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Three Swedes on ill- fated Air France flight

Sweden’s embassy in Paris has confirmed that three Swedes were among the 228 passengers on board an Air France plane which is feared to have crashed into the Atlantic Ocean en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris on Monday.

Three Swedes on ill- fated Air France flight

According to information from the embassy, the Swedes on board the Air France flight 447, which disappeared from radar about 350 kilometres off of the Brazilian west coast, include two women and one child, the Svenska Dagbladet (SvD) newspaper reports.

Air France initially reported on its website that one Swedish citizen had been on board the flight, but Arne Kallin, a spokesperson with Sweden’s embassy in Paris, later told SvD that, in addition to the woman, another woman and her child were also on the plane.

According to the Expressen newspaper, the presumed Swedish victims include 34-year-old Christine Badre Schnabl and her 5-year-old son Philipe, as well as a 28-year-old woman who lived in Norway and was returning from a business trip in Brazil.

Schabl, who previously resided in Gothenburg, had been living in Rio de Janeiro for the last ten years and was returning to Sweden with her family for vacation.

Her husband and 3-year-old daughter had traveled on a separate flight because of the couple’s fears of air disasters.

“It’s impossible to comprehend that they are gone. It’s awful,” said her mother, Annika Badre, to Expressen.

In total, the Airbus 330 had passengers from 32 difference countries, according to the Air France website.

On Tuesday, rescuers continued to search for the plane, which is presumed to have crashed after hitting bad weather.

But hope of finding any survivors is fading fast, with French President Nicholas Sarkozy saying the chances of finding anyone alive as “very small”.

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POLITICS

France vows to block EU-South America trade deal in current form

France has vowed to prevent a trade deal between the European Union and the South American Mercosur bloc from being signed with its current terms, as the country is rocked by farmer protests.

France vows to block EU-South America trade deal in current form

The trade deal, which would include agricultural powers Argentina and Brazil, is among a litany of complaints by farmers in France and elsewhere in Europe who have been blocking roads to demand better conditions for their sector.

They fear it would further depress their produce prices amid increased competition from exporting nations that are not bound by strict and costly EU environmental laws.

READ ALSO Should I cancel my trip to France because of farmers’ protests?

“This Mercosur deal, as it stands, is not good for our farmers. It cannot be signed as is, it won’t be signed as is,” Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire told broadcasters CNews and Europe 1.

The European Commission acknowledged on Tuesday that the conditions to conclude the deal with Mercosur, which also includes Paraguay and Uruguay, “are not quite there yet”.

The talks, however, are continuing, the commission said.

READ ALSO 5 minutes to understand French farmer protests

President Emmanuel Macron said Tuesday that France opposes the deal because it “doesn’t make Mercosur farmers and companies abide by the same rules as ours”.

The EU and the South American nations have been negotiating since 2000.

The contours of a deal were agreed in 2019, but a final version still needs to be ratified.

The accord aims to cut import tariffs on – mostly European – industrial and pharmaceutical goods, and on agricultural products.

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