Local
Road accident - Four people have been injured following a road accident involving a car and a bus in Toulon. The accident occurred on Thursday afternoon in the city centre. Four passengers from the bus were taken to hospital by emergency services. Police have opened an investigation into the collision.
Covid-19 cases at a Lycee in Nice - Several secondary school students from the Lycee Apollinaire in Nice have not returned to class after testing positive for Covid-19, others started the school year unaware that they were sick.
Parents have been informed of the situation by email from the head of the establishment and both the rectorate in Nice and the Regional Health Agency have taken the necessary action, with those students affected remaining confined at home for fourteen days.
Monaco - Meanwhile one new case of Covid-19 was reported in Monaco on Thursday with the number of residents affected in the Principality standing at 143.
43 people are followed by the Home Monitoring Centre which medically supports patients, with few symptoms, invited to confine themselves at home.
Masks - The prefect of the Alpes Maritimes has confirmed that following the decision to make wearing a mask compulsory throughout Nice due to Covid-19 the obligation will apply to joggers but not for cyclists, electric scooters, skateboarding or rollerblading, when using the city’s cycling paths.
With regards to motorists, wearing a mask is not compulsory if you are alone or with one or more members of your household. Since August 27th, the Provence Alpes Côte d'Azur region has been classified as a "red zone" due to the high circulation of Covid-19 in the region.
Pepsico recalls Ice Tea Peach drinks - The drinks company Pepsico has recalled several batches of Ice Tea Peach drinks, packaged in glass bottles, due to "the possible presence of broken glass".
PepsiCo France as a precaution has recalled five batches from batch number L0237 to L0241 with the best before date of August 2021.
In a press release Pepsico France pointed out that "none of the other products of the Lipton Ice Tea brand are affected by this recall".
Port Vauban project - The Chamber of Commerce and Industry has presented its plan for Port Vauban in Antibes to become the “port of the third millennium”. The presentation on Wednesday showed an ambitious project to turn the space into a technopole.
The project initiated by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry is estimated at 135 million euros.
Fined for taking sand from a beach in Sardinia - A French resident has been fined 1,000 euros by a court in Sardinia for attempting to bring back sand from a beach on the island. Two kilograms of sand were found in a plastic bottle in his luggage. Sardinia has prevented the removal of sand from its beaches for several years.
National
Recovery plan - France has unveiled a 100-billion-euro economic stimulus package to help repair the economic damage caused by coronavirus.
President Emmanuel Macron's government said the investment would include big spending on green energy and transport.
Dubbed "France re-launch", it is aimed at reversing rising unemployment, and includes tax cuts for business.
French Prime Minister Jean Castex pledged to create 160,000 new jobs in 2021. On Thursday Castex said that "relaunching the economy and fighting unemployment is the plan's priority objective," as France is faced with the prospect of mass layoffs.
The sum, a combination of new spending and tax breaks, is four times the amount France spent over a decade ago to deal with the global financial crisis and represents a third of its average annual budget.
PSG more players test positive - Football club Paris Saint Germain has announced that three more players have tested positive for the new coronavirus bringing the number of cases identified among the champions of France to six.
The protocol of the French football league has suggested that matches could be postponed if a club has more than three positive cases for Covid-19 over eight consecutive days.
Business
Tech stocks have born the brunt of a global market selloff with Apple ,Amazon ,Microsoft ,Alphabet and Facebook all sliding heavily.
Analysts say that concerns over the economic shock of Covid-19 as well as fears over a second wave of the virus and spiraling unemployment were the main reasons for the selloff on Thursday.
Asian shares have fallen in turn this morning with both the Nikkae and Hang Seng down by more than 1 percent.
There have been warnings for several weeks that stock markets have become disconnected from the wider economy where growth is weak and unemployment is continuing to rise.
Concerns over a new trade war between the US and China have also been stoking volatility.
Energy stocks have also been affected with oil prices struggling amid ongoing concerns over the strength of demand for crude.
The French government has unveiled a 100 billion euro economic stimulus package in a bid to repair the economic damage caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
The government says that the package includes big spending on green energy projects and transport and will aim to reverse recent unemployment with tax cuts for business.
The French economy shrank by 13,8 percent in the second quarter-the biggest quarterly fall since the Second World War.
Prime Minister Jean Castex says that the stimulus package which has been dubbed “France Re-Launch” is worth 4 percent of GDP with 40 percent of the money coming from the new European Union Recovery Fund.
The money will be spend over the next two years with Mr Castex hopeful that the investment will return the economy to pre-pandemic levels by 2022.
And-In the UK ,Costa Coffee is set to cut up to 1,650 jobs as its forced to cut costs owing to the coronavirus pandemic.
The firm says that its consulting with staff to try and find roles in other parts of the business for those facing redundancy.
The role of assistant manager is set to be removed at many Costa Coffee outlets across the UK.
The firm said that many of its stores that were forced to close during lockdown have now re-opened but that the situation remains “challenging” with customer numbers down at many city outlets.
Sport
Cycling-Alexey Lutsenko won stage 6 of the Tour de France on Thursday with Adam Yates of Great Britain retaining the leader’s Yellow Jersey.
Lutsenko left the breakaway group behind on the steep climb to the finish at Mont Aigoual with 17 kilometers to go and finished alone at the line.
Yates finished in the bunch and said that he was pleased with his defensive efforts while the rest of the leading contenders were happy enough not to loose too much time at the end of what was a punishing climb to the finish.
Yates has a three second lead over Primo Roglic at the top of the general classification heading into stage 7 today which is 168 kilometers between Millau and Lavaur.
The stage starts with a category 3 climb but ends on the flat with the sprinters expected to benefit.
Tennis-Andy Murray has been knocked out in the second round of the US Open.
The 33 year old lost in straight sets to Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada.
In the women’s event Serena Williams is through to round 3 after beating Margarita Gasparyan 6-2 6-4 but the British number one Johanna Conta is out ,losing in three sets to Sorana Cirstea.
Cricket-The first T20 between England and Australia is being played in Southampton today.
England skipper Eoin Morgan says that he has pretty much his best side available while there will be much interest in Australia’s new fast bowler Riley Meredith.
Play starts at 7pm French time this evening.
Football-Wales beat Finland 1-0 in last night’s Nations League fixture with Kieffer Moore scoring the winner on 80 minutes.
The Republic of Ireland drew 1-1 away in Bulgaria.
There are a host more Nations League fixtures over the weekend with Northern Ireland away in Romania and Scotland at home to Israel tonight.
England are away at Iceland tomorrow which may bring back some bad memories from Euro 2016 in Nice.
Formula 1-The Williams family are parting company with the team founded by Sir Frank Williams in 1977.
The team has been sold to Dorilton Capital after a number of difficult years and both Sir Frank and his daughter Claire Williams are stepping down.
Williams have won 9 constructors’ championships and seven drivers’ titles and dominated the sport for large parts of the 1980’s and 90’s.
However ,their last Grand Prix win was back in 2012 and the team has struggled to make an impact for most of the decade ,finishing last in the championship for the last two seasons.
Famous drivers who’ve won the championship for Williams include Alan Jones ,Keke Rosberg ,Nigel Mansell ,Alain Prost and Damon Hill.
Rugby Union-There are two games in the Gallagher Premiership in England tonight.Worcester play Bristol and Northampton play Bath.
It’s also the Guinness Pro 14 playoff semi-final between Leinster and Munster.
Weather
Clear skies with light variable winds.
Top temperature 26-29 degrees.
Overnight lows of 20 degrees on the coast and 18 degrees inland with clear skies.
The weekend-Clear skies with highs of 26-29 degrees.
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