Twenty one additional French departments have today joined the forty seven departments where the wearing of a mask in primary schools is no longer mandatory. The departments concerned are those where the Covid-19 incidence rate is less than 50 for five consecutive days. Neither the Var nor the Alpes-Maritimes are included in the list of departments. However, the Var is one of ten departments which as of today are testing a new protocol which aims to avoid the closure of an entire primary school class if one student tests positive.
Areas of the CAF website have been down today to allow maintainence following an incident yesterday. The French financial benefits organization said that "connection anomalies" to the My Account Area have been observed concerning certain connections made between 9 p.m. yesterday and 9 a.m. today. In a statement, it said that an incident took place yesterday, as part of the implementation of a new connection service to My Account on the caf.fr website and "around 7,000 files were consulted by other beneficiaries for a few hours". In order to completely secure the service, the My Account Area and the mobile application have been temporarily closed. It said that "technical teams are doing everything to restore the situation as soon as possible". The organization offered it's apologies and said that it would contact those affected by the incident.
Deputy Mayor of Nice, Anthony Borre, has said that an operation took place last week to control drunkeness on public roads, a problem he said "causes nuisance everywhere in Nice". An operation in several areas of the city resulted in 17 arrests. The areas concerned included the Place Garibaldi, the Place Yves Klein, the Place Massena and rue Trachel.
The prefect of the Var, Evence Richard, commemorated National Firefighters Day at a ceremony yesterday alongside elected officials. Var firefighters had a particularly busy year, with incidents including the Gonfaron fire this summer, bad weather and operations involving Covid-19. In 2020 the department's firefighters performed 103,279 interventions, which is 351 per day on average or one intervention every 4 minutes.
The mayor of a town in north-west France has held a press conference this afternoon after being briefly placed in police custody as part of an anti-narcotics investigation. Melanie Boulanger, the mayor of Canteleu in the Seine-Maritime was detained last Friday and released on Saturday. Investigators were reportedly attempting to establish if the mayor had in some way facilitated the establishment of a narcotics network in the town. She was released without charge and today described the experience as "the worst time of my life". Five people were charged in connection with the drugs trafficking operation in the Seine-Maritimes yesterday and about a million euros of property was seized.
Traffic changes are being put in place in the old town area of Antibes becuase of road resurfacing from today until 1 st December. Work will be carried out on rue Lacan on the section between La Poste and the junction with rue Fontvieille. The works mean that there are changes to access to the old town for residents and delivery trucks. You can find more details on https://www.antibes-juanlespins.com/toute-l-actu/travaux-marenda-lacan
BUSINESS
Passenger numbers at Heathrow airport remained at just under 40% of pre-pandemic levels in September. Heathrow said that North American traffic is only 25% of 2019 levels. Cargo, which is carried in the hold of passenger planes, was close to 8% down by volume on 2019, which it said reflected "the way in which travel restrictions have been damaging UK exports and supply chains".
Online fashion retailer Asos has said that sales rose 22% and adjusted pre-tax profit rose 36% for the year to 31 August. However, it said that rising logistics and other costs could impact profits next year. It also said that chief executibe Nick Beighton was stepping down after six years in the role but would "remain available" to advise the board for the rest of the year.
China has banned imports of certain types of British beef after a case of BSE, or "mad cow" disease, was detected in the UK last month. In 2018 China agreed to lift previous restrictions imposed in the 1990's during a major outbreak of the disease in the UK.
SPORT
Cricket...England have announced their squad for the Ashes Test series which begins in December. All 17 players have previously been capped at Test level. England head coach Chris Silverwood said that he was delighted that all available players have committed to the tour. Joe Root will captain the side, with Jos Buttler as vice-captain. Others in the squad include Rory Burns, Dawid Malan, Haseeb Hameed, Zak Crawley, Jonny Bairstow, James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Mark Wood, Craig Overton, Ollie Robinson, Jack Leach and Dom Bess.
Football... The Scottish FA have confirmed that Che Adams will miss Scotland's World Cup qualifier against the Faroe Islands tomorrow because of injury. Norwich City player Grant Hanley returns to the Scotland squad.
A Self-service rental system for paddle boards has been implemented on the Larvotto beach in Monaco. Users can access the equipment through a paying a...
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French president Emmanuel Macron has called for stronger, more integrated European defences as he outlined his vision for a more assertive European Un...
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The Côte d'Azur is on alert for a surge in imported cases of dengue fever. Since the beginning of 2024, a record 1,679 imported cases have been record...
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The post-mortem will take place next Monday for a 33-year-old man whose body was recently found in the Var after being missing for more than a month....
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French scientists have been developing technological tools for the past four years to help athletes optimize their training for the Paris 2024 Olympic...
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