A richly described Victorian painting of a harvest scene is full of innocent joy shadowed by what history would soon bring to the fields of northern France Frank Ormsby’s multi-stranded new collection, The Darkness of Snow each composed of thematically connected poems or sequences Memories of a Catholic boyhood in Enniskillen predominate in Part I its epigraph a characteristically rueful quotation from one of the ensuing poems: “Where I grew up / the fields had names.” The focus in Part IV is the poet’s experience of the early stages of Parkinson’s disease concerns itself with a fictional war-crimes tribunal whose participants bear witness from different perspectives While such themes might promise a long descent into suffering and seriousness Ormsby brings humour and lightness of touch to his personal writing and lifts the darkness of snow at apt moments throughout the collection There’s a further source of light and colour: a glorious third section devoted to poems about art This is where my eye finally settled to select this week’s poem Ormsby’s source was Julian Campbell’s exhibition catalogue The Irish Impressionists: Irish Artists in France and Belgium Brittany was a favoured location for many of these artists and it seems from the ease and confidence of his writing that Ormsby may know and love the region as intimately as they his poems are always scrupulous representations of the paintings which is some compensation for not having them to hand in the collection the pictures add up to a revelation of the underpraised achievement of Irish impressionism Richard Doody writes that: “A million Bretons answered the French call to arms in the first world war Bretons were killed and wounded at a rate twice the national average.” But the poet’s retrospective awareness of the devastations inflicted by both world wars is not allowed to overshadow the painting’s innocence equally scrupulous in depicting scenes of middle-class and working-class life more interested in his medium than any message The girls he painted at Quimperlé are clearly poor but not obviously oppressed: and the land itself rests calmly under the protection of the church and “the blockish bell-tower” looming on the hill above His apple-gatherers achieve a perfect unity of nature and labour when they bite into the apple and find that “now their work has a taste / now they can taste the work of the orchard” The largesse of the late summer orchard is not exaggerated The effect of papermaking on the environment is considerable: According to Wikipedia, the pulp and paper industry is the world’s fifth-largest consumer of energy, accounting for 4 percent of global energy use. The sector uses more water than any other industry; producing 1 ton of paper requires an estimated 300 tons to 400 tons of water. Other issues include deforestation, greenhouse gas emissions, harmful chemicals and wastewater. Driven by greater environmental awareness and stricter regulations, paper manufacturers have been moving toward more sustainable production practices. Tobacco Reporter spoke to leading players in the cigarette paper business about their strategies to reduce the environmental footprint of their operations. Based in Indonesia, BMJ is the world’s No. 3 cigarette paper producer, supplying about 10 percent of global requirements. BMJ Innovation Center Director Liem Khe Fung is convinced that without a sustainability strategy, a company won’t survive the next 10 years to 15 years. Therefore, BMJ has adopted a strategy of “reduce, reuse and innovate.” Such actions have enabled BMJ to reduce its energy consumption by about 15 percent in just a few years. Papermaking also requires lots of clean water, an increasingly scarce resource. Water accounts for up to 99.9 percent of the material mixture in the web-making process. Water is also used to generate steam to dry the web or paper. To reduce water consumption, BMJ modified its No. 3 paper machine to recycle water back into the production process several times before sending it to wastewater treatment. Currently, BMJ derives 20 percent of its water requirements from recycled water. The company aims to use 50 percent recycled water by the end of 2023. Looking ahead, BMJ hopes to install renewable energy systems, such as solar panels, by 2023. “We also would like to replace some of the coal used in our boiler with biomass,” says Liem. Creating an in-house green energy supply is also at the heart of Hengfeng Paper’s sustainability strategy. With 21 production lines and an annual production of 230,000 tons, the Chinese manufacturer of cigarette paper, plug wrap and tipping base is an industry giant. The company, which celebrates its 70th anniversary this year, recently published a carbon footprint status and emission reduction action plan designed to meet government requirements. In September 2020, President Xi Jinping announced that as part of the country’s 14th five-year plan, China would strive for peak CO2 emissions by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060. Due to its level of development, China’s primary energy demand is expected to increase to 6 billion