Our daily lap around the world

🇫🇷 Paris’ mayor took a dip in the River Seine to show its cleanliness for the Olympics, which kick off July 26. Mayor Anne Hidalgo and her staff dunked their heads in the murky river as they swam yesterday, in a bid to prove the city’s once-filthy river is finally swimmable following a $1+ billion cleanup effort. Olympics organizers are currently planning to hold the triathlon and long-distance swimming events in the Seine, despite recent testing showing E. coli bacteria levels have been above acceptable levels on a majority of days between June 3 and July 2.

🇬🇭 Ghana’s cocoa production is 55% below average so far this year. Ghana’s cocoa production hit a 14-year low this harvesting season, due to a combination of adverse weather conditions, disease, and fertilizer shortages. Poor harvests in Ghana and the Ivory Coast – which together account for 60% of global production – have driven up global cocoa and chocolate prices.

🇮🇹 Italy launched worker exploitation probes into Armani and Dior. The two companies are facing allegations they illegally outsourced production to several Chinese-owned Italian suppliers, where underpaid workers – often illegal immigrants – work long hours under inadequate health and safety conditions. Armani and Dior, which deny the claims, could be fined up to ~$11 million apiece if found guilty.