French and Riviera News Tuesday 22nd September 2020

Local

Italy introduces testing to people arriving from eight departments of France - The Provence Alpes Côte d’Azur region has been classified as one of eight French departments put on a health risk alert by Italy’s Health Minister, due to Covid-19.

Travellers arriving from Paris the Auvergne-Rhône Alpes, Corsica, the Hauts-de-France, the Nouvelle-Acquitaine, the Occitanie, and the Paca region will be obliged to undergo testing for the coronavirus upon arriving in Italy.

The move however according to reports, will not apply to cross-border workers or French Riviera residents travelling for the day to shop for less than 72 hours.

The move announced on Monday shows Italy is tightening access to the country as the number of Covid-19 cases rise across Europe.

The announcement comes as most of France is now declared to be a “red zone” for the circulation of the virus.

Covid-19 figures released on Monday evening show 5,298 new cases and 53 deaths in France in the last 24 hours.

In addition, 52 additional clusters have been detected with 4,103 people hospitalised over the last seven days, of which 638 patients were admitted to intensive care. The test positivity rate is now 5.9%.

Covid-19 testing to be made available for employees of small business in the region - Meanwhile in a move to allow employees of small businesses in the region to continue their activity and guarantee protection of both employees and customers, the Provence-Alpes-Côte d´Azur Region has announced that it will make 30,000 rapid screening tests available free of charge.  

The rapid blood test which checks the presence of antibodies in the blood is easy to use and give results withing fifteen to thirty minutes.

Flu vaccination - Several local politicians have backed calls for widespread vaccination against the flu this winter. Alpes Maritimes deputy Cedric Roussel is one of 75 politicians who has signed an open letter calling for flu vaccination. The President of the PACA region, Renaud Muselier, has called for compulsory flu shots for the over-65's and carers.

In other news

Tourist shot in possible hunting accident - A 61-year-old Dutch tourist has been shot while in his car on a motorway in south western France. The incident occurred at 1pm on Sunday while the car was on the A63 motorway in the Landes region. The passenger was taken to hospital where his wounds are not thought to be life-threatening.

A hunt was taking place in the area at the time and police believe the tourist's injuries may be linked to the hunt. The investigation continues.

Man threatens to kill people on the Promenade in Nice - A man has been placed in police custody in Nice after threatening to kill everyone on the Promenade des Anglais.

The incident occurred in the early hours of Monday morning when the man following a marital dispute, left the family home under the influence of alcohol on the Rue de France in Nice armed with a hunting rifle. Police quickly intervened arresting the individual at the wheel of his car on the Promenade des Anglais.

Long delays during Monday evening’s rush hour - Rush hour traffic has been heavily disrupted after the closure of the A8 motorway exit at Saint-Isidore.

The closure came following as accident shortly after 6.30pm on Monday evening causing long tail backs.

Ecological vehicle - The Monaco government has set up a new remote tele-service to help with the purchase of an ecological vehicle.

Monaco has a generous subsidy for the purchase of vehicles emitting less than a certain amount of carbon dioxide, amounting to about 30% of the purchase price of a car up to a limit of 10,000 euros in some circumstances.

Subsidies are also available for hybrid vehicles and electric bikes. The new online service speeds up the process of applying for a subsidy. 3,205 electric and hybrid vehicles are currently registered in the Principality, which is about 6.8% of all vehicles.

Napoleon - The fate of a statue of Napoleon has caused tension between the mayor of Nice Christian Estrosi and the mayor of Rouen.

The mayor of Rouen Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol had suggested that the bronze work, which has been sent to Paris for restoration work, be replaced by a female figure. The tweet published at the weekend led to Estrosi offering “to give the statue a home”.

However, the mayor of Rouen assured that there was never “any question of parting with the statue, but that while in restoration for at least a year, a female figure could replace it”.

Estrosi went on to emphasis “the great history of Rouen and the importance of Napoleon keeping his place in the city”.

It’s not the first time that the mayor of Nice has defended the historical figure, back in November of last year, to mark the 120th anniversary of the birth of Napoleon Bonaparte the mayor of Nice renamed the Quai Cassini to "Quai Napoléon-Ier" causing some controversy at the time.

National

Emmanuel Macron visits care home today- French President Emmanuel Macron is to visit a care home in the Loir-et-Cher today as part of the fight against the coronavirus in France.

The Head of State will meet caregivers and residents. His visit comes as the French government calls on the elderly to protect themselves against Covid-19.

Emmanuel Macron reiterated last week, during a visit to the Tour de France, the need to protect "the most vulnerable, people over 65 and people who have dangerous diseases” asking them to “to reduce their trips, to isolate themselves and not to go to sporting and cultural events".

However, many in the sector insist on the particularly harmful effects of restrictive measures on the well-being and health of the elderly.