tons of standard coal by 2030. The government aims to increase the proportion of power generated by clean energy sources to 59 percent by 2030 and 86 percent by 2050 while boosting the proportion of electricity generated by clean energy sources to 48 percent by 2030 and 83 percent by 2050. To help China meet these objectives, Hengfeng plans to slash its carbon emissions by more than a third in eight years. The company will focus its efforts on improving the efficiency of power and steam acquisition, as a carbon footprint analysis identified these activities as the major contributors to the company’s global warming potential. Among other initiatives, Hengfeng plans to build a 10 MW photovoltaic power plant. The company has already signed cooperation agreements with partners and is currently preparing for construction, according to Vincent Li, sales manager at Hengfeng Paper’s Export Department II. Upon completion, the facility will generate up to 1,000 kWh, which will be fully used for paper production. To recover energy, Hengfeng will deploy cogeneration technology, which involves the thermodynamically efficient use of fuel. “In traditional power production, some of the energy must be discarded as waste heat, but in cogeneration, some of this heat is put to use,” explains Li. To reduce fresh water consumption, Hengfeng has expanded the volume of its storage tank and increased the share of recycled water, among other measures. “We also introduce, popularize and apply new water-saving technologies and carry out a water-saving inspection every month to ensure that water-saving targets are achieved,” says Li. SWM, a provider of engineered fine papers with expertise in natural fiber-based solutions, has launched a new initiative called “Thinpact” that regroups its different actions across its engineered paper division. The company aims to set an example for the industry by researching and developing sustainable processes and solutions while being authentic and transparent about the process. For the 2020–2030 period, SWM wants to reduce the CO2 emissions of its engineered papers business unit by 40 percent and its water withdrawal volumes by 25 percent. SWM has reduced its CO2 intensity—that is, the CO2 equivalent emissions per metric ton of goods produced, Scopes 1 and 2—by 11 percent between 2020 and 2021. At its largest site, Quimperle in France, the company has saved 3 percent of energy consumption year to date. Waste reduction is also on SWM’s agenda. At Quimperle, the company plans to reduce landfill waste by 30 percent in the first year of a pilot program through internal incentives and education, waste assessment and waste valorization. In addition to Quimperle, SWM has two other paper mills in France. This summer, France experienced the impact of climate change firsthand through a historic drought. Some of SWM’s energy comes from biomass. In Le Mans, for example, a biomass boiler produces steam. “We have developed a plan to roll out biomass boilers on other papermaking sites by 2030,” says Bettoli. “We are currently studying possibilities to add renewable electricity in our power mix, with the ‘Virtual Power Purchase Agreement’ approach.” The company has also installed several energy recovery processes in its mills. The Quimperle plant, for example, both produces and burns black liquor, a byproduct of pulp processing, for energy recovery. SWM uses heat exchangers to recover energy losses of air and hot water and heat from production processes to heat its offices and buildings. It has also implemented hood closures and automatic controls to limit losses such as exhausted air. By reusing excess water from the paper machines for dilution in the stock preparation area, the company reduces water consumption. For that purpose, SWM has implemented a fiber recovery system. Bettoli says the company is also reshaping product design to support the development of new products that have a lower overall impact. “This approach is included in our R&D processes,” he says. “We have developed an eco-scorecard, and we are looking forward to collaborating with the industry to reduce the impact of our activities together. One recent example is the Evolute filter media product range, which is paper for filters to replace standard acetate within filters.” *Modern papermaking machines are based on the principles of the Fourdrinier Machine, which uses a moving woven mesh to create a continuous paper web by filtering out the fibers held in a paper stock and producing a continuously moving wet mat of fiber. This is dried in the machine to produce a strong paper web. ©2025 Nicotine Resource Consortium bringing floods to areas of the region including Brittany The severe weather has continued to threaten communities across north west France since mid December a woman was killed in Morbihan by a falling tree in strong winds Heavy rainfall left river levels dangerously high Local emergency services responded to hundreds of calls Over 50 houses have been severely flooding with water levels up to around 1.5 metres in the Châteaulin commune in Finistère Morlaix and Landerneau also saw severe flooding