Category: 2. World

At least 32 people have died and dozens of children are missing in the Texas Hill Country after catastrophic flooding, with officials warning the casualty count will climb as forecasts call for more rain and the risk of further flash floods in the coming days.

Among those unaccounted for were at least 27 campers from Camp Mystic, an all-girls summer camp along the Guadalupe River in Kerr County, officials said at a briefing. Storms on Saturday on the northwest fringes of the Austin metro area left at least two people dead in Travis County, with another 10 people missing.

The British newspaper “The Telegraph” said that six Iranian missiles hit targets located in the northern, central and southern regions of the Israeli occupied territories, including an intelligence-gathering center and a logistics base.

The findings were based on radar satellite data that identified blast damage consistent with missile strikes.

These strikes were previously undisclosed by Israeli military due to strict censorship laws. Israeli authorities have not publicly acknowledged the strikes, and the Israeli military declined to comment when contacted by the Telegraph, the newspaper said.

Military censorship laws in Israel restrict the publication of sensitive security information, particularly during active conflicts, the Telegraph reported. 

During the war, Israeli officials and the United States claimed that approximately 84% of the Iranian missiles were intercepted by Israeli and American air defense systems.

However, according to the Telegraph, data analysis indicates that a growing number of Iranian missiles successfully penetrated the much-vaunted air defenses during the first eight days of the conflict.

Analysts suggest this may have been due to factors including a limited supply of interceptor missiles, more sophisticated Iranian technology, or changes in attack strategy.

Iran employed coordinated drone and missile attacks to overwhelm Israel’s air defenses. The use of suicide drones even when intercepted served to confuse systems and allow more missiles to penetrate.

A senior Iranian official, quoted by the Telegraph who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the use of suicide drones in combination with missiles was a deliberate strategy aimed at overwhelming Israeli defenses.

“The main goal of firing drones is to keep their systems busy. Many don’t even get through – they’re intercepted – but they still cause confusion,” the official was quoted as saying.

MNA

Israel has continued to launch waves of airstrikes in Gaza, hours after Hamas said it was ready to start talks “immediately” on a US-sponsored proposal for a 60-day ceasefire.

The announcement by the militant Islamist organisation increased hopes that a deal may be done within days to pause the killing in Gaza and possibly end the near 21-month conflict.

Saturday was relatively “calmer” after days of intense bombardment, aid officials and residents in Gaza said, although 24 Palestinians were killed, including 10 people seeking humanitarian aid, according to hospital officials.

Airstrikes struck tents in the Mawasi coastal area in southern Gaza, killing seven, including a Palestinian doctor and his three children, according to medics at a nearby hospital. Four others were killed in the town of Bani Suheila, and three people were killed in three different strikes in the town of Khan Younis.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) made no immediate comment on the attacks.

Israel’s security cabinet was due to meet after sundown on Saturday but officials in Jerusalem said there was “no guarantee” that ministers would make a decision on the Hamas response to the ceasefire deal.

Separately, two US contractors with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) were injured in the south of the territory after unknown assailants threw grenades at them at a food distribution site, the organisation said.

The GHF, a US-supported private organisation that began handing out food parcels in Gaza last month, has been mired in controversy, with the UN secretary general, António Guterres, saying it was “inherently unsafe” and that it was “killing people”. The GHF denies this, saying it has delivered tens of millions of meals in “safety and security”.

Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed in recent weeks in shooting or shelling by the IDF while travelling to GHF sites or gathering in large crowds to get aid from convoys brought into Gaza by the UN that are often stopped and looted.

Aid workers in Gaza have called again for an immediate cessation of hostilities, saying that fuel stocks for NGOs are close to running out, which would lead to the “complete collapse” of humanitarian operations, much of the health system and communications across the territory. Power supplies in Gaza rely primarily on large quantities of diesel for generators.

“We are pretty much down to about half a day’s worth. When that is gone, everything has to shut down,” said one humanitarian worker in Deir al-Balah.

Israel imposed a tight 11-week blockade on Gaza after the most recent ceasefire collapsed in March, which has only been partly lifted to allow a small amount of food aid and medical supplies into the territory. No fuel has been permitted to enter, and supplies that still exist in Gaza are often in Israeli-controlled areas or combat zones and so inaccessible.

Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, is to fly to Washington on Sunday for talks with the US president, Donald Trump, who has said in a series of social media posts that he wants the Gaza war to stop.

Drafts of the proposed deal seen by the Guardian include a provision specifying that Trump would personally announce any ceasefire – possibly in the coming days during Netanyahu’s visit.

However, sources close to Hamas said the organisation wants greater clarity over guarantees that the initial truce would lead to a permanent end to the war and the eventual withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza.

There is also disagreement over who would be allowed to deliver the “sufficient aid” described in the draft. Hamas want the GHF to be closed down. Israel wants to maintain a system of distribution independent from the UN or other countries.

Speaking to reporters on board Air Force One late on Friday, Trump said he was optimistic and suggested there “could be a Gaza deal” next week. But Israeli media have described a series of steps involving separate Israeli delegations flying to Qatar and Egypt to complete negotiations, and the current draft specifies that Steve Witkoff, Trump’s personal envoy, will travel to the Middle East to finalise the deal.

Analysts said this could mean lengthy delays before an agreement is reached.

The war in Gaza was triggered by a surprise Hamas-led attack into Israel in October 2023, during which militants killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251. Fifty remain in Gaza, less than half still alive.

Israel’s retaliatory military campaign has killed at least 57,000 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to a count by the territory’s ministry of health that is considered reliable by the UN and many western governments.

Rescuers by Saturday had begun the grim task of recovering the bodies of children who were swept away in a deadly flash flood in Texas, caused by a powerful storm that killed dozens of people.

The exact number of missing people was not immediately known, but 24 of them were girls who had been attending Camp Mystic, a Christian summer camp along the Guadalupe River. Torrential rain caused the river to rise 26ft (8 meters) in just 45 minutes before dawn on Friday, washing away homes and vehicles.

Some of the victims of the disaster have now been recovered and are being formally identified. One of the girls, Renee Smajstrla, who was nine years old, was confirmed to be among the dead by her uncle.

“Renee has been found and while not the outcome we prayed for, the social media outreach likely assisted the first responders in helping to identify her so quickly,” Shawn Salta wrote on Facebook. “We are thankful she was with her friends and having the time of her life.”

A number of camps were situated along the river for the Independence Day weekend, and up to 25 of about 750 campers remain unaccounted for, according to Larry Leitha, sheriff of Kerr county, who said that “catastrophic” rains had devastated the area, located to the north of San Antonio.

Leitha said at least 27 people were confirmed dead, among them nine children. Authorities said about 850 people had been rescued, with roughly 400 people involved in the search-and-rescue operation.

Searchers used helicopters and drones to look for victims and rescue people stranded by flood waters. The confirmed death toll is almost certain to rise, although hopes remain that some of those affected will be found alive. “They could be in a tree, they could be out of communication,” said Dan Patrick, Texas’s lieutenant governor. “We are praying for all of those missing to be found alive.”

The danger was not over as more heavy rains were expected Saturday, with flash flood warnings issued for parts of central Texas. “This is a PARTICULARLY DANGEROUS SITUATION,” the National Weather Service (NWS) warned in a bulletin. “SEEK HIGHER GROUND NOW!”

Huge downpours like this are becoming more common around the world due to the climate crisis, with a warming atmosphere holding a greater amount of moisture. In eastern Texas, there has already been a 20% increase in the number of days with heavy rain or snow since 1900, with the intensity of extreme rain set to rise by another 10% in the next decade.

In the area affected by the floods in Texas, parents and families posted photos of missing loved ones and pleas for information. “The camp was completely destroyed,” said Elinor Lester, 13, one of hundreds of campers at Camp Mystic. “A helicopter landed and started taking people away. It was really scary.”

A raging storm woke up her and her cabin mates just after midnight Friday – and when rescuers arrived, they tied a rope for the girls to hold as they walked across a bridge with flood waters whipping around their legs, she said.

The flooding in the middle of the night on the Fourth of July holiday caught many residents, campers and officials by surprise. Officials defended their preparations for severe weather and their response but said they had not expected such an intense downpour that was, in effect, the equivalent of months’ worth of rain for the area.

