PARIS (AFP) – French authorities removed a temporary installation of the European Union flag from the Arc de Triomphe monument in Paris on Sunday, after right-wing opponents of President Emmanuel Macron accused him of “erasing” French identity. The giant blue flag was raised in place of the French flag on New Year’s Eve to mark France’s turn at the rotating presidency of the EU Council, which it will hold for the next six months. The arch, a monument to war dead, and other landmarks including the Eiffel Tower and the Pantheon are also being illuminated with blue lights for the remainder of this week.
But Macron’s right-wing rivals for presidential elections in spring seized on the removal of the tricolor flag, calling it an affront to France’s heritage and its veterans. “Preside over Europe yes, erase French identity no!” tweeted Valerie Pecresse, the conservative candidate who polls indicate could be the main challenger to Macron in the upcoming vote. She urged him to restore the French flag, saying, “We owe it to our soldiers who spilled their blood for it.” Far-right candidate Marine Le Pen, who had vowed to file a complaint with the State Council, France’s highest court for administrative matters, called the removal of the EU flag “a great patriotic victory,” claiming on Twitter that a “massive mobilization” had forced Macron to backpedal. But an official in the French presidency said Sunday that the flag’s removal before dawn was “in line with the planned schedule”, insisting that unlike the blue lights for monuments, it was only supposed to be at the Arc for two days.

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KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) – Thousands more people have fled swamped homes as heavy rains exacerbated flooding in seven Malaysian states, officials said Sunday, with over 125,000 people evacuated in total since mid-December. The National Disaster Management Agency said the weeks-long bout of bad weather was expected to carry on until Tuesday. Dangerous water levels were detected in rivers in at least five states, a government monitoring website showed Sunday, with rising levels recorded in many other areas. Some 50 people have been killed so far, a police Facebook post on Saturday said, with two still missing. The tropical Southeast Asian nation often faces stormy weather around the year’s end, with seasonal flooding regularly causing mass evacuations. But authorities have been taken by surprise by the days of constant rain that began on December 17, causing rivers to overflow and inundating cities. Malaysia’s richest state of Selangor -- the country’s commercial hub -- has been among the worst-hit. Around 117,700 of those evacuated since mid-December have returned to their homes, though nearly 10,000 people in five states on the country’s peninsular and in Sabah state on Borneo island have sought refuge in relief centers, official data showed.

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CAPE TOWN (AP) – A fire erupted at the South African parliament in Cape Town on Sunday, with media coverage showing flames coming from the roof of the building and a plume of smoke that could be seen from some miles away. It wasn’t immediately clear if anyone was in the building. The fire was on the third story of the building and initial reports indicated that it started in the office space and spread towards a gym, said Jean-Pierre Smith, a Cape Town mayoral committee member responsible for safety and security. The roof area had caught alight and the National Assembly building was on fire too, Smith said. TV pictures showed emergency services at the scene. Smith said that included six firefighting appliances and about 36 firefighters.

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SEOUL (REUTERS) – South Korea’s military said Sunday that an unidentified person crossed the heavily fortified border into North Korea. South Korea had earlier spotted the person with surveillance equipment at the eastern portion of the border and sent troops to capture him or her on Saturday night. But the troops failed to find the person and the surveillance equipment detected the person crossing over the border, Joint Chiefs of Staff officers said. South Korea sent a message to North Korea on Sunday morning to ensure the safety of the person, but the North hasn’t responded, the officers said requesting anonymity citing department rules. In September 2020, North Korea fatally shot a South Korean fisheries official found floating in its waters in line with what Seoul called strict anti-virus rules that involve shooting anyone illegally crossing the border. Earlier in 2020, North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un placed a border city under total lockdown after a North Korean defector with COVID-19-like symptoms sneaked back home. The fate of that defector, who had lived in South Korea, is not known.

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OUAGADOUGOU (AP) – Eleven soldiers were wounded and 29 militants neutralized in a weekend attack on security forces in Burkina Faso’s troubled northwest, the army said on Sunday. Military and police units came under attack in the area of Gomboro “by armed individuals,” the army said. “The fighting caused injuries to 11 soldiers who were treated. Their response and counter-offensive allowed the neutralization of 29 terrorists and the recovery of a large amount of combat materiel including weapons, vehicles and communication equipment,” the statement said. On December 23, an ambush by suspected extremists targeting civilians and the VDP, an official self-defense force, in the northern You region left 41 people dead, including Ladji Yoro, considered a leader of the VDP. That attack was the deadliest since the bloodshed in Inata in the country’s north in mid-November, which claimed 57 lives including 53 police officers. Since 2015, Burkina Faso has been facing regular and deadly attacks, particularly in the northern and eastern regions, close to Mali and Niger, countries also battling armed groups. These attacks, often coupled with ambushes and attributed to extremist movements affiliated with the Daesh group and Al-Qaeda, have killed more than 2,000 people and forced more than 1.4 million to flee their homes.