over the last few days In fact Quimperlé was hit once again by flooding on Sunday when the coastal river Laïta broke it banks High tides and strong winds have meant crashing waves along the coastline of the area but also dune collapses and damage to the coastlines of Morbihan and Finistère Many business properties in the resort town of La Baule in Loire-Atlantique have been severely damaged or destroyed by waves The Gironde coast has also been affected by the storm where dunes were damaged at Soulac-sur-Mer Although the high tides are expected to recede further wind and heavy rainfall is still a likelihood Brittany has seen almost constant heavy rainfall since mid December with levels standing at around 2.5 times higher than average for this period yesterday (Sunday 5 January 2014) an inflatable dam was put up in Pontivy, Brittany, to help protect against further flooding there. The dam is made up of two tubes, filled with air, then water for stabilitiy. The tubes are around 1.2m wide and 2.5 m high. The dam stretches around 180 metres along two major street in the town. According to Ouest France this is the first time such inflatable dams have been used in France Sources: Le Figaro; Le Parisien Richard Davies is the founder of floodlist.com and reports on flooding news Cookies | Privacy | Contacts © Copyright 2025 FloodList The trial comes at a time of reckoning around sex crimes in France after the conviction of Dominique Pelicot Notifications can be managed in browser preferences. I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice When police in western France searched surgeon Joel Le Scouarnec’s home after he raped his six-year-old neighbour in 2017, they found a cache of sex dolls They said they also discovered electronic diaries that appeared to detail nearly three decades of rapes and sexual assaults on hundreds of his young patients in hospitals across the region In 2020, Le Scouarnec was sentenced to 15 years in prison for the rape and sexual assault of his child neighbour, as well as his two nieces and a four-year-old patient. However, the investigation continued into the alleged victims logged on his files. Prosecutors eventually charged him with the aggravated rape and sexual assault of 299 people, many of whom were children, and some of whom were anesthetized when the abuse allegedly took place. On February 24, Le Scouarnec, 74, will face trial on those charges in the Breton town of Vannes, in France’s largest ever child sexual abuse case. Prosecutors say Le Scouarnec has admitted to investigators many of the accusations he faces. His lawyers declined to comment ahead of the trial. The trial comes at a time of reckoning around sex crimes in France after the conviction of Dominique Pelicot, who was found guilty in December of drugging his wife and inviting dozens of men over to their home to rape her. Fifty other men were also convicted of rape in a case that shocked the world. Le Scouarnec’s case will raise tough questions for France’s publicly run healthcare system, victims and rights groups say. Despite a conviction for child pornography in 2005, Le Scouarnec continued to work in public hospitals until his arrest in 2017. The Health Ministry didn’t respond to a request for comment. Francois, a plaintiff in the case who was 12 when Le Scouarnec allegedly abused him, said he hoped the case would provide some answers from a system that he said failed him. “I realize I shouldn’t have been operated on by this surgeon,” said Francois, who asked to be identified only by this name. “I feel betrayed by authorities ... Why did nobody forbid this surgeon from working with children?” After discovering Le Scouarnec’s logs in 2017, investigators began tracking down potential victims by matching diary descriptions with hospital records. Although many of the anesthetized patients had no recollection of the alleged abuse, psychiatrists have documented symptoms of post-traumatic stress in victims, according to court documents. Mathis Vinet was 10 in 2007 when his father and grandfather drove him to the Quimperle hospital with stomach pain. The grandfather, Roland Vinet, 78, remembers meeting Le Scouarnec, and thinking nothing of the surgeon’s order that Mathis spend the night alone in the hospital, he told Reuters. In his diary, Le Scouarnec recalled sexually assaulting a little boy that same day and the following one, inappropriately touching his genitals each time, according to a court document. Mathis was never the same after the hospital visit, Vinet said, eventually falling into a life of alcohol and drugs. He died of an overdose at 24 in 2021, three years after learning from the police about the abuse he allegedly had suffered, and having flashbacks. Vinet and his wife, who are plaintiffs in the case, said they believed Mathis took his own life. They blame Le Scouarnec for their grandson’s death. Reuters couldn’t establish the role the surgeon’s alleged actions played in Mathis’ death. Le Scouarnec was given a suspended four-month jail sentence when he was convicted in 2005 for possessing child pornography. He secured a job as a surgeon at the Quimperle