French and Riviera News Tuesday 4th December 2018

Local

Yellow Vests - Protesters from France's “yellow vests” movement have pulled out of a meeting scheduled today with Prime Minister Edouard Philippe.  Some members of the group said they received death threats from hard-line protesters warning against entering into negotiations with the government. The French president held an urgent security meeting on Monday. Ministers said that while no options had been ruled out, imposing a state of emergency had not been discussed during the talks. Mr Macron has also cancelled a planned trip to Serbia to concentrate on the crisis.

Meanwhile an 80-year-old woman has died after being hit by a tear gas canister at her window during Saturday's protests in Marseille. The woman, who lived in an apartment near to where the protests were taking place, was hit in the face while closing the shutters.

Students – Also in support of the yellow vest movement thousands of high school students have demonstrated across the region. In Nice 2,500 students brought traffic to a standstill on the Promenade des Anglais and the Voie Rapide. In Cagnes-Sur-Mer students blocked the entrance to the A8 motorway, in Antibes 300 gathered resulting in tear gas being used by police and one police officer being injured. In Cannes between 800 and 1,000 students demonstrated in the town centre as one student was questioned after a bin was set alight and a scooter vandalized and in Grasse 400 students protested in front of the Lycee Alexis de Toqueville. Also in Grasse the Criminal Court gave an 8 month sentence to a 42 year old man for violence during the demonstration of the "yellow vests" movement at the pay toll in Antibes on Saturday.

Pamela Anderson - The movement has also led to former Bay watch star Pamela Anderson taking to Twitter saying that “while she condemned the outbreaks of violence she understood reasons behind the movement”. Anderson, the companion of the Marseille footballer Adil Rami tweeted that “growing tensions between the elites of the big cities and the poor in rural areas was not only a problem in France but worldwide”. 

Golf - For the third year running golfer Levi Alexander from the Var has won the title of French player of the season. The prize was awarded on Monday in Paris at the fourth edition of the Golf Trophies. It’s the 28 year old’s fifth victory this year.

Mon plus beau Noel -18 year old Alex Bocassien and his father in law from Cannes have already got into the Christmas spirit by decorating where they live as part of “Mon plus beau Noel” a television show broadcast on TF1. Bocassien and his father in law Dimitri have redecorated the entire building where they live as they face the panal of judges who will taste a festive meal prepared by them both and give points for their Christmas décor.

National

Cannabis - According to a study published on Monday nearly one in two French people has already smoked cannabis. However results showed a lower consumption amongst women compared to men. Studies conducted a few years ago in Paris also showed a greater use of cannabis in young people from privileged backgrounds.

Tourism - A new report about tourism in France has revealed that throughout the country overall numbers have risen by 1.3% from 2017 to a total of 311 million overnight stays. This summer, Paris and the Ile-de-France department around it saw the highest rise up by 7.7% of overnight stays. There was similar good news in the western regions of Brittany and Pays-de-la-Loire. Of all the nights spent in tourist accommodation by Britons in France, some 27.8 percent were from the UK.

Business

The United States says that it expects China to take immediate action to cut tariffs on US car imports and to end intellectual property theft  and forced technology transfers.

The news from Washington came as the two countries move towards a broader trade deal which has calmed markets and multinational businesses with interests in both spheres.

President Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping agreed to a ceasefire in the trade war at the G20 Summit meeting in Argentina over the weekend.They agreed to hold off on imposing more tariffs for 90 days while negotiations continue in a bid to end the dispute.

Global markets rose to their highest levels in nearly three weeks on the news.

 

Amazon briefly became the world’s most valuable company on Monday days after Microsoft dethroned long-time  leader Apple.

Shares in Amazon rose by 4.7 percent at one point on Wall Street putting its market capitalisation at 865 billion dollars.

Amazon’s lead lasted only a few minutes with Apple stock rising by 3.49 percent to put its total value at 877 billion dollars.

The tight race between the trio of leading technology stocks coincided with a broader market rally after the US and China agreed on a temporary truce in their ongoing trade dispute.

 

And-The maker of Marlboro cigarettes is in talks with a leading Canadian cannabis producer over a potential investment in the firm.

The Cronos Group confirmed on Monday that Altria,the maker of Marlboro cigarettes  had entered discussions but said that no agreement had yet been reached.

Last week,reports suggested that Altria was attempting to acquire Cronos as it moves to diversify from traditional smokers.

Canada legalised recreational cannabis use in October  and a range of big businesses are now queuing up in a bid to get a foothold in the lucrative market.

Sport

Football-Luca Modric has won the prestigious Ballon d’Or becoming the first player other than Lionel Messi or Christiano Ronaldo to win the award in more than a decade.

The Real Madrid and Croatia midfielder who’s 33 won his third successive Champions League final in May and helped his national side to the World Cup Final where they lost to France.

Ronaldo finished second with Antoine Griezman finishing third.

There are four games in the English Premier League tonight.

Bournemouth play Huddersfield.Brighton host rivals Crystal Palace.West Ham play Cardiff and Watford play Manchester City.

Cricket-The West Indies star Chris Gayle has been awarded 300,000 Australian dollars in damages after winning a defamation case against Fairfax Media.

Articles in the Sydney Morning Herald,The Age and the Canberra Times had reported that Mr Gayle had exposed himself to a female massage therapist.

Last year,a judge in Sydney threw the case out of court and ruled that the claims had been motivated by malice.

The player’s legal team had argued that Fairfax Media had wanted to “destroy” their client.

Tennis-The former Wimbledon champion Boris Becker has dropped his claim to have diplomatic immunity from bankruptcy.

Becker had claimed that his appointment as a Central African Republic diplomat gave him protection from any legal claims but his withdrawal means that a planned sale of trophies and memorabilia can go ahead to clear some of his debts.

Boris Becker was declared bankrupt in 2017 over money owed to the bankers Arbuthnot Latham.

Weather

Clear skies with light to moderate westerly or variable winds.

Top temperature 18 degrees Celsius.

Overnight lows of 11 degrees on the coast and 6 degrees inland with clear skies.

Wednesday and Thursday-Mainly fine with highs of 16-18 degrees.

Finally 

A pensioner who wanted to take 20 years off his official age to improve his job prospects and luck on Tinder has had his request refused.

Emile Ratelband, 69, said he felt two decades younger than he is so went to court last month to change his age, in a case which drew worldwide attention.

On Monday a Netherlands court rejected the motivational speaker's request, saying: "Mr Ratelband is at liberty to feel 20 years younger than his real age and to act accordingly.

 

 

 

 

 


 

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