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BBC HomepageSkip to contentAccessibility HelpYour accountNotificationsHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeMore menuMore menuSearch BBCHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeCBBCCBeebiesFoodClose menuBBC NewsMenuHomeIsrael-Gaza warCost of LivingWar in UkraineClimateUKWorldBusinessPoliticsCultureMoreTechScienceHealthFamily & EducationIn PicturesNewsbeatBBC VerifyDisabilityWorldAfricaAsiaAustraliaEuropeLatin AmericaMiddle EastUS & CanadaParis 2024: How is France preparing for the Olympics and Paralympics?Published1 hour agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, Getty ImagesThe Olympic torch is being lit in Greece on Tuesday, ahead of its journey to Paris for the start of the Games on 26 July. Security has become a major concern for the French government, and plans for the opening ceremony are being reconsidered.When are the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games?The summer Olympics are from 26 July to 11 August, with 10,500 athletes competing in 329 events. The Paralympics run from 28 August to 8 September, featuring 4,400 athletes in 549 events.There will be 206 countries represented at the Olympics, and 184 at the Paralympics. More than 15 million tourists are expected in Paris during the Games. All you need to know for Paris 2024Where will Olympic and Paralympic events take place? The main athletics events will be held at the Stade de France, on the outskirts of Paris.However, there will be 15 Olympic and 11 Paralympic venues in central Paris. For example, the Pont d’Iena will host cycling events and the start and finish points for the marathon will be at the Hotel de Ville and Les Invalides.Paris to bring back swimming in Seine after 100 yearsHow are France’s security forces preparing for the Olympics?Worried about threats such as a drone attack, the government has cut spectator numbers at the Olympic opening ceremony. The event is expected to see the national teams parading in boats along a 6km (3.8 mile) stretch of the River Seine through central Paris.The original plan was for an estimated 600,000 members of the public to watch from the banks.However, the government now says only 300,000 invited guests will be allowed. Image source, Paris 2024 Image caption, The opening ceremony for the Olympics will feature a parade of athletes on boats on the SeineAnd President Emmanuel Macron has said the ceremony could be moved from the Seine altogether if the security risk is too great.Instead, the entire event could be in the Trocadero or the Stade de France.”There are Plan Bs and Plan Cs,” President Macron said, adding, “We are preparing them in parallel, we will analyse this in real time.”Image caption, French soldiers have had special security training ahead of the OlympicsThe French government is using about 20,000 soldiers and more than 40,000 police officers to provide security. It also has support from about 2,000 troops and police officers from other countries.Security services have been screening one million people involved in the Games, including athletes, residents living close to the Olympic venues, medical staff and volunteers.France’s Prime Minster Gabriel Attal has said intelligence services uncovered two plots against the country by suspected Islamic militants in early 2024. “The terrorist threat is real, it’s strong,” he said. Has Russia been banned from Paris 2024?Neither Russia nor Belarus are allowed to send teams, because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Belarus’s support for it. Competitors from those countries will only be allowed to take part as neutral athletes. They will not be allowed to parade in the opening ceremony and will not have their national anthems played, or their national flags raised, if they win medals. Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, The Soviet Union held “Friendship Games” as a rival to the 1984 Olympics and Russia will do the same in 2024Russia has said it is “outraged” at its athletes’ treatment and has announced a “World Friendship Games” in Moscow and Yekaterinburg in September. The Soviet Union held a similar event in 1984, after boycotting the summer Olympics in Los Angeles.President Emmanuel Macron said that Russia has also been conducting a propaganda campaign to undermine the Paris Games.This has included putting out stories claiming they are being badly organised. Has Israel been banned? Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov criticised the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for not also barring Israel from taking part, because of its military operation is Gaza.However, IOC president Thomas Bach rejected the demand and confirmed Israel’s participation. Are the Games popular in France?One opinion poll suggested that 44% of Parisians think hosting the Olympics is a “bad thing”, with many planning to leave town.Bus and metro fares will double in Paris during the Games. Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Les Phryges’ motto is “Alone we go faster, but together we go further”The Olympic and Paralympic Village and a new aquatics centre are in a region north of Paris called Seine-Saint-Denis – one of the poorest parts of France. Charities complained after hundreds of squatters were evicted from buildings close to the new venues. Games venues in the centre of Paris will be cordoned off to the public and there will be extensive traffic restrictions.A number of Metro stations and railway stations will be closed for part or all of duration of the Games.”Paris will be unbearable,” one resident told the BBC. “Impossible to park; impossible to move around; impossible to do anything.”Related TopicsParisTop StoriesIsrael war cabinet meets to discuss Iran responsePublished58 minutes agoDozens of jurors ruled out as historic Trump trial beginsPublished1 hour agoTruss endorses Trump to win US presidential racePublished3 hours agoFeaturesThe Papers: ‘Frantic diplomacy’ over Iran and Trump trial beginsSalman Rushdie: Losing an eye upsets me every day’Hero’ who took on killer describes Sydney attackBowen: As Israel debates Iran response, can US and allies stop slide into all-out war?What was in wave of Iranian attacks and how were they thwarted?Listen: Is this a turning point for Iran and Israel? 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[ad_1] France’s government may change the Olympic opening ceremony in Paris because of security worries.
