French and Riviera News Thursday 23rd May 2019

Local

Nice Aiport - Nice airport has increased controls on taxis and VTC vehicles. The move comes following a dispute between the two professions will led to them blocking access to both terminals at the beginning of the Cannes Film Festival. Several meetings have taken place with the Prefecture since. The new controls will allow police to know exactly where the VTC comes from and if it has the necessary accreditation to work in the area with access to the airport. Some 5,700 drivers have applied for the accreditation, while there are already 2,500 professional taxis and VTC registered in the region.

Email scam - Police in Antibes have warned of an email scam which has already claimed an elderly victim. The scam involves emails  sent saying that legal action has been filed against them related to a “sex scandal” and that in order to cancel the process the victim is asked to pay 750 euros. Police were made aware of the scam after one elderly person fell victim and made the payment upon which he then received a second email claiming a second complaint and this time requesting a payment of 1,500 euros.

Tramline - With the due date for the completion of line two of Nice tramway fast approaching it’s been announced that the construction of the underground tunnel is progressing with everything ready for the inauguration of the two new stations scheduled for June 28th. The entire West-East tramline from the airport to the port is expected to be completed by September 2019.

Firefighters sentenced - Four firefighters have been given suspended prison sentences by a court in Nice. They had been prosecuted for obstructing traffic on the A8 motorway and damaging, or being complicit in the damaging, of property, during a demonstration in February. The four received suspended sentences of three to six months and fines of between 1,500 euros to 3,000 euros.

Cannes Film Festival - The eldest son of Victoria and David Beckham twenty year old Brooklyn has enjoyed another outing with his model girlfriend Hana Cross attending a private dinner in Cap d’Antibes on Wednesday evening to celebrate the World Premiere of Formula E documentary, And We Go Green. The couple had already made their red carpet debut at the star-studded Once Upon A Time In Hollywood premiere earlier this week.

National

Sentence - A young man who was filmed assaulting a transgender woman has been sentenced to 10 months in prison by a Paris court.  He was also ordered to pay her 3,500 euros and 1,500 euros to each of three LGBT defence associations that had supported her.

Journalist summoned by the DGSI - A journalist from the French newspaper Le Monde, has been summoned to meet with French intelligence services. She is the fifth French reporter to receive such a summons in the past weeks. The subject of the meeting appeared to be the journalist’s reporting on the French president's former aide, Alexandre Benalla. Ariane Chemin was the first to break the news that the aide had dressed as police to attack protesters at a march in May 2018, sparking a scandal. Chemin is the fifth journalist to be summoned by the DGSI, after three reporters were summoned earlier this month regarding the publication of revelations on French weapons used in the war in Yemen.

Paris - The Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo, who’s declared a war on the city’s pollution, has announced plans to transform the bridgeway linking the historic Trocadéro square with the Eiffel Tower into a “green corridor” reserved for pedestrians by 2024. Hidalgo, whose mission to “pedestrianise” the historic centre of the French capital has already led to the banning of cars along large parts of the banks lining the Seine river, said that: “We’re really aiming for a high pedestrian target we’re going to have a splendid garden where we can hear the birds sing,” she said when she announced the €72 million project. Work is set to start at the end of 2020 or the start of 2021.

Business

Analysis by Barclays has suggested that stocks could fall by 10 percent in the event of an all out trade war between the United States and China.

The bank says that its analysis shows that an across-the-board 25 percent tariff on the entire trade between China and the US could hurt earnings by as much as 2.2 percent  which would put the S&P 500 at around 2,550 or roughly 10 percent lower than current levels.

Barclays said however that it’s base case is for the S&P 500 to descend to 2,770 if the recently announced 25 percent tariffs on 250 billion dollars worth of goods takes shape.That would be a softer decline of 4 percent from current levels.

The analysis showed that the other factor weighing on earnings growth for S&P 500 firms is weakness in China’s economy as many companies derive their revenue from outside the US.

Sir Philip Green’s Arcadia Group is planning to close 23 stores as part of a rescue plan.

More than 500 jobs are under threat from the proposal with Burton ,Dorothy Perkins and Topshop  stores set to close and rents cut at another 194 stores in the Arcadia Group.

However ,the UK pensions regulator has expressed doubts that the deal will “adequately protect” the pensions of employees.

Support from the regulator is essential for a Company Voluntary Arrangement or CVA to be approved.

CVA’s are used as a type of insolvency for businesses in financial trouble that allows rents to be cut.

The chief executive of Arcadia ,Ian Grabiner said that the steps were “tough but necessary” to mend the business.

The firm is also planning to shut all 11 of its Topshop and Topman stores in the US.

And-British Steel has been placed in compulsory liquidation putting 5,000 jobs at risk and endangering a further 20,000 in the supply chain.

The decision comes following the breakdown of talks between the government and British Steel’s owner Greybull.

The UK government’s official receiver has now taken control of the firm as part of the liquidation process.

The search for a buyer has now started and the company will trade normally in the meantime.

If a buyer is not found then British Steel will be wound up and redundancies would follow.

The opposition Labour Party and trade unions have called for the firm to be nationalised.

Sport

OYSYER YACHTS MONACO GRAND PRIX REPORT.

First practice for Sunday’s Monaco Grand Prix takes place at 11am this morning with second practice at 3pm.

Lewis Hamilton leads the drivers’ championship  by 7 points from Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas coming into the weekend.Max Verstappen is a distant third.

All the focus this weekend will be on whether anyone can stop Mercedes with Red Bull traditionally performing well in Monaco and Ferrari yet to start firing on all cylinders.

The weather could be factor with some rain expected in the air over the coming days.

Qualifying for Formula 1 is at 3pm on Saturday with the race at 3.10 on Sunday.

106.5 Riviera Radio is on air for the whole weekend and our coverage is brought to you in association with Oyster Yachts.

Football-Plans to extend the 2022 World Cup in Qatar to 48 teams have been abandoned by Fifa.

Last year ,Fifa’s president Gianni Infantino said that the expansion of the competition from 32 teams to 48 could be brought forward from 2026 to 2022.

Fifa now says that there is “no time” to organise the expansion.

Rugby Union-The Gloucester fly-half Danny Cipriani has been named as English Premiership Player of the Year.

The 31 year old has already been named as the Rugby Players Association player of the year and he’s only the second man after Jimmy Gopperth to win both awards in the same season.

Cirpriani continues to be overlooked by the England coach Eddie Jones although there is a chance that he could force his way into the World Cup squad.

Weather

Quite cloudy with some bright spells and some showers inland.

Light to moderate south easterly

Top temperature 18-22 degrees celsius

Overnight lows of 15 degrees on the coast and 12 degrees inland with partially cloudy skies.

Friday and the start of Monaco Formula 1 weekend-Similar to the last few days with some more persistent rain inland.Highs of 19-21 degrees.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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