French Minister of Health Olivier Veran has announced that he has tested positive for Covid-19. He said this afternoon that he was going into confinement and would continue to perform his duties remotely.
The French government has announced that Covid-19 travel restrictions for those travelling to France from the UK will be relaxed from tomorrow morning. Vaccinated travellers will no longer need a compelling reason to enter France or need to self-isolate when they arrive. Non-vaccinated travellers will still need a compelling reason to enter France and cannot travel to France for leisure reasons. They must also still isolate upon arrival. A negative Covid-19 test, taken within 24 hours before leaving the UK, will be required for those who are vaccinated or unvaccinated.
Striking teachers staged a demonstration in the Place Massena in Nice this morning. According to the Education Ministry, 38.5% of primary school teachers nationally were on strike today. One of the main unions put the figure at 75%. Staff are protesting at the manner in which the government has impemented health protocols.
Power has now been restored to all the premises in central Nice which were affected by last night's power cut. About 5,000 homes and businesses in the Garibaldi, Bonaparte and Quai des Etats-Unis areas lost power following a transformer fire. Nice Deputy Mayor Anthony Borre thanked the teams from Enedis who worked overnight to restore supplies.
Some Orange customers in France have been experiencing problems sending and receiving e-mails today. The company said that problems may also be experienced connecting to customer accounts on orange.fr. It said on Twitter this afternoon that teams are fully mobilized to restore services and apologized for the inconvenience caused.
Controlled burning of undergrowth has been underway today in the vicinity of Carros at the Broc summit. Firefighters said that the operations generate a lot of smoke but local residents shouldn't be concerned.
The French government is establishing a new judicial unit to look into unsolved criminal cases, known as “cold cases”. The department will be devoted to criminal cases which have not so far been solved despite years of investigations. It will be attached to the Court of Appeal of Versailles, in Nanterre. 241 unresolved cases are concerned, which are divided into 173 unsolved crimes and 68 serial crime proceedings.
BUSINESS
Marks & Spencer and Tesco have both reported strong sales over the Christmas period. Tesco now expects annual income to hit the top end of forecasts and Marks & Spencer said it was "now more confident" of reaching previous expectations of at least £500m in profits for the full-year.
In late December, approximately 3% of the UK workforce were estimated to have been on sick leave or not working because of COVID-19 symptoms, self-isolation or quarantine. The Office for National Statistics said that this is the highest figure since comparable estimates began in June 2020.
SPORT
Football... French player Lucas Digne has joined Aston Villa from Everton. Everton manager Rafael Benitez said last week that the former Paris St Germain and Barcelona player had asked to leave the club.
Newcastle United have signed New Zealander Chris Wood from Burnley for £25m. His new contract runs until the end of the 2023-24 season.
Tennis... Novak Djokovic is in the Australian Open draw. Australia's immigration minister Alex Hawke is reportedly still considering whether to revoke his visa again. The world number one has been drawn against fellow Serb Miomir Kecmanovic.
Meanwhile, Andy Murray is through to the semi-finals of the Sydney Tennis Classic. He was playing Belgian player David Goffin who had to retire injured from their last-eight match.
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