The Real Star of the Paris Olympics: The Seine

The river Seine will host the opening ceremony of the summer Paris Olympics. Emmanuel DUNAND / AFP/File
The river Seine will host the opening ceremony of the summer Paris Olympics. Emmanuel DUNAND / AFP/File
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The Real Star of the Paris Olympics: The Seine

The river Seine will host the opening ceremony of the summer Paris Olympics. Emmanuel DUNAND / AFP/File
The river Seine will host the opening ceremony of the summer Paris Olympics. Emmanuel DUNAND / AFP/File

The Seine will play a starring role in this summer's Paris Olympics, with the opening ceremony set to take place on the river, which will also host swimming events.
Here are things you need to know about the storied waterway.
From Vikings to D-Day
From wars to revolutions and the Covid-19 pandemic, most of the seismic events in French history have played out along the banks of the Seine.
The Vikings traveled up the river on their longboats in the 9th century, torching Rouen in 841 and later besieging Paris, AFP said.
In 1944, Allied forces bombed most of the bridges downstream of Nazi-occupied Paris to prepare the ground for the D-Day landings which led to the liberation of western Europe.
A little over a decade later, a young Queen Elizabeth II was treated to a cruise on the Seine for her first state visit to France after taking the throne.
It was also to the Seine that Parisians flocked in 2020 when allowed out for air during the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
- Monet's muse -
French impressionist master Claude Monet spent his life painting the river from different viewpoints.
Hollywood starlet Doris Day, British rock singer Marianne Faithfull and US crooner Dean Martin all sang about it.
And during one of her raging rows with her songwriter partner Serge Gainsbourg, singer and actress Jane Birkin jumped into it.
The Seine has long inspired artists, authors, musicians... as well as legions of couples who have sworn their undying love by chaining personalized padlocks to the bridges of Paris.
- Barging ahead -
Taking a cruise on the Seine is on most visitors' bucket lists, but the Seine is also a working river, used to transport everything from grain to Ikea furniture to the materials used for the construction of the Olympic Village.
Around 20 million tons of goods are transported on France's second-busiest river each year -- the equivalent of about 800,000 lorry-loads.
Diving in
Swimming in the Seine, which was all the rage in the 17th century when people used to dive in naked, has been banned for the past century for health and safety reasons.
But that's all about to change, with France spending 1.4 billion euros ($1.5 billion) to clean it of fecal matter and other impurities before the Olympics.
The open-water swimming events and triathlon will start at Pont Alexandre III, a marvel of 19th century engineering near the foot of the Champs-Elysees, with the Eiffel Tower looming in the background.
Beyond the Games, Paris wants to open the river to bathers, with President Emmanuel Macron promising he'll lead the charge and take the plunge.
Mind the python
Cleaning up the Seine also has its macabre side. Between 50 and 60 corpses a year are fished out of the water.
Dredging of the river in recent years has also come up with voodoo dolls with pins stuck in them, a (dead) three-meter-long python, an artillery shell dating back to the Franco-Prussian war of 1870 and the trophy of the Six Nations rugby tournament, dropped during a victory party on the river after France's win in 2022.



Mexico Bans Junk Food Sales in Schools in Latest Salvo Against Child Obesity

A child snacks on cotton candy at Chapultepec park in Mexico City, Saturday, March 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
A child snacks on cotton candy at Chapultepec park in Mexico City, Saturday, March 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
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Mexico Bans Junk Food Sales in Schools in Latest Salvo Against Child Obesity

A child snacks on cotton candy at Chapultepec park in Mexico City, Saturday, March 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
A child snacks on cotton candy at Chapultepec park in Mexico City, Saturday, March 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

A government-sponsored junk food ban in schools across Mexico took effect on Saturday, officials said, as the country tries to tackle one of the world’s worst obesity and diabetes epidemics.
The health guidelines, first published last fall, take a direct shot at salty and sweet processed products that have become a staple for generations of Mexican schoolchildren, such as sugary fruit drinks, packaged chips, artificial pork rinds and soy-encased, chili-flavored peanuts, The Associated Press reported.
Announcing that the ban had become law, Mexico's Education Ministry posted on X: “Farewell, junk food!” It encouraged parents to support the government's crusade by cooking healthy meals for their kids.
“One of the core principles of the new Mexican school system is healthy living," said Mario Delgado, the public health secretary. “There's a high level of acceptance of this policy among parents.”
Mexico's ambitious attempt to remake its food culture and reprogram the next generation of consumers is being watched closely around the world as governments struggle to turn the tide on a global obesity epidemic.
In the United States, for instance, the Trump administration’s health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has vowed to upend the nation's food system and “ Make America Healthy Again " by targeting ultra-processed foods to curb surging obesity and disease.
Under Mexico's new order, schools must phase out any food and beverage displaying even one black warning logo marking it as high in salt, sugar, calories and fat. Mexico implemented that compulsory front-of-package labeling system in 2020.
Enforced from Monday morning, the start of the school week, the junk food ban also requires schools to serve more nutritious alternatives to junk food, like bean tacos, and offer plain drinking water.
“It is much better to eat a bean taco than a bag of potato chips,” said Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, who has championed the ban.
Mexico’s children consume more junk food than anywhere else in Latin America, according to UNICEF, which classifies the nation’s childhood obesity epidemic as an emergency. Sugary drinks and highly processed foods account for 40% of the total calories that children consume in a day, the agency reports.
“At my daughter's school, they told us that future activities wouldn't have candy, it would be completely different, with fruit, vegetables and other food that's healthy for kids,” said Aurora Martínez, a mother of two. “It will help us a lot.”
One-third of Mexican children are already considered overweight or obese, according to government statistics.
School administrators found in violation of the order face stiff fines, ranging from $545 to $5,450.
But enforcement poses a challenge in a country where previous junk food bans have struggled to gain traction and monitoring has been lax across Mexico’s 255,000 schools, many of which lack water fountains — even reliable internet and electricity.
It also wasn't immediately clear how the government would forbid the sale of junk food on sidewalks outside school campuses, where street vendors typically hawk candy, chips, nachos and ice cream to kids during recess and after the school day ends.
“It will be difficult,” said Abril Geraldine Rose de León, a child therapist. “But it will be achieved in the long run.”