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Sources

In Paris, A New Breed Of Urban Outlaw: Pigeon Feeders

Feeding pigeons is forbidden by the French law, and can lead to fines of up to 450 euros. But that doesn’t stop the army of feeders in Paris from risking it all with their bags of illicit bread crumbs. Now the mess has arrived on the Internet.

Some 80,000 pigeons are said to plague the French capital
Some 80,000 pigeons are said to plague the French capital

*NEWSBITES

PARIS - It's late at night, in a deserted Parisian neighborhood. A few furtive silhouettes can be seen in the distance, making strange movements, working hastily. They know what they are doing is forbidden by the law. They know they could get caught. But they are on a mission: the benevolent, yet criminal mission of feeding pigeons.

This new class of urban delinquents, called nourrisseurs (feeders), is starting to seriously annoy a majority of Parisians, who can't help but see the gray city doves as mere flying rats. "They think they're doing a good deed, but feeders are increasing pigeon overcrowding which leads to large concentrated quantities of feces and can damage public and private goods," says a Paris City Hall spokesperson.

The sometimes costly and time-consuming activity is also reprehensible: feeding pigeons is forbidden by the French law and can lead to fines for bird-lovers of up to 450 euros. But that doesn't stop the flying rodent rescuers –mostly women over 60, although they are a very mixed bunch —from saving up their bread crumbs.

The issue is now being addressed in public hearings, and has led to innumerable studies, and the battle has recently reached a new level, as Internet users joined the fight: groups supporting – or in favor of eradicating — the members of the Columbidae family flourish all over Facebook. And we all know that's a public square where you can be hit by other kinds of droppings.

Read the full story in French by Caroline Sallé

Photo – AnnieGreenSprings

*Newsbites are digest items, not direct translations

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Geopolitics

The Trudeau-Modi Row Reveals Growing Right-Wing Bent Of India's Diaspora

Western governments will not be oblivious to the growing right-wing activism among the diaspora and the efforts of the BJP and Narendra Modi's government to harness that energy for political support and stave off criticism of India.

The Trudeau-Modi Row Reveals Growing Right-Wing Bent Of India's Diaspora

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the G20 Summit in New Delhi on Sept. 9

Sushil Aaron

-Analysis-

NEW DELHICanadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has brought Narendra Modi’s exuberant post-G20 atmospherics to a halt by alleging in parliament that agents of the Indian government were involved in the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian national, in June this year.

“Any involvement of a foreign government in the killing of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil is an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty,” Trudeau said. The Canadian foreign ministry subsequently expelled an Indian diplomat, who was identified as the head of the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), India’s foreign intelligence agency, in Canada. [On Thursday, India retaliated through its visa processing center in Canada, which suspended services until further notice over “operational reasons.”]

Trudeau’s announcement was immediately picked up by the international media and generated quite a ripple across social media. This is big because the Canadians have accused the Indian government – not any private vigilante group or organisation – of murder in a foreign land.

Trudeau and Canadian state services seem to have taken this as seriously as the UK did when the Russian émigré Alexander Litvinenko was killed, allegedly on orders of the Kremlin. It is extraordinarily rare for a Western democracy to expel a diplomat from another democracy on these grounds.

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