French and Riviera News Friday 10th July 2020

Air pollution alert - The Var, Bouches du Rhone and the Vaucluse region have today been placed on an air pollution alert.

The regional health Agency has warned that the hot summer heat could well generate a rise in air pollution and has raised the alarm in order to limit the effects on human health and the environment. It is the first air pollution alert of this year’s summer season.

83-year-old woman rescued by lifeguards - An 83-year-old woman has been rescued by lifeguards on a beach in Golfe-Juan. The incident occurred shortly after 6.30pm on Thursday on the Plage du Soleil the victim who was at the time swimming 20 metres from the shore felt unwell. She was later taken to the intensive care unit at La Fontonne hospital

Amadeus announces a reduction in its workforce - Amadeus a leading provider of advanced technology solutions for the global travel industry has announced possible plans to reduce its workforce at their development site based here on the Riviera in Sophia Antipolis due to the health crisis.

Amadeus is the biggest company in Sophia Antipolis with 5,000 employees. The campus offers an exceptional, multicultural environment, where some 5,000 people from more than 60 different nationalities work together.

The group’s CEO Luis Maroto announced on Thursday that that due to the current economic situation the group was planning the departure of around 1.800 employees with a voluntary departure plan as well as a pre-retirement plan.

Nice attack victims - A French compensation organisation has announced that 2,363 victims of the Nice attack of July 14 2016 have received or will receive compensation. It said that compensation had been finalised for three quarters of the victims. The Guarantee Fund for Victims of Terrorist Acts and Other Crimes said that this number includes 469 relatives of deceased victims, 267 injured victims and their relatives, and 1,627 traumatized victims.

The Fund is a private body supervised by the Ministry of Finance and is financed largely by contributions and levies on personal property insurance policies and contributions from insurance companies.

House fire in Cannes – An elderly couple have escaped unharmed following a house fire on the avenue de Lérins, in Cannes. Around 30 firefighters were deployed to the scene on Thursday at around 6pm as thick smoke could be seen from the sea.

The retired couple reportedly heard “an explosion” ahead of the blaze. Residents of the house dating from 1865,  have been rehoused for security reasons.

Cannes wins cleanliness award - The city of Cannes has won an award for cleanliness. It has been awarded 1st star in the "Eco-Clean City" category by the Association of Cities for Urban Cleanliness. Cannes became a member of the organization in November 2019. The award follows increased measures aimed at improving the cleanliness of public spaces in Cannes over the past few years. The award will be presented during the National Meeting of the organization, scheduled for next autumn in Versailles.

In National News

Covid-19- France has registered 14 new deaths linked to Covid-19 in the last 24 hours bringing the total number of deaths since the start of the epidemic to 29,979. While the number of patients in intensive care continues to decline the number of calls to on call doctors and A&E for suspected cases of Covid-19 are rising sharply.

A total of 7,177 people are currently hospitalized with 79 new admissions recorded in 24 hours.

Third emergency budget for Covid-19 - Meanwhile French MPs adopted the third emergency budget on Thursday to support the French economy in the face of the Covid-19 crisis. The text notably provides for around 45 billion additional euros dedicated to tourism, aeronautics and the automobile, sectors strongly impacted by the crisis.

In total, the government has been claiming support from "460 billion euros" since the start of the crisis, including loans or simple state guarantees.

Health emergency – Ahead of the end of the state of the health emergency in France the Constitutional Council has validated a law organizing the exit from the state of health emergency, which comes into effect from Saturday July 11th.

The law does however still allow restrictions until the fall on gatherings, the movement of people or the reception of the public in certain establishments. Above all, the Constitutional Council judges that "the ban on the movement of people cannot lead to their being prohibited from leaving their home or its surroundings". In other words, any new lockdown, even localized, can only go through the declaration of a new state of health emergency.

Spire of Notre-Dame to be rebuilt “identically” - French President Emmanuel Macron has agreed that the spire of Notre-Dame be rebuilt "identically".

Fifteen months after the fire that ravaged the Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral Emmanuel Macron is now "convinced" that the cathedral and its spire must be restored to the identical, announced the Élysée on Thursday July 9th.

Business

The UK’s Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden has urged people to "work out to help out" after announcing changes for businesses as health restrictions are lifted in the face of the health crisis.

Beauty salons are to reopen from Monday as gyms and indoor pools follow on 25 July.

Outdoor performances will also be able to resume with limited audiences.

Today marks the end of quarantine rules for people travelling to the UK from more than 70 countries and British Overseas Territories.

People will no longer have to isolate for 14 days or provide an address where they are staying.

The changes come as the UK reported the deaths of a further 85 people who tested positive for coronavirus, taking the total number of deaths to 44,602.

Meanwhile in the US the number of Americans filing for jobless benefits dropped to a near four-month low last week, but a record 32.9 million people were collecting unemployment checks in the third week of June, supporting expectations that the labor market would take years to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sport

Football – The Premier League has confirmed wrong penalty decision in all of last nights games. Manchester beat Aston Villa 3-0 Southampton drew 1-1 against Everton and Tottenham drew 0-0 against Bournemouth. 

The next Premier League action is on Monday 13th July when Manchester United play Southampton

Rugby Union - Marseille will host the Heineken Champions Cup and Challenge Cup finals in 2021.

With Marseille now staging the 2021 finals, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London will host in 2022.

Formula One - Lewis Hamilton says he is focused on both winning the world championship and fighting racism this year.

Formula 1 drivers stood against racism at the season-opening Austrian Grand Prix in which Hamilton finished fourth.

Weather

Clear skies and sunshine here in the Principality and along the Côte d’Azur.

27 degrees along the coast in Nice, Cannes and Antibes reaching 32 degrees inland in the Alpes Maritimes with the chance of some light showers. Highs of 33 degrees in the Var with a light south westerly wind.

This evening going down to 17 degrees in the Var and the Alpes Maritimes with clear skies.

The outlook for the weekend remaining fine with plenty of sunshine and highs of 35 degrees.