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Paris will allow swimming in the Seine River after 100 years to celebrate the 2024 Olympics... (CNN) -- Paris plans to make the Seine the centerpiece of the 2024 Olympic Games, with long-term efforts to clean up the river and allow swimming events to take place in its waters. When the French capital hosted its first Olympic Games in 1900, swimming competitions were held in the river. Parisians used to bathe in the Seine in centuries past, until it was banned in 1923 due to pollution. But now the cleanup efforts, which began in 2018 as part of what's known as the "Swimming Scheme," are paying off, with local authorities saying residents will be able to use the river once more as part of the legacy of the Olympic Games, returning to the French capital after 100 years. The opening ceremony, which traditionally takes place inside the host city's Olympic stadium, will take place on the river, with at least 600,000 people expected to watch from the banks, according to organizers. Then various competitions will be held on the river during the Olympic Games. https://cnnespanol.cnn.com/2023/07/26/paris-nadar-rio-sena-100-anos-juegos-olimpicos-2024-trax/

Eiffel Tower evacuated due to bomb threat https://cnnespanol.cnn.com/2023/08/12/evacuan-torre-eiffel-trax/ (CNN) -- A bomb alert prompted the evacuation of all three floors of the iconic Eiffel Tower on Saturday, according to CNN affiliate France BFMTV. A large security perimeter was quickly established and traffic was diverted, according to BFMTV, adding that a team of deminers was also purchased on site to assess the threat. "It is a common procedure in this type of situation, which is however rare," said a spokesman for SETE, the operating company of the Eiffel Tower, according to BFMTV. It has now reopened to the public. Nearly seven million people annually visit the Paris tourist attraction. The monument has a police station at the foot of the south pillar, its premises are under video surveillance and visitors must pass security checks before entering. Bowel movements are rare, but not unheard of. In 2019, the monument was evacuated and closed after a man was seen climbing over the side.

Ukrainian authorities have launched an investigation after a midair collision between two warplanes in the west of the country killed three pilots. Ukranines air force spokesman Yuri Ihnat told Ukranian television on Sunday it wasnt immediately clear how long the probe would take.🤔 According to the air force's Telegram page, two L-39 training military aircraft collided on Friday during a combat mission over Ukraine's western Zhytomyr region. Three pilots were killed, including Andriy Pilshchykov, a well-known pilot with the nickname “Juice” who was an outspoken advocate for Ukraine getting F-16 fighter jets. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in his nightly address on Saturday paid tribute to Pilshchykov, describing him as a “Ukrainian officer, one of those who helped our country a lot.” Ukraine's Vasilkiv tactical aviation brigade on Sunday identified the other two pilots killed in the collision as Viacheslav Minka and Serhiy Prokazin. Russian forces, in the meantime, targeted central and northern regions of Ukraine with cruise missiles overnight. Ukraine's air force on Sunday reported air defenses successfully intercepted four of them. In the Kyiv region surrounding the Ukrainian capital, the falling debris damaged a dozen private homes and wounded two people, Ukraine's Interior Ministry said. Russia's Defense Ministry said in a statement Sunday that it targeted — and successfully hit — an airfield in the Kyiv region. Ukrainian officials did not immediately comment on the claim. In Kyiv, relatives of soldiers captured by Russian forces in Mariupol, a port city in eastern Ukraine Moscow's army besieged and seized early on in the war, gathered for a rally marking 500 days since their family members were in captivity. They demanded that the Ukrainian authorities bring their loved ones home. In Russia, the Defense Ministry reported bringing down two drones over the Bryansk and Kursk regions that border Ukraine. The drones, the ministry said, were launched by “the Kyiv regime” in “yet another attempt at terrorist attacks” on Russian soil. Kursk Gov. Roman Starovoit, however, reported that a drone slammed into a multistory residential building in the region's namesake capital. It wasn't immediately clear if it crashed after being shot down by air defenses, as the Defense Ministry reported, or was targeting the building. Starovoit said no one was hurt, but a number of windows were shattered. Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAÍS USA Edition..🤫