Lunchtime News Friday 19th March 2021

News

Government announces that hairdressers will remain open - The French government’s spokesperson Gabriel Attal, has this morning announced that hairdressing salons will be able to welcome their customers, despite the new lockdown implemented from this weekend in several departments, including the Alpes Maritimes. A decree is to be presented today which "will indicate which businesses can and can’t remain open”.

People leave the French capital following announcement - Meanwhile following the announcement of regional lockdowns from the Prime Minister on Thursday TGV’s and Ouigo trains services are almost full as people leave the capital ahead of the measures coming into effect at midnight tonight. The SNCF indicates that all trains will run as planned in the coming days. 

Saliva tests in schools - Speaking on French radio this morning France’s Minister of National Education Jean-Michel Blanquer, has announced that nearly 300,000 saliva tests will have been offered during the day to primary school students and that for the majority the tests will have been effectively carried out. The minister added that tests are carried out on a voluntary basis and results so far show that the average contamination rate in French schools is 0.5%.

Nursery school in the Var closes due to Covid - Meanwhile following a meeting with the Regional Health Agency the prefect of the Var, has announced the closure of the Costebelle nursery school for a period of seven days. The decision has not surprised families, as the direction had warned of a deteriorating health situation over the past week, with a growing number of positive cases amongst staff members.

In other news

Snow - According to researchers a months’ worth of snow has been lost over the last fifty years in the Alps. The study carried out on the whole of the European massif and published in "The Cryosphere" is the first scientific expertise of its type. According to the study, between 1971 and 2019, the period in which snow was on the ground each winter, reduced on average from 22 to 34 days in the Alps. The observation in the decrease in snowfall in the mountains is a “fundamental trend, which confirms previous studies”, carried out at local and national levels.

Radio station in Saint Tropez  - Following a court ruling the radio Kiss FM has lost its right to broadcast on 89.1 in the Gulf of Saint Tropez in the Var. From May 1st the company will no longer have the right to use the frequency on which it has been broadcasting since 2019 to guarantee good reception particularly, between Grimaud and Sainte-Maxime and Cavalaire and the Croix Valmer, where reception problems are common.

French woman files legal appeal with European Court of Human Rights in divorce case - A 66-year-old French woman has filed a legal appeal with the European Court of Human Rights after French courts back in 2019, ruled that she had “violated” her “marital duties” by not having sex with her husband. The husband reported that the main grounds for divorce was the fact that his wife “refused to have sex with him” which the court constituted at the time, as “a serious and repeated violation of the obligations of marriage, making the maintenance of a shared life intolerable” for him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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