Fires on French railway tracks have delayed journeys for 800,000 travelers in what the transport minister described as “coordinated attacks of malicious intent.”

A co-ordinated arson attack on the French rail system is turning the first weekend of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris into a nightmare for hundreds of thousands of travelers.

French rail company SNCF announced on Friday its high-speed train system had been hit by “deliberate arson attacks to damage [its] facilities” causing delays and cancellations which are expected to last all weekend.

The disruptions are affecting trains heading East, North and West of Paris, and travelers have been asked to postpone their plans.

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldM
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    3 months ago

    I know this is terrible of me, but… I was originally not planning on watching the opening ceremonies. Now I’m going to scare-watch them.

    • grue@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      The timing snuck up on me and I haven’t figured out how to get viewing access to them (whether broadcast, subscription, or 🏴‍☠️). Any suggestions?

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldM
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        3 months ago

        For the last Olympics, I connected my VPN to Canada because it was on the CBC for free. Hooray for public-funded media! And if I could send some money to the CBC’s way and not have to do that, I would. Same with the UK TV license.

        That said, none of my UK VPN addresses are working for UK TV anymore. I’m hoping the Canadian ones still work.

        Edit: Seems to be working but it’s not live streaming for another 1:45. Here’s the link for the CBC. https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/video/9.6443205

        I use Private Internet Access as my VPN if that helps.

          • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldM
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            3 months ago

            Conservatives talk about defunding the BBC in the UK too. I wish they’d just allow people from other countries to give them money instead.

            • dylanmorgan@slrpnk.net
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              3 months ago

              Defunding public media is not about the money the government spends on it. It’s about eliminating journalism that is not accountable to corporate power and money. The control the wealthy already exert over publicly funded media is never enough, people with the kind of money where control of the media is a possibility want to be able to fire a reporter who pisses them off personally.

              • grue@lemmy.world
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                3 months ago

                It’s crazy how it really is always projection, isn’t it? Their primary argument against public media is invoking the boogeyman of government censorship and/or propaganda (but that doesn’t really happen unless all the country’s media is controlled by the government and that’s not what’s happening with PBS/BBC/etc.), when it’s really that they’re butthurt that their own censorship and propaganda is being resisted.

                • MCasq_qsaCJ_234@lemmy.zip
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                  3 months ago

                  PBS and NPR are not owned by the government, they are independent and the majority of their income comes from outside the federal government, only a minority comes from there.

                  Those who are owned by the government are USAGM, which owns several media outlets, but their target audiences are foreign.

        • mecfs@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          RTS and SRF also free with swiss VPN

          Or TF1 with french VPN

          Or ORF with austrian vpn

          • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldM
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            3 months ago

            Thanks! For my case, I’m assuming none of them are in English and I’m a dumb 'murcan who barely made it through French in high school, so I’m going to have to stick with Canada. But hopefully that will help others.

            • grue@lemmy.world
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              3 months ago

              As a 'murcan who took Latin in high school (because SAT scores were a higher-priority goal than actually becoming bilingual, LOL) and is now learning French of my own volition, I think maybe the Olympics would be a relatively good candidate for watching in French. At least with the simpler/less-subjective sports (e.g. track and field, as opposed to e.g. gymnastics), it could be possible to follow along just with the infographics on the screen even if you struggle to understand the commentary.

              (Also, thanks for the advice. I’ve got a PIA subscription that I really don’t use enough, so this is a good push to finally figure out how to set it up properly.)

            • mecfs@lemmy.world
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              3 months ago

              I like to watch national TV from other countries its fun way to get to know the language and culture

              • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldM
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                3 months ago

                I used to do that when I was younger, but these days it’s usually for something like the Olympics where I want to understand what’s going on.

                I do get a huge dose of Canadian pride though, so that’s fun.

    • mryessir@lemmy.sdf.org
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      3 months ago

      Showing colour is nothing to be accused of. It should imply the start of a discussion.

      What do you expect on the opening ceremonies?