Aircraft tragedy-Two British nationals have been killed after two light aircraft collided in mid air over the Alpes-de-Haut-Provence department on Wednesday.
Authorities say that the aircraft which were both UK registered took off from the Barcelonette airfield and collided shortly afterwards near Larche on the Italian border.
The two dead men aged 18 and 37 were both passengers in one of the planes.The pilot of the other aircraft sustained light injuries.
Emergency services rushed to the accident scene and investigators are combing through the wreckage to establish the cause of the accident.
The British Embassy In Paris said that it was offering assistance to the families of the two victims who haven’t yet been named.
Street fight-Police in Nice have arrested several men following a fight in the Rue Trachel on Wednesday.
A chase on foot broke out following the fight with one of those involved seriously beaten and left in the middle of the Rue Durante.
A motorist who went to the aid of the injured man had his car stolen by one of the perpetrators who then used it to try and run down a scooter with two men on it who had also been involved in the incident.
The car thief was tracked down with the use of surveillance cameras in the rue du Congres while the two men on the scooter were also apprehended.
The motorist who’d gone to the aid of the injured man has his car seized as part of the police investigation.
The cause of the initial fight is not yet clear.
Jam-Long jams built up on the westbound side of the A8 motorway on Wednesday afternoon after a car caught fire near junction 54 Nice Nord.
The volume of traffic on the road quickly caused a big tailback to beyond junction 50 as emergency services attended the scene.
Motorists are advised to make sure they’ve got plenty of water in their vehicle in the event of being stuck in a long traffic jam during the current heatwave.
Moyenne Corniche-The Moyenne Corniche is closed at Cap d’Ail between 9am and 4pm as work to repair damage caused by a landslide in May continues.
The road is closed 500 meters after the Monaco roundabout above the Jardin Exotique. Diversions are in force via the Grand and Basse Corniches.
Dog warning-Owners of dogs are advised to take extra care of their animals during the current heatwave.
Vets say that dogs should not be walked between the hours of 8am and 8pm when temperatures are at their hottest and animals can easily suffer heatstroke which can be fatal.
A guide to looking after pets during periods of hot weather is available on the 106.5 Riviera Radio Facebook page.
Pedestrians banned-The Nice city hall has introduced a ban on pedestrians accessing rocks by the side of the port breakwater following several accidents.
The site near the old Paillole beach is popular with young people looking to cool off from the heat and there have been a number of accidents caused by people jumping from the rocks into the water.
The ban is in force until the end of the summer.
In National News.
Heatwave -20 departments across the north east of the country have been placed on a red heatwave alert for the first time ever in France.
A further 60 departments are on an orange alert with temperatures forecast to exceed 40 degrees Celsius this afternoon.
The French Health Minister Agnès Buzyn has warned that nobody is excluded from the dangers posed by the extreme heat and encouraged the public to take all necessary precautions and above all to remain properly hydrated.
French emergency services are on high alert for cases of heat related illness and the weather causing serious problems for farmers because of water restrictions in many areas.
Cooler weather is expected to sweep across the country from tomorrow but extremely hot conditions are forecast today with all time temperature records expected to be broken in many towns and cities.
The SNCF has invited rail passengers in zones covered by a red heatwave alert to delay their journeys until tomorrow if possible while the electricity provider EDF said that consumption hit a record of 59.715 megawats at lunchtime yesterday as people used air conditioning and fans to cool themselves down,
The taxman giveth-The French Finance Ministry has started totting up its income tax receipts for the year with some people getting a bonus and others being asked to pay money back.
At the start of the year some 6.2 million taxpayers received a credit in their bank accounts with the state paying out a total of 5.5 billion euros.
Over the next couple of weeks ,some taxpayers will receive another bonus while others will be asked to pay money back if initial calculations were inaccurate.
Look out for an email from the Tresor Public to see if you’re affected.
Go forth and multiply-The government has presented a new bill which would allow all women to access medically assisted fertility techniques.
The legislation , a key part of President Macron’s election manifesto would modify existing bioethics laws to allow all women whether LGBT , single or in a same sex partnership to access fertility services including IVF and sperm donation.
The new legislation will prohibit surrogacy which opponents claim is the next step in medically assisted fertility techniques.
Women would be allowed to freeze embryos to conceive a child later in life.The current law prohibits the freezing of embryos unless it’s for accepted medical reasons.
The new bill is set to be debated in September but won’t be put to a vote until the first half of next year.
