News
Municipal police placed in custody - Five municipal police officers from Nice have been taken into custody suspected of having "abducted" and "kidnapped" a 21-year-old man. Aged 29 to 46, the five officers were taken into custody early Monday evening. According to local reports the victim alerted a friend, national police officer, that he had been subjected to police violence. The mayor of Nice Christian Estrosi has called for an immediate and full investigation into the affair.
Suspect package - Several streets in the centre of Toulon were sealed off on Tuesday morning due to a suspect package. A backpack had been left in front of the Galeries Lafayette department store. About 50 residents of a nearby building were evacuated and police asked locals to avoid the area.
Cases of salmonella - A total of 150 cases of salmonellosis have been detected in nine European countries, including France. According to two European surveillance agencies the responsibility lies with that of a "Belgian production plant". The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) have "identified chocolate products made by a company in its Belgian production plant as being the source of the outbreak of salmonella". The infections "occurred mainly in children under the age of 10" and were reported in nine European countries: France, Germany, Belgium, Spain, Ireland, Luxembourg, Norway, the Netherlands and Sweden. The Belgian justice has since opened an investigation to establish possible responsibilities within the Arlon factory.
Whooping cough vaccine - Meanwhile French health authorities have recommended a whooping cough vaccine to pregnant women to protect their new-born. While vaccination is not possible during pregnancy, the High Health Authority recommends vaccinating those around the infant and the mother as soon as possible after the birth of the child. In a press release the High Health Authority said that is believes that this vaccination allows their new-born to be protected from birth against this particularly dangerous disease for infants. Whooping cough is a particularly contagious disease that results in severe bouts of coughing for several weeks. In the majority of patients, it is not serious but can cause sometimes fatal complications.
Drones used to identify seagull nests - And the city of Cannes is using drones to identify seagull nests and then sterilise the birds' eggs. Seagulls have an annual reproduction cycle and it's crucial to act during the first few weeks of eggs being incubated. On the Côte d'Azur this tends to be from about now until June. After identifying the nests with a camera mounted on a drone, the eggs are sterilised by spraying them with sunflower oil, which clogs the pores and stops the development of the embryo. It's part of a bigger initiative to try to limit the city's seagull population.
French prime minister François Bayrou has announced plans for a consultation on proportional representation in the country's legislative elections....
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A British man has died in an avalanche in the Savoie department. According to local reports, the man in his twenties was on a road near the ski resort...
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Senior US, European, and Ukrainian diplomats will meet again in London next week after what France called an "excellent" day of peace talks in Paris o...
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Mainly fine with light winds and highs of 17 degrees in Nice and Saint-Tropez, 16 degrees in Monaco, 19 degrees in Toulon. This evening going down to ...
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The French government has instructed local prefects across France to immediately reinforce surveillance and protection of prisons and their staff. The...
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