French and Riviera News Wednesday the 27th May 2020

Man stabbed to death in Marseille - A 35-year-old man has been stabbed to death in Marseille. The incident occurred in the early hours of Tuesday morning. The victim was not known to police and an investigation has been opened to determine the reason for the fatal attack.

Eric Ciotti declares that the “French deserve to know the truth” – Local MP Eric Ciotti has asked, in a letter addressed to the president of the National assembly Richard Ferrand, that the fact-finding mission on the Covid-19, which Ciotti is conducting be changed into a commission of 'investigation.

According to Ciotti, the commission "intends to collect information deemed necessary on the coronavirus crisis with regard to health prevention, management of the crisis, adaptation of the healthcare system, the strategy of deconfinement and the economic and budgetary consequences of the crisis. "

The goal is to maximum transparency and to ask all the necessary questions in order to understand the events and especially public decisions taken since the appearance of the Covid-19.

In a statement released on Tuesday Eric Ciotti said that "The French deserve the truth,"

Building permit refused by the mayor of Cagnes sur mer - The mayor of Cagnes-sur-Mer Louis Nègre has rejected a building permit requested by Bouygues immobilier for the construction of the La Vilette eco-neighbourhood.

The mayor said on Tuesday that the project needs to be “improved” before being accepted, adding that there are too many non-conformities such as the height of buildings along with the flood risk and not forgetting “the new way of life after the coronavirus crisis”.

Support for the elderly – Meanwhile the mayor of Nice Christian Estrosi, is one of 150 well known personalities who have signed a manifesto calling for changes to be made to support the elderly. The Mayor said that he was calling for a "rethink of the link between generations and to mobilize all the levers of society to meet the demographic challenge of old age".

Île de Porquerolles - Two beaches on the Île de Porquerolles are set to reopen. The municipality of Hyeres said that the Argent and Notre-Dame beaches will be reopened. La Courtade is already open. The beaches will be open from 8am to 6pm and restrictions will be in place, including the banning of alcohol consumption and picnics, as well as social distancing of two metres between groups of people.

“Conversations” of the Mediterranean - A team of scientists at University of Toulon have taken advantage of the lockdown period to carry out an exceptional experiment recording the "conversations" of those that inhabit the Mediterranean.

With no sea vessels and fewer fishermen, the underwater life of the Mediterranean from Marseille to Monaco took full advantage of the “silence”. The "historic opportunity to be able to characterize the marine environment in a state of low acoustic pollution", gave rise to an exceptional mission.

Leaving Toulon on April 23rd, the mission was led by Professor Hervé Glotin and initiated by the University of Toulon, the company Sea Proven, the journal Marine Oceans, and supported by the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation.

For seventeen days, the team visited creeks in Marseille to the principality of Monaco, passing by Toulon and Nice.

Monaco Yacht show to take place 23rd-26th September - The organisers of the Monaco Yacht show have announced that this year’s show will be held on Port Hercule here in the Principality from the 23rd – 26th September.

While there will be fewer exhibitors and superyachts, it will be one of the few events able to go ahead in the face of the coronavirus crisis.

StopCovid to be launched this weekend in France - France’s StopCovid contact tracing smartphone app for tracing cases of coronavirus, is set to be launched at the weekend, after it got the green light on Tuesday from the national data protection authority.

The technology used by many governments around the world to monitor the coronavirus has been developed in France by researchers and companies under the supervision of the government.

StopCovid, will be purely voluntary, but its use needs to be widespread if it’s to play any meaningful role in breaking the epidemic chain. 

Coronavirus – The number of patients in intensive care in France continues to decline with 1,555 Tuesday evening, 54 less than the day before. In total, the epidemic has killed at least 28,530 people in France, according to a consolidated assessment by the Directorate General of Health.

Law passed to extend bereavement leave for employees - A unanimous vote in French parliament on Tuesday has passed the bill in France to increase the number of days leave for employees, following the death of a child, to 15 working days.

At the beginning of the year the bill to increase the number of days from