French and Riviera News Monday 28th November 2022

News

State of emergency declared after landslide in Italy - The Italian government has declared a state of emergency as rescue teams continue to search for a dozen missing people on the southern island of Ischia following a landslide on Saturday which killed at least seven people. According to local media the rescue effort remains complex due to the weather conditions and local authorities have called on residents to stay inside to avoid hindering the rescue operation. The devastation in Ischia comes just weeks after 11 people died in heavy rain and flooding in the central Italian region of Marche.

French President announces plans to develop rail transport in France - French President Emmanuel Macron has announced his objective of developing daily RER-type rail transport in ten French cities in order to promote ecological transition. In a clip posted on YouTube on Sunday Macron said that “to fulfill France’s ecological ambition, he wants France to have a great national ambition and that in ten large cities the RER a network of urban trains will be developed”. The Regional Express Network (RER) is the dense network of regional trains circulating in the Île-de-France which has steadily expanded throughout France since the 1960s.

Demonstration by bikers in the French capital – Meanwhile, several hundred bikers have marched in Paris at the weekend in protest against the introduction of an MOT for motorized two-wheelers. It was on October 31st that France reintroduced the measure following rules imposed by the European Union.

Former French Prime Minister fined for illicit financing of campaign in Spain - Former French Prime Minister Manuel Valls has been forced to pay a fine of 277,000 euros for illicit financing of his campaign in Spain when he was running for mayor of Barcelona in 2019.  The Spanish Court of Auditors has imposed two fines on the former French Prime Minister for offenses it considers serious: firstly, in exceeding the authorized spending limit for his 2019 municipal campaign by 126,000 euros and in addition receiving donations from company directors worth almost 200,000 euros, a sum he did not declare.

Festive lights in Paris to be turned off earlier than usual - The famous Christmas lights on the Champs-Elysée in Paris will be turned off earlier than usual due to the European energy crisis. This year the festive decorations will be turned off at 11.45pm instead of 2am, except for Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve and will end a week earlier than usual on January 2nd. The move aims to reduce energy consumption by 44% over the festive period.

Local News

Hunting accident - A walker has been hit by stray bullet in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. The incident occurred on Sunday afternoon when the 26-year-old man was shot in the arm while out walking. The alleged shooter, a hunter in his thirties has been placed in police custody while the victim was taken to hospital in Arles in a serious condition. According to figures from the French government in France, in 2020-2021, 80 hunting accidents were recorded, including seven fatalities involving six hunters and one non-hunter.

Passenger killed in helicopter crash identified - The name of the deceased Russian passenger in the helicopter crash between Villefranche and Eze on Friday has been revealed as Monaco based, Vyacheslav Taran, president of the investment platform, Libertax group. The helicopter, belonging to Monacair, crashed on the plateau at the col d'Eze near the Grand Corniche. The investigation into the exact cause of the crash continues.

Free buses in Monaco extended - Free buses in Monaco have been extended until January 2nd. The government said that state services want to give themselves the time to collect data and analyse the impact of free buses on the use of local buses and road traffic in Monaco correlated with the use of public car parks and changes in the level of car pollution. The objective of the free bus trial, which started on 3rd October, is to encourage the use of public transport to make traffic more fluid, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase the quality of life.

Healthy real estate market on Île du Levant - While on the subject of quality of life it would appear that naturism is as popular as ever on the island of Levant in the Var. Recent figures published have shown a particularly dynamic real estate market reflecting the attractiveness of the values of the islandÎle du Levant, sometimes referred to as Le Levant, is an island off the coast of the Riviera and is one of the four that constitute the îles d’Hyères. Part of the island is occupied by the naturist resort of Heliopolis and the rest is under military control.

1,000 best restaurants in the world - Finally, the ranking for the recently published La Liste, which distinguishes the 1,000 best restaurants in the world has unveiled its top 10 for 2023 with the three star "La Vague d'Or" by chef Arnaud Donckele in Saint-Tropez coming 2nd and "Le Louis XV" by Alain Ducasse here in Monaco coming third.

