News
Health Minister to visit Nice today - France's Minister of Health Olivier Véran, is to visit Nice today Thursday 17th February. During his visit, the minister is to meet with staff at the Archet hospital and speak about the current health situation. Veran’s visit comes as on Wednesday, he mentioned the possible end to wearing a mask indoors including in work, school, or public transport in mid-March, should the health situation allow.
Strike action planned by A&E staff at Draguignan hospital - A&E staff at Draguignan hospital, have announced strike action for tomorrow Friday February 19th. The move comes in protest against the Regional Health Agency and its delay in taking any action following the closure of the night-time services of the hospital, which has lasted for more than three months. Staff are expected to gather in front of the hospital on Friday evening.
Meanwhile also in Draguignan prison guards are to demonstrate today, as part of a national movement in France in protest against wages and working conditions.
Weather alert - The Var region has been placed on a yellow weather alert with high winds forecast. The warning was issued on Wednesday with possible gusts of up to 110km an hour forecast. The windy weather is expected to last until tomorrow Friday 18th February.
Battle of flowers Villefranche-sur-Mer - It’s been confirmed the annual Battle of Flowers will resume this year in the bay at Villefranche-sur-Mer. The battle, which has been re-enacted for 118 years was cancelled last year due to the pandemic. It will take place, tomorrow lunchtime at the port in Villefranche, and while the event is free a current vaccination pass will be required to attend.
Operation Carlo - The Prince's Government has expressed its delight with the success of "Operation Carlo". As part of the various measures to support the economy, the Prince's Government notably repeated the Carlo operation at the end of 2021. This involved paying an exceptional bonus, directly converted into purchase vouchers, on the Carlo application, to around 10,000 civil servants, State and Municipal employees, retired civil servants and non-medical staff at the Princess Grace Hospital Centre.
Latest poll shows Macron in the lead for voting intentions - The latest poll on the Presidential elections in France has shown that Macron leads the voting intentions even if there has been a slight drop in the number of people supporting him. The poll carried out by the Elabe Institute, less than two months before the presidential election shows Macron in the lead followed by far-right candidate Marine Le Pen and Republican Valérie Pécresse.
February holidays see a return to normal - According to a recent study, the February holidays have seen a return to almost normal in France’s ski and coastal resorts with reservations for mountain stays up 8.2% compared to 2020 and 88.3% compared to 2021, a year marked by the closure of ski lifts throughout France.
Business
Minutes from the last meeting of the US Federal Reserve have revealed that while the central bank is planning to raise interest rates to combat inflation, its decisions will be made on a “meeting to meeting basis”. The minutes show that while the Fed agrees that it will soon be “appropriate” to raise rates, the timeline for increases would be reassessed at each meeting. The news gave Wall Street a late boost as investors still concerned about the situation in Ukraine with analysts saying that the “less hawkish” comments from the Fed seems to have settled stocks “for the time being”. All three major US stock indexes spent most of the session deep in negative territory on Wednesday as investors shied away from risk appetite on continuing geopolitical tensions and further signs that the economy is heating up. A raft of economic data published on Tuesday showed a sharp rebound in retail sales, stronger than expected industrial output and core import prices reaching an all time high.
The British government is set to scrap visas offering foreign investors fast-track residency as pressure grows over UK links to Russia. On Wednesday, a government source confirmed that an announcement on Tier 1 investor visas which offer residency to those spending at least 2 million pounds would be made next week. The scheme was introduced by the Labour government in 2008 to encourage wealthy people from outside the EU to invest in the UK. The system has been under review for some time amid concerns that its being abused. The Home Office has issued 14,516 Tier 1 visas to Russian citizens since the scheme was introduced. The Parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee has been urging the government to change the system as part of a report into Russian influence in the UK.
Oil prices have fallen by 2 percent in Asian trade this morning after France and Iran said that an agreement to salvage the 2015 Ir
