Evening Update 25 Nov

More violent storms like the one we experienced over the weekend are forecast to hit the Riviera in coming years. A study by Météo France shows the storms will become more frequent and more intense, with some forecasters now referring to them, as a Mediterranean Monsoon. Since 1970, average temperatures here have increased by almost 2 degrees, leading to a 22% increase in violent storms.

The weekends storm, which saw up to three months of rain fall in just three days, left four dead, one missing and several people injured.

As the region recovers, the Prefecture has announced a €7 million emergency aid package for town councils including direct grants of up to €2,000 for affected individuals.  It’s also been announced that in the Var, at in Saint-Raphaël, Puget-sur-Argens and Frejus, access to waste disposal centres will be free for the next ten days.

Transport networks are also recovering today. Local trains services are reduced and will end early tonight. In cases of cancellations, SNCF are running double trains, and advise passengers to check their journey in advance. On the A8 motorway, aside from the westbound junctions at Villeneuve-Loubet and Mandelieu which remain closed, all is running normally.

BUSINESS

French luxury goods giant, LVMH, has agreed a deal to by Tiffany & Co for $135 a share, or $16.2 billion in cash. CEO Bernaud Arnauld said the acquisition will strengthen LVMH’s position in jewellery and further increase its presence in the United States.

Uber shares are down 1% on the New York Stock Exchange today, after their licence to operate in London was withdrawn by the city transport regulator for a pattern of failures which placed passengers safety and security at risk.

Disney have set a new record for the biggest opening weekend of an animated movie with Frozen 2 taking in $350 million over the past few days. The 2013 original took $93m during its first five days in theatres and ended up making $1.27bn in total.

SPORT

Football - Eden Hazard wants Paris Saint-Germain striker Kylian Mbappe to join him at Real Madrid, claiming the Frenchman is certain to become the best player in the world. Mbappe has been frequently linked with a switch since his €140m arrival at PSG in 2018. 

He’s not the only Frenchman considering a move to Spain as Paul Pogba continues to push for a move away from Manchester United and remains hopeful of securing a transfer to Real Madrid in January.

Rugby - The UK Super League expects faster and more intense matches next year, as organisers are knocking five seconds off the time allowed for scrums and drop-outs, after being encouraged by the success of the changes introduced at the start of 2019. Super League says matches lasted on average five minutes less following the introduction of the shot clock and it expects that to drop further after announcing that from now teams will have just 30 seconds to form a scrum and 25 seconds to drop out from their posts.