Latest news with #Georges-FrancoisLeclerc
Hindustan Times
09-07-2025
- Climate
- Hindustan Times
Marseille airport to close as firefighters continue to battle wildfire
PARIS, - A wildfire that had reached the northwestern outskirts of France's second city of Marseille lost intensity overnight on Wednesday, but the airport was expected to close as firefighters continued to battle the flames. Marseille airport to close as firefighters continue to battle wildfire Residents who had been told to stay in their homes for their own safety were once again allowed out. "With the fire in northern Marseilles now clearly under control, we can announce this morning that the 16th arrondissement is no longer under lockdown," Marseille Mayor Benoit Payan said in a post on social media platform X. "I call on all Marseille residents to exercise the utmost caution in the area, as emergency services are hard at work," he added. Local officials said that the airport would close for commercial flights to prioritise air resources, although some roads could reopen for the passage of emergency services. It was too soon for the hundreds of residents who had fled from the wildfire to return, officials said. Hundreds of firefighters, aided by helicopters and aircraft, had been fighting the flames, fanned by winds of up to 70 kph and which brought plumes of smoke over the southern coastal city. The fire had burnt through 700 hectares but no fatalities had been reported and hundreds of homes had been saved, regional prefect Georges-Francois Leclerc said late on Tuesday. Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau told reporters late on Tuesday that the fire had been fast-moving. Climate change has made wildfires more destructive in Mediterranean countries in recent years. This week and last week, fires raged in northeastern Spain, on the Greek island of Crete and in Athens. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
Straits Times
09-07-2025
- Climate
- Straits Times
Marseille airport to close as firefighters continue to battle wildfire
PARIS - A wildfire that had reached the northwestern outskirts of France's second city of Marseille lost intensity overnight on Wednesday, but the airport was expected to close as firefighters continued to battle the flames. Residents who had been told to stay in their homes for their own safety were once again allowed out. "With the fire in northern Marseilles now clearly under control, we can announce this morning that the 16th arrondissement is no longer under lockdown," Marseille Mayor Benoit Payan said in a post on social media platform X. "I call on all Marseille residents to exercise the utmost caution in the area, as emergency services are hard at work," he added. Local officials said that the airport would close for commercial flights to prioritise air resources, although some roads could reopen for the passage of emergency services. It was too soon for the hundreds of residents who had fled from the wildfire to return, officials said. Hundreds of firefighters, aided by helicopters and aircraft, had been fighting the flames, fanned by winds of up to 70 kph (43 mph) and which brought plumes of smoke over the southern coastal city. The fire had burnt through 700 hectares (2.7 square miles) but no fatalities had been reported and hundreds of homes had been saved, regional prefect Georges-Francois Leclerc said late on Tuesday. Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau told reporters late on Tuesday that the fire had been fast-moving. Climate change has made wildfires more destructive in Mediterranean countries in recent years. This week and last week, fires raged in northeastern Spain, on the Greek island of Crete and in Athens. REUTERS
Straits Times
09-07-2025
- Climate
- Straits Times
Marseille airport closed as firefighters continue to battle wildfire
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox PARIS - A wildfire that had reached the northwestern outskirts of France's second city of Marseille lost intensity overnight on Wednesday, but the airport was closed as firefighters continued to battle the flames. Residents who had been told to stay in their homes for their own safety were once again allowed out. "With the fire in northern Marseilles now clearly under control, we can announce this morning that the 16th arrondissement is no longer under lockdown," Marseille Mayor Benoit Payan said in a post on social media platform X. "I call on all Marseille residents to exercise the utmost caution in the area, as emergency services are hard at work," he added. Local officials said that the airport would close for commercial flights to prioritise air resources, although some roads could reopen for the passage of emergency services. It was too soon for the hundreds of residents who had fled from the wildfire to return, officials said. Hundreds of firefighters, aided by helicopters and aircraft, had been fighting the flames, fanned by winds of up to 70 kph (43 mph) and which brought plumes of smoke over the southern coastal city. The fire had burnt through 700 hectares (2.7 square miles) but no fatalities had been reported and hundreds of homes had been saved, regional prefect Georges-Francois Leclerc said late on Tuesday. Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau told reporters late on Tuesday that the fire had been fast-moving. Climate change has made wildfires more destructive in Mediterranean countries in recent years. This week and last week, fires raged in northeastern Spain, on the Greek island of Crete and in Athens. REUTERS
The Star
08-07-2025
- Climate
- The Star
Wildfire threatens Marseille, shuts airport in southern France
