News
Health Defense Council meeting to be held today to discuss and decide on new measures in the run-up to New Year's Eve - The French government is to hold a new Health Defense Council meeting today Monday 27th December, to discuss and decide on certain measures to help curb the fifth wave of covid in the run up to New Year's Eve. While reported to be highly unlikely, the council will discuss the possibility of extending the school holidays and the possibility of a curfew on December 31st. On Saturday, Public Health France announced 100,000 new infections of covid in 24 hours, an absolute record since the beginning of the health crisis.
A new version of the health pass could be introduced requiring a negative covid test even for vaccinated people. A new measure could also see the isolation period for the new Omicron covid variant in France, which currently stands at 17 days, be shortened and finally also on the table for discussion will be the Health Pass for companies in France.
Flights cancelled - Christmas weekend saw 7,500 flights cancelled and thousands more delayed due to the health crisis. Sunday alone saw about 2,200 international and domestic flights in France cancelled. Today Monday 27th December at least 735 cancellations are planned.
Health workers anger towards the unvaccinated - Meanwhile in Marseille anger is rising amongst health workers at the Timone Hospital against the unvaccinated. The city is currently one of the cities in France with the lowest vaccination rate. Caregivers have raised the alarm at the number of covid patients being admitted to A&E as the large majority are not vaccinated.
Monaco - In Monaco 96 new cases of covid were identified over the holiday weekend bringing the total number of residents affected, since the beginning of the health crisis to 4,766. Thirty people are currently in hospital and 298 are being followed by the Home Monitoring Centre.
Delivery of Pfizer vaccines to the Alpes Maritimes - And with the Alpes Maritimes suffering a shortage of Pfizer vaccines the Ministry of Health has announced a delivery of 31,590 doses of Pfizer on January 9th, the largest delivery to the region since September 12th. Many in the region going for their booster jab have been offered the Moderna vaccine instead, which is recommended by the High Health Authority in France for those over 30.
Man shot dead in Nice on Christmas Day - Police in Nice are investigating the fatal shooting of a 25 year on man in Nice on Christmas day. The incident occurred in the Las Planas district of the city shortly after midnight on December 25th. The victim was shot dead on boulevard Henri-Sappia and a vehicle, which was later found by police in Cagnes sur mer, was seen fleeing the scene. The victim was not known to police services.
Young man in critical condition after road accident - A young man has been left in a critical condition in hospital following a road accident in our region on Sunday December 26th. The incident occurred at 6.30pm on the road to Pégomas in Grasse, when the victim's vehicle hit an electricity pylon before catching fire. Police have appealed for any witnesses to come forward. As a result of the accident, many homes in the area were left without electricity.
Zoo closes temporarily after pack of wolves' escape enclosure - A zoo in southwestern France has temporarily closed its doors after a pack of nine wolves escaped from an enclosure during visiting hours. Nobody was injured in the incident. The parks owner said that the wolves, which had recently arrived at the zoo escaped after destroying security installations but never left the zoo itself. The park's social media page said it plans to reopen in mid-January.
Survey shows French people proud to be French - According to a recent survey carried out by Ifop, 68% of French people say they are proud to be European and 87% say they are proud to be French. The study on "National and European pride" shows France to be the least "proud Europeans" compared to their neighbours Germany and Italy. Three out of four Italians are proud to be European and 78% of Germans which is ten points higher than the French.
Marceau and Goldman remain favourite celebrities in France - French actress Sophie Marceau and singer Jean-Jacques Goldman are still the favourites celebrities for the French in 2021. The actress and the singer have retained their position at the top of the ranking which was marked this year by the rise of astronaut Thomas Pesquet who came second. Three personalities enter the ranking for the first-time including singer Françoise Hardy who is ranked 12th.
Business
According to a report by the office of the Center for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) published on Sunday and relayed by Bloomberg. Despite the health crisis that had dropped its level to $ 84 trillion in 2020, global GDP is expected to cross the $ 100 trillion mark for the first time in 2022, The London-based think tank believes that the global economy will continue to be boosted in 2022 by the strong post-Covid recovery, although inflation persists. These forecasts are also in line with those of the International Monetary Fund, which also forecast a global GDP exceeding 100,000 billion dollars next year.
According to an Opinium poll for the Observer, conducted across the Channel, 42% of Brexiteers believe that the divorce with the European Union went wrong. A year after Brexit the poll shows that more than six in ten voters believe that leaving the EU went badly. Among Leave supporters, 42% have a negative view of how Brexit will unfold and 26% even say the situation is worse than they expected. On the Remain side, a large majority (86%) believe that the withdrawal from the EU went badly. In the end, only 14% of all British voters believe that Brexit went better than expected.
The latest instalment of the Spider-Man franchise has become the first pandemic-era movie to make more than $1bn (£750m) at the global box office. Spider-Man: No Way Home also took the title of highest-grossing film of 2021.
Sport
Cricket – England has suffered a covid scare on the morning of the second day of the third Ashes Test after two of their support staff and two travelling family members tested positive. England had testing after one family member returned a positive test. All players tested negative but the start of play at the Melbourne Cricket Ground was delayed by 30 minutes.
Football - Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel has called the Premier League schedule "not fair" and said his side "are struggling" after sustaining more injuries. The Blues beat Aston Villa 3-1 on Sunday.
Meanwhile Manchester City held off an unlikely Leicester comeback to clinch a ninth successive Premier League win in thrilling style and move six points clear at the top of the table.
This evening in the Premier League Newcastle play Manchester United kick off is at 9pm French time.
Rugby Union - Leicester scored an 84th-minute try with 14 men to win at Bristol and make it 10 wins from 10 Premiership matches.
Weather
Scattered showers with a light breeze and highs of 13 degrees. This evening going down to 7 degrees with clear skies.
Outlook for Tuesday and Wednesday. Cloudy tomorrow. Sunny intervals forecast for Wednesday and highs of 13-14 degrees.
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