TOP OF THE AGENDA

75,000 troops and a maze of metal fences

Some 1,750 police officers from countries including the UK, South Korea and Germany are joining the French operation. Credit: AFP

As Olympic fever rises, QR codes are in use on the streets of Paris to gain access to areas within the secured perimeter around the River Seine. Up to 75,000 police, soldiers and hired guards are on patrol in Paris at any one time in the largest peacetime deployment of security forces in French history, writes Paris correspondent Andrew Harding. A Russian man was this week arrested on suspicion of plotting acts of "destabilisation" during the event, as France said it had screened more than a million people as part of the extensive security measures. Roads and metro stations have been closed. Some 44,000 barriers have been erected. It's not just pedestrian and motor traffic around Paris that have been affected. French politics has stalled too, with President Emmanuel Macron refusing to name a new government until after the end of the Games, in August. 

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• Olympic controversies: British six-time dressage medallist Charlotte Dujardin has pulled out of the Games over a video showing her "making an error of judgement". Meanwhile, some teams have criticised the Netherlands' decision to include a convicted rapist in their beach volleyball squad.

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• Celebrity watch: Singer Celine Dion has been spotted in the French capital amid rumours she'll perform at the Games' opening ceremony, while rapper Snoop Dogg is due to carry the Olympic torch in the penultimate leg of the flame's journey.

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• Green action: From cardboard beds to tables made from shuttlecocks, Paris has implemented a number of initiatives to make the event less polluting than its predecessors.

WORLD HEADLINES

• Abuse in care: A landmark report in New Zealand has found some 200,000 children, young people and vulnerable adults suffered abuse while in state and faith-based facilities over the past 70 years.

• Plane crash: At least 18 people aboard a Saurya Airlines test flight were killed after the aircraft crashed and caught fire while it was taking off from Nepal's capital of Kathmandu - the pilot is the only survivor.

• Uganda protests: Dozens of people have been detained in the capital Kampala after joining scattered anti-corruption protests, defying an official ban.

• Shark attack: The severed leg of a surfer who was bitten by a shark has washed up on an Australian beach, with doctors now racing to see if it can be reattached.

• Sustainable sovereign: The British Royal Family is planning to fit solar panels on Windsor Castle and convert two state Bentleys to run on biofuels in a bid to cut their carbon emissions.

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