I understand the anger and I understand the fear of reliving it again,” the Minister said Rivers in the north of France have been on alert since late December 2023 the Aa River was at Red Alert stage (highest) while the Hem Lys-Plaine and Lys-Amont remained at Orange level Authorities said levels of many rivers including the Aa peaked on 03 January but will likely remain high for some time According to the latest report from the government of Pas-de-Calais department around 189 municipalities have been affected by the recent flooding promoting the fire departments and local authorities to evacuate a total of 371 people Around 700 firefighters are working in the area alongside police they had carried out almost 600 interventions A firefighter was injured during an intervention in Aire-sur-la-Lys Flooding has left around 500 without electricity A further 2,100 people are affected by restrictions on water use in the municipalities of Rebreuve-Ranchicourt Authorities have distributed bottled water in these areas Around 30 homes were evacuated in Thérouanne in the last 24 hours Evacuations or rescues were also reported in Delettes As many as 1,494 people were evacuated from their homes in Pas-de-Calais department in the first 2 weeks of November 2023 after heavy rain from consecutive storms caused rivers to rise Firefighters carried out over 2,300 interventions President Emmanuel Macron visited the region on 14 November and promised a €50 million “support fund” for the department’s local authorities Richard Davies is the founder of floodlist.com and reports on flooding news Cookies | Privacy | Contacts © Copyright 2025 FloodList junior world number one Lanier says the mindset of French players is changing from making up the numbers to challenging for silverware Leading the way in the senior ranks are Toma Junior Popov, Christo Popov and Arnaud Merklé with Alex Lanier set to join them. Lanier, 18, is the number one junior men's singles player in the world and joins his senior colleagues at this week's European Mixed Team Championships 2023 (14–18 February) in Aire-sur-la-Lys in northern France. The hosts are bidding to go one better than two years ago in Vantaa, Finland where they lost in the final to Denmark. Speaking exclusively to Olympics.com at last year's World Junior Championships, he said of French players, "Ten years ago we were just like 'We'll play one or two rounds,' and now it's more like 'We want to get a medal or win the tournament.' "We changed this mindset – we're not really just (watching) the Asian players, but beating them. It was a big change for France." Trailer | Tokyo 2020: BadmintonBe inspired by this compilation of some of our athletes' finest moments While the Popov brothers and Merklé have made their marks at senior level Lanier is adamant that they are not his "inspirations" having trained with them but they are not too far off [my age]," he explained "Training together meant it was a bit like I wanted to beat them and they don't want to lose against me." even breaking Denmark's traditional dominance of European badminton "With these three guys we just wanted to be better and better and we wanted to improve together," Lanier said then the others followed and it was natural win the European titles and we can beat the Danish guys We can beat everyone in the world; that's not impossible." ExclusiveReplayMen's Singles Bronze & Gold Medal Matches - Badminton | Tokyo 2020 ReplaysThis event took place on 02/08/2021 at the Musashino Forest Sport Plaza It includes the Men's Singles Bronze and Gold Medal Match as well as the Victory Ceremony Chen (CHN) Silver and Ginting (INA)completed the podium Lanier has been playing badminton since he was two following his parents who played recreationally 'You were around all the time when we were on court when you were two or so,'" he recalled he developed a passion for the sport and found idols to model his game on I feel that he's a mixture of 'laziness' and power at the same time." He soon clarified what he meant by laziness "We think that he's not really moving (around the court) but he had a beautiful deception and he didn't really need to move "Axelsen… just he's so strong and it's unbelievable to just see his game," Lanier affirmed. "He's a good inspiration for me." View this post on Instagram A post shared by Fédération Française Badminton (@ffbad) You might think being ranked top of the world first among millions would be something to soak in "I can say it's nothing special," the Frenchman said of his top junior ranking which he first achieved in August 2022 and has held since with the exception of two weeks you are one number one in the world in junior.' And I said that's fine.' That's not [because] I don't really care about juniors but I prefer to win in seniors than win in juniors for sure Lanier will try and make Paris 2024 but faces an uphill struggle with the Popov brothers ahead of him So what does he have in mind for the coming seasons "Just to play against the best players in the world in Super 300 but I know that it would be hard for me because I'm a bit late "For Paris I know that I'm a bit younger but for me that's not a reason to just manage my [expectations] and say 'Okay Notifications can be managed in browser preferences. Child found alongside canal with wet underwear I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice A five-year-old boy has been found dead and stripped to his underwear in a French street, after his mother and step-father allegedly physically punished him for wetting the bed The child was found by police in the northern village of Aire-sur-la-Lys He died between Sunday night and Monday morning, with a fire and rescue team first on the scene around 2.30am and police arriving by 3am. It was his stepfather, 30, who initially alerted rescue services. The boy was found 200 metres from a small dwelling belonging to his step-father, alongside a canal but otherwise isolated in a forest. His mother, 22, lives at another address in the centre of the village but spent the night at the cabin. The unemployed couple, who have no other children, were arrested early on Monday morning. Patrick Leleu, the prosecutor for the local Saint-Omer area, said: "There is sufficient evidence to place [the couple] in custody, in relation to their initial explanations and their arrival on the scene." An autopsy on Monday afternoon found the boy had died of "a variety of skull injuries, some compatible with falls, others incompatible." The same local newspaper reports that school friends of the boy were "in shock" on Monday. His mother's friends said she conducted herself normally with her son, adding they would never have imagined such an event happening to her family. News Volunteer Events Shop England will send a 15-strong team to Aire-sur-la-Lys for the European Mixed Team Badminton Championships Having sealed qualification for the Championships at the back end of 2022 England are one of eight teams taking part and are drawn in a group alongside defending champions Denmark The English team will face all three in matches with rubbers across all disciplines with the top two nations progressing into the semi-finals England have been boosted by the return of Marcus Ellis who will be competing for the first time since recovering from hip surgery Playing mixed doubles alongside Lauren Smith it will be the first time Ellis has played since winning a silver at the Commonwealth Games last summer “It has been the most challenging six months of my career with many doubts and hesitations along the way,” he said “But returning to my first competition was my main objective and I’ve achieved that Jenny and Greg are here to join the team training before they depart for Aire-sur-la-Lyse for 2023 European Mixed Team Championships 🏸🔥 Who’d love to see these two pairs play? ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/FQsOF3G2aa — Badminton England (@BadmintonEnglnd) February 9, 2023 who will play women’s doubles rubbers alongside Smith while Ben Lane and Sean Vendy also feature Mixed doubles stars Greg Mairs and Jenny Moore have been selected with the men’s singles rubbers set to be spearheaded by Johnnie Torjussen Callum Hemming and Ethan van Leeuwen are in men’s doubles selection Freya Patel-Redfearn and Georgina Bland will lead the women’s singles rubbers England start their campaign on Tuesday against Scotland before playing Ukraine on Wednesday and then Denmark the following day Should they progress as one of the top two teams from their group they will have a semi-final clash on Friday before a potential final on Sunday said: “Players and staff are all looking forward to the Euro meet in France “England is coming in as one of the four top seeds and anything but a semi-final as a minimum would be disappointing being drawn against Scotland in the first match is not an easy one ‘The battle of Britain’ is always an interesting one and the teams are very well matched It will all come down to the doubles departments and it is a very close affair “We are all looking forward to seeing our top mixed doubles pair we will see some good performances from National Champion Johnnie Torjussen who has been training in Dubai with former world No priority access tickets and exclusive communications and offers Web Design & Development by 123 Internet Group