Lunchtime News Monday 31st August 2020

Local

Man injured after caving in Gourdon - A 20-year-old has been slightly injured while caving in Gourdon at the weekend. The man became trapped 110 meters underground on Saturday at around 6 p.m.

The rescue operation lasted eight hour and required the intervention of 40 firefighters. The man was finally lifted to safety on Sunday morning.

Marseille offers to open port for the Louise-Michel - The city of Marseille has said it is ready to open its port to accommodate the Louise-Michel, a sea rescue ship chartered by the British artist Bansky. The ship launched an appeal for international help at the weekend after having rescued 219 migrants in the Mediterranean.

In reality only the State, through its national maritime authority, has the power to designate one of its cities as the host port, and geographically Marseille is very far from the ship. However, the authorities in Marseille are hoping that their offer will help to encourage the State to take its responsibilities in such a matter.

Biggest cash heist in France since 2009 - Thieves have stolen nine million euros in cash in France's city of Lyon in an armed attack on an armoured security vehicle.

The vehicle, belonging to Swedish cash handling company Loomis, was attacked on Friday at around 9.00 am by several armed individuals as it came out of a branch of the Bank of France.

The robbery is believed to be France's biggest cash heist since 2009. No one was injured in Friday's attack. According to reports the perpetrators managed to immediately flee after committing the act.

Macron says “nothing in theory can be excluded” - During an interview with French media about a new nationwide lockdown, French president Emmanuel Macron has said that “nothing, in theory, can be excluded", as the country battles against a new wave of COVID-19.

France registered over 7,000 new coronavirus infections on Friday, up from several hundred a day since levels recorded in May and June.

This is partly because the number of coronavirus tests has raised, reaching 890,000 a week. But the rate of positive cases has nonetheless increased to 30 positive tests per 100,000 people in 20% of the country’s regions, a figure that was in the single digits a month ago.

Macron also said he will do everything it can to prevent a new nationwide lockdown by “learning to live with the virus", adding that the government favours regional measures to stop the outbreaks.

At the same time, the government is going ahead with plans to send France’s almost 13 million students back to school on Tuesday.

The French president also called for more European coordination in terms of travel limitations, as more and more countries impose restrictions.