public hospital the following year. A psychiatrist at the hospital alerted management to his concerns about Le Scouarnec’s behaviour in 2006, a court document said, but the surgeon continued to work with children. The Quimperle hospital didn’t respond to a request for comment. The prosecutor in Lorient, Stephane Kellenberger, whose office led the investigation into Le Scouarnec’s alleged crimes, said he has opened a separate preliminary probe to ascertain if there was any criminal liability by agencies or individuals who could have prevented the abuse. France’s Medical Association declined to comment. The association’s local branch in the Finistere administrative department, which court documents show was aware of Le Scouarnec’s 2005 conviction, did not respond to repeated requests for comment. French ex-surgeon Joel Le Scouarnec, accused of the aggravated rape and sexual assault against hundreds of children during three decades, is seen during his trial at the courthouse in Saintes, France, March 3, 2020 in this courtroom sketch govt and politics"},{"score":0.827985,"label":"/family and parenting/children"},{"score":0.821884,"label":"/health and fitness/incest and abuse support"},{"score":0.788127,"label":"/society/crime/personal offense/homicide"},{"score":0.690978,"label":"/society/sex"},{"score":0.651943,"label":"/society/crime/personal offense/torture"},{"score":0.629577,"label":"/law Medievalists.net While you can buy this 15th century building for just 42 000 euros it will require much more money for repairs and restoration this late-15th century building is located in Quimperlé It is believed to be the oldest house in the town and is considered to be in virtually its original condition The timber-framed house is about 100 square-meters in size The ground floor has been used as a shop for centuries while the second floor is divided into three rooms This official historical site is currently owned by the town of Quimperlé who, while selling it for a relatively low-price, will require the new owners to undertake extensive emergency repairs and restoration. It is estimated that this will cost more than 530,000 euros the building is set on a pedestrian road known as La Maison des Archers Quimperlé developed around an abbey in the 12th century and now is home to just over 11,000 inhabitants The property is being sold by Patrice Besse The miracle of its preservation for more than five centuries will not continue without major works necessary now to restore its touching original appearance A survey has already been carried out for this purpose The future investment will be high in comparison to its low purchase price but it will enable an enthusiast to blend a beneficial project with one that is pleasant Beneficial because it would contribute to the preservation of a listed building that is both unique and irreplaceable and pleasant because it would breathe new life into a symbol of Quimperlé’s rich past courtesy of provisions linked to its French Historic Monument status To see more pictures and learn about l’Echoppe, please visit the Patrice Besse website Click here to see Medieval Castles for Sale We've created a Patreon for Medievalists.net as we want to transition to a more community-funded model We aim to be the leading content provider about all things medieval podcast and Youtube page offers news and resources about the Middle Ages We hope that are our audience wants to support us so that we can further develop our podcast and remove the advertising on our platforms This will also allow our fans to get more involved in what content we do produce Member Login A retired French surgeon accused of sexually abusing hundreds of young patients over decades admitted to committing "despicable" acts as his trial began on Monday in western France faces charges of aggravated rape and sexual assault against 299 victims the majority of whom were children at the time The case has raised serious concerns about the failures within France’s publicly run healthcare system Le Scouarnec spoke in a calm voice as he confirmed his identity in a small provincial courtroom while some of his alleged victims followed the proceedings from a nearby building "I have committed despicable acts," he told the court "I am aware that the harm I have caused is irreparable I owe it to my victims and their families to acknowledge my actions and the lifelong suffering they have endured." making it the worst case of child sexual abuse ever brought to trial in France The trial coincides with a broader reckoning over sexual crimes in the country following the conviction of Dominique Pelicot in December for drugging his wife and allowing dozens of men to rape her already serving a prison sentence for previous rape convictions could face up to 20 more years if found guilty multiple sentences for similar offences run concurrently the sentence remains the same." She added that her clients hoped for dignity and recognition from the justice system rather than any expectation of justice from Le Scouarnec himself Le Scouarnec had prior convictions for sex crimes he was given a four-month suspended sentence