In Guatemala, hundreds evacuated as volcano erupts
Residents were moved to shelters from communities near the Fuego volcano, located 35 kilometers (22 miles) from the capital Guatemala City.
"We prefer to leave rather than mourn the death of everyone in the village later," Celsa Perez, 25, told AFP.
The government suspended local school activities and closed a road linking the south of the country to the colonial city of Antigua, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, disaster coordination agency Conred reported.
There have been several such mass evacuations in recent years because Fuego erupted, including in March of this year.
In 2018, 215 people were killed and a similar number left missing when rivers of lava poured down the volcano's slopes, devastating a village.
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France 24
a day ago
- France 24
Fleeing the heat, tourists explore Rome at night, underground
At a refreshing 15C, the catacombs were a popular place to hide this week as temperatures in the Eternal City reached almost 40C, while other visitors sought out evening tours and 2:00 am walks. "If we could have postponed our trip, we would have done it, but everything was already booked," said Ansari, 32, visiting Italy with her mother and an aunt. Instead, they adapted. "We booked our earliest tour starting at 7:30 am, and aim to be home before midday," she told AFP, taking refuge on a shaded stone bench near the Appian Way next to her aunt, who appeared overwhelmed by the heat. They do not venture out again before 4:00 pm or 5:00 pm, and, as in many Mediterranean countries, they pushed back their dinner time by three hours to 9:00 pm. In central Rome, Rafael Falcao also headed underground, to the Crypt of the Capuchin Friars on the Via Veneto, which he found relatively cool. He too, had to change his plans as a heatwave punishing southern Europe pushed up Rome's already high August temperatures. "Yesterday, we rented a small car to visit the city because it was too hot to walk," the 42-year-old Brazilian said. Patricia Kolodziej, a 41-year-old Polish woman living in Britain, said she struggled to find things to do with her toddler in the heat. But she managed to get tickets for the last entry to the Colosseum, the ancient Roman amphitheatre that's a must-see for tourists -- but which can be a furnace during the day. "We have chosen more sightseeing in the evening," Kolodziej told AFP. A few steps away, under the shadow of the Colosseum, an Asian tourist who declined to give her name, seemed close to fainting, her forehead sweating. "We came late on purpose, but it's no use," she said. Nobody out Online travel portal predicted last October that "noctourism" -- nighttime tourism -- will be one of the trends of 2025. It blamed rising temperatures due to climate change, as well as overtourism. Several Rome sites offer evening activities, including the Circus Maximus and the Colosseum which opens late at night twice a week. Tickets quickly disappear but Madison Thibert, from the US state of North Dakota, secured one, allowing her to enjoy the sight of the ancient monument bathed in moonlight. Thibert said she and her boyfriend had been exploring the city after hours, when temperatures reduce, and so do the crowds. "We just walked around, we saw the Trevi Fountain, came by the Colosseum. We took some of the scooters around on the roads," Thibert said.
Local France
2 days ago
- Local France
OPINION: Seine swimming is part of a quiet revolution in Paris
One of the greatest joys of this summer in Paris for me has been swimming in the Seine - at the three free bathing spots that the city opened up at the start of July, more than a century after swimming in the river was banned because the water was too polluted. These swimming spots have proved extremely popular with locals and tourists alike - 40,000 people have swum so far and there are often queues to get into the sites, especially on hot days. READ ALSO : Everything you need to know about swimming in the Seine in Paris this summer I can entirely see why. The thing I've been struck by as I plunged into the river this summer (aside from the gorgeous relief of cool water on a hot day) is the sense of sheer joy at each site. Even the Parisians, normally famous for their reserve/grumpiness, can't hide their excitement. Advertisement One morning I heard an older French lady call to her friend across the water: "Look at us! Swimming in the Seine, can you believe it?!" Head to any one of the three swimming spots and you'll hear similar sentiments. You can understand the sense of disbelief among longtime residents - the photo below of the Seine banks taken in 2015 paints a very different picture. Vehicles drive on the lower quais of the River Seine on June 19, 2015, before the riverbanks were pedestrianised. Photo by LOIC VENANCE / AFP Instead of the throngs of picnickers, joggers, cyclists, dog-walkers and families who today fill the quais (lower riverbanks) there were cars thundering along a highway. The river itself