One NWS forecast this week had called for only 3-6in (76-152mm) of rain, said Nim Kidd, the chief of the Texas division of emergency management.

“It did not predict the amount of rain that we saw,” he said.

Saturday’s deaths renewed questions about whether it was wise for the Trump administration to implement deep budget and job cuts at the NWS – among other federal government agencies – since his second presidency began in January.

“After media reports & experts warned for months that drastic & sudden cuts at the [NWS] by Trump could impair their forecasting ability & endanger lives during the storm season, TX officials blame an inaccurate forecast by NWS for the deadly results of the flood,” Ron Filipkowski, editor in chief of the liberal news website MeidasTouch, wrote on X.

Trump addressed the deadly floods shortly before 11am eastern time on Saturday. On his Truth Social platform, he said that his administration was working with state and local officials – and that he and the first lady, Melania Trump, were “praying for all of the families” affected.

One river gauge near Camp Mystic recorded a 22ft (6.7-meter) rise in about two hours, said Bob Fogarty, meteorologist with the NWS’s Austin/San Antonio office. The gauge failed after recording a level of 29.5ft (9 meters).

“The water’s moving so fast, you’re not going to recognize how bad it is until it’s on top of you,” Fogarty said.

On the Facebook page of the Kerr county sheriff’s office, people posted pictures of loved ones and begged for help finding them.

In Ingram, Erin Burgess woke to thunder and rain in the middle of the night on Friday. Just 20 minutes later, water was pouring into her home directly across from the river, she said. She described an agonizing hour clinging to a tree and waiting for the water to recede enough to walk up the hill to a neighbor’s home.

“My son and I floated to a tree where we hung on to it, and my boyfriend and my dog floated away,” she said. “He was lost for a while, but we found them.”

Of her 19-year-old son, Burgess said: “Thankfully he’s over 6ft tall. That’s the only thing that saved me – was hanging on to him.”

Matthew Stone, 44, of Kerrville, said police came knocking on doors but that he had received no warning on his phone.

“We got no emergency alert. There was nothing” until suddenly there was “a pitch-black wall of death”, Stone said.

At a reunification center set up in Ingram, families cried and cheered as loved ones disembarked from vehicles loaded with evacuees. Two soldiers carried an older woman who could not climb down a ladder. Behind her, a woman clutched a small white dog.

Later, a girl in a white Camp Mystic T-shirt and white socks stood in a puddle, sobbing in her mother’s arms.

Barry Adelman, 54, said water pushed everyone in his three-story house into the attic, including his 94-year-old grandmother and nine-year-old grandson. The water started coming through the attic floor before finally receding.

“I was horrified,” he said. “I was having to look at my grandson in the face and tell him everything was going to be OK, but inside I was scared to death.”

The forecast had called for rain, with a flood watch upgraded to a warning overnight for at least 30,000 people.

The lieutenant governor noted that the potential for heavy rain and flooding covered a large area.

“Everything was done to give them a heads-up that you could have heavy rain, and we’re not exactly sure where it’s going to land,” Patrick said. “Obviously, as it got dark last night, we got into the wee morning of the hours, that’s when the storm started to zero in.”

Asked about how people were notified in Kerr county so that they could get to safety, Judge Rob Kelly, the county’s chief elected official, said: “We do not have a warning system.”

When reporters pushed on why more precautions weren’t taken, Kelly said: “Rest assured – no one knew this kind of flood was coming.”

The area is known as “flash flood alley” because of the hills’ thin layer of soil, said Austin Dickson, chief executive officer of the Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country, which was collecting donations to help non-profits responding to the disaster.

“When it rains, water doesn’t soak into the soil,” Dickson said. “It rushes down the hill.”

River tourism is a key part of the Hill Country economy. Well-known, century-old summer camps bring in kids from all over the country, Dickson said.

“It’s generally a very tranquil river with really beautiful clear blue water that people have been attracted to for generations,” Dickson said.

The Associated Press contributed reporting

US President Donald Trump signed into law a massive package of tax and spending cuts at the White House on Friday, staging an outdoor ceremony on the Fourth of July holiday that took on the air of a Trump political rally.

With military jets flying overhead and hundreds of supporters in attendance, Trump signed the bill one day after the Republican-controlled House of Representatives narrowly approved the signature legislation of the president’s second term.

