Evening Update Wednesday 27 September 2023

A woman in her twenties has died after the tanker truck she was driving crashed in the Var this morning. Reports say that the tanker hit a guard rail and fell eight metres on departmental road 25 in Le Muy. It was carrying thousands of litres of fuel and caught fire. At the request of the gendarmes, the Le Muy exit of the A8 motorway was closed in both directions of traffic so as not to further saturate the secondary road network. The junction has now reopened.

The French government has announced its budget for 2024. Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said that the Finance Bill is what he called "the first step in restoring the trajectory of our public finances". The bill aims to reduce the public deficit whilst fighting inflation, which Bruno Le Maire said is one of the government's great challenges. Various indexations will be made to help with the cost of inflation at a cost to the government of 25 billion euros. He said that tax cuts announced by President Macron in May will now not be implemented until 2025. An additional 10 billion euros are being made available for ecological transition measures.

Traffic on line 2 of the Nice tramway has been disrupted today because of an accident. A tram and a heavy goods vehicle collided on avenue de la Californie this morning. Lignes d'Azur said early this afternoon the tramway was stopped between Magnan and Ferber but a partial service is in place and services on line 12 have been increased. Lignes d'Azur said that the tram driver was slightly injured.

Restrictions have been put in place for reasons of security for this Saturday’s match between AS Monaco and Olympique de Marseille. Monaco fans need to obtain their ticket at the Stade Louis II ticket office as there are no online sales to the general public. Tickets can be purchased from Monday to Friday 12:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. and on match day the ticket offices are open from 10 a.m. If you are a Marseille supporter only seats in certain areas will be available and there is a ban on any distinctive signs of Olympique de Marseille within the stadium grounds, including boxes and lounges, outside the visitor sector in the Populaires G and H stands.

The Var prefecture is warning against fraudulent SMS messages regarding a Crit'Air sticker order or unpaid fine. The prefecture advises not replying and reporting e-mails to the Signal Spam service and SMS messages to 33 700. It reminded everyone that there is only one official website for Critic'Air stickers which is  http://certificat-air.gouv.fr

The Mont Blanc tunnel is closing for nine weeks to enable works to be carried out. The tunnel, which links Chamonix-Mont-Blanc in the Haute Savoie and Courmayeur in Italy, will close from October 16 to December 18. The works were due to be carried out earlier but were delayed by a landslide on a nearby road in August.

 

BUSINESS

UK regulators have approved the development of a controversial oilfield 80 miles off Shetland in Scotland. The Rosebank oil and gas field is one of the largest undeveloped areas in UK waters. It's estimated to contain 500 million barrels of oil.

UK supermarket operator Morrisons has named a new chief executive. Rami Baitieh, who was the head of Carrefour, will start his new job in November. He replaces David Potts who has been chief executive of Morrisons for the past nine years.

 

SPORT

Cricket... Nepal have become the first team to score 300 runs in a men's T20 in their match against Mongolia at the Asian Games. Nepal scored 314-3 before then dismissing Mongolia for just 41 runs to win by 273 runs, which is a men's record margin.

Football... England women's team midfielder Georgia Stanway has extended her contract with Bayern Munich until 2026. She joined the club last year from Manchester City.

England women's captain Millie Bright has said that "standards may slip" and players will pick up more injuries unless the international schedule is changed. Several England players only had six days off after this summer's Women's World Cup final.

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