A plane from China carrying urgent medical supplies landed at Nice Cote d'Azur airport this lunchtime. The cargo included almost one million face masks as well as other protective equipment and weighed 25 tonnes in total. The mayor of Nice, Christian Estrosi, was present next to the runway at the airport to greet the plane. The mayor also said today that 88 to 90% of the population of Nice are respecting the confinement measures.
President Macron's is due to start his televised speech at 2 minutes past 8 this evening after the daily applause for caregivers. The President is expected to announce the plan for the coming weeks and months including a possible date for the end of confinement, schools, the economy and face masks.
Search teams have been trying to locate a man who fell into the sea at Fos-sur-Mer in the Bouches-du-Rhône earlier today. According to a statement from the maritime prefecture, the man in his fifties fell about 6 metres from a chemical tanker whilst trying to install a ladder. The search was suspended at midday today, about 6 hours after the man fell into the water.
The owner of a property in Frejus has been fined for renting it to several families who were planning to spend the period of confinement together. About a dozen people inside the villa, from Paris, Belgium and Marseille were fined and returned to their place of residence. They were apparently discovered after playing loud music.
A 49 year old man has been arrested after threatening other residents of his apartment building with a hand gun. The incident took place at a block in Frejus on Saturday night. The BAC anti-crime brigade turned up at the premises and took the man into custody. Another weapon and gun cartridges were reportedly found in his apartment.
A man has died after being attacked with a machete in the Drome department. The attack occurred yesterday morning and reports say that the victim shared an apartment with the alleged attacker, who was taken into police custody. A person who was present at the time of the attack was arrested a short time later.
A driver has had his car seized after being clocked doing 260 km per hour on the A7 motorway in the Drome department. The speed limit on that section of the motorway is 130. Gendarmes pulled the car over and issued a summons to appear in court in Valence and conficated his licence as well as impounding the car.
BUSINESS
Japanese technology company Softbank has said that it expects to report an operating loss of 12.5 billion dollars. It said that it's Vision investment fund had lost 16.7 billion dollars becasue of what it called a "deteriorating market environment".
UK Business Secretary Alok Sharma has reveled that only a small fraction of inquires about coronavirus business loans have been successful. The scheme announced by the UK government 3 weeks ago has so far received an estmated 300,000 enquiries for loans but Mr. Sharma said that only about 1.4% of enquires have been successful. The revalation follows criticism that lenders have been reluctant to make loans under the scheme and that excessive bureaucracy is hampering its effectiveness.
A new report from the World Bank says that South Asia faces its worst economic performance in 40 years because of the coronavirus. The Bank said that the region, which includes countries such as India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan, finds itself in what it calls " a perfect storm of adverse effects". Tourism in the region has dried up, supply chains have been disrupted, demand for clothing has fallen and consumer and investor sentiment has deteriorated because of the virus outbreak.
SPORT
Football... The Italian Football Federation has said that it hopes players can be tested for coronavirus at the start of May in preparation for the season to restart. Federation president Gabriele Gravina said in a TV interview that "the idea is to finish the championships" but there was no deadline at the moment. He said a meeting would be held soon to discuss how to proceed. Serie A has been suspended since 9 March.
Motorsports... Tributes continue to be paid to motor racing great Sir Sterling Moss who died aged 90 at the weekend. Writing in the Guardian Damon Hill said that Moss was "the first real megastar driver" from the UK and "in terms of the legendary names in the sport he is up there with the best."
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