French and Riviera News Tuesday 29th October 2019

Local

Man arrested after escaping from prison - One of three men who escaped from  prison in Nice on October the 1st has been arrested by police. The 22-year-old Tunisian was one of three men who left the prison after having stolen the keys from a security guard. The other two individuals are still at large.

Missing couple found - A couple reported missing in Corsica since Thursday have been found. The couple, were at the time, celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary when they were reported missing following bad weather which hit the island last week. Following the search launched by police the couple were found safe and unharmed on Monday evening.

Tramway halted - Traffic on Line 2 of the Nice tramway has been halted following a collision between a tram and a van. The accident happened on boulevard René-Cassin on Monday. Service was resumed about an hour after the incident.

Chestnut Festival - The village of Collobrières in the Var has seen a record number of visitors during this season’s “Chestnut festival”. The 37th edition of the festival ended on Sunday with more than 30,000 visitors taking part in the celebrations.

And if you live in La Londe in the Var, don’t be surprised if your electricity supply is disrupted over the next couple of days. Enedis are carrying out work on their network that will mean electricity will be cut to various premises in La Londe during the course of today and Wednesday. Supplies should only be interrupted for about 45 minutes to one hour in the late morning.

National

Man arrested for opening fire in a mosque - Police have arrested an 84 year-old man suspected of shooting two men at a mosque in the southern French city of Bayonne on Monday. The man reportedly opened fire when the two men, aged 74 and 78, discovered him trying to set fire to the mosque's door on Monday afternoon. The victims were taken to hospital with serious injuries, while the suspected shooter was later arrested near his home. The mosque has been cordoned off for investigation.

Meanwhile France's security services have been placed on high alert over possible reprisals following the death of an Islamic State armed group leader. France’s Interior minister Christophe Castaner called for “extreme vigilance” and told police officers and gendarmes to be “on their guard at public events and public spaces in the coming days”.

Business

Alphabet-the owner of Google has made a bid to buy the wearable device maker Fitbit as it eyes a stake in the lucrative fitness tracker and smartwatch market.

While Google has already followed major tech companies in developing smartphones ,its yet to develop any wearable products.

Sources say that there’s no certainty that negotiations between Google and Fitbit will lead to any deal.The price of the offer has not been determined.

Fitbit shares rose by 27 percent on the news which gives the firm a market capitalisation of 1.4 billion dollars.

Shares in Alphabet rose by 2 percent.

 

The  jeweller Tiffany says that it’s “reviewing” a takeover worth around 14.5 billion dollars from the world’s largest luxury goods maker LVMH.

The two firms confirmed the offer in separate statements on Monday but Tiffany says that there are no talks ongoing.

LVMH is owned by France’s richest man Bernard Arnault who controls brands including Christian Dior ,Givenchy and Bulgari.

Jewellery has been one of the fastest growth areas in the luxury goods sector.

LVMH said that it confirmed that it had held preliminary discussions regarding a possible transaction with Tiffany  but added that there was no certainty of a deal.

 

And-There are fears of job cuts at HSBC after the bank said that performance in parts of Europe and the US was “not acceptable”.

The news comes after HSBC reported a slump in third quarter profits.

The bank’s interim chief executive Noel Quinn said that plans to improve some divisions were “no longer sufficient” and that plans were being accelerated to “remodel them”.

Earlier this month HSBC was reported to be planning up to 10,000 job cuts.The bank currently employs 238,000 people worldwide.

On Monday ,HSBC reported an 18 percent drop in quarterly pre-tax profits to 4.8 billion dollars and warned of a “challenging environment” ahead.

Sport

MA NOLANS RUGBY WORLD CUP REPORT.

The England coach Eddie Jones has played down comments from Warren Gatland that the side may have peaked too soon ahead of the World Cup final against South Africa on Saturday.

The two men have had regular spats over the years and Jones said on Monday that he hoped that Gatland “enjoyed the third and fourth place play off game”.

Jones also reported that England’s injury concerns are easing ahead of the big match and he expected captain Owen Farrell ,winger Jonny May and prop Kyle Sinckler to all be fit on Saturday.

The Saracens scrum-half Ben Spencer has now joined up with the rest of the squad after being flown in as cover for Willi Heinz who picked up a hamstring injury in the semi final and won’t be available for the South Africa showdown.

Meanwhile the South Africa coach Rassie Erasmus has said that his side will stick to their physical ,confrontational style in the World Cup final.

The Springboks had the minority of possession in their semi final against Wales but came out winners because of their powerful pack and the kicking of Handre Pollard.

Erasmus said that he didn’t think the final would be won by an expansive game and wonderful tries and that the Springboks would go and “grind it out”.

Football-There are 5 fourth round ties in the League Cup in England tonight.Burton play Leicester.Crawley Town face Colchester United.Everton play Watford.Manchester City play Southampton and Oxford United host Sunderland.

There was one game in the English Championship last night.QPR lost 3-1 at home to Brentford.

Cricket-England have been beaten by a New Zealand XI in their latest Twenty20 warm-up game.

England made 188-5 from their 20 overs but the home side got to the target in a total of 191-2 in 18.3 overs to win by 8 wickets.

The T20 international series starts in Christchurch on Friday.

Tennis-Simona Halep and Elina Svitolina have both won their opening matches at the season ending WTA Finals in Shenzen.

Halep survived match point against Bianca Andreescu before coming through 3-6 7-6 6-3 while Svitolina beat Karolina Pliskova 7-6 6-4.

Naomi Osaka and Ashleigh Barty also won their opening matches against Petra Kvitova and Belinda Bencic respectively.

Weather

Partially cloudy with light variable winds.

Top temperatures 22 degrees.

Overnight lows of 16 degrees on the coast and 13 degrees inland with partially cloudy skies.

Wednesday and Thursday-Partially cloudy with one or two showers towards evening tomorrow continuing into Thursday.Highs of 18-20 degrees.

Finally 

A study has revealed that people in Scotland get an average five hours and 34 minute uninterrupted kip a night. 

Money and workload worries, snoring, barking dogs, noisy drunks and warm nights prevent Scots from  clocking up the required eight hours of healthy shut-eye. And our 24/7 access and addiction to digital devices  could be another reason

The survey claims 63 per cent of Scots believe the right to sleep should be considered a fundamental human right.

Instead 42 per cent of Scots said the’re kept tossing and turning by financial and work stress.

Thirty-eight per cent also blamed temperature and 33 per cent noisy partners, neighbours and barking dogs.

Sixteen per cent said they’d been woken up by drunken disorderly behaviour in the dead of night.

Almost two-thirds (64 per cent) of Scots are unaware of their legal rights when it comes to making an official noise complaint.

And almost three in 10 have never complained even though they’ve wanted to.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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