Top News Stories –

Parisians will be swimming in the Seine by 2024, promises French capital’s mayor –
Paris’ Socialist mayor on Thursday pledged to have resident of the French capital swimming in the Seine river by 2024, in her latest bid to clean up the city. Anne Hidalgo made the promise days after kicking off Paris’ bid to host the 2024 Olympic Games, after the city lost out to London in 2012.
She said it was her dearest wish that the swimming phase of the Games’ triathlon “should take place in the Seine”. Contestants for the event in London took to Hyde Park’s Serpentine. [Daily Telegraph]

Anne Hidalgo

French police allowed to sport beards and tattoos –
French policeman are finally going to be allowed to let their hair down a little after unions won a battle to relax rules on officers sporting beards and tattoos. While London recently went wild over a “hipster cop” spotted policing a far-Right march, there have been no known sightings of any Gallic equivalents, with policemen in France famous for their short-cropped hair and clean-shaven look. That could all change, however, after the force’s Left-wing Force Ouvrière trade union representatives won a campaign for the right to grow beards and have tattoos. However, there are restrictions. Beards, the union stipulated, must remain “short-cropped”, “neat and compatible with the wearing of equipment”. Tattoos, meanwhile, “must not be racist, political, religious or xenophobic.” [Daily Telegraph]

Paris to allow cyclists to skip red lights –
Cyclists in Paris are to be allowed to ride through some red lights in a bid by the mayors office to get more people on their bikes. At several junctions there will be separate signals for cars and bikes, and while cars will be held by a red light, cyclists will be permitted to turn right or go straight ahead. In such scenarios, they would have to give way to pedestrians and other road users where necessary. The new road rules will be rolled out from the end of July, the mayors office said, adding in a statement that the new rules will “help improve the flow of cycle traffic”. [Daily Telegraph]

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Business and economy

• Chinese stock market collapse
  • Values of Chinese stock markets drop despite efforts by the government to prevent a crisis. (CNN) (The Guardian)
  • The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) imposes a six-month ban on stockholders owning more than 5 percent of a company’s stock from selling those stocks, resulting in a 6 percent rise in stock markets. (Reuters)
• Puerto Rican debt crisis
  • The United States Congress refuse to offer a bailout to Puerto Rico. (Politico)

Disasters and accidents

• 2015 Pacific typhoon season
  • Hong Kong starts closing schools as Typhoon Linfa approaches. (South China Morning Post)

International relations

• Philippines v. China
  • The Philippines asks the International Court of Arbitration at The Hague to invalidate China‘s claims to virtually all of the South China Sea. The hearing was attended by observers from Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam. (AP viaThe Washington Post)
• Prince Zeid bin Ra’ad, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, warns that violence can explode into armed conflict in Burundifollowing events of the current presidential election. (AP via ABC News America)

Politics and elections

• The South Carolina House of Representatives agrees to a bill previously passed by the Senate to remove the Confederate flag from the capitol grounds with Governor Nikki Haley signing the legislation into law. (AP via ABC News America), (NBC)
• Ugandan police arrest two presidential hopefuls, former Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi and opposition leader Kizza Besigye. (AlJazeera)
• Same-sex marriage in Puerto Rico
  • The US Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit rules the ban in the region 2–1 unconstitutional, paving way for same-sex marriages. (Washington Blade)
  • The health department announces issuing licenses early next month. (AP)
• The European Parliament rejects a plan to abolish Freedom of Panorama. (Amateur Photographer)(NOS (Dutch)).
• The Thai consulate in Istanbul is attacked by Turkish protestors after about a hundred Uighurs were deported by Thailand back to China despite concerns over persecution. (BBC)

Sports

• 2015 FIFA corruption case
  • FIFA suspends former Executive Committee member Chuck Blazer for life for assorted ethical breaches including accepting bribes. (FIFA Governance)

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