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News 25-year-old hiker killed by stray bullet during wild boar hunt – A 25-year-old hiker has been killed during a wild boar hunt at the weekend in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. The incident occurred on Saturday afternoon when the woman was fatally hit and wounded by a stray bullet. The 17-year-old girl responsible for firing the weapon has since been placed in police custody for manslaughter. The incident has put the hunting debate back at the heart of the presidential election campaign, with several political figures calling for a ban at weekends and during the school holidays. France is the European country with the most hunters and is also the only European country allowing hunting every day during the season, while the United Kingdom, Italy, the Netherlands or Portugal have introduced one or more non-hunting days. A petition calling for a ban on hunting on Wednesdays and Sundays had collected more than 120,000 signatures last autumn and prompted the Senate to create a commission on security. People gather to show respect to those who died in deadly fire in Perpignan – This weekend more than 2,500 people have expressed their “solidarity” to the families who lost loved ones, following the deadly fire near Perpignan, which claimed eight lives on February 14th. The gathering was held as a mark of respect to the eight people who lost their lives, including a baby and a two-year-old child. The fire had ravaged three adjoining buildings. The investigation into the cause of the deadly blaze is still underway. The date for the lifting of covid restrictions to be maintained - France’s health minister Olivier Véran has said that the lifting of covid restrictions is maintained for “mid-March” despite the drop in new cases. The minister justified the decision to not bring the date forward due to the number of patients hospitalised which in his view is “still too many”. Latest figures in France - According to the latest figures from Public Health France, published on Saturday, the number of positive cases stands at 86,000 on average over seven days, down 76% since the peak reached on January 25th. The minister also underlined the "decrease in the health burden" with "fewer and fewer patients in hospitals". They are still 28,600, including 2,900 in critical care. Monaco - In Monaco on Sunday two new cases of covid were identified bringing the total number of residents affected to 9,188. There are currently 18 people hospitalised due to covid and 90 people are being followed by the Home Monitoring Centre. Mayor of Cannes gives sponsorship for far-left candidate –The Republican mayor of Cannes David Lisnard has given his sponsorship to far left candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon. In a video posted on Twitter on Sunday evening Lisnard made the announcement adding, that his sponsorship was out of “civic concern and democratic requirement”. Three of the main presidential candidates have not yet received their sponsorships which means that if Jean Luc Mélenchon, Marine Le Pen or Eric Zemmour, are unable to take part in the run for presidency, Lisnard would consider this as a “serious blow to democracy”. The Republican candidate Valerie Pecresse who Lisnard supports has about 2,000 sponsorships and is therefore able to compete. In France a candidate needs to acquire 500 sponsorships to be able to run for presidency. It was announced this morning that due to the crisis in Ukraine French President Emmanuel Macron who was expected to announce his candidacy for the elections this week will now postpone the announcement until next week. Macron obtains meeting over Ukraine crisis - Indeed, it’s been reported that that after numerous phone calls, Emmanuel Macron managed to obtain a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and American President Joe Biden in an attempt to end the conflict. But the Elysée warns that the proposed summit "can only be held if Russia does not invade Ukraine" beforehand. In its statement, the White House posted the same conditions: On Sunday following telephone exchanges between the Elysée and the various parties, Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden accepted the principle of a meeting within the framework of a summit, proposed by French President Emmanuel Macron. Weather warning - The Alpes-Maritimes and the Var have been placed on a yellow weather warning with high winds expected this Monday morning. The alert is in place until 4pm this afternoon with gust of up to 70km an hour expected along the coast and 80km an hour inland. Business Asian markets have paired losses this morning and US futures have risen on slender hopes that a diplomatic sol |
