Evening Update Monday 25 March

The ATTAC financial activist organisation has filed a complaint following the injury of one of their activists at a Yellow Vest protest. The complaint is in addition that filed by her family. 73 year old Geneviève Legay was injured during a charge by police during the demonstration in Nice on Saturday.

A gunman opened fire with a Kalashnikov yesterday lunchtime in Marseille.  Video shot by a local resident apparently shows five hooded men carrying weapons getting into a car in the 15th arrondissement of the city when one of them opens fire. Nobody was injured in the incident.

A 58 year old motorcyclist has died after colliding with a tree in the arriere-pays of Nice.  The man was riding on a track at Guillaumes when the accident occurred yesterday afternoon. 

A total of 16 cases of measles have been reported at a school in Saint Tropez over the past weeks. Twenty times more contagious than flu, measles is a potentially lethal virus and can be transmitted five days before the onset of symptoms. In Saint-Tropez, three cases required hospitalization. In an attempt to stem the epidemic, the staff of the regional health agency have asked dozens of families to check their vaccinations. 

Four hectares of forest were destroyed by a fire in the Verdon regional park yesterday. According to reports, 48 personnel and 12 firefighting units were mobilised to extinguish the fire near the Lac de Sainte-Croix between Draguignan and Digne.

A 47 year old skier was airlifted to hospital in a serious condition yesterday after falling into a crevasse in the Hautes-Alpes at over 3,000 metres above sea level.  The skier, who fell about 15 metres, was taken to Briançon hospital.

The Cannes Film Festival is once again accepting applications for a special pass to see the Official Selection of movies at the festival. The passes are valid for people aged 18 to 28 and the recipients are selected on the basis of a letter of motivation.  Details can be found in the Accreditation section of the Cannes Film Festival website.

France and Germany are holding their first joint parliamentary session as part of their commitment to forging closer ties. The plan is to convene the new joint parliament twice a year. It follows the signing of the Treaty of Aachen in January this year. The new parliament's purpose is to enforce the treaty and to monitor "affairs of common interest" – including foreign policy, security and defence. Decisions will not be legally binding on the national parliaments of either country though.


BUSINESS

Nike has been fined €12.5m by the European Commission for restricting the sale of products carrying the logos of some of Europe's best known football clubs. The commission found Nike restricted firms who made and sold the products from selling them across borders.    

A private equity-led consortium has agreed to buy British satellite operator Inmarsat for about $3.4bn, according to Reuters. The consortium, includes Apax Partners, Warburg Pincus and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board.

Optimism in London's financial services industry has fallen at its fastest rate since the financial crisis, according to a survey from the CBI and PwC, which blames Brexit for the fall. In the survey of 84 City firms, only 10% said they were more optimistic about the overall business situation compared with three months ago, while 53% were less optimistic.


SPORT

Motorsports… Reports say that Mick Schumacher, son of seven-time champion Michael, will make his Formula 1 test debut for Ferrari on 2 April. The 20-year-old German will apparently drive for Ferrari in Bahrain on one day and the affiliated Alfa Romeo team the next.

Football.. Headway, a brain injury charity is calling for UEFA to investigate why Newcastle player Fabian Schar was allowed to carry on playing for Switzerland after being knocked unconscious in a Euro 2020 qualifier. Schar collided with another player and received emergency treatment. The incident occurred after 24 minutes and Schar went on to complete the game.
There are more Euro 2020 qualifiers tonight with England away in Montenegro in Group A while France are at home to Iceland in Group H.

Athletics… The United Nations Human Rights Council has said that plans to classify female athletes by their testosterone levels "contravene international human rights”. South African runner Caster Semenya is challenging the IAAF over its bid to restrict levels of testosterone in female runners. The UN called the plans "unnecessary, humiliating and harmful".

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