Lunchtime News Thursday 10th September 2020

Local

Access to Terminal 2 blocked by VTC drivers - VTC drivers have demonstrated in front of Terminal 2 at Nice International Airport this morning blocking access to Monegasque registered vehicles. The drivers are opposed to a paid vignette in order to work in Monaco. For them this is unfair competition with their counterparts in the Principality.

There are around 4,000 VTC in the Alpes-Maritimes and since 2014, for customers in Monaco, the Principality has imposed an annual vignette costing € 900 for two years, then € 600 from the 3rd year.

Work underway to prevent flooding - Work is currently underway in Biot to secure the Clausonnes valley in order to prevent any further flooding in the area. The work is reportedly costing 700,000 euros and will last until the end of September. The area experienced deadly floods back in 2015.

Barbeque championship - Five friends, four from Nice and one from Paris are set to try their luck this weekend to be crowned France’s champions of barbecuing. The championship has three categories: meat, vegetables and desserts and takes place on Saturday and Sunday in Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer in the Bouches-du-Rhône.

National 

National figures for Covid-19 - On a national level recent figures show an additional 8,577 cases of Covid-19 bringing the total number of cases to 344,101.

644 clusters are currently being investigated. 2,157 people are currently hosptialised of which 372 are in intensive care and 30,794 people have fallen victim to Covid-19 since the beginning of the pandemic with 30 deaths in the last 24 hours.

Armed Forces - French Minister of the Armed Forces Florence Parly has been in the Hautes-Pyrénées department on Wednesday to attend a tribute to two French soldiers killed in Mali last weekend. A private ceremony was held in Paris. 

Motorway - Motorway operator Vinci Autoroutes are drawing the attention of motorway users to the dangers faced by their staff. On Tuesday afternoon a patrol van which was protecting a heavy vehicle in difficulty was struck by a car on the A10 motorway in central France. Vinci say that the incident brings the number of intervention vehicles struck on the VINCI Autoroutes network to 37 since the start of this year and is calling for extra vigilance by motorists.