August.

https://www.rt.com/news/595694-water-pollution-paris-olympics/

 

 

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Ukraine typically uses any truce observed by Russia to gain an advantage on the battlefield, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday. He was responding to a proposal for an ‘Olympic ceasefire’ by French President Emmanuel Macron.

On Monday, the French president called for a global suspension of hostilities during the 2024 Olympic Games, set to be held in Paris in July and August. He specifically mentioned the Ukraine conflict and the war in Gaza while discussing the idea with the French media.

In response, Kremlin spokesman Peskov said that Russian President Vladimir Putin had been asked about similar initiatives on numerous occasions.

“Both our president and our military officials have pointed out that the Kiev regime usually uses such ideas and initiatives to regroup, rearm, etc. This certainly makes considering such initiatives much harder,” Peskov stated.

The Russian government has in any case not received any formal proposals from France in that regard, he added.

After Macron suggested an Olympic truce in Ukraine last month, Putin insisted that Moscow would be driven by its own interests and the battlefield situation when considering any calls for a ceasefire.

“We stand for peace talks, but not those called because the opponent is running out of ammo,” the Russian leader stated. Moscow expects Kiev to “actually be serious in seeking truly peaceful, long-term good neighborly relations between the two states, and not a pause for a couple of years to rearm,” he added.

Macron is among the Western leaders who advocate continued military assistance for Ukraine. He has vowed to ramp up French arms production so that it can supply weapons to Kiev for years to come.

 

https://www.rt.com/russia/596049-kremlin-olympic-truce-macron/

 

 

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Street crime crackdown packs Paris-area prison ahead of Olympics
A police crackdown that aims to clear a poor suburb of petty crime and street vendors before the Paris 2024 Olympics is putting pressure on an overcrowded prison operating at almost double its capacity.

 

Villepinte is a grey, concrete detention centre in the suburb of Seine-Saint Denis. It lies 2.5 km from the Paris Arena Nord, set to host boxing and fencing competitions during the Games beginning on July 26.

It is among the most crowded prisons in France. Opened in 1991, Villepinte takes prisoners from the busy Bobigny courthouse nearby for pre-trial detention and short sentences.

"The penitentiary authority needs to prepare for the worst," Eric Mathais, chief prosecutor at Bobigny, said in an interview.

Reducing inmate numbers ahead of the Olympics is unrealistic, Mathais said.

"We need to limit the number of people being imprisoned, but this is easier said than done as I am under extreme pressure from everyone to be clearly more repressive."

Reuters interviewed thirteen prosecutors, judges, lawyers and clerks working in Bobigny court, who said that the Seine-Saint-Denis justice system was operating at the limits of its capacity and prosecuting increasingly minor infractions in preparation for the Games.

As of April 8, when Reuters visited Villepinte with local senator Corinne Narassiguin, there were 1,048 inmates for 582 places at the prison, according to director Pascal Spenle. The penitentiary cannot technically handle many more, Spenle said.

Reuters spoke to four inmates who described spending most of their days inside their cells, with up to three prisoners in cells designed for one, sharing a toilet and showering every other day. At least 17 prisoners were sleeping on mattresses on the floor, prison authorities said.

Yanis, a 20-year-old inmate, said he’d been on a waiting list for months for a prison work programme. One of his two cellmates, Adil, 25, said he had not met a reintegration councillor during seven months inside.

Prison doctor Ludovic Levasseur said he’d seen demand for mental health care rise in recent years while overcrowding meant long waiting lists for psychologists handling up to 60 patients each.

To avoid reaching breaking point, judges at Bobigny courthouse almost doubled the number of early releases from Villepinte and another prison last year, to nearly 500.

Still, Villepinte was operating at 180% of capacity in early April, from 177% in April last year and 168% the year before, data from the prison and Ministry of Justice shows.

Ahead of an expected surge in the Olympics build up, Spenle said, Villepinte plans to transfer inmates to other prisons, freeing up 220 places. In the longer term the prison will get a new wing, he said.

In a letter to French prosecutors dated 15 January, Justice Minister Éric Dupond-Moretti called for "fast, strong and systematic responses" to infractions that may disrupt the Games.

Spokesperson Cedric Logelin said the ministry was taking measures to reduce overcrowding and prevent crime during the Games. He said court decisions were independent.

'Short-term solutions'

Many of the Olympic events are being held in Seine-Saint-Denis. The region has the highest ratio of immigrants among France’s departments and is also the poorest.

Teachers have been on strike since February, saying schools in the area are under-resourced. Homeless and traveller populations have set up camps and squats in the department.

In some neighbourhoods, informal sellers line the streets.

Mohamed Gnabaly, mayor of Ile Saint Denis, a town in the area, said the Olympics had helped infrastructure and housing development delayed for years due to lack of investment.

However, Olivier Cahn, a sociologist at CESDIP, a French centre for research on law and prisons, said a reliance on policing and tough sentencing was disproportionately affecting the poor, migrant and homeless populations.

"All we have are short-term solutions," said Cahn.

