PARIS –  As Paris gets ready to host the 2024 Olympic Games, the city’s iconic Seine River has prompted safety concerns for athletes participating in the marathon swimming and triathlon events.

Undeterred by the concerns, 75-year-old Joel Stratte-McClure bravely tested the waters of the Seine on the Fourth of July, showcasing his determination and personal risk.  “I’m very impressed with everything the French have done to try to clean up this river, which is filthy, and want to celebrate it,” Stratte-McClure said. “If things go really bad and I don’t survive the swim, it will at least give an alert to the American and other swimmers in the triathlon that maybe they shouldn’t do it.”

Stratte-McClure, a journalist from California, was in the water for about 20 minutes and said he was feeling fine after his swim. Paris officials claim that extensive cleanup efforts will minimize health risks from bacteria and pollution by the time the competition starts on July 26. Additionally, the plan is to open three public bathing sites by next summer as part of ongoing efforts to improve the river’s reputation.

Since 2016, Dan Angelescu’s company, Fluidion, has been diligently testing the water quality of the Seine River, and this practice has continued every day since early April. During heavy rains, sewage can overflow into the river. For example, on June 18, after several days of rain, E. coli levels in the Seine River jumped to roughly 10,000 Colony Forming Units per milliliter, more than 10 times the safety limit.

“What we’ve seen year after year is these big storm events, especially after a long dry period, can really make water quality degrade significantly,” Angelescu said. “Bacteria level in hundred to hundred-thousand range for example. It stays there and then drops down again.” Officials are hopeful that good weather, particularly the sun’s UV rays, can play a significant role in improving water quality, and say these rays have the potential to kill bacteria, providing a ray of hope and a potential solution to the water pollution issue. (ABC news)…[+]

Criminals once again managed to break in one of the churches of the Roman Catholic Diocese. This time they targeted the Sint Jozef Church which is located at Geyersvlijt. The burglars reportedly made off with audio boxes, an amplifier, a mixer, 2 fire extinguishers, a new freezer and a fan. The burglary reportedly took place last Friday. The burglars caused a lot of damage. “They entered the church via a window and damaged the tabernacle. They also destroyed a door,” said the parish council. It has been decided to take measures aimed at making it difficult for people to break into the church. Meanwhile the church is looking for donations to cover the damages. Donations can be delivered personally to the secretariat of the church which is located at building number 27 in the Verlengde Mahonylaan. Donations can also be wired to the bank account of the church at the DSB. The church’s bank account number is DSB 16.99.156 RK BISDOM HDK. These donations must be labeled as ‘herstel inbraak Sint-Jozefkerk’. In May the St Andreas church was burglarized. The burglars reportedly made off with the sound installation, garden chairs, holy objects and water dispensers. In April burglars attempted to steal the copper pipes at the house of the bishop. …[+]

WASHINGTON – US President Joe Biden has said it was a mistake for him to say “time to put Trump in a bullseye”, days before Saturday’s assassination attempt on his election rival.

Mr Biden’s remarks came in his first interview since the incident, in which he defended his rhetoric against Donald Trump and cited why it was important. The president told NBC’s Lester Holt his campaign had a duty to clearly communicate the threat of a second Trump term, adding that his words were not the ones that needed to be tempered.

After a brief pause following Saturday’s attack, presidential campaign events now appear to be back under way. Mr Biden is set to speak at the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) convention in Las Vegas. Trump made his first appearance at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee last Monday, to a rapturous welcome.

During his NBC interview, Mr Biden described a phone call with Trump following the attempted assassination as “very cordial”. “I told him he was literally in the prayers of Jill and me, and his whole family was weathering this,” he said. When pressed on his “bullseye” comments, Mr Biden said: “It was a mistake to use the word. I didn’t say crosshairs. I meant bullseye, I meant focus on him. Focus on what he’s doing.”

He said he meant Democrats needed to look at Trump, his policies and the false statements he made during the presidential debate late last month. According to Politico, Mr Biden had said on a private donor call: “I have one job, and that’s to beat Donald Trump. I’m absolutely certain I’m the best person to be able to do that. So, we’re done talking about the debate. It’s time to put Trump in a bullseye.”

