France to close migrant camp

PARIS — French President François Hollande on Saturday confirmed plans to close the squalid Calais migrant camp known as “the Jungle,” saying he hopes authorities can relocate as many as 9,000 migrants to reception centers across France in the coming weeks.

Hollande, visiting one of France’s 164 migrant reception centers in the central city of Tours, said conditions in the Calais camp are “not acceptable” and “extremely difficult,” especially for those who fled war to get there.

The camp has become a symbol of his government’s failure to tackle Europe’s migrant crisis, and a target of criticism from conservative and far-right rivals seeking to unseat him in France’s presidential election next year.