Wall Street Journal, and now practically every other outlet on this planet reports on this deliberate sabotage against the SNCF - and right on Olympic Opening Day.
The "targets" were the signaling systems of the TGV, taking out three of the four major lines leading to Paris (they got caught on the line from Montpelier). Fortunately, no reported injuries.
Honestly, these Games should have been history after Munich during '72. The worldwide political climate simply makes them "untenable". NBC is my default TV network, as I mostly watch news and Lester Holt started out here, albeit on the local CBS outlet. But for the next three weeks, my TV Evening News - Local and National, as well as any network prime time I might watch, will be "elsewhere".
addendum July 28: France 24, which appears to be a counterpart to our CPB, reports that the lines affected - all TGV lines to Paris save that from Montpellier where the saboteurs were caught - will be restored Sunday, July 28, and that normal service will resume on Monday:
Fair Use:
quote:France's national rail operator said on Sunday that repairs to its network damaged by sabotage attacks was "fully completed" and there would be "no more delays" for travellers from Monday morning.
The situation on the main western line from Paris was "practically normal" and "three out of four" high-speed TGV trains were running on the main northern line from the capital city, "without any increase in travel time from now on", the SNCF said in a statement.
It remains unclear who carried out the three attacks overnight Thursday to Friday on rail infrastructure and if they were deliberately timed to disrupt the Olympics opening ceremony that took place later that day.
Lest we forget, the overwhelming majority of French have normal lives, such as getting to and from work, to live - this Olympic nonsense notwithstanding. To the extent they were able, many have simply bailed out of Paris "for the duration" staying wherever (relatives or hotels) and only entering the city to, say, get to work.
I guess these disruptions, including here in Chicago, the NASCAR street race and the upcoming Lollapalooza concert (if you care to call it that) are all part of residing in a major city. Just as glad that I reside in a suburb.