Evening Update 26 Nov

An elderly couple are in hospital after their car drove into treacherous waters, at the mouth of Var river between Nice and St-Laurent-du-Var this morning. The car drifted for 300m before coming to stop in the water near the airport. A dramatic rescue involving a helicopter, firefighters and divers took the couple to safety. It’s believed they are in critical condition with severe hypothermia.

Residents and business owners in La Trinité and L'Ariane are protesting today over a decision to close the penetrant road linking the area with Nice. Due to a risk of collapse on the banks of the Paillon River the road has been closed for several days leading to traffic delays of up to three hours.

The Criminal Court has handed down sentences on a group of eight Azureen men, accused of ‘incitement to hatred’ of Jews, homo-sexuals and other neo-Nazi hate speech, which took place on social networks. Sentences ranged from 3 months suspended, to one full year in prison.

Over a hundred police in Cannes have demonstrated outside the Marie in protest at working conditions. The towns mayor David Lisard met with them, agreeing with some but not all of the demands.

A small earthquake, off the coast of Imperia in northern Italy, has been felt in Cannes. The tremor with a magnitude of 2.6 on the Richter scale occurred in the early hours of this morning.

BUSINESS

French billionaire Bernard Arnault, CEO of luxury goods brand LVMH, has overtaken Bill Gates to be named the world’s second-wealthiest person by Forbes. Although his net worth is $107.6 billion, M Arnault he is still surpassed by Jeff Bezos the CEO of Amazon with a net worth of $110 billion.

The company which prints UK sterling bank notes, have said they’re at risk of collapsing and closure. UK based De La Rue prints all current Bank of England notes a site in Essex. It’s unclear what would happen if the firm got into difficulties, but it is most likely that a rival would take over, and as all their  rivals are based abroad, that would mean sterling bank notes would be printed outside the UK.

SPORT

Football - Russia will be able to compete in Euro 2020 next summer. even if a four-year ban from sporting events comes into effect. Investigators from the World Anti-Doping Agency found inconsistencies in laboratory data obtained from the Russian anti-doping agency, and their compliance committee is recommending Russia be barred from hosting and competing in major international events for four years. However next summer's European Championship will not be affected as the organisation  which sets out the rules on anti-doping breaches, does not define UEFA as a 'Major Event Organisation'.

Rugby - Allen Clarke has left his role as Ospreys head coach after a dire start to their 2019 season. They have won only once in six Pro14 games and lost heavily to Munster and Saracens in the Heineken Champions Cup. Clarke had signed a three-year deal with Ospreys to be head coach until 2021.

Golf - The Ladies European Tour Order of Merit is to be renamed the “Race to Costa del Sol” from 2020 and offer a bonus prize fund of 250,000 euros. The Costa del Sol Open, which starts on Thursday, will also see its prize money doubled from next year.