President Macron has announced a new plan aimed at curbing forest fires. During a meeting today with civil security representatives at the Elysees, he said that the French government will provide an additional 150 million euros to the departmental fire and rescue services to enable the recruitment of additional personnel and the purchase of equipment. President Macron also announced that France's twelve existing Canadair water bombing planes will be replaced and the total number expanded to sixteen. Two helicopters will also be acquired. A special weather forecast is also going to be produced for forest areas. The president announced a plan to plant one billion additional trees in France within ten years.
Meteo France have said that the month of October promises to be the hottest recorded in France since the beginning of measurements in 1945, after an already extreme summer. With an average temperature which should be close to or even higher than 17 degrees, which is 3 to 4 degrees above normal, over the whole month, October is expected to be much warmer than October 2001 which held the previous record.
The Monaco government has announced that a change has been agreed to minimum wage levels with representatives involved in the hotel and hospitality sector in the Principality. It said that the agreement comes at the end of several months of constructive exchanges.
The Mayor of Cannes, David Lisnard has been in touch with French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin regarding the assignment of national police officers dedicated to judicial investigations at the Cannes Police Station. The mayor sent a letter earlier this week alerting the Minister to the difficulties he said are encountered by the Cannes Police Station in carrying out their judicial investigation operations.
The Var Prefecture has said that from next Wednesday, November 2, the social units of the department will take over from the one-stop shop for the reception of Ukrainian nationals. There will therefore be no more reception of Ukranian refugees in the prefecture except for the issuance of a temporary residence permit. The prefecture said that the one-stop shop managed by the association for aid to victims of the Var has made it possible to receive more than 3,000 people in an emergency situation, to dispense first aid, to provide materials, to find accommodation solutions, to help with regularization and to be able to benefit from social measures. However, the flow of newcomers has now greatly diminished and the system is no longer adapted to social and local demands.
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin has announced the creation of a unit of 15 investigators specifically responsible for investigating abuse of animals. He said that there had been a sharp increase in the number of animal abuse cases, with 12,000 incidents observed in 2021, which is a rise of 30% in 5 years. It's the first time that such a unit has been created in the French law enforcement services.
The Alpes-Maritimes prefecture has said that state departmental services open to the public will be exceptionally closed on Monday, October 31. This includes the CADAM site of the Alpes-Maritimes prefecture and the sub-prefecture of Grasse.
BUSINESS
Exxon-Mobil has announced an increase in profits compared to last year. The company announced a profit of 19.7 billion dollars for the third quarter. It was almost three times the profit recorded in the same quarter last year.
The harmonized inflation rate in Germany has risen to 11.6% in October compared to a year earlier, according to provisional figures released by Destatis, the federal statistics office. It also said that consumer prices rose by 1.1% on the previous month.
UK discount retailer Aldi has announced a pay increase for its 26,000 staff to help meet cost of living increases. The latest pay rise, which takes effect from January, is the third rise employees have received this year.
SPORT
Motorsports... Red Bull have been hit with a $7m financial penalty and a 10% reduction in permitted aerodynamic research for breaking Formula 1's budget cap. Governing body the FIA said that Red Bull had overspent by £1.86m in 2021. The punishment comes after the team acknowledged they were at fault and entered into a so-called "accepted breach agreement" with the FIA.
Cricket... England's T20 World Cup match against Australia has been washed out without a ball being bowled leaving Group 1 wide open. England are currently second in the table, level on points with leaders New Zealand and Ireland, whose game against Afghanistan was also washed out earlier. Australia also have three points but are in fourth on net run-rate.
Tennis... A new mixed tennis tournament will open the 2023 tennis season in Australia. The United Cup will involve teams from 18 nations playing matches in Sydney, Brisbane and Perth. It will launch on 29 December and end on 8 January, about a week before the start of the Australian Open.
Football... In the Premier League tomorrow Leicester play Manchester City, Bournemouth are at home to Tottenham, Brentford play Wolves, Brighton face Chelsea, Newcastle play Aston Villa, Fulham play Everton and Liverpool are at home to Leeds. On Sunday Arsenal play Nottingham and Manchester United play West Ham.
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