French and Riviera News Monday 7th March 2022

News

Man wounded after being shot at - A man has been wounded after being shot at in La Seyne in the Var. The incident occurred on Saturday evening and the victim was taken to hospital in Toulon. He is reportedly known to the police. An investigation is underway.

Clashes during protest in Corsica - Clashes have broken out between demonstrators and police in Corsica. According to the prefecture 4,200 demonstrators gathered on Sunday in Haute Corse in support of Yvan Colonna the independence activist, imprisoned in Arles for the assassination of the prefect Claude Erignac in 1998, who was attacked by a fellow prisoner last Wednesday and is now in a critical condition in hospital in Marseille. 25 people were injured during the clashes and four people were arrested.

Woman in critical condition following road accident - A 50-year-old woman has been seriously injured in a road accident in the Var. The accident occurred on Sunday at around 6pm on the RD559 on the Corniche des Issambres in Roquebrune. Traffic was severely disrupted in the area as emergency services intervened, police are investigating the cause.

Lucky escape for motorcyclist – Meanwhile, a motorcyclist has had a lucky escape after being thrown under a car in a road accident in Menton. The accident occurred on Sunday evening on the Promenade du Val when the man in his twenties collided with a car and was thrown underneath the car. Emergency services intervened and an investigation into the exact circumstances of the crash is underway.

Easing covid restrictions in Monaco - From today Monday March 7th Monaco is easing its covid restrictions with the mask no longer being an obligation in schools. In addition, from March 14th the health pass will no longer be required along with wearing a mask outdoors however it will still be required indoors in places open to the public and on public transport.

On Sunday March 6th Monaco identified 2 new positive cases of covid bringing the total number of residents affected to 9,539. Fourteen people are currently in hospital and 81 are being followed by the Home Monitoring Centre.

Putin tells Macron that he will achieve his objectives be it “through negotiation or war” - French President Emmanuel Macron has held his fourteenth telephone exchange with Russian President Vladimir Putin. On Sunday March 6th, the French Head of State spoke with his Russian counterpart for nearly two hours asking him not to “endanger civilians, in accordance with international law”. According to the Elysée Putin expressed his determination to achieve his objectives be it “through negotiations or war”, adding that it was not however his intention to “attack Ukrainian nuclear power plants and that he was ready to respect the standards of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for the protection of power plants, he also denied targeting civilians”.

France's Interior Minister - Meanwhile France’s Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin has asked the United Kingdom to relax the conditions for granting visas to Ukrainian refugees. On Saturday, the Home Secretary criticized, in a letter to his British counterpart Pritti Patel, London's "lack of humanity" in welcoming Ukrainians. According to him, the response across the Channel is inadequate.

Cannes half-marathon - Congratulations to Ugandan Joshua Cheptegei who won the Cannes half-marathon on Sunday. The Olympic champion competed the 10km in 26 minutes and 49 seconds. Nearly 2,500 runners took part in this year’s event.

Football – In the French league the Olympique to Marseille lost 1-0 to Monaco on Sunday.

Paris – Nice - Finally, French cyclist Christophe Laporte has won the first stage of the Paris-Nice on Sunday. The first stage of the 80th edition of the Paris-Nice started in the French capital and headed for Mantes-la-Ville. Today’s second stage will see competitors cover 159km ending in Orléans.

Business

Asian markets have taken a battering this morning as investors ran for cover with the situation in Ukraine deteriorating further. Oil has hit a near 14-year high and the euro has been coming under sustained pressure on the foreign exchanges while US futures have dropped and ten-year bond yields have fallen to their lowest level since early January. Commodity prices have had their strongest start to the year since 1915 with nickel up 19 percent, aluminium up 15 percent, zinc 12 percent and copper up 8 percent. Wheat futures have surged by 60 percent and corn by 15 percent as concerns increase over global food supplies. The latest data will only add to inflationary pressures with US consumer price numbers expected to show an annual increase of 7.9 percent later this week with the core measure at 6.4 percent.

The price of oil has surged to a near 14-year high this morning after the United States said that it was discussing a potential embargo on Russian supplies with its allies. Brent crude spiked to 139 dollars a barrel earlier before dropping back to just below 130 dollars. Energy markets have been rocked in recent days over supply fears triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Consumers are feeling the pinch of higher energy costs with some becoming unable to run vehicles and domestic fuel bills increasing. On Sunday, the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the Biden administration and its allies are discussing an embargo on Russian oil supplies. The comments came as the White House and other Western nations faced growing pressure to take even tougher action against Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine and the destruction of the country’s infrastructure.

One of the world’s largest fertiliser firms has warned that the conflict in Ukraine will deliver a shock to the cost and supply of food. Yara International, which operates in more than 60 countries, buys large amounts of raw materials from Russia and says that the situation is worsening by the hour. The fertiliser market had already been under pressure before the war because of soaring wholesale gas prices. Yara says that the situation was already bad but the war is adding additional disruption to supply chains coming into the most important part of the growing season in the Northern Hemisphere. Russia and Ukraine are some of the world’s largest producers of food and Russia also produces vast amounts of nutrients like potash and phosphate which are key ingredients in fertilisers. Half of the world population obtains its food as a result of fertilisers and if its not added to crops then yields could drop by 50 percent.

Sport

Football - There were 2 games in the English Premier League on Sunday and Manchester City have restored their six point lead at the top of the table after outclassing Manchester City 4-1 at the Etihad. In the other game Arsenal were 3-2 winners at relegation threatened Watford.

In the Scottish Premiership on Sunday the leaders Celtic were 3-1 winners at Livingston.

There’s one game in the English Premier League tonight. Spurs play Everton.

In the remaining FA Cup 5th round tie is being played tonight. Nottingham Forest face Huddersfield Town with the winners to host Liverpool in the quarter finals.

Cricket - Play on day 4 of the 1st Test between Pakistan and Australia in Rawalpindi has been delayed because of a wet outfield. Pakistan declared their first innings on 476-4 with Australia on 271-2 in reply.

Rugby Union - In the Gallagher English Premiership on Sunday Exeter beat Sale 19-12 while in the United Rugby Championship Ospreys beat Zebre 27-22.

Paralympics - China leads the medals table on day 3 of the Winter Paralympic Games in Beijing. China has 6 gold medals in a total of 8 with Ukraine in second place with 3 gold medals in a total of 7 and Japan in third with 2 gold medals in a total of 5. There are 14 medal events today including in women’s and men’s super combined visually impaired, Nordic skiing and snowboard.

Weather

Partially cloudy with light to moderate southerly winds. Top temperature 13 degrees. Overnight lows of 3-6 degrees on the coast and -1 degree inland with clear skies.

Tuesday and Wednesday - Partially cloudy with highs of 12-13 degrees.

And Finally

Chips may be considered as one of the UK's favourite food but it also turns out that they are the most wasted takeaway food with people saying they prefer to throw old ones away rather than eat them later. Seventy-two per cent of people surveyed said they always had chips left over, with just over half saying portions were too big.

Did you know? That the earliest printed reference to potato chips is in A Tale Of Two Cities by Charles Dickens (1859) where he refers to “husky chips of potatoes”. Pinching a partner’s chips is said to be the number one cause of arguments in restaurants and Goodbye Mr Chips (1939) is the only film with “chips” in the title to have won an Oscar.

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