was filthy - far too polluted to swim in and even the fish had mostly left or died. The transformation has taken significant investment and a lot of political will. The pedestrianised banks of the Seine, pictured in 2025 during the summer 'Paris plage' events. Photo: Alain Jocard/AFP The total cost of cleaning up the Seine was €1.4 billion and - much as I appreciate it - they didn't spend all that just to give me a nice swimming spot in the summer. The ability to swim in it is a by-product of a cleaner river - one that is now brimming with diversity and no longer acts as a dumping ground for the factories further upstream. A random statistic - 40 species of fish now live in the river, compared to just four in 1970 (along with a goodly collection of river plants and weed which you might encounter while swimming). Mayor Anne Hidalgo and her predecessor, Bertrand Delanoë had to fight a series of legal battles to get the cars off the river banks permanently in 2018 and open them up to locals and tourists to use as a leisure space. They faced a stiff political battle too, despite various temporary and partial pedestrianisation schemes proving popular. Advertisement And the river banks are just one example of the enormous changes that have taken place in Paris over the past decade and a half - hundreds of streets pedestrianised and turned into green spaces, more than 1,000km of cycle lanes created, 130,000 trees planted so far (the plan is to have 170,000 by 2026). For me the best explanation of the overarching goal of this policy comes from Hidalgo's deputy mayor, David Belliard, who said : 'The redistribution of public space is a policy of social redistribution. '50 percent of public space is occupied by private cars, which are used mostly by the richest, and mostly by men, because it's mostly men who drive, and so in total, the richest men are using half the public space. "So if we give the space to walking, cycling, and public transit, you give back public space to the categories of people who today are deprived." The Seine quais are a prime example of this and are now one of the most vibrant and exciting spaces in Paris, especially on summer evenings. The Bercy swimming site on a summer evening. Photo: Emma Pearson Before we get too carried away, let's not pretend that Paris is perfect - the city still has a long way to go on air pollution, the public transport is largely inaccessible to people with disabilities while the housing shortage seems to get worse every day. Multiple other problems exist; no-one is trying to pretend that the city is paradise. Advertisement But to my mind, the quiet revolution in how the city space is used is equal to anything that Baron Haussmann did with his eye-catching architecture. Many of those who oppose action on climate change peddle the myth that you can either take action on the climate or you can maintain a good standard of living, but you can't have both. Paris is the living proof that this isn't true - can anyone truly look at old photos of the Seine and believe that its use then was better than what we have now?
France 24
2 days ago
- France 24
'Water lettuce' chokes tourism, fishing at El Salvador lake
The wetland, known for its biodiversity, has been overrun by a floating plant that feeds on chemical pollution, almost completely covering its surface and making it look like a lush, light-green field. Fed by the waters of the mighty Lempa River, Suchitlan is a 13,500-hectare artificial lake built around 1976, and supplies the Cerron Grande hydroelectric power station. The massive spread of Pistia stratiotes, commonly known as water lettuce, has paralyzed the local tourism and fishing trades, leaving boatmen without income and restaurants on the shore empty. "The truth is that the (plant) has affected us every year, but now it has gone too far. Today it's completely covered," Julia Alvarez, a 52-year-old boat operator, told AFP. The reservoir is home to rich biodiversity with migratory birds on its islands, but now most of its surface is covered by water lettuce, whose spread has been aided by wind and heavy rains. Boatman Felicito Monroy said the phenomenon meant he has not been able to fish for ten days. The plant's proliferation is hitting restaurants hard, too. "Today, people just come, look, and leave right away. They don't enjoy the rides, they don't stay to taste the dishes, because the attraction is the water, the lake," said Johnny Anzora, a 44-year-old restaurant waiter. Biologist and researcher Cidia Cortes explained that the growth was driven by an influx of "pollution" to the lake, carried by tributaries. "Heavy metals, aluminum, arsenic, lead... go into those waters, so it's like throwing fertilizer into the water; the algae feed on that too and grow exponentially," she said. In an effort to eradicate the plant, five dredging barges are working to remove it. So far, they have cleaned up about 6.3 hectares of the reservoir, equivalent to nine soccer fields, according to the state-owned Lempa River Hydroelectric Executive Commission.
