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Glance around France: Hunters launch 'app' to stop people getting shot and farmers want meat on menus

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Glance around France: Hunters launch 'app' to stop people getting shot and farmers want meat on menus
Photo: AFP

Our round-up of the stories from around France on Tuesday include farmers in the north who want meat on school menus and hunters who have launched an app to help avoid members of the public getting shot accidentally.

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New crack plan for Paris
 
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo announced on Tuesday that a million euros would be handed over to help fight the problem of crack addicts in the north east of Paris.
 
The new plan comes after the increased presence of crack addicts and dealers in places like Place de Stalingrad which borders the 10th and 19th arrondissements.
 
The mayor intends the money to be spent on increasing accommodation options for addicts as well as funding charities to pay more visits to drug addicts.
 
The number of addicts and dealers around Place de Stalingrad has increased in recent months and is believed to be down to the fact that the police moved in and closed the so-called "crack hill" at Porte de la Chapelle.
 
 
 
World's first river turbine installed in Lyon
 
The world's first hydro turbine farm is set to be installed on the Rhône river near Lyon. 
 
The farm's four turbines will generate enough power for 400 homes and are set to be installed in the next few weeks near the town of Caluire in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in central eastern France. 
 
It is believed that over the next 18 years it will produce one gigawatt-hour of renewable electricity per year and reduce CO2 emissions by 300 tonnes per year.
 
The turbines will begin producing power by the end of 2018.
 
 
 
French farmers fight vegetarian school meals in northern France
 
France's main farmers union is set to meet with school representatives in north west France to make sure that children aren't being forced to eat vegetarian meals on certain days. 
 
The farmers from the FDSEA union will visit at least 27 schools to make sure there are no vegetable only options on the menu and to check on the origin of the produce being used in the meals served in schools in the Mayenne department. 
 
Tensions between farmers and vegan lobbies have been rising recently in France.
 
"Unfortunately vegans are pointing the finger at farmers. This movement is anti-agriculture and makes our fellow farmers unhappy," Philippe Jehan, a spokesperson for the FDSEA told the French press.
 
 
 
Hunters launch mobile app to keep countryside safe in the east
 
The federation of hunters in the Isere department of eastern France has developed a phone app that helps anyone walking in the area identify in real time where exactly a hunt is going on.
 
The aim is to cut down on hunting accidents and to create a better rapport between hunters and walkers. 
 
There are human casualties every year during France's hunting season, when bullets from hunters' weapons go astray.
 
Among the casualties of last year's hunting season in France were a 13-year-old boy who was shot dead by his own grandfather, a Frenchwoman who was killed in her own garden after a hunter fired a shot through her hedge and a hunter who was shot dead during a wild boar hunt. 
 
 
Brittany tanker wreck is magnet for divers
          
Forty years after it sank, the remains of a super tanker wrecked off northwestern France have become a favourite spot for divers when the weather allows.
   
On March 16, 1978, the Amoco Cadiz tanker ran aground off the Brittany coast, causing one of the world's worst oil pollution disasters.
 
The 227,000-ton tanker broke up on the reefs off the small fishing port of Portsall, covering miles of coastline in oil.
 
Its hull, broken into three separate rusted parts and now covered in seaweed, is slowly sinking into the seabed.
   
Thousands of soldiers and volunteers spent three months cleaning up 360 kilometres (220 miles) of coastline and trying to save hundreds of oil-coated sea birds.
   
Local mayors and regional authorities spent 14 years tied up in court before winning compensation from the US company that operated the ship.
 
Photo: AFP
 
Tyre slashing in the Charente
 
If you're one of the 102 car owners in the Charente who had your tyres slashed then you'll be pleased to know a suspect has been arrested.
 
The vandal destroyed 102 tyres on over 40 cars in Angouleme and the town of Soyaux when he was drunk, reports say.
 
The suspect from Dordogne was caught red handed with an Opinel knife in his hand.
 

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