Lunchtime News update Monday 7th September 2020

Local 

Weather warning - Météo-France has issued a yellow weather warning for the Alpes Maritimes and the Var with storms expected inland. The warning is in place until 9pm this evening.

Testing centre opens in Nice - A large PCR testing centre for Covid-19 has opened at the Palais des Expositions in Nice.

Nice city council introduced the service following the increase in the number of cases in the region. Testing is free and the centre is open from Monday to Saturday from 8am to midday. An appointment must be made in advance on the website www.covid.synlab.fr

Corsica classified as a “red zone” - Corsica has been classified as a “red zone” due to the active circulation of Covid-19. Authorities made the announcement on Sunday adding that all bars would have to close at midnight.

French authorities added seven more departments to the “red zone” list on Sunday including Corsica, Lille, Strasbourg and Dijon. In total out of 101 mainland and overseas departments 28 are now considered to be “red zones”.

British engineer received nationality papers from Emmanuel Macron - A British engineer has received French nationality papers directly from the French President. Matthew Ridealgh who lives in Antibes and works for a telecoms company has been in France since 1993. Born in Eton in England in 1970 the President congratulated him and told him that he had been “French at heart for a very long time”.

Ridealgh was one of five people who received their “livret de naturalization” personally from Mr Macron during the ceremony in Paris.

National 

Charity plans to provide laptops and tablets to low income families - After a week back at school in France, one local charity has announced plans to provide students from low-income families with laptops and tablets to close the digital divide with their peers. 

French charity Secours Populaire  said in a statement this week that "There is no doubt that the lockdown accentuated the digital divide and educational inequalities," as thousands of school children  returned  to the classroom. The charity says children from disadvantaged areas were left behind when schools switched abruptly to remote learning in March because of lockdown measures.

The digital gap forced 500,000 low-income students in France to drop out of school, according to the Education Ministry.

Horses mutilated across France - More than 30 horses have been mutilated or killed in violent attacks across France since February, with cases rising in recent weeks. French authorities are no closer to finding a motive behind the attacks, but have warned the public not to take matters into their own hands.

The barbaric attacks have been different in nature, but are usually carried out with a knife. Horses, ponies and donkeys have been slashed, had their genitals mutilated, and in the majority of cases, had an ear cut off. 

The spate of attacks have drawn widespread attention in France and are under investigation by the DGSI, part of France’s intelligence and security services.