Page 8 - ARUBA TODAY

A8 WORLD NEWS
Friday 10 august 2018

France: 1,600 evacuated as flash floods threaten camp sites

Associated Press mainly from campsites, a a town on the Ceze River, Drome regions.
PARIS (AP) — Hundreds of top district official, Thierry Dousset said. They were "No one has suitcases. We
rescuers backed by heli- Dousset, told France's BFM- among 10 people hospital- just have what we're wear-
copters evacuated about TV news channel. ized with minor injuries, the ing," Rita Mauersberger, a
1,600 people, most of them Search teams that includ- Gard Gendarmerie said on visitor from Germany who
campers, in three regions ed divers combed swollen its Facebook page. was among the campers
of southern France where waters for a man reported After a hot spell, the flash taking shelter in a local hall
heavy rain caused flash missing. BFM-TV said he was flooding in the northern in Saint-Julien-de-Peyrolas,
flooding and transformed a 70-year-old German citi- part of the Gard region told France Info radio.
rivers and streams into tor- zen serving as a monitor at turned the Ceze and More than 400 firefight-
rents, the interior minister the Saint-Julien-de-Peyro- L'Ardeche rivers into churn- ers and gendarmes, many
said Thursday. las site and feared to have ing waterways that quickly sent in from other regions,
Hardest hit was the Gard been swept away by flood spilled out of their banks. helped in the evacuations,
region, where 119 children, waters along with his van. Nearby regions — all part using helicopters to spot
many of them from Germa- However, Dousset, the top of the verdant and moun- camp sites and occasion-
ny, were evacuated from aide of the Gard adminis- tainous Cevennes — also ally to perform rescues.
their campsite at Saint- tration, said no one knew saw flooding. Numerous roads in the area
Julien-de-Peyrolas, Interior In this image from video, flash for certain yet that the man Collomb, the interior minis- remained cut off as night
Minister Gerard Collomb floods send a torrent of water was in his van at the time. ter, said in a statement that fell. Authorities warned that
down a street in Aubagne,
said in a statement. France on Thursday, Aug. 9, Four German children were 1,600 people were evacu- the flooding would take
About 750 people in all 2018. hospitalized for hypother- ated as a precaution in the time to recede and urged
were evacuated in Gard, Associated Press mia in Bagnols-sur-Ceze, Gard, the Ardeche and the people to be vigilant.q

Estonia halts NATO air drills after jet misfires missile

By JARI TANNER Juri Luik said Thursday. has a range of up to 100 explosives. ance. The three former So-
HELSINKI (AP) — Estonia's "The Spanish defense minis- kilometers (62 miles.) It may While Luik urged Spain to viet republics don't possess
defense minister has or- ter has apologized and ex- have crashed into a re- conduct a thorough inves- fighter jets of their own.
dered a halt to NATO air pressed deep regret," Luik mote nature reserve in the tigation, he also launched The air policing is carried
exercises in Estonia pend- said at a news conference eastern Jogeva region, not an internal review of the out from NATO's bases in
ing an investigation after in the Estonian capital of far from Estonia's border safety regulations for ar- Siauliai, Lithuania, and Am-
a missile was accidentally Tallinn, adding that the with Russia, or triggered its ranging military air exercis- ari, Estonia. French, Portu-
fired over the Baltic coun- commander of the Spanish built-in self-destruct mode es in the tiny NATO nation guese and Spanish fighter
try's airspace by a Spanish Armed Forces apologized and exploded in midair, of 1.3 million. jets are currently in charge
fighter jet on a military exer- as well. Luik said. Until the completion of that of the rotating four-month
cise this week. Estonian Prime Minister Juri The Eurofighter Typhoon review "I have suspended mission.
The air-to-air missile that Ratas spoke with NATO jet belonging to the Span- all NATO exercises in the In Moscow, Russian Foreign
was erroneously launched Secretary-General Jens ish Air Force was part of Estonian airspace," he said. Ministry spokeswoman Ma-
Tuesday over southern Es- Stoltenberg on Wednes- NATO's Baltic air-policing Luik reaffirmed Estonia's ria Zakharova said Thursday
tonia has not been found, day, expressing Estonia's mission based in Lithuania trust in NATO's Baltic air mis- the Estonian missile incident
but no people were report- concern over the "serious and was carrying air-to-air sion, which started in 2004 showed that NATO's air
ed injured or killed by the incident." missiles containing up to 10 as Estonia, Latvia and Lithu- drills are security risks for the
misfiring, Defense Minister The AMRAAM-type missile kilograms (22 pounds) of ania joined the military alli- region.q

Turkey to outline 'new economic model' as currency slides

By SUZAN FRASER pastor's detention led to tional Monetary Fund or de-
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Tur- Washington imposing puni- cide to put limits on money
key's government says it will tive sanctions on two Turk- outflows from the country.
outline a "new economic ish Cabinet ministers and Because IMF help comes
model" on Friday as the na- warning of possible addi- with policies prescriptions,
tional currency hit another tional measures. analysts say that Erdogan
record low amid concerns That added to existing con- could be more inclined to
about the president's poli- cerns about the indepen- try to control money flows.
cies and an ongoing dis- dence of the central bank. Finance and Treasury Min-
pute with the U.S. President Recep Tayyip Er- ister Berat Albayrak, who
The lira, which has fallen dogan wants the bank to is Erdogan's son-in-law,
about 30 percent since the keep rates low to support will present the outlines of
start of the year, dropped economic growth, but in- a new economic model
to another low of 5.47 dependent economists say on Friday, his ministry said
against the dollar on Thurs- it should be free to raise Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announces plan of Thursday.
day. rates to rein in inflation. action for the first 100 days of his new presidency, in Ankara, The ministry said it expects
The slide followed news Turkey finances a lot of its Turkey, Friday, Aug. 3, 2018. inflation, currently nearly 16
that high level meetings in economic growth with for- Associated Press percent, to return to single
Washington between U.S. eign investment, making it digits and that the current
and Turkish officials over a particularly vulnerable to vestors, who could pull their cial instability. account deficit would be
detained American pas- a slide in the currency. A money out — reinforcing In such a case, Turkey lowered from the current
tor concluded without an weaker currency weakens the currency drop and po- could either seek financial 5.5 percent of GDP to 4
apparent resolution. The returns for those foreign in- tentially leading to finan- assistance from the Interna- percent. q