The bill, which will fund Trump’s immigration crackdown, make his 2017 tax cuts permanent, and is expected to knock millions of Americans off health insurance, was passed with a 218-214 vote after an emotional debate on the House floor.

“I’ve never seen people so happy in our country because of that, because so many different groups of people are being taken care of: the military, civilians of all types, jobs of all types,” Trump said at the ceremony, thanking House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune for leading the bill through the two houses of Congress.

“So you have the biggest tax cut, the biggest spending cut, the largest border security investment in American history,” Trump said.

Trump scheduled the ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House for the July 4 Independence Day holiday, replete with a flyover by stealth bombers and fighter jets like those that took part in the recent US strikes on nuclear facilities in Iran. Hundreds of Trump supporters attended, including White House aides, members of Congress, and military families.

After a speech that included boastful claims about the ascendance of America on his watch, Trump signed the bill, posed for pictures with Republican congressional leaders and members of his cabinet, and waded through the crowd of happy supporters.

The bill’s passage amounts to a big win for Trump and his Republican allies, who have argued it will boost economic growth, while largely dismissing a nonpartisan analysis predicting it will add more than $3 trillion to the nation’s $36.2 trillion debt.

Also Read: Trump threatens to cut Tesla, SpaceX funding in ongoing feud with Musk

While some lawmakers in Trump’s party expressed concerns over the bill’s price tag and its hit to healthcare programs, in the end just two of the House’s 220 Republicans voted against it, joining all 212 Democrats in opposition.

The tense standoff over the bill included a record-long floor speech by House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who spoke for eight hours and 46 minutes, blasting the bill as a giveaway to the wealthy that would strip low-income Americans of federally-backed health insurance and food aid benefits.

Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin predicted the law would cost Republicans votes in congressional elections in 2026.

“Today, Donald Trump sealed the fate of the Republican Party, cementing them as the party for billionaires and special interests – not working families,” Martin said in a statement. “This legislation will hang around the necks of the GOP for years to come. This was a full betrayal of the American people. Today, we are putting Republicans on notice: you will lose your majority.”

Few celebrations have the hills of Dharamshala abuzz like the birthday of the Dalai Lama. But this year, as monks and devotees flooded into the mountainous Indian city before the Tibetan spiritual leader turns 90 on Sunday, the mood of anticipation has been palpable.

For years, the Dalai Lama had promised that around his 90th birthday he would make a long-awaited announcement about his reincarnation. Finally, in a video broadcast to Tibetan monks and leaders on Wednesday, he laid out what the future would hold. It came amid fears of a ruthless succession battle between the Tibetan community and the Chinese government, which for decades has sought to control the institution of the Dalai Lama, revered as the highest teacher in Tibetan Buddhism.

Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, confirmed he would remain in the role until he died. Then, as per centuries of tradition, he would be reincarnated, and only his inner circle – a trust of closely allied monks – would have the “sole authority” to locate his successor; an often lengthy process to track down a child in which his spirit has been reborn.

“No one else has any such authority to interfere in this matter,” the Dalai Lama told his monks.

The announcement ended years of speculation that, in an attempt to prevent Chinese interference, the Dalai Lama might put forward an alternative mode of reincarnation, such as transferring his spiritual essence to a successor who could be found while he was still alive. To the great worry of many in the Tibetan diaspora, he had even hinted that he may not reincarnate at all.

The Dalai Lama’s latest statement was a clear defiance of the Communist party in China, which has long held the view that only it has the authority to decide the next Dalai Lama and has even enshrined the right into Chinese law.

However, Tansen Sen, a scholar of Indo-Chinese relations and Buddhism, noted that the Dalai Lama’s message struck a more diplomatic tone than some of his previous statements. In earlier writings, he had said the 15th Dalai Lama would be born in the “free world” – taken to mean outside China – but this time he did not repeat that.

“I see this as a very strategically handled announcement which avoided ruffling China’s feathers too much,” said Sen. “The Dalai Lama is not only a religious leader, he is also a shrewd thinker and I think he realises that there are larger issues at play, particularly that he is caught geopolitically between India and China.”

