Evening Update 08 Oct

President Macron has awarded the Legion of Honour to the four victims of last week’s knife attack at a police headquarters in Paris. After meeting privately with the families of the victims, he said France will mount an unrelenting fight in the face of terrorism and called on the entire nation to mobilise against the threat. The prefecture in the Var also paid tribute to the victims with a minute’s silence at 11am this morning.

Pensioners have been protesting in Nice & Marseilles today against the increase of CSG tax and the indexation of pensions on wage increases. Almost 500 people in total appeared on Place Garibaldi in Nice while several thousand protested in Marseilles.

Air Canada is to double the capacity of flights between Nice and Montreal. The airline will increase the number of flights and use larger aircraft with three full classes of service, business with lie-flat seats, premium economy and economy. The new service will launch next May.

Anti-poverty associations have strongly criticised new fines of up to €500 on the Cote d’Azur for the occupation of a public road or footpath. They say the fine will be levied against homeless people while authorities say the measure is just against the occupation of a highway for commercial purposes.

Tonight, is your last chance to win a record-breaking €190m in the Euro Millions lottery. For the 22nd consecutive week, there has been no winner, pushing the prize jackpot to its highest ever amount. However, under lottery rules, the prize can roll over no more and must be won tonight. If there is no outright winner, it will roll down into the next prize tiers until at least one winner is found. If you’re playing tonight, bon chance!

BUSINESS

Sterling has fallen sharply this morning against the dollar after several British media outlets reported Brexit talks were close to breaking down. The reports say German Chancellor Angela Merkel had told Boris Johnson that a deal for Brexit is now “overwhelmingly unlikely.

Meanwhile, the Institute of Fiscal Studies has said a no-deal Brexit will push UK debt to its highest levels since the 1960s. They say total debt would soar to 90% of national income as the government drifts without any fiscal anchor.

SPORT

Football – OCG Nice Director Gilles Grimandi has quit the team. Grimandi was hired by management last March and is credited with bringing coach Patrick Vieira to Nice.

Real Madrid forward Gareth Bale says he is angry and fed up at the Spanish giants and wants to leave the club. Bale, who has scored over 100 goals for the club, wanted to move to a Chinese team to earn up over 1 million a week, but Real Madrid blocked the deal by looking for a transfer fee.

Tennis - Andy Murray is expected to return to the Australian Open with a protected ranking of number two. Murray said he feared hip surgery could have meant that last years Open would have been his last.

RUGBY WORLD CUP

South Africa produced a dazzling first-half display as they confirmed their place in the World Cup quarter-finals with a big win over 14-man Canada. The full time score was 66 – 7.

Tomorrow mornings group games include Scotland against Russia at 9.15 and Wales play Fiji at 10.45. Both games shown live, with an enormous breakfast, at Ma Nolans in Cannes and Nice.

Towards the weekend England's final World Cup group match against France, and Formula 1 qualifying, could both be affected by a powerful typhoon that is due to hit Japan on Saturday after it changed course today. Ireland's game with Samoa is expected to be spared.