French and Riviera News Tuesday 2nd November 2021

Local News

Three people still missing after avalanche on a summit in the Everest region - Hope of finding the three missing French mountaineers after an avalanche on a summit in the Everest region is dwindling after several hours of search. 34-year-old Thomas Arfi from Nice is amongst the three men, who have not yet been located. The three climbers, missing since October 26th, belong to the National Mountaineering Excellence Group, an elite French formation.

Monaco opens free covid screening campaign for those returning from holiday - In order to avoid a possible epidemic rebound when returning from holidays, as experienced in the past, the princely government here in Monaco is opening a new free Covid-19 screening campaign from today Tuesday 2nd November. The service will be operational until Sunday 14th November and is aimed at all residents, employees and young people attending schools in the Principality. To benefit from it, no need for a medical prescription. Simply contact the covid-19 call centre on 92 05 55 00 to set up an appointment. And as a reminder the vaccination campaign in Monaco is still ongoing with, in particular, the possibility of benefiting from a 3rd dose for the most vulnerable.

Ni-box in Monaco to be demolished - The current Ni-box in Monaco looks set to be demolished being replaced by a co-working and cultural centre with a rooftop restaurant. Plans for the new building were highlighted at a council meeting with the objective to bring together distinct activities on one single site.

ZEvent raises more than 10 million euros for Action Against Hunger - French President Emmanuel Macron has congratulated the French-speaking streamers who have raised more than ten million euros for Action Against Hunger during this year's edition of the ZEvent. Gathered in Montpellier, for a good cause, their result is unprecedented. For fifty hours, some of the most famous videographers of the Twitch platform took on challenges including making the best pumpkin for Halloween.

Funeral service for pets – A funeral service for pets has been set up in Cannes. 41-year-old Nicolas Requier former financial controller in a casino created AnimalEden last April during lockdown. The service offers a "à la carte funeral service" for your pet.

High-end 4-star mini hotels in the port of Fréjus - High-end, 4-star mini hotels have arrived in the port of Fréjus in the Var. For more than a month, the port has been hosting, three floating hotels dedicated to couples, with a 4-star rating. For 250 euros per night, these are not traditional boats, known rather as houseboats they are moored in the port. With forty-eight square meters of living space, a gigantic double bed, a video projector, a whirlpool bath with views of the terrace and the sea.

National News

Fishing licenses - France has postponed sanctions which were due to come into force today Tuesday 2nd November, over the post-brexit fishing licenses, allowing time for further negotiations until Thursday 4th November. Speaking on Monday Macron said that "it is not while we are negotiating that we will put sanctions". On the side-lines of the COP26 in Glasgow, Emmanuel Macron declared, we want to "give a chance" to the discussions with London. A ministerial meeting, to which is invited the British Secretary of State for Brexit, David Frost, will be held on Thursday in Paris. Since the entry into force of Brexit, London and Paris have clashed over the number of licenses granted to French fishermen. Paris is threatening to ban British fishing vessels from landing their cargoes in French ports and tighten customs controls on all trucks if London does not grant more licences to French fishermen. In the aftermath, the British government welcomed the postponement of French sanctions. 

COP26 – More than 100 countries, including France, will commit to stopping deforestation and "restoring forests" by 2030. An agreement was reached at the COP26 in Glasgow and will be finalised today Tuesday 2nd November. Financial institutions will also participate in this scheme. More than 100 countries, representing more than 85% of the world's forests, will commit to halt and reverse the course of deforestation by 2030. Among the signatories of the agreement are France, Brazil, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and Russia. As part of the deal, twelve countries, including France, will commit to jointly mobilize £8.75 billion ($12 billion) of public funds between 2021 and 2025, plus £5.3 billion ($7.2 billion) of private investment.

In addition, the CEOs of more than 30 financial institutions, representing more than $8.7 trillion in global assets will commit to eliminating investments in deforestation-related activities.

Meanwhile a few hours before the arrival of the French President in Glasgow on Monday activists held portraits of France's Head of State upside down, in front of the entrance of the COP26 with "Climate emergency, Macron guilty" written on banners. They accuse Macron of "hypocritical speech" in the face of climate crisis: "

Oven of a crematorium explodes after mobile phone is left inside coffin - The oven of a crematorium has exploded after a mobile phone was left in a coffin. The incident occurred in the Pas-de-Calais (Hauts-de-France). Fortunately, nobody was injured during the funeral ceremony which was taking place nearby. The oven however is out of use and the repair work has been estimated at 90,000 €.