MARSEILLE, France (Reuters) -A fast-moving wildfire reached the outskirts of France's second most populous city of Marseille on Tuesday, prompting the closure of the airport and an order to residents to stay indoors because of the smoke. The blaze, fanned by winds of up to 70 km (43 miles) per hour, could be smelt in the centre of Marseille as thick clouds of smoke hovered over the city on the Mediterranean coast. "It's very striking - apocalyptic even," said Monique Baillard, a resident of Les Pennes-Mirabeau, the town north of Marseille where officials said the fire started on a highway. The fire has burnt through 700 hectares (1,730 acres) and is considered to be under control even though it is still burning, regional prefect Georges-Francois Leclerc said, but a forecast of strong winds meant there was a risk it could advance further. About 10 buildings have been at least partly hit by the fire but no fatalities have been reported and hundreds of homes have been saved by firefighters, he said. Wildfires, which have become more destructive in Mediterranean countries in recent years and attributed to climate change, were also raging in northeastern Spain, where large parts of the country were on high alert for fires. There were also fires last week on the Greek island of Crete and in Athens, as much of Europe sweltered in an early summer heatwave. As the fire was spreading, residents of Marseille received official alerts on their phones telling them to stay at home and put damp cloths on any openings. "As we speak, it's a battle," Payan said, likening tackling the wildfire to "guerrilla warfare". "We're waiting to see what happens overnight, because that's critical too. Everything is strategic: wind speed, humidity, nightfall — very factor matters. Once again, it's extremely complex, and the work is incredibly difficult." RESIDENTS CONFINED Residents were told not to evacuate unless ordered so that roads could be left clear for rescue services. "At this stage, populations must remain confined," the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur prefecture posted on X. "Close shutters, doors, keep your property clear for emergency services, and do not travel on the roads." Anne, a 51-year-old woman who works in Marseille and lives on the outskirts, said by phone: "The sky is grey with ash, and the smell of fire is very strong in the centre of Marseille." Emilie Vierne, a pharmacist, said she was staying inside her pharmacy with clients to stay safe. "No one can leave," she said. In the coastal neighbourhood of l'Estaque, restaurant owner Simon Epenmbia said he was huddling in the restaurant with his family and neighbours. "We are relatively close to the sea, where we feel safer for now and there is less smoke," he said. "I also saw other people who came here towards the beach and are sheltering in their cars." A spokesperson for Marseille airport, France's fourth-busiest, said planes had not been taking off or landing since around midday and some flights had been diverted to Nice, Nimes and other regional airports. It was unclear when the airport would reopen. Train lines heading to and from Marseille were suspended. A wildfire that started near Narbonne, in southwestern France, was also still active on Monday. Some 2,000 hectares have burnt there, the local prefecture said. (Reporting by Marc Leras in Marseille and Dominique Vidalon, Gabriel Stargardter, Sudip Kar-Gupta, John Irish, Richard Lough, Makini Brice, Tassilo Hummel, Geert de Clercq in Paris; Writing by Ingrid Melander; Editing by Richard Lough and Aidan Lewis)
Local France
23-04-2025
- Politics
- Local France
French Muslim school re-allocated suspended state funding
Private schools can receive state subsidies in France under a contract with the government, so long as they are open to all students, and follow the state's education guidelines. The Averroes school, founded two decades ago in the northern city of Lille in the wake of a ban on the Muslim headscarf in schools, regularly scores highly in academic standards. But regional state authorities in November 2023 said they suspected the Averroes school had received illicit financing, and noted a book referring to the death penalty for apostasy and gender segregation listed in a bibiography for teachers giving a Muslim ethics class. Georges-Francois Leclerc, the prefect who suspended the funding in December 2023, told a parliamentary inquiry this month that he believed students were "in danger", and accused some teachers of having ties to Islamism. READ MORE: How do private schools work in France? The administrative court in the northern city of Lille on Wednesday however found that there had been insufficient proof of any "serious breaches" in education guidelines and that the procedure followed to cut funding had been "tainted with irregularities". It said authorities had not managed to demonstrate any "lack of cultural pluralism" in reading materials, any breach of guidelines in Muslim ethics classes, or any "illegal funding". The Averroes association that runs the school welcomed the verdict, saying it could now go back to "calmly continuing its work with pupils". Advertisement National school inspectors had said in a 2020 report that they found nothing at odds with national education guidelines. The high school says it has seen its pupils drop from 470 to 290 since the funding cuts. Without the extra funding, it says it was forced to double its fees and launch an online crowdfunding campaign to be able to cover its overheads for the academic year that started in September. Under France's secular system, teachers and pupils have not been allowed to wear any obvious religious symbols, including the Muslim headscarf or hijab, in public schools since 2004. The Averroes high school is a rare private school where the hijab is allowed. France's authorities are eager to prevent any spread of extremist Islamist ideas in a country that has been rocked by a string of deadly jihadist attacks.
