Sex workers in France turn to Macron for help due to falling incomes

Countries are intensely preparing to welcome their tourists.  This is also the case of the French who have already arranged the first beach during the pandemic, with separate areas to respect the distance.  People are sunbathing in pens on Couchant Beach.

The new beach makes the holidays completely different than you knew them.  As soon as people enter the airport, they go through filters to prove that they are healthy, wear a mask, including on the plane, and on landing undergo other checks.  No one assumes that a person infected with coronavirus will enter their country.  And once you arrive at the hotel it is possible to find out that only one in two rooms is occupied or that the neighboring hotel is closed.  

There is no need for congestion in the resort, at bars and especially on the beach, where equally drastic measures are taken.

 If in Italy, on the beach, we could sit on sunbeds between plexiglass panels, in France, on Couchant beach, some kind of pens were arranged.  Tourists sit in the sun on the sand, surrounded by four pairs tied with string between them.  That is practically the perimeter in which they are allowed to move.

Couchant Beach is located in La Grande-Motte, a town in the south of France.  It is known for its fine sand and wide beaches, with many yachts anchored ashore.  One night accommodation at a 3-star hotel costs on average 490 lei, and at a 5-star hotel, 807 lei.

  "People are likely to travel less abroad, and holidays at home may become commonplace.  Travel must be based on mutual respect, solidarity and responsibility, ”says Andy Rutherford, founder of the UK-based travel company Fresh Eyes.

The Eiffel Tower, the most visited monument in the world, will reopen to the public on June 25, after being closed for more than three months due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a statement from the Company that manages the monument and taken over by EFE.

“We are eager for the Tower to receive visitors again, of course under strict protection measures and within the current sanitary measures in force ", the general manager of the company that manages the monument, Patrick Branco Ruivo, wrote in the communiqué, writes Agerpres.

  In order to have access to the tower, it is recommended to buy tickets on the Internet, the obligatory use of protective masks, and a signaling system will be installed in the whole monument for the orderly management of visitors, whose number will be limited both on floors and at  entrance, and a daily disinfection of public spaces will be carried out.  

In the first moment, the access will be made exclusively on the stairs and up to the second floor, with the entrance through the east wing and the exit through the west to minimize the contact between the visits.  The main elevator will not be reopened yet, and its use will depend on the evolution of the sanitary crisis.  

The Eiffel Tower was closed to the public due to the coronavirus pandemic on March 13 and was then used as a symbol to support gestures of solidarity with health workers and the victims of the virus.

The French Brewers Association has announced that it will be forced to destroy 10 million liters of beer due to the closure of cafes, restaurants and pubs caused by the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic, BFM reports.

The liquidation will be made, since the shelf life of the drink is running out and there is no point in storing beer further. Moreover, the destruction of products will cost significant amounts for the companies.

"The abrupt closure of cafes, restaurants, stopping tourist activities and the cancellation of all festivals and events have led to the fact that more than 10 million liters of beer are not in demand," the association announced.

It is noted that about 70% of breweries in France reported a reduction of at least half the turnover since mid-March.

The tough form of isolation regime in France is expected to end on May 11. Citizens will be able to move around without special permission from the authorities, which is currently necessary due to the isolation regime introduced in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic, except for movements over distances of more than 100 km from the house, which will be possible only for family or professional reasons.

At the same time, citizens over 65 years of age are still being urged to respect the isolation regime due to higher risk of infection in this age group.

After May 11, a gradual resumption of companies will begin, although working from home will continue, where possible, for at least the next three weeks.

The trading network, except for restaurants and cafes, will open on May 11. For restaurants and cafes, a separate decision will be made at the end of May with the prospect of a possible opening after June 2.

At the same time, a recent pole by FranceInfo reported that –25% of breweries in France have been forced to close and 70% have declared a loss of up to 50% in revenue since March 15.

Environmental activists warn that the coronavirus pandemic is leading to a massive increase in ocean pollution, exacerbating the problem of plastic waste dumped in the water, which has been threatening marine life for some time, reports The Guardian.  Sanitary masks floating in the water like jellyfish and latex gloves on the ocean floor - this is what the pollution of the oceans during the pandemic looks like.

 The French non-profit organization Operation Mer Propre, whose activists collect waste and debris dumped on the Cote d'Azur, have begun warning about people's behavior regarding the disposal of masks and other such consumables.

 The divers discovered in the water what Joffrey Peltier, a member of the organization, described as "COVID waste" - lots of masks, empty bottles of hand sanitizer and latex gloves.  All this, combined with the waste that people used to throw into the sea - disposable glasses and other plastic or aluminum objects.

 Although the amount of waste was not huge, the discovery of these new forms of pollution raises fears that in the era of COVID, it may become a new norm as millions of people around the world begin to use masks and gloves to fight viruses.

Orders of 2 billion masks have been announced in France alone, according to French authorities.  "There is a risk that very soon we will have more masks floating in the Mediterranean than jellyfish," says Laurent Lombard, another environmental activist, in a post on Twitter, along with a video showing a bunch of masks and gloves removed from the sea.

 The lifespan of the discarded sanitary masks is 450 years, which makes them ecological time bombs, especially in the conditions of the climate crisis that has been affecting the planet for some time.  "We see them everywhere (masks - ed.).  Ever since the masks began to be worn in society, the cause and effect can be seen on the beaches, ”says Gary Stokes, a member of Oceania.

 Although much of the waste is dumped for lack of interest or attention, he says it may be carried by the wind on beaches and oceans after it has been dumped in cities or inhabited areas.

Google is adding features to Maps to alert users to travel restrictions related to Covid-19, to help them better plan their routes, the Alphabet group's division announced on Monday.

The update will allow users to check how crowded a station might be at a given time, or if buses on a particular route have a limited schedule, Google said.

 Alerts will be available in Argentina, France, India, the Netherlands, the United States and the United Kingdom, among other countries.

 The new features will include details on checkpoints for Covid-19 and restrictions at national borders, starting with Canada, Mexico and the United States.

 In recent months, the company has analyzed location data from the phones of billions of users in 131 countries to examine mobility during restrictions and to help health authorities assess whether people are complying with social restraints and other orders.  to control the spread of the virus.

 Google has invested billions of dollars in search engine advertising revenue to digitally map the world, attracting an average of 1 billion users a month to the free navigation app.