However, China’s sensitivity over the issue was evident in the absence of the Dalai Lama’s statement from all Chinese or Tibetan media. “China’s propaganda managers seem very reticent for this news to reach Tibetans or even Chinese,” said Robert Barnett, a scholar of Tibetan history at Soas University of London. “Presumably that’s because Chinese leaders fear a popular outpouring of support for the Dalai Lama, or they are struggling to agree on how to respond.”

China invaded and took control of the autonomous region of Tibet in 1950. After a failed uprising by Tibetans in 1959, China threatened to arrest the Dalai Lama – who acted as a religious and political leader – forcing him into exile in India.

After his perilous escape across the Himalayas, in April 1959 the Dalai Lama met the then-Indian prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, who declared – against much opposition within his own government – that the Tibetan spiritual leader “should be allowed to live in peace” in India.

Since then, the Dalai Lama, along with other Tibetan religious leaders, civilians and parliamentarians in exile, have established their political and religious headquarters in Dharamshala, high in the Himalayan mountains.

From his outpost, the Dalai Lama has been both a religious leader and a tireless and highly effective global advocate for the Tibetan cause and community over the past 66 years. He has vocally resisted calls by China for it to have any say over the institution of the Dalai Lama or to meddle in the succession process.

Within greater Tibet, home to 6 million people, Chinese authorities have imposed increasingly draconian measures and censorship to try to crush the influence of the Dalai Lama, including banning images of him.

Beijing has described the Dalai Lama as a “wolf in monk’s clothing” and views him as a dissident and separatist, even as he advocated for greater Tibetan autonomy within China, rather than full independence.

Chinese efforts are widely seen to have failed, and as the Dalai Lama’s international profile has grown – he has a Nobel peace prize and millions of devotees, including some of the world’s biggest celebrities – he remains more revered than ever.

His presence as a constant thorn in the side of Chinese efforts to impose complete homogeneity over Tibet means officials have become increasingly determined to control what happens when he dies. In a statement after the Dalai Lama’s announcement this week – which was only published in English – the Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, Mao Ning, said his successor “must be chosen by drawing lots from a golden urn and approved by the central government”.

Analysts have widely agreed the most likely scenario after the death of the Dalai Lama is that two successors will be appointed; one located by Tibetan monks, as per tradition, probably outside China and recognised by the Tibetan community in exile, and another selected by the Chinese Communist party from within China.

Over the decades, the Dalai Lama’s presence in Dharamshala and the free movement he is afforded by India has remained a source of tension in Indo-Chinese relations. Yet since 2020, when border tensions erupted into violent skirmishes, it appeared the Indian government, led by the prime minister, Narendra Modi, began to see the Tibet issue as a direct form of leverage over China. China has emphasised that any country that interferes in the Dalai Lama reincarnation will be sanctioned – a message seen to be directed at India.

In a notable break from convention, this week India’s minister of minority affairs, Kiren Rijiju, himself a Buddhist, said publicly that reincarnation of the Dalai Lama “is to be decided by the established convention and as per the wish of the Dalai Lama himself. Nobody else has the right to decide it except him.”

China’s foreign ministry instantly called on India to “stop using Tibet issues to interfere in China’s domestic affairs”.

Amitabh Mathur, a former adviser on Tibet to the Indian government, said it was highly likely that the Dalai Lama’s office would have informed New Delhi of the reincarnation announcement, and that Rijiju’s statement would not have been made without consulting senior ministries. “It certainly goes above and beyond what has been said by India before,” said Mathur.

He suggested the geopolitical challenges over the Dalai Lama were likely to become more complicated after his death, particularly if the Tibetan officials located his reincarnation inside India, in defiance of China’s own possible selection.

Tibetan officials have confirmed that unofficial back channels remained open with the Chinese and that the Dalai Lama was doing all he could to prevent the 600-year-old Tibetan Buddhist institution being hijacked by Chinese political interests. “He’s viewing these things from a very practical lens,” said Mathur. “Don’t forget, the Dalai Lama is as well versed in statecraft as he is in spiritual matters.”

Nonetheless, as he led prayers on the eve of his birthday, the Tibetan leader – who appeared in good health – emphasised that he did not foresee his death coming any time soon. “I hope,” he said, “to live another 30 or 40 years.”

