After last night’s storms affecting much of northern and western France, the Cote d'Azur is set to experience high winds tonght and for much of tomorrow. Meteo France currently have a yellow alert for high winds in the Var through until at least 3pm tomorrow. The Alpes Maritimes is under a yellow alert at the moment, rising to an orange alert from 8.00 this evening until midday tomorrow, when it reverts to a yellow warning. Meteo France are forecasting gusts of 90-110 km per hour in coastal areas of the Alpes Maritmes this evening and tonight, reaching 130 to 150 at times in some inland areas of the department. The strong winds in the Alpes Maritimes should lessen from tomorrow afternoon onwards. More information on he weather alerts is available at www.meteofrance.com
Further afield, all of the west coast of France is still on either a yellow or orange alert for high waves. Electricity company Enedis said that this morning there were about 130,000 homes without electricity as a result of last night's storms, mostly in Brittany, Normandy, Hauts-de-France, Grand Est, Ile-de-France and Centre. Transport has also been disrupted, including on many train services in the north of France during this morning's rush hour. There were disruptions to many flights into and out of the Paris airports early this morning, with the situation improving this afternoon.
Traffic was heavily disrupted in central Nice this lunchtime after an apartment fire near the main railway station. The fire, in a building on the corner of avenue Thiers and avenue Auber, was brought under control by over 50 firefighters. Traffic on avenue Thiers was cut off in both directions. Smoke from the fire could be seen from many parts of the city.
Two fires broke out in undergrowth in the arriere pays of Nice this afternoon. The first blaze, between Bézaudun and Bouyon broke out at about 1pm, followed by another fire near Coursegoules. Pompiers have been attempting to bring the outbreaks under control in difficult conditions caused by strong winds.
A motorcyclist died in the Var yesterday after a collision with a car. The accident happened at about 5.30pm in Le Castellet. The motorcyclist was pronounced dead at the scene.
A man in his sixties suffered serious injuries after an explosion in his apartment in Draguignan yesterday. According to reports, the explosion was caused by a gas leak in the ground floor apartment, which was totally destroyed. Other residents of the building on avenue St-Hermentaire were evacuated from their apartments but were able to return shortly afterwards after pompiers had given the all clear.
The Casino de Monte-Carlo here in the Principality has been voted "Casino of the Year 2020". The event held in London saw the leaders of the Monte-Carlo Casinos collect two awards.
BUSINESS
Sony and Amazon are the latest major companies to pull out of the Mobile World Congress tech show because of the coronavirus outbreak. Several other companies, including LG Electronics, Ericsson and NVIDIA have all withdrawn from the conference, which is scheduled to take place in Barcelona from 24 to 27 February.
The United States has charged four Chinese military "hackers" over a cyber-attack on credit score company Equifax back in 2017. The personal data of 150m people was compromised in the breach. William Barr, the US attorney-general, said that “the Equifax hack fits a disturbing and unacceptable pattern of state-sponsored computer intrusions and thefts by China and its citizens".
UK shopping centre owner Intu has said that it is in talks with a major Hong Kong-based retail property investor. The owner of Lakeside in Essex and the Trafford Centre in Manchester has today confirmed talks have taken place with Link Real Estate Investment Trust. It said "constructive discussions" have been held, with biggest shareholder Peel Group also involved.
Ride-hailing app Ola has launched its service for London today. The India-founded Uber rival was founded in 2011 and its first UK foray was in South Wales in August 2018. Since then it has expanded to other locations such as Liverpool, Birmingham, Bristol and Reading.
SPORT
Rugby Union... Jonny Gray has been ruled out of the remainder of Scotland's Six Nations campaign because of a hand injury. Scotland play Italy on 22 February and France on 8 March, finishing away to Wales on 14 March.
Cricket... Pakistan have beaten Bangladesh by an innings and 44 runs in Rawalpindi to take a 1-0 lead in the two-match series. Bangladesh made 233 in their first innings and were then bowled out for 168 after the hosts made 445. The second Test in Karachi starts on 5 April.
Golf... Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy has returned to the world number one spot for the first time in five years. McIlroy didn't play at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am over the weekend but the two-year rolling format of the ranking system means that he's in top place.
The owners of a vast floating artificial island that had been planned for last summer off the coast of Mandelieu have won a legal battle to be allowed...
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The Monegasque State has successfully conducted its first national voluntary surrender operation, with 123 firearms being handed over by private indiv...
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A hospital in Cannes has had to postpone all non-urgent consultations and operations after falling victim to a cyberattack....
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Potential presence of broken glass in pizzas. A recall has been issued for several pizzas distributed by Auchan Avallon in France due to the potential...
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The Riviera's ski resorts are celebrating a record winter season.
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