for possessing child pornography but was still able to secure a position as a surgeon at a public hospital in Quimperlé He continued practising in public hospitals until his arrest in 2017 on suspicion of raping his six-year-old neighbour police discovered electronic diaries detailing his sexual assaults on dozens of patients he was convicted of raping and sexually assaulting his young neighbour Further investigations into the records found in his possession led prosecutors to charge him with the aggravated rape and sexual assault of 299 additional victims said he was 12 when Le Scouarnec allegedly abused him and expressed anger at how authorities failed to act "Why was this surgeon allowed to continue working with children?" he asked Court documents reveal that some officials at the French health ministry were aware of his 2005 conviction The ministry has not responded to requests for comment Soon after he was hired at Quimperlé Public Hospital in 2006 a psychiatrist raised concerns about his behaviour to hospital management The hospital has not explained why Le Scouarnec retained his position despite these warnings Local prosecutor Stephane Kellenberger has launched a separate investigation into whether public bodies or individuals could be held criminally liable for failing to prevent the abuse head of the child protection organisation Innocence in Danger "It is impossible that someone could rape and assault children for so many years without others knowing." protesters gathered with banners accusing medical authorities of complicity The National Council of the Order of Physicians responsible for overseeing medical ethics in France stated that it is now working with judicial authorities to prevent similar failures in the future "I'm looking to have four great years and turn it over to somebody ideally a great Republican," Trump tells NBC Xi will hold bilateral talks with Putin on strategic ties and issues on international and regional agenda Sources say there was "alleged impropriety" in publicity Swindon and Greater Manchester area on suspicion of "terrorism offences" Closed-door “general congregations” allow cardinals to discuss challenges new pontiff will face Copyright © 2025. The News International, All Rights Reserved | Contact Us | Authors GOT A STORY?Email or Call (01) 661 1062 Date: May 16, 2024 - Sponsored Content 1952' - Jack Butler Yeats RHA (1871-1957) at Whyte's Auction House After the record-breaking post-pandemic splurge 2023 was a period of consolidation in the Irish art market with solid prices for good quality work and a high volume of sales the best prices achieved were £550,000 for Large Troubadour and €290,000 for Glory Be to the Brave Singer by Jack B Yeats Genieve Figgis did best with €150,000 for Portal William Orpen and Jack B Yeats are included Amongst contemporary artists there are outstanding works by John Shinnors Sculpture is particularly well represented at de Veres with works by Edward Delaney John Behan and even an opportunity to own a small Henry Moore (Animal is guiding at €10/15,000) Gypsy Girl (Sketch ‘Bear Woman’) by Sir William Orpen Also featuring at de Veres an intriguing work by William Orpen The woman depicted is far removed from the formal portraits that formed much of Orpen’s output She regards the viewer with a look not far removed from belligerence The Bear Woman of the title refers to her dancing bear which Orpen would have seen when he invited Edith and her partner George to visit him in his studio at the Metropolitan School of Art in 1909 It was not uncommon at that time for Hungarian and Romanian gypsies to travel around Ireland and make money from performing bears George and Bear that featured the actual bear This unusual Orpen is guiding at €100/150,000 Quimperlé (1883) byWalter Frederick Osborne.Est The town of Quimperlé in Brittany features in many of Walter Osborne’s paintings, including his well-known Apple Gathering, Quimperlé at the National Gallery of Ireland. Adam’s sale features another depiction of working-class life from that source: Early Morning in the Markets being a gift from Osborne himself to the grandmother of the current owner The market of the title is depicted with Osborne’s usual unromantic honesty The long-suffering old lady in the foreground suggests stoicism in the face of a hard life is a charming early Jack B Yeats watercolour The pretensions of the nouveau riche was a subject Yeats poked fun at more than once and a print by Yeats with the same title shows an ostentatiously overdressed middle-aged man we see a young man in a loud blue jacket riding a horse that seems a tad small for him The character looks about for notice as if to say: “What a fine fellow I am” the star of the show is an outstanding work by John Shinnors This shows the Limerick artist playing with two of his favourite motifs ************************************************************************ Whyte’s Important Irish Art – May 27 Miss Alice Fulton at Paisley Lawn Tennis Club by Sir John Lavery While Walter Osborne was depicting the hard scrabble life of the working classes was depicting society belles and the