Lunchtime News Wednesday July 7th 2021

Cannes 2021-The 74th Cannes Film Festival gets into full swing today with three official screenings in  the Palme d’Or competition.

“Annette” directed by Leos Carrax is being screened after officially opening the Festival last night along with “Ha’barach” or “Ahed’s knee” by Nadav Lapid and the French movie from Francois Ozon “Tout s’est bien passe” or “Everything went fine”.

There have of course been plenty of stars on the red carpet already including actor and director Jodie Foster and the wife of former French President Nicolas Sarkozy ,Carla Bruni.

 

No barbecues ! -The Cannes town hall has reminded visitors that lighting a barbecue on the beach is strictly forbidden.

A number of fines have already been handed out since the start of the Cannes Film Festival and there are regular patrols on the beaches to make sure people are complying with the law.

 

Health Pass-There appears to be a split in the government over the possibility of restricting access to bars ,restaurants and some stores to people who have received a double shot of a coronavirus vaccine and can prove it by showing a ‘health pass’.

The Health Minister Olivier Veran has expressed alarm over growing cases of the delta variant and has suggested that a 4th wave of the pandemic may start sweeping across France before the end of July.

Only 37 percent of the population has been fully vaccinated meaning the virus has plenty of scope to spread and he’s in favour of the introduction of a health pass.

Others aren’t so convinced and think the introduction of a health pass would be an infringement of civil liberties.

Recent opinion polls suggest that French people are 80 percent in favour of vaccination against some 20 percent who remain opposed.

More stringent restrictions on those who refuse to be vaccinated could come into force in the autumn.

 

Sophia mourns-Pierre Lafitte ,the former Alps Maritimes senator who founded Sophia Antipolis has died.

Mr Laffite ,who was 96 died in the early hours of this morning.

He was born in Saint Paul de Vence in 1925 and spent his life dedicated to science and in the service of the Alps Maritimes where he was senator from 1985 until 2008.

 

Disneyland apology-Disneyland Paris has apologised to a woman after two security staff stopped her from breastfeeding her baby in public on Sunday.

Another woman complained about the incident and tweeted that security agents had “prevented a mother from breastfeeding her baby on the grounds that it shocked foreign customers”.

Disneyland said that it “profoundly regretted the incident” and apologised to the woman concerned.

The firm said that the actions of the security guards are not compatible with its values and stressed that there are no restrictions on breastfeeding at Disneyland Paris.

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