A zero-tolerance policing initiative launched last year that targets street crimes such as drug dealing and unlicensed selling in the area was adding to the prison population, prosecutor Mathais said.

Police deployed 4,000 extra officers in March and April, Seine-Saint-Denis police director of local security Michel Lavaud told reporters last week, calling it a clean up and saying the operation provided safety for locals and "tourists, audiences, the families of the athletes."

"It is just the beginning, we are going to increase the intensity" ahead of the Games, Lavaud said.

The crackdown drew criticism from seven legal professionals Reuters spoke to.

Fouad Qnia, a defence lawyer at Bobigny, said heavy penalties for infractions such as unlicensed street selling were disproportionate and could further marginalise people in already vulnerable situations.

Cigarette sellers

The recent policing operation targeted street vendors, police chief Lavaud said, including nearly 200 illegal cigarette sellers, some of whom were imprisoned and more than half of whom were handed deportation orders.

In one case, on April 3, a Bobigny judge ordered an Algerian man who moved to France two years ago to refrain from entering Seine-Saint-Denis for six months, including for the duration of the Games, after he was convicted of selling eight packets of cigarettes on the street.

He had previously been handed a suspended prison sentence and will face two months in jail, likely in Villepinte, if he is caught again in Seine-Saint-Denis or selling tobacco, assigned defence lawyer Jade Paya said, declining to name the man.

"They are in need. They don’t sell cigarettes because they like doing it," she said.

Villepinte houses more than thirty nationalities, deputy director David Langelois said. He said the number of foreign inmates was high due to detentions at the nearby Charles de Gaulle airport and the demographic makeup of Seine-Saint-Denis.

Foreigners were 21% of France’s prison population in 2020, whereas they were just 10% of the general population, according to national statistics. France does not keep ethnic statistics, but some sociological studies attest to an over-representation of Black and Arab men in prisons.

Senator Narassiguin said people of colour faced heavier policing and harsh penalties for petty street crime. Ministry of Justice spokesperson Logelin said court sentences were based on individual cases. He declined to comment on the ratio of foreign prisoners.

Brimming prisons

France has the most overcrowded prisons in Europe after Romania and Cyprus, with its prison population growing faster in 2022 than anywhere in the bloc other than Slovenia, data from the Council of Europe shows.

 

https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20240426-street-crime-crackdown-packs-paris-area-prison-ahead-of-olympics

 

 

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Reflections on the Olympic Games in Paris in 2024

by Dr rer. publ. Werner Wüthrich

 

According to the official calendar, the Olympic Games took place for the first time in 776 BC in the Greek city of Olympia in the north-west of the Peloponnese – 3,000 years ago. The simple rural festival in Greek Olympia, which the inhabitants celebrated in honour of Zeus, became a competition in song, dance, poetry and many sporting disciplines. The period between two festivals (four years) was called an Olympiad. These games brought together the best artists and athletes from all over the Greek peninsula and the islands. The Olympic Games have a long tradition – even after the fall of Ancient Greece. The basic idea has survived. Since ancient times, the Olympic flame has remained a symbol of peace and friendship between peoples.
  The Olympic flame is lit by the rays of the sun in a parabolic mirror and burns during the games at a sacred place in Olympia called Prytaneum. Today, the fire is carried from its place of origin to Paris in a torch relay. It is a highly symbolic event. The torchbearers proclaim the Ekecheiria, the Olympic Truce, and the message of peace on their way.
  On 16 April 2024, the Olympic flame will be lit in Olympia – just like 3000 years ago. Torchbearers will carry the flame in eleven stages to Piraeus, the harbour city of Athens. Here, the historic three-master, the Bélem, takes over the flame and brings it to Marseille. This ship was already in service in 1896, when Paris hosted the first Olympic Games of the modern era. After about ten days at sea, the Bélem will arrive in Marseille. Its arrival will open the festivities and the Games in France. However, the torch relay with the fire continues – right across France. The country will be at its best for many days. President Macron will officially open the Games in Paris on 16 July. They will last until 11 August. It should be a great celebration.

Shady sides

“Games wide open” is the official motto of the Olympic Committee. The organisers will offer a marathon and other disciplines for the general population. However, countries such as Russia and Belarus are excluded. This contradicts the spirit of the Olympic Games, which aims to promote friendship between peoples. Wars were not so rare in ancient Greece either – between Sparta and Athens and also between the other Greek city states. The Olympic Games have always been a bridge and an opportunity to overcome hostile differences and strengthen solidarity. The Greeks, who were often at odds with each other, were united at crucial moments and won a great victory over the Persians shoulder to shoulder in Marathon in 490 BC. The reporting messenger brought the news of the victory to Athens in such a short time that he collapsed dead at the finish after 41 kilometres. Today, the marathon is part of the programme – as it is again in Paris.
  Is there a better prerequisite for the “open mind” that characterised the ancient Greeks? Despite armed conflicts, people met every four years, socialised, celebrated festivals, practised singing, dancing and poetry and competed in numerous sporting disciplines. – Perhaps this is why Ancient Greece has such a unique place in the history of mankind that some of its life serves as a role model again today.
  The athletes from Russia and Belarus are only allowed to take part in the competitions as “individual, neutral persons” and are excluded from the opening ceremony. This also violates the Olympic spirit. And what about the population in the Gaza Strip, who are holding out in their ruins and don’t know whether and how they will survive the next few days?
  President Emanuel Macron has not exactly shown himself to be peace-loving in recent days and weeks. He wants to send troops to Ukraine and supply more weapons. He is attracting attention with his distinctly bellicose rhetoric, while the French are preparing a “grand” celebration throughout France.
  The torchbearers of Olympia proclaim on their way the “holy truce” and the message of peace – as they have done for three thousand years. This must be taken seriously!  