CNN
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For the first time in over a century, Parisians and tourists will be able to take a refreshing dip in the River Seine. The long-polluted waterway is finally opening up as a summertime swim spot following a 1.4 billion euro ($1.5 billion) cleanup project that made it suitable for Olympic competitions last year.

Three new swimming sites on the Paris riverbank will open on Saturday – one close to Notre Dame Cathedral, another near the Eiffel Tower and a third in eastern Paris.

Swimming in the Seine has been illegal since 1923, with a few exceptions, due to pollution and risks posed by river navigation. Taking a dip outside bathing areas is still banned for safety reasons.

The Seine was one of the stars of the Paris Olympics in 2024, whether as the scene of the ambitious opening ceremony or the triathlon and marathon swimming competitions. That didn’t go without challenging hurdles such as rainfall increasing levels of bacteria, which postponed some competitions.

The city’s authorities have given the green light for the public opening, with water quality results consistently in line with European regulations.

“It’s a symbolic moment when we get our river back,” said sports coach and influencer Lucile Woodward, who will participate in the first amateur open water competition in the Seine on Sunday.

Woodward, who enjoyed a dip alongside Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo just before the start of the Olympic Games, is confident things will go well.

“We’re going to enjoy swimming in it, being there and setting an example,” she said. “Once people will see that in the end there are hundreds of people who have fun and enjoy it, everyone will want to go!”

“For families, going to take a dip with the kids, making little splashes in Paris, it’s extraordinary,” Woodward added.

Olympic athletes competing in the river was a spectacular reward for the cost of the cleanup effort.

In the run-up to the Games, authorities opened new disinfection units and created a huge storage basin meant to prevent as much bacteria-laden wastewater as possible from spilling directly into the Seine when it rains.

Houseboats that previously emptied their sewage directly into the river were required to hook up to municipal sewer systems. Some homes upstream from Paris also saw their wastewater connected to treatment plants instead of the rainwater system flowing directly into the river.

Paris Deputy Mayor Pierre Rabadan said water is tested daily to confirm it’s safe to swim. As on French beaches, different colored flags will inform visitors whether or not they can go in.

“Green means the water quality is good. Red means that it’s not good or that there’s too much current,” he said.

Tests have been in line with European regulations since the beginning of June, with only two exceptions due to rain and boat-related pollution, Rabadan said.

“I can’t make a bet on the numbers of days when we’ll have to close this summer, but water quality seems better than last year,” he added. “We’re in a natural environment… so weather condition variations necessarily have an impact.”

Last year, several athletes became ill after competing in the triathlon and open water races during the Olympics, though in most cases it was not clear if the river was to blame for their sickness.

World Aquatics stressed the conditions met the sport’s accepted thresholds.

“The legacy of these efforts is already evident, with the Seine now open for public swimming – a positive example of how sports can drive long-term community benefits,” the organization said in a statement to The Associated Press.

Skepticism remains about water quality

Dan Angelescu, founder and CEO of Fluidion, a Paris and Los Angeles-based water monitoring tech company, has routinely and independently tested bacterial levels in the Seine for several years. Despite being in line with current regulations, the official water testing methodology has limitations and undercounts the bacteria, he said.

“What we see is that the water quality in the Seine is highly variable,” Angelescu said. “There are only a few days in a swimming season where I would say water quality is acceptable for swimming.”

“All we can say is that we can raise a hand and say look: the science today does not support the current assessment of water safety used in the rivers around Paris, and we think that there is major risk that is not being captured at all,” he said.

Some Parisians also have shown skepticism toward the idea of swimming in the Seine. The feeling is often reinforced by the water’s murky color, floating litter and multiple tourist boats in some places.

Enys Mahdjoub, a real estate agent, said he would not be afraid of swimming, but rather “a bit disgusted. It’s more the worry of getting dirty than anything else at the moment.”

Until the end of August, swimming sites will be open for free at scheduled times to anyone with a minimum age of 10 or 14 years, depending on the location. Lifeguards will keep a watchful eye on those first dips.

“It’s an opportunity, a dream come true,” said Clea Montanari, a project manager in Paris. “It’d be a dream if the Seine becomes drinkable, that would be the ultimate goal, right? But already swimming in it is really good.”