Evening Update 26 April

There has been a mixed reaction to President Marcon’s speech last night addressing unrest sparked by the gillet jaunes movement. Opposition parties and unions have called Macron’s promised tax cuts ‘vague’. The Prime Minister said the government might reduce tax in the 14% bracket but more likely an adjustment would be made to the 30% bracket. A poll carried out after the speech, found that 63% of people thought Macron was unconvincing, while 80% thought the Yellow Vest protests would continue.

Two men have been sentenced to 15 years in prison by the Assize Court of the Alpes Maritimes this afternoon for the rape of four women including three prostitutes. The pair worked with one man driving to pick up a girl, while the other hid in the trunk of the car, until it parked at the scene of the attacks.

The regions PACA symbol is soon to disappear from number plates on cars. The acronym is to be replaced by the full region title Provence Alpes Cote d’Azur. The change will be introduced in July.

Two multimillion dollar fighter jets are to fly ‘low and fast’ along the promenade in Nice tomorrow as part of a special day dedicated to armies. The show will include demonstrations of attack dogs, air commandos, tanks and a helicopter rescue exercise. The two Mirage 2000 jets are due to fly past at 3pm.

It’s been announced that Hollywood actor and producer Michael Douglas is to be honoured with the prestigious Crystal Nymph at this year’s Monte-Carlo Television Festival. The award recognises major international actors for their stellar work, with past recipients including Helen Mirren, Patricia Arquette and Donald Sutherland. The award will be presented by H.S.H Prince Albert at the festival’s closing ceremony in June.

BUSINESS

Uber is to seek an IPO of between 44 and $50 a share when it floats on the stock market shortly. The price values the company at $90bn, despite having never made a profit. Uber also revealed its latest quarterly figures, which show 1.5 billion passenger journeys during the first three months of the year. As well as the taxi business, Uber is developing driverless cars and it’s food delivery business Uber Eats.

Cloud team collaboration software Slack has also applied to list publicly on the New York Stock Exchange. The workplace messaging tool was most recently valued at over $7bn by venture capitalists.

SPORT

Formula 1 - First practice at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix was cancelled this morning after George Russell's ‘Williams’ was damaged on a loose manhole cover. To make matters worse, the truck bringing Russell back to the pits, crashed into a bridge over the track, leaking hydraulic fluid on to the car. Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton joked on social media that the delays will give him extra time to catch up on Game of Thrones.

Football - After rumours British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe was going to buy OGC Nice, the club owners have issued a statement saying they are not selling, but seeking investors to partner with them and accelerate the development of the club. Discussions are ongoing with Mr Ratcliffe and a number of other investors.

Manchester United have said they think Paul Pogba will still be at the club next season but they cannot guarantee it. The France midfielder - who is contracted until July 2021 - has been linked with a move to Real Madrid.

Rugby - Raphael Ibanez is to take over as manager of the French Rugby team. The former captain and hooker of the team, will take up the position after the 2019 World Cup.

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