Throughout the interview, Mr Biden made it clear he would not be stepping aside in the presidential race – despite calls from members of his own party after his poor debate performance. “I’m old,” he lamented, while also noting he’s only three years older than Trump. He said his mental acuity was fine and listed his accomplishments as president – but acknowledged he was working to reaffirm to Americans that he was up to the job.

“I understand why people say: ‘God, he’s 81 years old. Whoa. What’s he going to be when he’s 83 years old, 84 years?’ It’s a legitimate question to ask,” he said. About a dozen Republicans have blamed Mr Biden and other Democrats for inciting the attempt on Trump’s life. Many have specifically cited the “bullseye” comment.  (BBC)

Photo: US President Joe Biden. (NBC) …[+]

The members of the National Democratic Party (NDP) expressed their joy after Jennifer Geerlings-Simons won the party’s internal elections and has officially become the new chairperson of the purple party. “We finally have a woman as chairperson. A woman who is going to push the party. And now we also want her to become a president-elect,” said the supporters of Geerlings-Simons who made it clear that she has all of the skills that are required to upgrade the NDP. “She is an honest and righteous woman who works hard. She will certainly get the job done,” the supporters of Geerlings-Simons told Times of Suriname. Shortly before the elections commenced in the headquarters of the NDP on Saturday night it was said that Geerlings-Simons who had to run against Ramon Abrahams was the absolute favourite.
The supporters were also glad to hear that Ingrid Bouterse-Waldring is also a member of the new board.72 high ranking members of the NDP had to choose the new chairperson.
Geerlings-Simons got 46 votes while Abrahams got 23. Two votes were not valid. “I am aware of the heavy task that awaits me. I expect to receive your full support. The new board has decided to appoint Desi Bouterse honorary chairman of the NDP,” said Geerlings-Simons who is officially the first woman to lead the purple party.…[+]

CALIFORNIA – Disney has confirmed it is investigating an apparent leak of internal messages by a hacking group, which claims it is “protecting artists’ rights”.

The group, Nullbulge, said it had gained access to thousands of communications from Disney employees and had downloaded “every file possible”. It is not clear how commercially sensitive the information is for the media and theme park giant, but it is reported to include messages about upcoming projects the firm is working on. “Disney is investigating this matter,” a company spokesperson told the BBC in an email. Nullbulge’s website says the group targets anyone it believes is harming the creative industry by using content generated by artificial intelligence (AI), which it describes as “theft”.

The BBC has made contact with the hackers who claim to be in Russia and say they got into Disney’s internal Slack messaging system through an insider. But when asked for a sample of the stolen data to verify its authenticity, the hackers did not respond – meaning the BBC has not been able to independently assess if the huge data trove is genuine. “Disney was our target due to how it handles artist contracts, its approach to AI, and its pretty blatant disregard for the consumer,” the hackers claimed. They said they released the data because they didn’t expect Disney to meet their demands to stop using AI.

It is unusual for hackers to claim they are “Russian hacktivists” with an ethical agenda – most cyber criminals, including those in Russia, aim to make money by extorting their victims. The leak was first reported in the gaming press and then picked up by the Wall Street Journal, which said some of the leaked material related to advertising campaigns and interview candidates, with some dating back as far as 2019.

There has been growing concern amongst performers, artists and other creatives that the rapid spread of generative AI will undermine their livelihoods and damage the creative environment. Generative AI is trained on vast bodies of existing material – including texts, images, music and video. It is then able to produce new work of a standard that can be hard to distinguish from human-generated material.

Some artists and authors have claimed AI firms breached copyright by using their original work to train these AI tools. Nullbulge describes itself as “a hacktivist group protecting artists’ rights and ensuring fair compensation for their work”. “Our hacks are not those of malice, but to punish those caught stealing,” it says on its website. “We will work tirelessly to develop and implement solutions that protect the rights and livelihoods of artists in the digital age.”

The Walt Disney company’s businesses range from film-making and streaming services Disney+ and Hulu, to video games and theme parks dotted across the globe. It owns the hugely successful Marvel and Star Wars franchises. (BBC)

Photo: Disney’s Mickey and Minnie Mouse. (Getty Images) …[+]