Tattooed schoolteacher - A young schoolteacher tattooed from head to toe has been threatened with no longer being able to teach at a nursery school due to his appearance, which bothers some parents.

The teacher who has taught at all levels from nursery to secondary school students as well as in England is currently working at the school in the Paris region. France’s teaching academy has reportedly requested that he no longer attends work after letters of complaint were received from parents.

World’s first zero-emission commercial planes - Airbus has unveiled plans to produce the world's first zero-emission commercial planes to run on hydrogen by 2035.

On Monday the company released three different aircraft concepts, each exploring a different approach to achieving zero-emission flight but all relying on hydrogen as a primary power source.

According to the EU Commission direct emissions from aviation account for about three per cent of the European Union's total greenhouse gas emissions and more than two per cent of global emissions.

Rare skeleton - A rare allosaur skeleton, one of the oldest dinosaurs, considered as the "grandfather" of the dreaded T-Rex, will be auctioned in Paris on October 13th. Over 150 million years old and almost 10 meters long and 3.5 meters high, the skeleton is estimated at between 1 and 1.2 million euros.

Business

50 billion pounds was wiped off the value of UK shares on Monday with similar falls across Europe over concerns that a renewed rise in coronavirus cases will blight economic prospects.

Airlines ,travel firms ,hotel groups and pub chains were the worst affected with shares in British Airways owner IAG down 12 percent.

Markets in Paris and Frankfurt also dived on Monday and Wall Street was also sharply lower despite paring some of the losses sustained early in the trading session.

The falls come as investors fear that major economies could see fresh lockdowns imposed as countries struggle to contain Covid-19.

Banking shares were also affected on Monday following allegations of money laundering with HSBC down 5.3 percent but with the entire sector dragged lower.

 

The US industrial giant General Electric has announced that its to stop building coal fired power stations and concentrate on green energy.

GE said on Monday that it would shut or sell sites to prioritise its renewable energy and power generation businesses.

In the past ,the firm has said that it would concentrate less on fossil fuels  but just 5 years ago  it struck its biggest ever deal by buying a company that produced coal-fuelled turbines.

The move comes just weeks ahead of the US Presidential election in which the two candidates hold starkly different views on coal.

President Trump has championed the fossil fuel and has spent much of the past four years rolling back legislation introduced by his predecessor Barack Obama in a bid to revive the struggling coal industry.

 

And-Airbus has unveiled plans for what it says will be the world’s first zero emissions commercial aircraft.

The aerospace giant says that its hydrogen-fuelled passenger planes could be in service by 2035  and that its concept design marks a “historic moment” for the aviation industry.

Analysts say that it’s not the first time that hydrogen has been promoted as the saviour of modern air travel and that it was far from certain that the project would come to fruition.

Airbus says that its turbofan designed plane could carry 200 passengers for up to 2,000 miles while a new turboprop concept would have a 50 percent lower capacity and range.

Planes would be powered by gas turbine engines modified to burn liquid hydrogen  and with hydrogen fuel cells to create electrical power.

Sport 

Football-Reports say that the owner of Chelsea Football Club held secret investments in players not owned by the club.

An investigation shows that the billionaire Russian Roman Abramovich held rights to players through a company based in the British Virgin Islands.

Questions have been raised as to whether it was proper for the owner of a football club to have an interest in players in other teams.

A spokeswoman for Mr Abramovich has stressed that no rules or regulations have been broken.

The developments come following the leak of the so called FinCEN files which show that a holding company owned by the Russian oligarch had taken stakes in players through third party ownership.

There were two games in  the English Premier League last night.

Aston Villa beat Sheffield United 1-0 and Wolves were beaten 3-1 at home by Manchester City.

Formula 1-Up to 20,000 fans will be allowed to attend next month’s Eifel Grand Prix in Germany.

The race will take place on October the 11th at the Nurburgring which can normally hold up to 100,000 fans.

The grandstands will be divided into individual sections and there will be designated seating to allow for social distancing.

Ticket purchase will be contactless and face masks will be mandatory around the circuit.

Tennis-Novak Djokovic has won his 36th Masters title after beating Diego Schwartzman in the final of the Italian Open.

The world number one won 7-5 6-3 to move one tournament victory clear of Rafael Nadal and give him a boost heading into the French Open next week.

Rugby Union-Sale have beaten Harlequins 27-19 to win the English Premiership Cup Final.

Sale scored two late tries to secure the win after Harlequins had been leading 19-10.

Weather

Sunshine and thundery showers with light variable winds.

Top temperature 24 degrees.

Overnight lows of 18 degrees on the coast and 16 degrees inland with partially cloudy skies.

Wednesday and Thursday-Mainly fine with highs of 24-26 degrees.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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