https://www.zeit-fragen.ch/en/archives/2024/nr-8-16-april-2024/nachdenkliches-zu-den-olympischen-spielen-in-paris-von-2024

 

 

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MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Thomas Bach, head of the International Olympic Committee, has said he is ready to venture a dip in the Seine to demonstrate that it is safe for athletes who will swim in its waters during the Paris 2024 Summer Games.

Bach told international media he was happy to join French President Emmanuel Macron, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo and Olympic Games executive Christophe Dubi for a dip in the river.

 

"If I receive an invitation I will be very happy to join them. I hope that water won't be too cold," Bach told a news conference on Friday.

 

French charity Surfrider Foundation raised concerns over the quality of water in April, saying athletes competing in triathlon, marathon swimming and paratriathlon events would be running "significant" health risks due to pollution of fecal origin.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20240504/olympic-chief-ready-to-swim-in-seine-amid-concern-of-water-pollution-1118254906.html

 

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Around 50,000 cubic meters of sewage water has been dumped into the Seine River over the past several weeks due to the problems with the pumping system in a suburb to the northwest of Paris, local officials have said.

The incident occurred two months before the start of the Summer Olympics, with French authorities rushing to clean up the river so that athletes could swim in it during triathlon events.

“There has been a major malfunction at the network that delivers the wastewater from Conflans-Sainte-Honorine to the treatment plant,” municipal mayor Laurent Brosse told La Gazette du Val d’Oise on Wednesday. He said that three pumps had stopped working due to electrical failure and that temporary pumps had been installed instead.

An estimated 50,000 cubic meters of wastewater has been released into the river since the incident, according to the administration of the Grand Paris Seine et Oise area, which includes Conflans-Sainte-Honorine. Officials said that the discharge of contaminated water from the broken pumping system has been stopped.

READ MORE: Macron promises to swim in Seine

The commune of Conflans-Sainte-Honorine is located some 24 km (15 miles) from downtown Paris. Officials believe that particularly heavy seasonal rainfall had caused damage to the equipment. Locals took to social media to complain about the foul smell coming from the river and reported seeing sanitary tissues and wipes floating in the water. Videos circulating on X (formerly Twitter) show brown water flowing into the river.

With the triathlon events set to kick off on June 30, Paris authorities have invested some €1.4 billion ($1.5 billion) into renovating the city’s water infrastructure, including new water storage reservoirs and pumps. Despite their best efforts, however, the latest tests conducted by water charity Surfrider showed that the levels of E. coli and the enterococci bacteria in the Seine are higher than allowed by sports federations and European bathing standards, France 24 reported on Wednesday.

In order to quell the concerns over pollution, French President Emmanuel Macron and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo promised to take a swim in the river ahead of the Olympics.

https://www.rt.com/news/598646-50000-cubic-meters-waste-seine/

 

NOT MOON RIVER....

 

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OF ALL the decisions Paris Olympics organisers made about where to hold each sport, sending surfing competitions to the other side of the world — in the Pacific waters of Tahiti — provoked the strongest reactions. Tahitians and others railed against the building of a new viewing tower on Teahupo’o reef because of fears it would hurt marine life.

But organisers say it wasn’t just the world-class waves that lured them to the French territory 16,000 kilometres (9,942 miles) away. Paris Olympic officials had set an ambitious target of halving their overall carbon footprint compared with the 2012 London and 2016 Rio Games.

Tahiti’s surfing reef is too far offshore for fans to see the action clearly from the beach, so organisers say they calculated that most would watch on television instead of taking flights, a major source of carbon emissions.

And fewer spectators, they said, would require little new construction, another key emissions source.

“We actually did the [maths],” said Georgina Grenon, director of environmental excellence for the Paris Games. “There was less impact in Tahiti compared to other metropolitan areas.”

Tahiti’s selection provides a window into Games organisers’ approach to hitting their goal of reducing emissions, the driver of climate change. It also underscores an inherent tension in the drive for sustainability: There are trade-offs, and reducing emissions doesn’t necessarily mean preserving the environment.

Organisers’ goal is to limit emissions to 1.58 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent for the July 26 to August 11 Games 

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/paris-aims-most-sustainable-olympics-yet-organisers-acknowledge-plan-isnt-perfect

 

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