Lunchtime News.Thursday July 23rd 2020

Bars closed-Four bars and a snack restaurant in Cannes have been ordered to close for not respecting lockdown during the coronavirus pandemic between March and May.

The Mayor of Cannes David Lisnard has promised that “more closures will follow” as investigations into the non-respect of lockdown continue.

The bars will have to remain shut until the 10th of September ,missing the entire summer season and the Mayor says that there will be “zero tolerance” for any offenders.

The Mayor has also issued a warning to anyone committing offences such as littering, walking around the town without a shirt or noise pollution promising swift action by local police.

Police awards-Two CRS police officers have been awarded the Bronze Medal for Courage after preventing a young woman from committing suicide on the 4th of April.

The two to grab the woman as she threw herself off a bridge on the A57 motorway in the Var at considerable risk to their own safety.

The young woman is now recovering after receiving psychiatric treatment.

Yellow alert-The Alpes-Maritimes has once again been placed on a yellow weather alert for storms this afternoon.

The bad weather is expected to be restricted to inland areas again with the chance of violent storms at times in the mountains.

Trouble with the trees-Tree surgeons are working to save three iconic trees at the gardens of the Villa Thuret on the Cap d’Antibes.

The work involves attaching guy-wires to the trees branches and then lifting them up to provide support and prevent them from collapsing.

The botanic gardens at the Villa Thuret were opened in 1857 and houses a range of exotic plants and trees.

Many of the specimens are extremely rare including a 35 meter tall “White Phantom” eucalyptus which was brought over from Australia around 160 years ago and is the largest tree in the garden.

The garden is open to the public daily from 8am until 6pm and admission is free.

 thuret-paca@inrae.fr

In National News.

Covid-19- France has reported 7 new deaths from coronavirus in the past 24 hours bringing the total number of deaths from the virus to 30,172 since the start of the pandemic.

Statistics show that 19,656 people have died from the virus in hospital with a further 10,516 deaths in care homes and other medical establishments.

6,366 people are currently receiving hospital treatment with 445 in intensive care.

There are currently 212 active clusters of the disease around France with 14 new outbreaks detected on Wednesday.

Darmanin-The French Interior Minister is coming under increasing pressure from women’s rights groups over an alleged rape in 2009.

Gerard Darmanin is accused of raping a woman ,Sophie Patterson-Spatz who was seeking his help in having a criminal record struck off. He’s consistently denied the allegations but judges in Paris ordered a new investigation last month and the story won’t go away.

On Wednesday evening ,a feminist association ramped up the pressure on Mr Darmanin after seeking fresh legal action for alleged “abuse of influence” while he was Mayor of Tourcoing.

The French government says that the Minister is entitled to presumption of innocence  and Mr Darmanin has complained of being the victim of a “manhunt”.

Ms Patterson-Spatz has also accused the Interior Minister of sexual harassment.He says that sex between the two was consensual and has counter-filed a libel complaint against her.