Business

The CAC40 starts the month of November with enthusiasm but fails to preserve the 6900 points. After recovering 4.76% in October, the flagship index of the Paris market started this new month with enthusiasm and ends the first session of the week a few points from its annual record. It was believed that its rating would establish a new annual peak on Monday, but the "fixing" decided otherwise. The CAC thus lost nearly ten points at the close but nevertheless ended on a solid lead of 0.92% to 6,893.29 points, in a relatively high trading volume given that Monday was a holiday.

The French car market fell last month by 30.7% compared to last year. The drop even reaches 37.3% compared to the registrations of October 2019. According to the Committee of French Automobile Manufacturers (CCFA) new vehicle registrations fell dramatically last month.

French President Emmanuel Macron will today Tuesday 2nd November, present the "commitment income" for young people aged 16-25 that he had promised in July. The long-awaited scheme should take the form of an income of 500 euros for young people aged 16 to 25 who are neither in employment, training nor in study. Inspired by the Youth Guarantee the project of a "commitment income" announced on July 12 by Emmanuel Macron must be based on demanding support and a commitment from the young person who receives the payment.

The Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield Group (URW) has announced the launch of the controversial Triangle Tower project "by the end of the year" planned for the French capital. In a press release URW announced that it is partnering with insurer Axa on the Triangle Tower project. URW, which owns the Forum des Halles and many other shopping centers and has suffered a lot from business closures related to the covid crisis and had until the end of October to sign the construction lease.

The American soda giant Coca-Cola confirmed on Monday that it had paid $ 5.6 billion in cash to seize the entire sports drink group BodyArmor, of which it already owned 15% of the shares since 2018. This is the largest business buyout ever made by the American giant, surpassing the acquisition of coffee chain Costa in 2018 for about $5 billion. It values the group at $6.6 billion.

Elon Musk has said that he was ready to sell Tesla shares to fight hunger in the world, provided that the United Nations Food Programme could allow the public to see "precisely how the money is spent". So, will Musk give up 2% of his fortune to help eradicate hunger in the world? This is the proposal made on CNN by David Beasley, director of the United Nations Food Programme (WFP). The latter called on the biggest fortunes on the planet, including the two richest men in the world, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, to make a gesture, explaining that "$ 6 billion could help 42 million people who will literally die" if no one comes to their aid.

Sport

Football - There are reports that following the sacking of Spurs manager after just four months in the job that former Chelsea and Inter Milan boss Antonio Conte could soon be Tottenham's new manager.

In last night's Premier League match Wolves fine run continued as they beat Everton 2-1.

Cricket – They say that "you know an innings by an England player is a good one when even the Australians applaud it" and that was the case for Jos Buttler, whose stunning unbeaten 101 off 67 balls set up England's 26-run win over Sri Lanka in the T20 World Cup on Monday. This morning South Africa play Bangladesh.

Meanwhile former England batter Allan Lamb has been having treatment for prostate cancer. The South Africa-born 67-year-old said he had recently completed a month of treatment following his diagnosis. Lamb made his Test debut for England in 1982 and played at three World Cups, scoring 4,656 runs in 79 Tests during his career. Announcing his diagnosis on Twitter, he urged other men to "put your egos aside" and get tested.

Cycling - Britain's Ben Turner has joined Ineos Grenadiers on a two-year deal. The 22-year-old is one of four new riders announced by Ineos on Monday.

Tennis - British number one Cameron Norrie has continued his bid to reach the ATP Finals with a solid opening win at the Paris Masters but Andy Murray and Dan Evans lost in the first round on Monday.

Formula One – Managing director Ross Brawn has said that Formula 1's new 'sprint' format could eventually become the standard approach to a grand prix weekend. Brawn said F1 "wants to take progressive rather than radical steps" with the format. But he said there was "no reason" why having a one-third distance race in addition to qualifying and the grand prix could not be used at all events in future. F1 has in principle agreed with teams and governing body the FIA to increase the number of 'sprint' events to six next year.

Weather 

Clear skies with a moderate westerly wind and highs of 19 degrees in Nice, Antibes and Cannes. This evening going down to 11 degrees, with clear skies.

Outlook for Wednesday and Thursday - Tomorrow a drop in temperatures with a slightly cooler north easterly wind. Starting off cloudy with showers forecast. Thursday sunny intervals, feeling cooler with highs of 17 in the Alpes Maritimes and 15 degrees in the Var. 

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