French and Riviera News Tuesday 15th October 2019

Local

Two men suffering from bullet wounds in Vallauris - Police in Antibes have opened an investigation after two men arrived at the fire station in Vallauris suffering from bullet wounds. The incident occurred on Monday evening at around 7pm when two men pulled up in their car both having been shot. Emergency services took both victims to hospital in Nice.

Meanwhile officers in Nice are actively looking for a man with a criminal past following a violent attack on a bar manager in Old Nice in the early hours of Sunday morning. The man reportedly ransacked the bar and hit the manager over the head with a telescopic baton before fleeing the premises.

Scooters in Nice - Following a spate of accidents involving people riding scooters on the pavements in Nice the city council has announced plans to implement a crackdown in the city. A campaign is planned to put an end to the mode of transport which has been the cause of several accident involving their riders and pedestrians.

Trafficking - Police in Brignoles in the Var have arrested five people in connection with trafficking of firearms, luxury cars and drugs.  The seizure carried out on the 8th October was reportedly valued at more than 800,000 euros.

MP Eric Ciotti wants to ban the veil from school outings - Following the controversy over a woman wearing a veil while accompanying a school trip to the Regional Council of Burgundy Franche Comté MP Eric Ciotti has drafted a bill to be included in the law which already exists forbidding  the wearing of religious symbols in public schools, colleges and high schools. Ciotti wishes the ban to be extended to school outings.

Climate change - As Climate Change continues to dominate the headlines, the Principality of Monaco is to invest €3 million in the United Nation’s Green Climate Fund. Monaco have reaffirmed their commitment to the environment by reducing greenhouse gas emissions locally, as well getting involved in the Nature Based Solutions’ coalition and participating in the recently released IPCC report on oceans.

Gambling - Pamela Anderson’s former husband Rick Salomon was in court in Grasse on Monday to claim €2.5 he won in a poker game in Théoule-sur-Mer. However the Saudi Prince he was playing against has denied any debt is due saying the law does not give any action for the payment of a gambling debt. The court will hand down a decision in December.

National

Restrictions lifter for farmers following Lubrizol fire - The Prefect of Normandy has announced that restrictions on milk collection following the Lubrizol chemical plant fire in Rouen have been lifted. The decision which, also concerns dairy products, was announced on Monday following results from the National Agency for Food Safety citing no major chronic contamination.

Studying in France - A French court has ruled free access to public higher education should continue to be made to international students. It means students from outside the EU, which includes post-Brexit students, will pay the same tuition fees as French students which start at €170 for a bachelor’s degree. Last year 340,000 foreign students came to France, making it the leading non-English speaking destination for overseas students.

Marie-Antoinette exhibition - The woman France loved to hate Marie-Antoinette has become a 21st-century popular icon who draws crowds to her former home at Versailles. Her image features on boxes of chocolates snapped up by tourists and she is celebrated in literature, contemporary arts and cinema. This week, to mark the anniversary of her death, the exhibition Marie-Antoinette: opens at the Conciergerie, a former prison on the left bank of the River Seine, where the queen was held in a cell before her execution.

Business

The US Treasury Secretary has warned that new tariffs on 156 billion dollars of Chinese goods will be imposed unless a trade deal is finalised by December the 15th.

Steven Mnuchin said that he hoped a tentative deal between the two sides agreed last week to suspend fresh tariffs would be formally approved but his cautious note in an interview with CNBC on Monday seemed to contradict the optimistic tone struck by President Trump.

Last week ,the United States agreed to hold off on a planned 25-30 percent tariff increase on Chinese imports that had been due to come into force today.

President Trump said that a preliminary deal between Washington and Beijing would take around 5 weeks to complete.

 

The chief executive of Royal Dutch Shell has said that the firm still sees abundant opportunity to make money from oil and gas over the coming decades despite governments and investors increasing pressure on fossil fuel firms over climate change.

In an interview with Reuters ,Ben van Beurden expressed concern that some shareholders could abandon Shell  due to what he called the “demonisation” of oil and gas and “unjustified” concerns that its business model was unsustainable.

Mr van Beurden ,who’s 61 has been one of the sector’s most prominent voices advocating action on global warming and in 2017 Shell set out plans to halve its greenhouse emissions by the middle of the century.

On Monday ,he said that despite what a lot of activists say ,it’s still legitimate to invest in oil and gas because the “world demands it”.

 

And-Facebook is still planning to launch its Libra cryptocurrency next year despite a number of high profile backers pulling out of the project.

21 founding members of the Libra Association -down from the original 28 ,met in Geneva on Monday with sources saying that they still believe that the currency will launch next year.

Monday’s meeting came following a warning from the G7 group of nations that Libra risked disrupting the global financial order.

Visa and Mastercard are just two of the big backers who’ve recently pulled out of the project.

Sport

MA NOLANS RUGBY WORLD CUP REPORT.

The Ireland centre Bundee Aki’s World Cup is over after he was handed a three match ban for his red card against Samoa on Sunday.

Ireland’s attempts to have the card overturned were unsuccessful but the ban was reduced from 6 games to three because of the player’s previous good disciplinary record.

Aki can still appeal but as it stands he’ll miss Ireland’s quarter final game against New Zealand on Saturday and the rest of the tournament if the side progresses.

England’s Ben Youngs has said that the side are not “undercooked” ahead of Saturday’s quarter final against Australia.

England won all of their Pool matches to finish top although their final game against France was cancelled because of Typhoon Hagibis.

Youngs says that England are “ready to go” but that they’ll need to be at their best to beat Australia.

And-Wales will be looking to bring their big guns back for their quarter final against France on Sunday.

Wales fielded a much changed side for their final Pool match against Uruguay with coach Warren Gatland telling his players that they’ve got “240 minutes to win the World Cup”.

Gatland made 13 changes for the Uruguay match and was reported to be not impressed by the performance.A full strength side is expected for the encounter against France.

Football-England overcame disgusting racist chants in their match against Bulgaria last night to win the European Championship qualifier 6-0 and book their place in next summer’s finals.

The match was halted twice by the referee as a group of spectators were warned about monkey chants and Nazi salutes directed against England’s black players.

The chairman of the English Football Association says that he expects UEFA to act and conduct a thorough review of the incidents.

Also last night France and Turkey drew 1-1.

There are more games tonight including the Republic of Ireland’s match against Switzerland in Group D.

Cricket-England’s amazing win over New Zealand in the World Cup final will never be repeated after the ICC decided to abandon the boundary countback rule for future tournaments.

England won the match after both sides had hit 15 in the super over because they’d scored more boundaries in the match.

In future ,the super over will  be used in the semi-finals and final but will be repeated until one team has scored more than the other.

Weather

THE VAR IS ON AN ORANGE WEATHER ALERT.

Overcast with outbreaks of rain and scattered thunderstorms.

Moderate westerly winds and a high of 22 degrees.

Overnight lows of 14 degrees with clear skies.

Wednesday and Thursday-Mainly fine with highs of 22 degrees.

Finally 

Scientists have found mothers-to-be who are stressed are more likely to have a daughter. 

Little more than half of babies born worldwide are boys - but the research showed only a third of women who showed signs of stress, such as high blood pressure or a tendency to comfort eat, had a boy. 

The Columbia University findings do not suggest the pressures of everyday life can change a baby’s sex in the womb.

But experts believe anxious women are less likely to have a successful pregnancy with a boy because male foetuses are less robust. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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