Local
Floods in south western France - 11 people have been killed, two are reported missing and nine others have been injured after flash floods hit the Aude region of southern France. Local authorities say several months' worth of rain fell in just a few hours overnight. France's interior ministry explained, that the death toll has been revised down from 13, because of an error which meant some of the dead had been counted twice. The floods are the worst the Aude river has seen in more than 100 years. One angry resident told the prime minister there had been a lack of public information, including from the media, when flooding hit in the early hours. The mayor of Cannes, David Lisnard announced on Monday that the town had offered financial aid of 10,000 euros for those hit by the flooding.
Public parks closed in Hyeres due to strong winds - Public parks in Hyeres in the Var have been closed due to strong winds. The city council announced on Monday the temporary closure after gusts of up 90km/h were recorded in Hyeres and Six-Fours.
Arrests made for drug trafficking - Eight people have been arrested in the Var following an investigation into widespread drug trafficking. The arrests were made on Monday after a police intervention led to the discovery of 250,000 euros worth of cannabis, cocaine and weapons.
MIPCOM trade show - Representatives of many of the world’s largest media companies are in Cannes this week for the MIPCOM trade show. The event concentrates on the sale, financing and distribution of audiovisual content but also features many presentations and panel discussions about the latest trends in the industry. About 14,000 attendees are expected at the Palais des Festivals this week, including some famous names such as Richard Gere.
National
Hunting ban - The town of Montriond in the French Alpes has temporarily banned hunting after a Welsh chef was killed by a hunter while mountain biking in woods. 34 year old Marc Sutton, originally from south Wales, was hit by a stray bullet in the Haute Savoie, near the Swiss border. Locals have started a Facebook page campaigning for a permanent change to restrict hunting in the area.
Government reshuffle delayed again - Emmanuel Macron’s long awaited government reshuffle has been delayed again and is now expected to be announced on Monday. The president and his prime minister have been weighing the reshuffle for a few weeks, following the departure of three ministers since late August, including Interior Minister Gérard Collomb and Environment Minister Nicolas Hulot. A senior Élysée official said the reshuffle process was taking longer than expected because Macron had redrawn the political landscape and brought in faces from outside politics.
Death rate in France rises - According to a study published on Monday by INSEE the death rate in France has risen. Figures show that last year 606,000 people died in France, 12,000 more than in 2016. According to the study the increase is a consequence of the aging of "baby boomers" born after 1945 and a particularly deadly flu epidemic.
Undersea cable connecting France and the United States - Telecoms firm Orange has teamed up with Google to work on a private undersea cable connecting the Atlantic coasts of France and the United States. Measuring 6,600km in length, the undersea cable will be named Dunant after Henry Dunant, the first Nobel peace prize winner and founder of the Red Cross. Neither Orange nor Google released information about the total capacity of the cable, nor how they would allocate it between them. The cable will be the first new submarine cable between the US and France in 15 years.
National day against food waste - To mark today’s “World Food day” and “National day against food waste” a petition has been launched to extend the expiry dates on food products. The petition entitled “changetadate” has so far this morning, collected 12,528 signatures.
Business
Paul Allen,the co-founder of Microsoft has died from complications of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma at the age of 65.
Mr Allen had only revealed the return of the disease 2 weeks ago after previously being treated for it in 2009.
His Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates said that he was “heartbroken by the passing of one of my oldest and dearest friends” adding that personal computing would not have existed without him.
Mr Allen was a major force at Microsoft during its first 7 years as the personal computer moved from an offbeat hobby to mainstream technology.
He came up with the name Microsoft after machines had previously been known as microcomputers.The company’s big break came in 1980 when it signed up to deliver the operating software for IBM’s entry into the personal computer business.
The product called MS-DOS proved to be a watershed for Microsoft and was followed later by the Windows Operating System.
Paul Allen left the company in 1983 following widely reported disagreements with Bill Gates and his first diagnosis with blood cancer.He recovered to become a highly successful venture capitalist with his media and communications investment firm Vulcan which he set up in 1986.
He’s also estimated to have given more than 2 billion dollars to philanthropy including science,education and wildlife conservation causes.
The Amazon founder Jeff Bezoz has said that his firm will work “enthusiastically” with the US military.
Mr Bezos says that if big US tech firms are going to turn their back on the Department of Defence then the country is going to be in “trouble”.
His comments came as other firms including Google have pulled out of defence work following employee pressure.
Amazon is in the process of bidding for a major contract with the US Department of Justice on the so called Jedi infrastructure project to provide cloud computing services worth up to 10 billion dollars.
And-Ford’s European boss has said that a no-deal Brexit would be “pretty disastrous “ for British industry.
Steven Armstrong said that he was still confident that a tariff-free frictionless trade deal would be done but that a no deal outcome would force Ford to think about what its future investment strategy for the UK would be.
Sport
Football-Raheem Sterling scored twice as England kick-started their Uefa Nations League campaign with a 3-2 win over Spain in Seville.
Sterling scored a stunner in the 16th minute with Marcus Rashford making it 2-0 on 29 minutes and Sterling adding his second and England’s third on 38 minutes.
Spain fought back in the second half and brought the score back to 3-2 but England held on for the win.
Also last night Northern Ireland were beaten 2-0 away by Bosnia Herzegovina.
There’s more Nations League action tonight with France against Germany and the Republic of Ireland against Wales.
Rugby Union-England’s injury problems are mounting with Billy Vunipola ruled out of all 4 autumn internationals next month after breaking his left arm.
Vunipola sustained the injury during Saracen’s win over Glasgow in the European Champions Cup on Sunday.He’s expected to be out of action for 12 weeks.
The number 8 has only started 3 internationals in the past two years because of a series of injuries.
Scotland’s Richie Gray has been ruled out of the autumn internationals and some of the 6 Nations because he needs an operation on his back.
The 29 year old Toulouse second row is expected to be out of action for around 4 months.
Tennis-Juan Martin del Potro is set to miss the rest of the season after suffering a fractured kneecap.
The 30 year old Argentine picked up the injury in the Shanghai Masters last week and will need several weeks recovery.
Weather
Becoming overcast with outbreaks of rain and some sunny periods this afternoon.
Moderate easterly winds and a high of 23 degrees Celsius.
Overnight lows of 16 degrees with partially cloudy skies.
Wednesday and Thursday-Partially cloudy with highs of 22-24 degrees.
Finally
'Making Love'. A new dating show has been launched which will see contestants have sex first before deciding if they want to go on a second date.
And the show has caused jaws to drop at MIPCOM, the world's biggest TV convention in Cannes, by selling itself as 'a ground-breaking experiment into how humans fall in love.' Television executives believe it will appeal to the swipe-right generation raised on dating apps like Tinder,
Its French producers WeMake said it has brought together 'scientifically-matched singles' to ask the essential question, 'Could making love make you fall in love?'
The show's advert promised: 'We will follow the daters over the next few weeks to see if the pair remain friends-with-benefits only or will they choose to get to know each other and start a relationship.'
Although the producers are French, the contestants for the pilot show were British.
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