leisured classes at play. Miss Alice Fulton at Paisley Lawn Tennis Club was inspired by a return visit to Paisley in Scotland where Lavery had staged his first solo exhibition in 1886 and made many friends The Fulton family were one of the area’s biggest employers and became early supporters of the artist This was a swiftly executed painting done on the spot Lavery returned many times over the years to paint more formal portraits of Alice Fulton and her family Mary Swanzy is an artist whose reputation has grown in recent years culminating in a well-received retrospective Mary Swanzy: Voyages at IMMA in 2018 Her many years lived outside Ireland after independence could be attributed to her cousin Oswald Swanzy’s involvement in the murder of Thomas McCurtain The IRA caught up with him not long afterwards but no doubt the family feared further retaliation in the new state shows evidence of her time spent in Paris in the early part of the century where she was friendly with Gertrude Stein attended her salons and rubbed shoulders with the as-yet-uncelebrated Picasso There she would have seen a seminal work in the history of cubism: Picasso’s Horta de Ebro a gorgeous example of Swanzy at her very best The female form was an abiding concern of the sculptor F E McWilliam and he explored it in a variety of media including wood is over 6ft tall and was included in the inaugural exhibition at the F E McWilliam Gallery in Banbridge other-worldly figure shows his surrealist side Donald Teskey has two contrasting works on offer at Whyte’s: Cumberland Street South (€30/40,000) depicts a run-down urban side street while Evening Shoreline (€25/30,000) revisits his beloved West of Ireland See www.whytes.ie for more Morgan O’Driscoll Irish Art Online Auction – May 20 there are a couple of interesting pieces by the Northern Irish artist John Luke – a still life and a landscape egg tempera paintings of pastel-coloured landscapes with an Arcadian feel River Lagan (guiding at €8/12,000) was completed in the early 1930s It features the old canal between Belfast and Lisburn Luke was born in a working-class part of north Belfast in 1906 and spent his early years working in the city’s linen mills and shipyards This 18th-century canal was closed for commercial use by the time he painted it The factory buildings and worker’s cottages portrayed in the distance are a record of an industrial life that was in terminal decline – a life he had experienced at first hand Also looking back at the past is Hughie O’Donoghue with Alive Again Much of his work is autobiographical and this painting is based on a photograph taken in 1920 – that shows a young man in a rural background The brownish pigment overlaying the photographic image suggests the emergence of the figure from a fraught past Perhaps he is a family member who returned intact from the carnage of the First World War See www.morganodriscoll.com for more Fonsie Mealy Auctioneers Chatsworth Summer Fine Art Auction – May 28 & 29 Irish and international art is very well represented at Fonsie Mealy’s Chatsworth Summer Fine Art Auction and also the spectacular The Clipper Ship Flying Fish c Best known for his dramatic seascapes depicting clipper ships under sail this is one of Dawson’s finest depictions of ships at sea There is a very impressive 16th Century tapestry formerly in the collection of the late Hurd Hatfield (1917-1998) the American actor best known for playing the lead role in the 1945 Oscar winning movie The Picture of Dorian Gray Hatfield lived latterly in Rathcormac in Co affordable furniture with lasting appeal: 19th Century gilt Pier Mirrors and more from a Dublin Horologist’s Collection Luxurious fashion and jewellery include a Patek Philippe gold Wrist Watch Enhance dining with Irish Provincial and Dublin Silverware: a large silver Salver See www.fonsiemealy.ie for more Tags: , , , May 02 - May 15, 2025 ADVERTISE WITH US Subscribe Now All articles and content © 2025 Penfield Enterprises Ltd Torrential rain and 100mph gusts forecast in some areas when low-pressure system makes landfall Storm Ciarán is expected to arrive in the UK and Ireland, France and the Iberian peninsula on Wednesday night into Thursday Gusts of up to 100mph (160km/h) could be possible off the western coast of France before the severe winds filter through the Channel Brittany and the western French coast could experience wind speeds of more than 80mph and it is likely to remain windy through the weekend with a chance of flooding in parts of western France and the north-western Iberian peninsula Coastal inundation is also likely to be a risk along the northern Spanish and Portuguese coasts with sea swell caused by strong winds and the low-pressure displacement of seawater The rest of France could also experience heavy rain Low-pressure systems are named when it is deemed that adverse weather warnings are necessary, and to give the public awareness and time to prepare. Meteorological agencies across Europe are grouped to produce such names with Storm Ciarán named by the western group containing the UK Met Office Ireland’s Met Éireann and the Netherlands’ KNMI On