French and Riviera News Tuesday 27th October 2020

News

The mayor of Nice announces new restrictive measures if the number of Covid-19 cases continues to rise - During a video press conference held on Monday the mayor of Nice Christian Estrosi, has announced plans to introduce weekend lockdowns and the closure of nonessential shops from next week should the number of Covid-19 cases continue to rise in the Alpes Maritimes.

The new restrictive measures would be accompanied by the reopening of hotels for Covid-19 cases to self-isolate, similar to the system set up in March and April, and the relaunching of a poster campaign to call for solidarity within the community in the fight against the coronavirus.

French President to hold meetings today and tomorrow on Covid-19 - The news comes as French President Emmanuel Macron will today and tomorrow bring together two defense councils to reach decisions on the handling of the second wave in France.  

At the same time French Prime Minister Jean Castex is to meet with the president of the Senate and the National Assembly later today.

Scientific council declares a critical situation - The meetings come at a critical time as France faces the second wave of Covid-19. The president of the scientific council Jean Françoise Delfraissey, says the number of positive cases of Covid-19 are “alarming” as the country finds itself in a “very difficult or rather critical situation”.

Meanwhile Eric Caumes head of the Pitié Salpêtrière hospital in Paris claimed on Monday that France had “lost control of the pandemic two weeks ago”.

Speaking to French media Caumes went on to say that “Professor Didier Raoult, head of the University hospital in Marseille who “defended the use of hydroxychloroquine, said there would be no second wave and compared the number of Covid-19 deaths to those killed in scooter accidents in France” was a “lesson in how harmful the use of social networks and the media can be”.

French government studying three options - According to French media the record of 52,000 positive cases declared within 24 hours last weekend has led to the government considering three possible options in order to deal with the second wave of Covid-19, which some in the medical profession are claiming “will be worse than the first”, firstly and according to reports, the least likely is a total lockdown for the entire country the second, is stricter lockdowns in those areas the worst affected and thirdly restrictions such as curfews and weekend lockdowns managed locally by certain areas concerned. 

Teleworking and school closures? - There will also be two major questions during the meetings today and tomorrow firstly, the possible necessity to impose working remotely for all employees and secondly the closure of school establishments.

Figures released concerning the spread of the virus have shown that it is in no way the same across the country as some areas are worst hit by the second wave than others notably, the Hauts de France, the Provence Alpes Côte d’Azur the Occitanie, and the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes.

Meanwhile former minister of the interior Christophe Casternar is currently self-isolating after testing positive for Covid-19 he is amongst several ministers and MPs from the French parliament who have tested positive in the last days.

In other news

Fatal road accident - A 47-year-old woman has been killed and two others seriously injured following a road accident in Aix-en-Provence. Two vehicles collided on Monday afternoon on the road to Apt. The circumstances of the accident are not yet known.

State of natural disaster recognized - The state of natural disaster has been recognized for several towns in the Alpes-Maritimes for 2019.

Due to bad weather at the end of last year which caused flooding and mudslides across the region Nice, Cagnes sur mer, Menton and Saint Paul de Vence are amongst the recognized cities and towns. Victims have 10 days from the publication of the order to file an insurance claim.

Here is the list of places and dates: 

Floods and mudslides:

 - the city of Nice for the day of October 31, 2019.

 - the city of Castillon for the day of December 20, 2019.

Land movements

- Cagnes-sur-Mer from November 1 to November 3, 2019.

- La Colle-sur-Loup, Falicon, La Gaude, Menton, Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, Saint-Paul-de-Vence from November 22 to November 24, 2019.

- Opio November 22, 2019 to November 27, 2019.

- Colomars from 23 to 24 November 2019.

- Villars-sur-Var from November 30 to December 1, 2019.

- Le Cannet, Colomars, and Falicon from December 1 to December 2, 2019

- Saint-Paul-de-Vence from December 20 to 23.

Storm Alex – Meanwhile work continues to repair damage caused by Storm Alex at the beginning of October in the Alpes Maritimes.

The Roya departmental road is still being repaired and work is still underway to fully restore mains drinking water, sanitation and waste disposal.

In addition to staff of local governmental organisations, several hundred volunteers are working around the clock to help clean up affected villages.

Various agricultural unions have started a fundraising effort to help farmers affected by the storm. It's estimated that 100 hectares of agricultural land in the valleys have suffered damage and many farm animals were lost in the floods. Agricultural buildings also suffered serious damage.

