Lunchtime News Monday 2nd November 2020

News 

Interior Minister terrorist threat in France - France’s Minister of the Interior Gerald Darmanin has this morning spoken to French media about the terrorist threat in France, which is "currently as high as in 2015".

France is currently on high alert following the attack in Nice on Thursday, October 29, and that against the teacher Samuel Paty on October 16th. The Minister said that "there is no threat targeted at schools".

Today nusery, primary, middle and high schools students return after a fortnight's vacation, and as a result, security is reinforced in front of schools.

The army is to be reinforced due to France being on a high alert and patrols will be stepped up to ensure the security in public places, including schools.

Local businesses - France’s Minister of Economy has announced this morning that various unions representing small business across France are to meet with the government to study the possible reopening from November 12th.

Local traders have been up in arms since the introductions of lockdown measures allowed the same items to continue to be sold in French supermarkets during lockdown while they were forced to close their doors.

Bookshops, florists, clothes shops and other small businesses are "furious" at the decision which came into force as part of the national lockdown introduced on Thursday.

Bruno Le Maire notably mentioned the "possibility of making an appointment" in shops, in order to regulate the arrival of customers.

To appease traders and in the name of "fairness", Prime Minister Jean Castex announced on Sunday that "non-essential" shelves of supermarkets are to close from Tuesday with nonessential items such as books, clothes, flowers and cosmetics being banned from sales. 

Changes from November 1st - As with the first of every month in France certain changes are to be introduced including the price of gas, tobacco and a capping on bank charges for the most vulnerable customers.

Gas tariffs are to rise by 1.6%, and the price of a packet of cigarettes increases by 50 cents.

The fifth edition of the Tobacco Free Month began on Sunday, November 1st and to better persuade smokers to quit, the pack of 20 cigarettes increases on average by 50 cents.

Finally, while the number of vulnerable people is increasing with the Covid-19 pandemic, the winter truce comes into force, with no eviction from housing able to take place until March 31st 2021 and the conditions for capping bank charges are to be better specified.

And Finally

A man in Florida man has found a $1 million lottery ticket while cleaning his house

The man said he was cleaning his house when he came across an un-scratched lottery ticket that turned out to be a $1 million top prize winner.

James Kinder, 38, of Jacksonville bought his The Fastest Road to $1,000,000 scratch-off ticket at a Circle K store in Jacksonville and placed it on his fireplace, where it remained for several weeks.

"I came across the un-scratched ticket while cleaning the house; when I scratched it, I realized it was actually a $1 million winner! I wish I would have found it sooner," the winner said.

Kinder chose the lump sum option for his winnings, taking home $790,000.

The Circle K store was awarded a $2,000 bonus for selling the winning ticket.

 

 

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