the other side of the Atlantic, a chilly weather is expected to sweep the US this week, with temperatures 10-15C below the seasonal norm as a cold front spreads south. Denver, Colorado endured a daytime maximum of about -1C (30F) on Sunday Overnight lows in the Denver area on Monday and Tuesday could fall to a bitingly cold -11C The temperature will be some way off the October record Further south, San Antonio, Texas, is likely to peak at a meagre 9C on Monday, 16C below normal. The cold spell is expected to lift by the end of the week. South Africa and Lesotho have also been gripped by an unusually cold spell, with maximum temperatures struggling to reach double figures on Monday and Tuesday. Johannesburg is expected to reach daytime highs of about 8C, 16C below the average for late October. Météo France say that heavy rain is likley to hit the departments of Finistère but then the area is faced with the threat of yet another strong storm with winds of around 130km/h which is likely to arrive on Friday 14 February 2014 Côtes-d’Armor and Loire Atalntique have all seen areas of flooding over the last few days Redon in Ille-et-Vilaine was particularly badly affected with around 300 homes left damaged by flooding around 100 people were evacuated after sevee flooding earlier this week Châteaulin in Finistère was also badly flooded #inondation #bretagne Chateaulin vu d'en haut. pic.twitter.com/8OiFlBQncC — Ar Gedour (@ArGedour) February 7, 2014 Since then further heavy rainfall has resulted in yet more flooding late yesterday and early today the quay area – les quais Brizeux et Surcouf – is once again under water after the River Laïta burst its banks There is also flooding in the town of Pont-Aven where access through the streets of the town has been severely restricted by flood water In Muzillac the nearby river Saint-Éloi has overflowed Pontivy and Nantes have also been affected by flooding [#ZAD #NDDL] Pour éviter ce qu'il se passe à Pont Aven et la préservation des zones humides, tous à #Nantes le #22fev pic.twitter.com/l5OorDZhP5 — Bob 92 Zinn (@Bob92Zinn) February 12, 2014 In similar circumstances to those currently affecting parts of the United Kingdom, Brittany has endured an almost continuous series of floods and storms since early January Storm Qumeira caused flooding and destruction across much of France’s North West region Northwestern France has been hit by the winter storm Qumeira #AFP pic.twitter.com/0OV8byRfuD — Sophie Chauveau (@s_chauveauAFP) February 7, 2014 la condamnation du chirurgien pour détention d’images pédopornographiques était connue de son employeur et de plusieurs instances disciplinaires Deux collègues ont tenté d’alerter en vain Dix-huit ans plus tard, Jean-Pierre Dupont McLean se souvient encore très bien de ce coup de téléphone, reçu un vendredi soir tard, presque en catimini. L’homme est alors directeur de l’hôpital de Pontivy (Morbihan), et s’apprête, en ce mois de juin 2007, à accueillir Joël Le Scouarnec pour un remplacement d’une semaine Au bout du fil : le directeur de l’agence régionale de santé (ARS). « Sur le ton de la recommandation », témoigne le retraité, ce mardi 22 avril, devant la cour criminelle du Morbihan, son supérieur lui « déconseille » alors de faire appel au chirurgien viscéral, alors en partance de Quimperlé (Finistère), où ce dernier « a eu des problèmes de consultation de fichiers pédopornographiques ». Profitez des avantages de l’offre numérique Qumaira had already swept across Portugal and parts of northern Spain and as of yesterday all regional departments in western and central France were placed on Orange alert Finistère is on red alert due to the threat of flooding Orange flood warnings are in place for Morbihan waves up to 12 metres high and winds of up to 100 km/h have made all coastal areas vulnerable But the heavy rain has also increased levels to rivers in Brittany to dangerous heights in particular the river Laïta and the river Morlaix By yesterday afternoon the Morlaix river had broken its banks and the town of Morlaix was under water and the town centre closed A school of around 40 children was evacuated Landerneau and Daoulas were also badly affected Flood water was reported as being as high as 1 metre in Quimperlé after the river Laïta overflowed #inondations 1 mètre d’eau à #quimperlé la #laita n’arrête pas de sortir de son lit pic.twitter.com/TZw95o6ubp — Mariam Pirzadeh (@mapirzadeh) February 7, 2014 Overnight the town of Quimper was under water after the river Steïr overflowed Some local media reports say the town is now under 60cm to 100cm of water and homes have been evacuated Around 60 houses have been completely flooded and local schools have been closed Le Steïr a débordé dans Quimper ! Un torrent ! pic.twitter.com/xIPhIQbAOJ — Maël Fabre (@maelfabre) February 7, 2014 The storm has also left around 55,000 homes without power in western and central areas of France The storm has brought large amounts of rainfall to other areas of France Some of the low-lying areas of the wine making region of Bordeaux near the Garonne river to the south of the city of Bordeaux Sources: France3; Meteo Paris