News
Tribute to Samuel Paty - As children return to school across France this morning a tribute to history and geography teacher Samuel Paty, who was beheaded on October 16th after showing caricatures of Muhammed to his students, is to be paid with the reading of a text by Jean Jaureès, which was first published in 1888 by the then youngest politician of France.
The letter is to be read by teachers followed by a minute of silence at 11am. The text which begins with the words "You hold the intelligence and soul of children in your hands, you are responsible for the homeland." Was published in the newspaper La Dépêche de Toulouse, on January 15th, 1888, by Jean Jaurès, aged 29.
The letter focused on the purpose of public schools and “the essential key to access to knowledge”. At the time when Jean Jaurès wrote the text, French schools had just undergone unprecedented reforms under the leadership of Jules Ferry, to whom France in particular owes the law of 1882 on compulsory primary education.
The return to the classroom will also be marked by stricter health measures, a certificate will be required by parents accompanying their children to school and wearing a mask will be compulsory for students from six-years-old.
Ceremony at Notre-Dame basilica - A ceremony has been held in the Notre-Dame basilica, on Sunday evening. The bishop paid tribute to the victims of the attack which took place three days earlier.
Relatives and a few elected officials were present at the religious tribute. For health reasons, attendance was limited to 150 people; many people from Nice gathered outside around the barriers.
As the investigation continues into the terrorist attack the perpetrator a 21-year-old Tunisian remains in hospital in Nice and three people are in police custody believed to have been in contact with the attacker. The investigation continues.
Shooting Montpellier - A shooting has taken place between two rival drug trafficking gangs in Montpellier. One person was injured in the shooting which took place on Sunday afternoon.
An investigation is underway to determine the reasons behind the shooting and those involved as police have been deployed to the area.
Lyon - Meanwhile police in Lyon are trying to understand the motives behind a shooting at an Orthodox church in a residential area of Lyon on Saturday. A priest was seriously wounded in the attack. One suspect has been arrested and an investigation is underway.
Ban on nonessential products in French supermarkets - France’s Prime Minister Jean Castex has announced that the sale of products affected by the closure of local shops in France will be banned in supermarkets from Tuesday 3rd November. The move comes in an attempt to calm the controversy over the closing of small businesses due to lockdown while supermarkets remain open.
Nonessential shelves in supermarkets will be closed according to French media amongst those items considered to be non-essential are books, clothes, cosmetics and perfume.
Covid-19 - Covid daily deaths in France are at the highest level since April. On Sunday, 46,290 new cases were recorded in the past 24 hours with over 1.4 million cases overall.
Mr Castex said he understood that the French are "frustrated” by further restrictions but that right now the priority was to protect the health of all citizens. Castex insisted that the restrictions were “for the survival of the economy and our collective health”.
The regional health agency has claimed that key indicators show that the second wave of the Covid-19 epidemic is already at the “peak” level recorded in the spring in the Alpes-Maritimes department.
Monaco - In Monaco seven new Covid-19 cases were reported on Sunday bringing the total number of residents affected by the coronavirus to 366. Eleven people are currently hospitalised in the Principality and 84 people are being following by the Home Monitoring Centre. 274 people have recovered here in the Principality from Covid-19 since the begining of the pandemic
Business
Asian markets have bounced off one month lows this morning on solid data from China showing that factory activity expanded at its fastest pace in more than a decade last month.
Data from the China Caixin/Markit Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index offered some hope that the country’s success in containing the coronavirus might spare it the economic pain being inflicted on the United States and Europe.
Global coronavirus cases exceeded half a million last week with Europe passing the sombre milestone of 10 million total infections.
Many countries are now back in lockdown with England set to impose fresh restrictions on Thursday with other parts of the UK already under harsher measures in a bid to prevent the spread of the virus.
The fresh restrictions have raised concerns about the outlook for fuel consumption with Brent crude falling to 35 dollars 74-a level not seen since late May.
