Lunchtime News Thursday 3rd February 2022

News

Child seriously injured in road accident in Hyères - A child has been seriously injured in a road accident in Hyères in the var this Thursday morning. According to emergency services the child, whose age is unknown, was seriously injured in the accident and is in a critical condition. The accident involving a truck and a child, occurred shortly after 8am. Police have opened an investigation to determine the cause of the accident.

Inhabitants confined after fire breaks out - The inhabitants of a building in Saint-Raphaël in the Var have been confined to their homes due to a fire this Thursday morning. For reasons still to be determined, the fire broke out in the basement of the building shortly before 7am on Avenue Marguerite-Aufoux. Firefighters rapidly intervened preventing the flames from spreading to the upper floors. Nobody was injured or evacuated, but residents were confined.

Students stabbed in Dijon - Two high school students have been attacked with a knife, and slightly injured in Dijon. The attack occurred on Wednesday afternoon and follows a similar attack the day before on a student from the same high school. Both incidents saw several people carry out the attacks and are believed to be linked. No arrests have been made as police investigate the stabbings.

Woman charged for intentional homicide - A 33-year-old woman has been charged for "intentional homicide" after fatally stabbing her husband. The incident occurred in Paris on Monday when, during an argument, the woman threatened to take her own life using a knife. The spouse intervened and was fatally wounded in the abdomen and chest. The Paris prosecutor's office on Wednesday opened a judicial investigation for intentional homicide by a spouse.

300,000 fake health passes to be cancelled in the coming days - France's Minister of Health Olivier Véran has announced that many fake covid health passes will be rendered unusable in the coming days. The French authorities are cracking down on false vaccine passes with some 300,000 fake health passes soon being cancelled. They correspond in particular to the thousands of false vaccination schemes created in the computer systems of the Health Insurance, after the hacking of accounts of health professionals. Sold online, fake vaccination passes more often than not, come from illegitimate access to the account of a doctor or pharmacist, in order to register fictitious vaccinations. In December, the hacking of the account of a nurse in Nantes saw the creation of some 54,000 false health passes, which could subsequently be transformed into vaccination passes and sold for several hundred euros on social networks and instant messaging. Investigations tracing the thread of these hacks make it possible to identify the buyers of these false documents, including several months after the transaction, leading to the QR Codes being deactivated. Possession of a false vaccination pass can be punished by three years in prison and a fine of 45,000 euros.

Strike ends in Marseille - Following discussions an agreement has been reached ending strike action from bin collectors in Marseille, which has lasted 15 days. Following a last meeting held on Wednesday, Marseille bin collectors obtained a salary increase of 40 euros gross per month.

French ministers to meet to work on immigration problem between France and the UK - French ministers are meeting today and tomorrow in Lille northern France, to work on rebuilding bilateral relations between the European Union and the UK to define a legal immigration route across the Channel. Speaking to French media this morning France's Minister of the Interior claimed "this is the real and good solution". For Gérald Darmanin, only legal access routes will be able to stop "what we have unfortunately known for 25 years on the Calais coast, where hundreds of migrants are waiting to be able to cross the Channel, at their own risk and peril." In a recent interview with the French regional daily La Voix du Nord, Emmanuel Macron criticized "the British for having a system from the 1980s which manages economic immigration by hypocrisy". While France has been soliciting the United Kingdom for a year, in particular concerning family reunifications, Gérald Darmanin "regrets that Boris Johnson is entangled in matters of internal politics and does not take the time to discuss these legal access routes" and recalls that the United Kingdom "did not leave democracy and did not leave the right of asylum" adding that "This European treaty between Great Britain and the European Union had not been negotiated at the time of Brexit, perhaps this is a mistake and we must fix it".

French President says he may visit Russia - French President Emmanuel Macron has said he might visit Russia to find a diplomatic solution to the current standoff. On Wednesday Macron and US President Joe Biden agreed to coordinate their response to Russia's military build-up on the Ukrainian border. The allies agreed to stay in "close touch" in consultation with NATO and other European Union members on a "coordinated and comprehensive approach". Russia has deployed more than 100,000 heavily armed troops around Ukraine, raising Western fears that it is planning to invade the pro-EU former Soviet republic, which has ambitions of joining Western institutions, including NATO.

Domestic violence in France - Domestic violence victims in France will now be notified when their former partner is to be released from jail. The move is part of measures put in place at the start of February to combat domestic abuse in France, where one woman is murdered by a man every three days. The decree was passed on December 24th and became effective on February 1st. It also calls on the court to assess the need to monitor the offender and the need to protect the women and children. A number of measures are included in the decree, including fitting abusers with an electronic bracelet (a GPS tracking device) to keep them away from their victims.

Right wing candidates have more than 80% of interactions on Facebook for the month of January in France - According to data compiled by BFMTV, the five most right-wing candidates for the Presidential elections in France have more than 80% of interactions on Facebook in France, over the month of January 2022. The two far-left candidates Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Fabien Roussel (French Communist Party) have only 8.86% of interactions. According to the January ranking, Eric Zemmour is well ahead, with 2.3 million interactions, followed by Florian Philippot (1.8 million), Nicolas Dupont-Aignan (1.7 million), Marine Le Pen (1.6 million) and Jean-Luc Mélenchon (La France insoumise, 0.8 million). The parties of the left, centre or right, represented by Emmanuel Macron (La République en marche), Anne Hidalgo (Socialist Party), Valérie Pécresse (Les Républicains), Yannick Jadot (Europe Écologie Les Verts) or Christiane Taubira account for only 8.43% of the total interactions.

Ski resorts - Recent figures have shown an 82% occupancy rate in France's ski resorts for the February holidays. The February holidays start tomorrow Friday 5th in Zone B ((Strasbourg, Nancy-Metz, Reims, Lille, Amiens, Rouen, Caen, Rennes, Nantes, Orléans-Tours, Nice and Aix-Marseille). Expected holidaymakers are on the rise compared to before the health crisis, with a 3.5% increase compared to the February 2020 holidays. According to the National Observatory of Mountain Stations, it is mainly French customers. European tourists are also starting to return, especially the British absent at Christmas, as well as the Dutch. To be able to go to a ski resort, the vaccination pass and the wearing of a mask remain compulsory on the ski lifts and in the queues. The checks are random, but there is no longer an obligation to wear the mask outside in the streets of the stations.

Themed visits organised at the Domaine du Rayol in the Var - Among its activities, the Domaine du Rayol is offering thematic tours which allow you to better understand and discover the extraordinary diversity of its gardens. The Domaine du Rayol, in Rayol-Canadel, is property of the Conservatoire du littoral and managed by an association approved since 1989, with about thirty permanent employees, more than 80% self-financed . Twenty hectares of breath-taking beauty, a timeless paradise, ideal for a walk. For information go to www.domainedurayol.org

 

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