French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin has said that there are currently 200 fires per day starting in France. He said that 98% of them are extinguished but some go on to be big fires. He said that there will certainly be very large fires for another 3 weeks to a month and a half, especially in the south. Over a thousand firefighters are currently engaged in fighting another major forest fire in south-west France. 8,000 people have been evacuated because of a resumption of the forest fire at Landiras in the Gironde department. This afternoon the Prefecture said that more than 6,000 hectares has been consumed by the fire. A psychological support centre has been opened to support local residents and visitors. The A63 motorway between Bordeaux and Bayonne was closed because of smoke. Sixteen properties have been destroyed but so far no injuries have been reported.
Meteo France has placed the Var and theAlpes-Maritimes on Yellow warnings for storms until 5am tomorrow, Thursday, morning and also for heavy rain and flooding until 8pm Wednesday evening.
There's been another fall in the Covid-19 indidence rate in Monaco. According to the government's weekly update on Covid numbers, the incidence rate in the week up to last Sunday evening was 235 per 100,000 people, down from 298.9 the previous week. In the week from the 1st to the 7th of August 92 new positive cases of Covid-19 were reported. As of Monday August 8, 11 people, including 5 residents, were hospitalized at the Princess Grace Hospital. Two patients were being treated in intensive care. On Monday night 53 people were being followed by the Home Monitoring Centre which medically supports patients with few symptoms.
Over 600kg of cannabis pollen have been seized by authorities at the La Turbie toll booths on the A8 motorway. The haul was found concealed in bags of wool being transported from Spain.
The Beluga whale which had been trapped in a lock on the river Seine has died. It's condition deteriorated whilst being transported to an area of salt water in Calvados and vets took the decision to euthanize it.
Police in Draguignan have called the attention of the public to a new scam involving the sale of mattresses. The victims are approached in parking lots and persuaded to let the scammers accompany them to their home where they are then sold a mattress at an exorbitant price, with victims being accompanied to their bank to withdraw money. Victims have so far been elderly and have mostly been approached in supermarket car parks in Draguignan and Trans-en-Provence.
Beaulieu-sur-Mer has taken first place in a survey of communities where "life is good" in the Alpes Maritimes in the category 3,500 to 5,000 inhabitants. It was placed in 34th place nationally in communities of that size. Beaulieu-sur-Mer has 3,731 inhabitants in an area of just under one square kilometre.
BUSINESS
Annual inflation in the United States fell to 8.5% in July according to figures released this afternoon by the US government. It's down from 9.1% in June. On a monthly basis, inflation was unchanged.
Energy company EDF is taking legal action against the French government. The company says it was forced to sell electricity at less than market rates because of a government imposed price cap aimed at helping consumers with energy costs. EDF says that it has lost 8.3 billion euros as a result and could lose 15 billion euros over the year.
SPORT
Football... The World Cup is set to start one day earlier than planned on Sunday, 20 November with hosts Qatar taking on Ecuador. The proposed change follows discussions with Qatar and Ecuador, after receiving a request from the South American football confederation Conmebol.
British coach Mark Parsons has left his role as Netherlands womens team manager. Parsons took over from Sarina Wiegman in May last year after she departed to become England manager.
Cricket... Australia womens’ captain Meg Lanning has announced she is taking an indefinite break from the game, "effective immediately", for personal reasons. Lanning said that she is taking the time to focus on herself after a "busy couple of years".
TGV services across much of France are gradually improving after several arson attacks affected the network in the early hours of this morning....
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Paris is getting ready to shut down it’s city centre and its airspace as well as mobilise 45,000 police and several army units in what has been billed...
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Lucie Castets, the left-wing candidate for Prime Minister, reiterated her desire to lead the government during a media appearance on July 25. A poll s...
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French President Emmanuel Macron is preparing to welcome world leaders to the Olympic games opening ceremony tomorrow night and has been visiting key ...
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France will host the 2030 Winter Olympics in the Alpes, conditional on state and regional financial guarantees. President Macron confirmed his full su...
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