Volvo-29,000 Volvo cars are being recalled in France as part of a worldwide operation involving half a million vehicles.
The recall affects cars manufactured between 2014 and 2019 because of a fire risk.
Affected vehicles are ones fitted with 2 litre ,4 cylinder diesel engines with Volvo saying that in rare cases the plastic engine intake manifold may melt and deform.
Owners of affected models will be contacted by the local Volvo dealer to take an appointment to carry out the corrective work which will be free of charge.
Business.
US markets ended mixed on Wednesday following disappointing earnings from Boeing and Caterpillar.
At the close the S&P 500 was up by nearly half a percent to 30 19 with the Dow Jones Industrials down 0.3 percent at 27 ,269 and the Nasdaq up 0.8 percent at 83 21.
German manufacturers had their worst month in seven years in July raising fears that the eurozone’s largest economy may be heading for a recession.
The German Manufacturing Purchasing Manager’s Index PMI fell to 43.1 in July down from 45 in June and well below the 50 mark that indicates expansion.
The weakness was driven by a large fall in export orders-the most marked since the financial crisis.
Germany’s composite PMI which includes the services sector fell to a four month low of 51.4.
A poor performance in the automotive sector was a key reason for the decline.Manufacturing order books fell at the fastest rate since April amid reports of lower exports to China in particular.
The euro has fallen to a two month low against the dollar on the back of poor German PMI data and expectations that manufacturing data across the eurozone will make for grim reading when the European Central Bank releases key statistics later today.
The single currency fell to 1 US dollar 1125 with analysts expecting the Bank to move to cut interest rates as the economy slides into reverse.
Experts say that the most likely outcome is for the ECB to issue forward guidance today and then to cut rates in September ,the month before Mario Draghi steps down as president.
Markets have priced in a 50 percent chance of a rate cut at today’s meeting meaning it wouldn’t come as a big surprise if Mr Draghi jumps today.
And-The pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline has increased its 2019 earnings forecast on the back of increased sales of its shingles vaccines Shingrix which helped it to beat second quarter forecasts.
The London-listed firm sold 20 million pounds more of the vaccine in the period between April and the end of June than the analyst consensus.
The company said that revenues increased by 7 percent compared to the same quarter last year to 7.8 billion pounds with expectations of a profit decline for the year reduced to between 3 and 5 percent as opposed to a previous estimate of between 5 and 9 percent.
Sport.
Cycling-Julian Alaphilippe of France still holds the leader’s yellow jersey heading into the decisive final stages of the Tour de France with defending champion Geraint Thomas holding onto overall second 1 minute 35 seconds behind.
Matteo Trentin broke clear to win stage 17 between Pont du Gard and Gap on Wednesday with both Alaphilippe and Thomas finishing safely in the peleton.
Today’s 18th stage is a tough 208 kilometers in the Alps between Embrun and Valloire.
There are three big climbs which may result in a change at the top of the overall classification.It remains to be seen whether Alaphilippe can hang on to the lead or whether the mountains will end his chances of winning the race.
Cricket-England were skittled out for just 85 on the opening day of the 4 day Test match against Ireland at Lords as the World Cup winners brought down to earth with a bump.
Although the team is very different from the one that won the World Cup ,it was still an extremely disappointing display with the bat as England prepare for the Ashes against Australia.
In reply ,Ireland were bowled out for 207 and led by 122 runs with England closing on 0-0 in their second innings after facing a solitary over before stumps.
Football-Celtic are practically assured of making the third qualifying round for the European Champions League after thrashing Nomme Kalju 5-0 in the first leg of the second qualifying round last night.The return leg is next week.
Swimming-Adam Peaty of Great Britain clinched his 7th World Championship gold medal on Wednesday as he won the men’s 50 meter breaststroke title in South Korea.
Peaty finished in a time of 26.06 seconds.He’s now won three medals at the Championships after winning the 100 meters breaststroke on Monday and picking up a bronze yesterday as Great Britain finished third in the mixed 4x100 meters medley relay.
Weather.
There’s an ORANGE HEATWAVE ALERT in force for the Alpes-Maritimes.
Clear skies with light southerly winds.
Top temperatures 32-33 degrees in coastal areas,up to 37 degrees inland.
Overnight lows of 26 degrees on the coast and 23 degrees inland with clear skies.
Friday and the start of the weekend-Mainly fine and a little cooler with highs of 30-36 degrees.
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