Lunchtime News Thursday 11th February 2021

News

Nursery section of school on Nice port closed for two days due to Covid - The nursery section of the Saint-Vincent de Paul school on the port of Nice has closed for two days due to three cases of Covid identified amongst students. Parents were informed of the closure today Thursday 11th February and tomorrow Friday 12th February by email on Wednesday evening. All children and staff in the class concerned are considered as contact cases and have been asked to stay at home.

Two dead after apartment fire in Paris - Two people have died and two others have been seriously injured after an apartment fire in Paris this morning. The blaze broke out at around 4am this morning on the 5th floor of the six storey building on the Boulevard Voltaire. Thirty people were evacuated by firefighters and the fire was extinguished within an hour. The investigation into the origin of the fire, which remains unknown at this stage, is being carried out by the judicial police.

In a tweet France’s minister of Interior Gerald Darmanin “thanked the firefighters of Paris and added that his thoughts were with the families of the victims”.

Culture minister says vaccination passport is "an attack on our freedoms" - France’s Culture Minister has ruled out the idea of people using a Covid vaccination passport to gain entry to museums or other culture spaces. Speaking to French media  Roselyne Bachelot has said that the idea of people using a Covid vaccination passport to gain entry to museums or other culture spaces, is an “attack on our freedoms”. The idea of the passport would be to show whether people have been vaccinated against Covid-19 and to allow them special rights, be it for travel or entry to a museum.

Survey show’s popularity of former prime minister and Marine Le Penn - France’s former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe and leader of the National Rally Marine Le Pen have topped a list of personalities who "would do better" than President Emmanuel Macron "if they were in power today", according to a poll published today. Some 22% of people interviewed by IFOP-Fiducial for CNEWS and Sud Radio think that Philippe would do better than Macron, who had appointed him to Matignon in 2017, and 20% believe that this would be the case for Marine Le Pen.

Marseille officially invites Pope Francis - Pope Francis has officially been invited to participate in a gathering of Jesuits in October in Marseille. The invitation, for the end of October, was formulated by the Archbishop of Marseille, Jean-Marc Aveline, and sent to the Sovereign Pontiff during the visit to Rome in early December by the President of the Conference of Bishops of France (CEF), Eric de Moulins-Beaufort.

Town council of Grigny foots bill for parking fines during visit from Prime Minister - The town of Grigny situated outside of Paris has agreed to foot the bill after fifty cars were towed by authorities during French Prime Minister Jean Castex, visit on January 29th. For security reasons the vehicles were removed without notification from parking spaces resulting in 53 residents having to go to the police and pay a fine to recover their vehicle. Following a city council meeting today it was decided that total cost of 13,000 euros will be paid by the town hall with those residents concerned able to claim a reimbursement.

Minister announces that the project to extend Paris airport has been abandoned - France’s Minister of Ecological Transition has this morning announced that the project to extend Roissy Charles-de-Gaulle airport in Paris has been abandoned. The project has been deemed as "obsolete" by the French government at a time of the fight against global warming. The minister added that the government has asked the ADP group to present a new project, “more consistent with its objectives of combating climate change and protecting the environment”. While the project involved the construction by 2037 of a fourth terminal to increase the equipment capacity of 40 million passengers per year, Minister Barbara Pompili estimated that "it is an obsolete project, which did not correspond to the government's environmental policy and the demands of a rapidly changing sector, focused on the green aircraft of tomorrow ”.

And finally 

An estate agent in the UK which jokingly advertised an igloofor sale for £250,000 – has been besieged by househunters demanding viewings.  The tongue-in-cheek advert posted during the UKs cold snap read that the igloo on 'North Pole Road' had 'signs of damp'. The estate agent used a photograph of an igloo built by a family in Clacton-on-Sea for the  post, and the firm was shocked when they received viewing requests The listing describes the igloo as a 'great first home' with 'room to extend', adding the one-bedroom, one-bathroom property is in a 'great location' with a 'large plot.' The advert reads: 'Be quick! This won't be for sale for long.