Meanwhile a number of wolves are still loose in the area after they escaped during the devastation of Storm Alex, with searches underway and just one wolf having been rescued so far. The Canadian wolves escaped from the wildlife and wolf park Parc Alpha.

National

Turkish President - The leaders of Germany and Italy have hit back at “unacceptable” remarks made by the Turkish President who on Monday called on European leaders to end the “hate campaign" against Muslims being “led” by President Emmanuel Macron. 

The development comes as anti-French sentiment is growing following tributes made to history teacher Samuel Paty.

Pogba claims reports are “fake news” - Meanwhile French Manchester United star Paul Pogba has slammed recent reports as “fake news” which claimed he had retired from international duty in protest against French President Emmanuel Macron’s comments about radical Islam, adding that he will be taking legal action against the claims.

Business

The Chinese financial technology giant Ant Group looks set to make the world’s largest ever stock market debut.

The firm which is backed by billionaire Jack Ma will sell shares worth some 34.4  billion US dollars on the Shanghai and Hong Kong stock markets.

The share price was set by advisors to Ant on Monday amid reports of strong demand from investors.

The previous record stock market debut was made by Saudi Aramco last December and was worth 29.4 billion dollars.

Ant,which is an online payments system is only selling around 11 percent of it its shares but the pricing values the whole firm at around 313 billion dollars.

Mr Ma’s shares are reported to be worth 17 billion dollars which takes his net worth close to 80 billion dollars and confirms him as China’s richest man.

Global stock markets have been tumbling as concerns grow about the economic impact of surging coronavirus cases.

Wall Street had its worst day in several weeks and there were sharp falls on European markets too.

Shares in travel and energy firms took some of the biggest hits as the World Health Organisation said that Europe would have to take “much more comprehensive measures” to get the virus under control.

In the United States ,President Trump has vowed to avoid widespread restrictions on activity as he says that they are not worth the economic cost.

However ,decisions are being made at local level with several mayors across the country tightening rules on Monday.

And-In the UK ,the aviation trade body ADS has said that the future of the British aerospace industry is at risk if a deal over the mutual recognition of parts  is  not reached with the European Union.

The ADS says that a deal would not form part of any post-Brexit trade deal despite the sector employing 110,000 people.

The UK is currently the world’s second largest aerospace manufacturer  but the ADS said that without a deal customers would go elsewhere or British-based firms would choose to relocate.

The warning comes as global aircraft orders slowed to nearly zero in September due to a slump in demand caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Sport

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

Brighton and West Brom drew 1-1 and Spurs moved up to 5th place in the table thanks to a 1-0 win at Burnley.

There are 8 more European Champions League group games tonight including Marseilles against Manchester City in Group C and Liverpool against FC Midtjylland in Group D.

Formula 1-The Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff says that he’s sure Lewis Hamilton will sign a new contract and stay next season.

Hamilton broke Michael Schumacher’s all-time record of Grand Prix victories on Sunday and now has now notched up 92 wins.

He’s also set to equal Schumacher’s record of 7 drivers’ championships but hasn’t yet put pen to paper on new contract.

Wolff says that there’s no reason why Lewis won’t want to be in the best car and that Mercedes want him in the car so it’s a perfect match.

Rugby Union-Munster have gone top of Conference B of the Pro 14 thanks to a 38-27 win over Cardiff Blues last night.

Both sides had gone into the match unbeaten but Munster now lead Blues by 4 points.

Scotland have dropped Sean Maitland for the Six Nations trip to Wales after he broke Covid-19 rules while on duty for the Barbarians.

The winger was one of 12 Barbarian squad members who ignored coronavirus protocols last week which led to the cancellation of the match against England last Sunday.

Scotland play Wales on Saturday and then have a series of autumn international fixtures against Italy ,France and Fiji with one more match to be decided.

Weather

Clear skies with moderate westerly winds across the Var.

Top temperatures 18-19 degrees.

Overnight lows of 12 degrees on the coast and 10 degrees inland with clear skies.

Wednesday and Thursday-Mainly fine with highs of 18-19 degrees.

And Finally 

A new study has found that people start to lose their 'get up and go' at the age of 54. 

An expert from Norway polled 917 people aged 14–77 to determine how the relationship between passion, grit and a positive mindset changes as we age.

They found that passion and grit are strongly correlated early in life, especially among boys, and that youngsters will do the distance to achieve their dreams.

However, this tendency fades as we get older, they added.

 

 

 

 

 

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