Business

Hundreds of demonstrators and police clashed in Shanghai on Sunday night as protests over China's stringent covid restrictions flared for a third day and spread to several cities. China posted another record high covid infections on Monday, after an extraordinary weekend of protests. In Shanghai, demonstrators and police clashed with police taking away a busload of protesters

Twitter Chief Executive Elon Musk says new user signups to the social media platform are at an "all-time high", as he struggles with a mass exodus of advertisers and users fleeing to other platforms over concerns about verification and hate speech. In a tweet on Saturday Musk said that signups were averaging over two million per day in the last seven days as of November 16th, up 66% compared to the same week in 2021. In another tweet early on Sunday, Musk said he sees a "path to Twitter exceeding a billion monthly users in 12 to 18 months."

The French government has announced financial aid to households using fuel oil to heat their homes, which will be available from December 22nd. The 230 million euros is part of a new aid package voted for by the French parliament. Households can go to the chequeenergie.gouv.fr website to find out more.

Tests are being carried out by Rolls-Royce, in partnership with the airline easyJet on a jet engine running on hydrogen. The engine undergoing tests could one day lead to huge changes within the aviation industry. The immediate aim is simple, to show that it is possible to run and control a jet engine using hydrogen fuel, rather than conventional aviation fuels. In the longer term, the plan is for hydrogen power to play a major role in allowing the aviation industry to continue growing, while cutting climate change emissions dramatically.

World Cup Report

In the world cup this weekend Poland beat Saudi Arabia 2-0, Argentina beat Mexico 2-0, Australia beat Tunisia 1-0 and France beat Denmark 2-1. Costa Rica beat Japan 1-0, Morocco beat Belgium 2-0, Croatia beat Canada 4-1 and Germany drew 1-1 against Spain. Germany remain bottom of Group E but the situation could have been worse. Had Japan not lost to Costa Rica earlier in the day then defeat to Spain would have been enough to eliminate the 2014 World Cup winners with a match still left to play.

Japan's supporters continue to win an army of fans online as they once again stayed behind to clean up the stadium despite watching their side lose to Costa Rica.

Today’s matches will see Cameroon play Serbia, Brazil play Switzerland, South Korea play Ghana and Poland play Uruguay.

Sport

Football – In other football news Bournemouth have appointed Gary O'Neil as their manager on a permanent basis following his spell as interim boss. The 39-year-old took the helm after head coach Scott Parker was sacked in August.

Tennis - Great Britain have been drawn away to Colombia in the qualifying round of the 2023 Davis Cup. Britain had a wildcard into this year's Finals but will have to win February's tie in South America to qualify for next September's group stage.

Bobsleigh - Great Britain were again beaten to gold by Germany in the four-man bobsleigh at the World Cup in Canada. Germany won by 0.42 seconds, while Canada claimed bronze.

Weather

Overcast with light rain and a moderate breeze. Highs of 15 degrees in Nice, Cannes and Antibes, 14 degrees in Monaco. This evening going down to 9 degrees.

The outlook for tomorrow: showers throughout the Alpes-Maritimes clearing by the afternoon with highs of 15 degrees forecast for Menton. Inland highs of 10 degrees. Wednesday sunshine, highs of 15 degrees along the coast and 10 degrees inland.

Sunrise: 07.40hr         Sunset:  16.55hr

And Finally

It’s already been said that grandchildren keep you young. But now scientists say they stop you getting lonely too. According to a new study people who look after their grandkids are far less likely to suffer from loneliness than those who care for a spouse.

Scientists at King's College London looked at the findings from 28 worldwide studies on the relationship between care giving, volunteering activities and loneliness in over-50s. They found in six out of seven cases, caring for children, whether related or not, was linked to lower levels of loneliness in older people. Voluntary work, such as helping at a charity shop or church, was also found to cut feelings of isolation in most cases. But those having to look after a partner or spouse was consistently associated with higher loneliness, often because of a health condition such as dementia.

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