Evening Update 16 Oct

A massive police operation this morning has led to the arrests of thirty people and the seizure of several kilograms of drugs and large amounts of cash. Over 250 police were involved in the dawn raids from 6am in the Liserons area of Nice. The operation comes just four weeks after the Minister of the Interior introduced a battery of measures to fight drug trafficking.

Eight activists have been fined 500 euros each for removing portraits of President Macron from town halls around Paris. It was part of a non-violent protest against global warming.

Police are searching for a 41-year old man from St Laurent du Var. Luc Hébert, who is of medium height with broad shoulders, was last seen yesterday wearing dark trousers, a jacket and thick dark glasses. Anyone with information is asked to call police in Cagnes-sur-mer.

A work painted by Pablo Picasso in Antibes in 1946 is to be auctioned on Friday in Paris. The painting, an ‘oil on paper’ mounted on canvas, is expected to realise up to one million Euro.

BUSINESS

EU Ministers have warned some food growers across Europe will face declining revenues, and a potential fight for survival, just days before the introduction of new US tariffs targeting $7.5 billion worth of EU goods. The new US tariffs will push up the price of Italian cheeses, Spanish olives and French wines by as much as 25%.

Primavera is to become the first major music festival to switch to mobile-only ticketing. The annual festival in Barcelona is abandoning physical and print-at-home tickets next summer, in a move which they hope will combat touts.

SPORT

Football - Bulgarian police have identified 15 fans they suspect of racist abuse against England players and arrested six of them. The remaining nine remain under investigation. England's game with Bulgaria was stopped twice on Monday due to racist chanting from home supporters.

In Italy, Lazio's stadium will be partly closed for their Europa League game against Celtic next month as punishment for racist behaviour by their fans. The sanctions relate to incidents during Lazio's 2-1 win over French side Rennes in a Europa League group match two weeks ago.

The Spanish League has asked for the upcoming El Clasico match to be moved from Barcelona to Madrid over fears of civil unrest. There have been days of protest in Barcelona after nine Catalan separatist leaders were jailed on Monday and more protests are expected on the day of the match. La Liga made the request to the Spanish Football Federation citing exceptional circumstances beyond our control.

Formula 1 – Agreement in principal has been made with the owners of the Miami Dolphins NFL stadium to hold a race there in 2021. There has been considerable opposition to holding a grand prix in Miami. A previous attempt, featuring a track that went over a bridge to Miami Port and back, has already foundered over concerns about interruptions to business caused by the construction of the race track.

MA NOLANS RUGBY WORLD CUP REPORT

Ulster hooker Rob Herring has been called into Ireland's World Cup squad in place of the injured Sean Cronin. Captain Rory Best will start against defending champions New Zealand in Saturday's quarter-final in Tokyo.

Scott Sio says the Australia will be ready to scrum for 80 minutes when they face England in Saturdays quarter-finals. Scrummaging is in the DNA of English rugby but Sio said if they have to scrum every minute of the 80 minutes, they're ready to do that.

Scottish Rugby has questioned whether a misconduct charge from World Rugby is ‘’appropriate. Tournament organisers said Scottish Rugby would be referred to a disputes committee after chief executive Mark Dodson threatened legal action should their match with Japan have been cancelled due to typhoon.