Analysis from the EY Item Club suggests that UK businesses borrowing from banks will leap five fold this year compared with 2019.
The economic forecaster found that net borrowing from banks rose to 43.2 billion pounds between January and August-up from 8.8 billion last year.
Firms have been adding to their borrowing in order to survive the coronavirus pandemic with sales in many sectors in a slump.
Government-backed loans have led the expansion.
The EY Item Club says that Financial Services firms entered the pandemic in a position of capital strength and have been supporting the UK economy and business to unprecedented levels since March.
It added that with rising unemployment and the increased challenges being faced by small business the outlook for the sector is “testing”.
And-The budget airline Easyjet is looking at options to bolster its finances and is reported to be favourable to state support to get it through the pandemic.
The firm’s chief executive Johan Ludgren says that the airline has a number of financing options and that avenues are being reviewed “all the time”.
Mr Lundren ,who was speaking at the opening of Berlin’s new airport over the weekend ,said that he was not opposed to state aid and that it’s very clear that the crisis has reached such an extent that “you can’t expect the industry and its players to cope with it all by themselves”.
Easyjet has warned that it will make an annual loss of as much as 840 million pounds for the 12 months ending in September.
So far ,its raised more than 900 million pounds from the sale and leaseback of aircraft ,taken a 600 million pound loan from the government ,cut 4,500 jobs and tapped shareholders for around 419 million pounds.
Sport
Formula 1- Lewis Hamilton has moved within 7 points of equaling Michael Schumacher’s all time record of 7 drivers’ championships as he swept to victory in Sunday’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola on Sunday.
The world champion made another slow start and was pushed down to third by Max Verstappen but a decision to stay out longer than race leader Valtteri Bottas and then a virtual safety car played to his advantage and he won the race with comparative ease.
Bottas finished second with Daniel Ricciardo in the Renault in third.
Mercedes wrapped up their 7th constructors’ championship-a new record.
Football-There were 4 games in the English Premier League on Sunday.
Aston Villa lost 4-3 at home to Southampton.Newcastle beat Everton 2-1.Arsenal were 1-0 winners at Manchester United and Spurs beat Brighton 2-1 with Gareth Bale coming off the bench to score the winner.
There are two games tonight.Fulham play West Brom and Leeds play Leicester.
In the Scottish Premiership on Sunday Rangers were 1-0 winners at Kilmarnock and Celtic are through to the final of the Scottish Cup after beating Aberdeen 2-0.
Rugby Union-The England coach Eddie Jones says that he’s proud of his side’s 6 Nations success but insists that there’s a “lot more work” to do.
England wrapped up the Championship with patchy win over Italy while France beat Ireland in Paris.
The England squad will now have a week off before training starts for the Autumn Nations Cup.
Jones says that he’s proud of the team’s efforts but there’s still “a fair bit to go” and it all starts again in two weeks against Georgia.
Cycling-Hugh Carthy of Great Britain has won stage 12 of the Vuelta e Espana with Richard Carapaz retaking the overall lead.
Carthy won the grueling mountain stage by 16 seconds and moves up to overall third.
Carapaz has a ten second overall lead over Primoz Roglic with Carthy 32 seconds off the pace in third.
Weather
Partially cloudy with light variable winds.
Top temperature 19 degrees.
Overnight lows of 14 degrees with cloudy skies.
Tuesday and Wednesday-Partially cloudy with highs of 18-19 degrees.
And Finally
A South African has man broken a Guinness World Record after he ate 14.8 ounces of Marmite in one minute.
Billy Cowley, said he vowed to make his life =more exciting after he survived a bout of skin cancer 13 years ago, and that quest led to his taking on the world record for eating Marmite.
Cowley said his official attempt turned out to be more difficult than expected, despite months of practice and preparation.
Cowley said the cheering of his supporters gave him the morale boost he needed to down 14.8 ounces of Marmite in the 60-second time period, beating the previous recordof 13 ounces, set by German Andre Ortolf in 2018.
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