News
Weather warning - Six departments in France have been placed on and orange weather “rain-flood” alert. The warning is in place until midday today and Météo-France forecasts between 70 and 100 millimetres of rain from the Ardèche to the Jura. Five of the six, the Ardeche, the Drome, Isere, Ain and the Jura were placed on the weather warning at 9pm on Monday evening, the Alpes Maritimes region was added to the list at 4am this Tuesday morning.
Minister visits Alpes Maritimes – The news of more bad weather today, comes after Monday saw the visit by the French Minister of Ecological Transition Christophe Bechu to the Alpes-Maritimes following the damage from the bad weather just last Friday. The minister visited the village of Saint Martin Vesubie which was badly affected by Storm Aline and announced that a new "reconstruction council" will be set up by the end of next month to assess the damage caused and to decide on measures to be taken. The Minister also met with elected officials including the president of the Nice Cote d’Azur Metropolis Christian Estrosi and Alpes-Maritimes deputy Eric Ciotti. He also met local residents and firefighters.
Man killed on electric scooter on Prom - A young man has been killed on his electric scooter following a collision with car on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice on Monday evening. The violent accident occurred at around 9pm southbound near to Park Phoenix. Despite the intervention from emergency services the victim, a man in his twenties, did not survive. Traffic was cut off. The exact circumstances are still unclear an investigation is underway.
A migrant has died after jumping from a truck on the A8 motorway - Meanwhile, a migrant has died after jumping from a truck on the A8 motorway in Fréjus in the Var. The incident occurred at around 5am on Monday morning, shortly before the paytoll, in Fréjus, heading westbound towards Aix-en-Provence. The individual, of foreign origin and apparently undocumented, was with two other men inside the trailer of a heavy goods vehicle when the latter allegedly tried to jump, while the vehicle was slowing down approaching the paytoll. One of the three men is believed to have died and the other two seriously injured. The police have opened an investigation.
Vaccination campaign - The Department of Social Affairs and Health in Monaco has announced the opening of the autumn vaccination campaign against Covid-19. The government said that it is strongly recommending that people aged 65 and over and people at risk of serious illness get the vaccination in order to protect themselves. Any Monegasque, Monegasque resident, social security holder of the Principality or child attending school in Monaco aged 12 or over can now be vaccinated. More details are available on the website www.covid19.mc
Museum completely dedicated to the French language - France is to soon open the brand new ‘Cité Internationale de la Langue Francaise’ a museum completely dedicated to the French language and located in northern France between Paris and Reims in the Château de Villers-Cotterêts. The location has been carefully chosen as the Château was where the French king François I signed an important decree establishing French, not Latin, as the administrative language for the kingdom in 1539. Visitors will be able to experience 'L'aventure du français' which will explore the ups and downs of the language, its history as well as expressions and iconic songs that have shaped it. Future exhibits planned for the museum next year include one on French-language songs which have become world-wide hits. France is notoriously protective of its language with laws specifying limits on the amount of non-French songs that can be played on the radio and the banning of English words or phrases in adverts, unless accompanied by a translation.
Monaco Luxury Group – Finally, Monday saw the Monao Luxury Group hold their Monaco Luxury Experience at the Paul Ricard Circuit in the Var and Riviera Radio was there to experience a unique day with driving sessions and a Monaco Luxury village. Sarah Lycett from the Full English Breakfast also got to test drive a Ferrari 296, tune in to hear more!
Business
Bitcoin, along with other major cryptocurrencies including Ethereum, have suddenly rocketed. The bitcoin price soared to over 30,000 dollars adding 10% on Monday, a one and half year high. The bitcoin price has been boosted this month by soaring expectations a long-awaited bitcoin spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) could be approved by U.S. regulators.
A new feature on Tinder will allow friends and family of users to recommend potential matches. Under the Tinder Matchmaker feature, users will be able to grant others access to their accounts for 24 hours so they can suggest likes. Tinder says it makes dating a "team sport". It is apparently not uncommon to discuss swipes or potential matches with friends in real life, or even hand the phone to someone else to handle swipes for a while. The Matchmaker feature sends profiles to a group of selected people, chosen by the user, so they can scroll through and give their opinions. This group cannot like or reject potential matches but can make recommendations. The feature will first be rolled out in 15 countries, including the UK, the US and Australia, before going global in a few months' time.
Already thinking about your winter break? Well according to Kayak data, flight searches are up nearly 30% at the end of the year compared to the same period last year. For the most popular destinations, the source has established the best time to book and benefit from the most competitive prices. Between January 15 and September 18, data showed a 29% increase in flight searches over the period from December 15th to January 8th compared to last year. The increase is particularly high for international flights (+28%) and especially those within Europe (+35%) while remaining at just 11% for domestic flights. From an overall point of view, Tuesday December 19th promises to be the most expensive day to travel in Europe by plane with an average price of return tickets exceeding the 200 euro mark. Sunday flights are generally the least busy and have an average price of 162 euros, only 3 euros more than Friday flights which are the busiest. And for advance bookings, Kayak data showed that Mondays were the day to benefit from the cheapest flights with an average price of 147 euros.
Sport
Football – Tottenham Hotspur have returned to the top of the Premier League with a comfortable 2-0 win over Fulham on Monday evening.
Rugby World Cup - World Rugby has confirmed it will formally review the alleged use of a racial slur by South Africa hooker Bongi Mbonambi towards England's Tom Curry. Curry reported the comment to the referee half an hour into the Springboks' Rugby World Cup semi-final victory. If banned, Mbonambi could miss the final against New Zealand on Saturday. World Rugby said it will take the allegation "extremely seriously".
Tennis - Great Britain have named an unchanged team for November's Davis Cup quarter-final against Serbia in Malaga. Cameron Norrie, Dan Evans, Andy Murray and Jack Draper bested Australia, Switzerland and France in Manchester last month to qualify.
Cricket - Afghanistan beat Pakistan for the first time in one-day cricket by pulling off their highest successful chase in the format in a World Cup thriller.
Cycling - Geraint Thomas has signed a new two-year contract with Ineos Grenadiers. The former Tour de France champion and double Olympic gold medallist had been approaching the end of a two-year extension he signed in 2021.
Weather
The Alpes Maritimes is on an orange weather alert for heavy rain and the risk of flooding. The Var has been placed on a yellow alert with heavy rain and thunderstorms forecast.
The warning in the Alpes Maritimes is in place until midday and in the Var until midnight tonight. Highs of 20 degrees in Nice, Monaco, Cannes and Toulon. 22 degrees in Saint-Tropez. Moderate winds and this evening going down to 17 degrees with cloudy skies.
The outlook for tomorrow and Thursday. Sunny intervals with highs of 23 degrees.
Sunrise 07.55am
Sunset 06.33pm
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