![BBC HomepageSkip to contentAccessibility HelpYour accountLiveNotificationsHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeMore menuMore menuSearch BBCHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeCBBCCBeebiesFoodClose menuBBC NewsMenuHomeIsrael-Gaza warCost of LivingWar in UkraineClimateUKWorldBusinessPoliticsCultureMoreTechScienceHealthFamily & EducationIn PicturesNewsbeatBBC VerifyDisabilityWorldAfricaAsiaAustraliaEuropeLatin AmericaMiddle EastUS & CanadaUkraine war: Russian schoolbook urges teenagers to join the armyPublished53 minutes agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingRelated TopicsWar in UkraineImage source, Getty Images/BBCImage caption, The Russian Army in Defence of the Fatherland is aimed at 15-18 year-olds and promotes military service for anyone over 18By Maria KorenyukBBC Global Disinformation TeamA new Russian school textbook has been produced that distorts the history of the war against Ukraine and encourages students to join the army. It has been designed for a new subject entitled “Fundamentals of Security and Defence of the Motherland”.The lesson is compulsory for high school students aged 15 to 18 in Russia and occupied territories in Ukraine.It will be taught once a week from September, replacing a lesson known as “Fundamentals of Safe Living”.Former soldiers are expected to teach the new subject and Russians with a degree in pedagogy – the method and practice of teaching – who return from the war are already being offered free retraining courses to become teachers.Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, The new subject will be introduced at the start of the new school year across Russia and five Russian-occupied regions of UkraineThe first textbook for the new subject, called The Russian Army in Defence of the Fatherland, has been produced by leading Russian education publisher Enlightenment. Among its authors are two senior figures who work for the defence ministry and Kremlin newspaper Rossiiskaya Gazeta.Its 368 pages are filled with stories describing the “heroic achievements of Russian soldiers” from the 13th Century to the present day.”Dear colleagues, we all understand the importance of presenting information to our students from the perspective of [Russia],” publishing representative Olga Plechova told an online introductory session for teachers in January, which the BBC watched.”We cannot convey alternative viewpoints to the students. So this textbook will assist you in addressing children’s questions and providing accurate coverage of certain events.”The book’s authors praise Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin and celebrate Soviet victories in the Great Patriotic War, as Russians refer to World War Two.They also acclaim the role of the Russian military in seizing Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula in 2014, which they term the “reunification of Crimea with Russia”.Image source, Getty Images/BBCImage caption, One of the textbook’s illustrations is captioned: “Sometimes, peace can only be restored with the help of tanks”The schoolbook also devotes a section laced with distorted history to explain Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, using the Kremlin term “special military operation”.”When there was a coup d’état in Kyiv in 2014, the new government initiated a crackdown on everything Russian,” the authors assert, before making a series of false claims.”Russian books were burned, monuments were destroyed, Russian songs and the Russian language itself were banned… ‘Russian blood’ cocktails were served in restaurants.” “Cities in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions, where dissent against such policies existed, were bombarded by Nazi shells and rockets.”The authors state “it was Ukraine and Nato who planned to start the war”, bizarrely suggesting “a huge number of Ukrainian troops and armoured vehicles were concentrated at the borders”.In fact it was Russia that massed more than 100,000 troops both along its border with Ukraine and in Belarus, ostensibly for joint military exercises, only to launch its full invasion on 24 February 2022.Ukrainian political analyst Volodymyr Fesenko sums up the textbook as “all misinformation and lies”. The book goes on to claim falsely that the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, which was pounded for almost three months by Russian bombing, was destroyed during battles with “Nazis” and “foreign mercenaries”.Image source, Getty Images/BBCImage caption, The schoolbook says Mariupol Theatre was “ruined due to fighting and fire” – in reality a Russian air strike left dozens dead”Russia fights with integrity,” the authors insist. In several excerpts, they suggest Russia prioritises the safety of Ukrainian civilians and minimises destruction, while “Ukraine frequently targets civilian infrastructure”.During the winter of 2022-23, Russia destroyed more than 40% of Ukraine’s electricity infrastructure with more than 1,000 missile and drone attacks, according to Kyiv figures.As for Russian integrity, Mr Fesenko says there are plenty of examples proving exactly the opposite. “We all remember the tragedy in Bucha, where dozens of Ukrainian civilians were killed by Russians and women were reportedly raped.”Another section of the book starts with an in-depth overview of the structure of Russian Armed Forces and increasingly calls for over-18s to sign up for the army. Image source, Getty Images/BBCImage caption, The textbook links to an application form for signing up to the Russian armyThe textbook lists the required documents and links to the application form as well as nearby addresses for enlistment. It highlights military benefits like free medical care and insurance, attractive salary and three meals a day.Young men from occupied Ukrainian territories, such as Crimea and Donbas, who have been subject to aggressive propaganda for 10 years and have little opportunity to earn money, may be enticed by these economic bonuses, warns Olha Skrypnyk, head of a Crimean human rights group. The schoolbook may help increase the numbers joining the military, she believes: “So these children go to war and die.”Russia does not give details of its casualties in the war in Ukraine but in two years of war, at least 1,240 soldiers under the age of 20 were killed according to open-source information confirmed by the BBC’s Russian service. Image source, Telegram channel New MelitopolImage caption, Russian soldiers talk to children at a school in Melitopol in occupied UkraineRelated TopicsWar in UkraineChildrenRussiaPropagandaCrimeaFake NewsMoscow2014 Ukraine conflictVladimir PutinUkraineMore on this storyOccupied Ukraine forced to vote in Putin’s electionPublished12 hours agoThe Ukrainian sea drones hunting Russian warshipsPublished1 day agoRussia ‘struggling with supply of weapons’ for warPublished21 FebruaryTop StoriesLive. 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