85 firemen have been battling to contain a forest fire that started between Draguignan and Chateaudouble on Thursday afternoon. The blaze which was fanned by a strong wind was tackled by fire crews on the ground with air support from two helicopters and three Canadair planes. Early this morning it was reported that the fire was under control.

The Prefect of the Var has declared that the fire risk across the department is very severe. Several areas of forest land have been closed to the public including the Massif des Maures and on the Hyeres Islands.

Authorities in Cannes had to cancel last night’s fireworks display because of the wind. As it happened the wind had dropped by the time the display was due to start at 10pm but it was too late by then to re-organise it. There will be another display tonight.

A mentally ill man has been detained after attacking a woman in broad daylight in the middle of Nice. The 42 year old man first spat in the face of the 35 year old victim for no apparent reason at the junction of the Rue Arson and the boulevard Delfino. When she asked why he’d done it he pinned her to the bonnet of a car and cut her on the arm with a glass object that he produced from his pocket. The attack took place in front of a number of by-standers, none of whom did anything to intervene. The woman was eventually able to call police herself and the man was arrested in the centre of town a few hours later. A doctor later confirmed that he was suffering from mental illness and he was transferred to the psychiatric unit of a local hospital.

The justice secretary has reassured local authorities that Nice jail will be upgraded despite it not featuring on a list of French prisons that are to be renovated. The government has promised that a new penitentiary will be constructed in Nice to replace the current dilapidated and overcrowded jail on the Rue de la Gendarmerie which was built in the 19th century. The state secretary Jean-Marie Bockel says that the fact that Nice doesn’t figure on the list is not important and Nice will get its new jail.

3 people have been injured following a collision between a Jet Ski and semi rigid inflatable off Cavalaire. The accident happened on Thursday afternoon and required an air sea rescue helicopter to airlift the injured to hospital. The Jet Ski pilot is reported to have severed fingers.

A 24 year old man from Nice has been jailed for 4 months for the theft of a mobile phone. The Nice criminal court heard how the man stole the Smartphone from a young female tourist on board a bus on the Rue de la Liberte. When the bus pulled into a bus stop and the doors opened he grabbed the phone and ran off. The victim and several witnesses to the crime gave pursuit and the thief was eventually apprehended by some Italian motorcyclists. The court heard that the perpetrator had a long history of theft convictions.

A two year old girl is in a critical condition in a Marseilles hospital in desperate need of a heart transplant. The little girl who suffers from an extremely rare form of restrictive cardio myopathy first became ill at the age of 17 months. Since then she’s spent most of her time in different hospitals around the region including at the children’s hospital in Nice. She’s also suffered a stroke which has left her paralysed on the right side. The situation is compounded by the need for the transplant to come from a child of a similar age making the circumstances even more difficult for the girl’s parents and hospital staff. If anyone is able to help in any way they’re asked to email chloe.bartolini@wanadoo.fr

Madonna is on the Cote d’Azur directing her first full length feature film. On Thursday the pop star was shooting scenes in Villefranche and Cannes. Most of the action in the movie ‘We’ is set in the UK but some of the story is set in the South of France. More scenes are set to be shot in Villefranche today.