Evening Update Tuesday 25 June

A man has died after falling from a bridge over the A8 motorway this morning. The incident took place near Mougins. The man fell from the bridge of the Avenue Maurice Chevallier onto the carriageway of the motorway going towards Aix en Provence.  It’s believed at this stage that the man took his own life.

The heatwave is getting underway with last night being the hottest June night ever recorded by Meteo France in Nice. The overnight temperature at the monitoring station at Nice airport didn’t drop below 25 degrees all night. At 6am the temperature was 25.3 degrees. The peak of the heatwave is expected to be later this week, with temperatures in the interior of France reaching 43 degrees.. At the moment, eight of the nine forest massifs of the Var are on a severe alert for fire risk. The high temperatures are also causing air pollution problems in our region.  Both the Alpes Maritimes and the Var are set to activate an information procedure as from tomorrow.  The information procedure is put into effect when air pollutants such as ozone rise above certain levels. Information is given by prefectures to sensitive groups of the population likely to be affected by the pollution and various actions aimed at reducing pollution are initiated.

Investigations are continuing after a plane at Nice Cote d’Azur airport struck a bridge yesterday evening.  The wing of the plane, which had just arrived from Kuwait via Paris, collided with part of the airway bridge at the gate. Airport authorities say that the incident appears to have resulted from human error.

Stores in Monaco will be permitted to open on Sundays.  A new measure allowing Sunday opening was passed by the Conseil National at its meeting yesterday evening.

Pompiers in the Var have voted in favour of strike action.  The vote follows national strike action announced by firefighters’ unions yesterday.  Firefighters in the Var will be on strike for the same period as their national colleagues, from tomorrow until the end of August, but will only strike from 8am to 10am each day. The reduced strike hours were adopted because of the special operational issues related to the summer period in the department.

BUSINESS

US-based pharmaceuticals company AbbVie is buying Allergan in a deal worth $63bn.Richard Gonzalez, chairman and CEO of AbbVie said that the transaction was transformational for both companies.

In the UK, new figures from the CBI show that retail sales volumes across the UK in the year to June fell at their fastest pace since March 2009. The CBI carried out a survey of 88 businesses. Grocers suffered the biggest drop, with hardware, DIY, footwear and leather retailers also selling fewer goods.

Also in the UK, Aldi has extended its market share among Britain's supermarkets after attracting 883,000 more shoppers into its stores over the last quarter, according to data from Nielsen. Aldi now has a market share of 7.9%, up 0.5 % from last year.  Its rival Lidl saw its sales go up by 7.5% and its market share reach 5.7% in the same period.  Online grocer Ocado was the UK's fastest growing supermarket, with sales growth of 11.3%.

SPORT

Cricket...England have been playing Australia at Lords in the World Cup. Australia were 285 for 7 in their innings. England were 221 all out meaning that Australia won by 64 runs.

Also in cricket news, former West Indies captain Brian Lara has been taken to hospital in Mumbai with chest pain. The 50 year old has been admitted to hospital in Mumbai, India, according to a tweet by Cricket West Indies. Lara is in India to perform media duties during the World Cup.

Football…Chelsea have been given permission to talk to Derby boss Frank Lampard about the vacant manager's job at Chelsea. Lampard, who spent 13 years as a Chelsea player, would replace Maurizio Sarri, who has joined Juventus after one season at Stamford Bridge. The former England midfielder made 648 appearances during his Chelsea career, winning 11 major trophies.

Rugby Union…. Leicester Tigers has put itself up for sale and is reportedly seeking a price of about £60m.  The move follows private equity firm CVC's nvestment in the sport last year, which the club says has led to several approaches from new investors.