French and Riviera News Monday 14th September 2020

Local

Body found floating in the sea near Cap d’Antibes - The body of a sixty-year-old woman has been found in the sea near Cap d’Antibes. Emergency services discovered the body about fifty metres from the shore at around 7.45 on Sunday morning.

Police believe it to be an accidental drowning as the woman was at the time wearing a swimsuit and her belongings were later discovered on the beach. Police have opened an investigation and appealed for any witnesses to come forward.

Cyclist dies after fatal fall - A cyclist has died in the city centre of Saint-Pantaléon in the Lubéron after a fatal fall. The incident occurred at 9am on Sunday morning. The 60-year-old man was at the time cycling with a group of cyclists when he fell while riding over a speed bump.

Emergency services were unable to save the victim who was reportedly not wearing a helmet at the time of the accident.

Covid-19 - The famous "second wave" of the coronavirus pandemic, has become a reality on Sunday, September 13th with Austria officially using the term and in Israel a new national lockdown of at least three weeks has been announced.

In France, the symbolic milestone of 10,000 new cases in 24 hours was recorded on Saturday, a record since the launch of large-scale testing.

In the region the president of the Provence Alpes Côte d’Azur has requested a ban on access to beaches and parks from 8 p.m. as well as a ban on wedding parties and to make the flu vaccine compulsory for people over 65 and nursing staff.

Leading doctor’s call for end to private get-togethers - Meanwhile a group of six leading French doctors and professors have called for an end to private get-togethers, echoing the government’s appeal for more responsible behaviour.

Forty-two of France’s 94 departments are now classified as “red zones” there are critical zones around Marseille, Bordeaux and in French overseas territory Guadeloupe.

Yellow vest protestors - Yellow vest protestors have returned to roundabouts in the region in protest against social inequalities.

On Saturday about thirty "yellow vests" protestors gathered at the motorway exit roundabout in La Ciotat with gatherings also taking place in La Seyne-sur-Mer, Cuers, Toulon and Antibes.

In Nice despite not being authorized by the local council, 300 yellow vests protestors rallied at the Place de la Liberation on Saturday afternoon.

The Crossing: Calvi-Monaco Water bike Challenge - "The Crossing: Calvi - Monaco Water bike Challenge" which raises money for the Princess Charlene of Monaco Foundation arrived on Sunday morning at 11:31 at the Monaco Yacht Club, here in the Principality.

The Serenity team led by Her Serene Highness Princess Charlene won the challenge after 22 hours and 33 minutes. The Notorious team, led by Mr. Gareth Wittstock, Secretary General of the Foundation, crossed the finishing line 14 minutes later. 

The unprecedented sporting challenge promotes the programmes of the Princess Charlene of Monaco Foundation, "Learn to swim” and "Water Safety” raising awareness around the world.

Since the creation of the foundation in 2012 more than 730,000 people, particularly children, have benefited from these programmes in 34 countries.

National

Heatwave - Météo France has warned of a wave of heat which is expected to sweep across France over the next three days.

While minimum temperatures will range from 7 to 16 degrees over the northern half of the country and 14 to 22 in the south. Maximums are expected to increase, in particular, in the North and North-West, varying between 30 and 38 degrees.

World Naked Bike Ride – France has hosted its first “World Naked Bike Ride” in the town of Rennes in Brittany.

The World Naked Bike Ride (WNBR) is already popular in Belgium, Spain, Germany and the U.S. and on Saturday it was  the town of Rennes in northwest France which allowed cyclists, some wearing just a watch or a hat, to complete a 15 km circuit through its streets and parks.

Business

The US budget deficit has soared to a record hug of more than 3 trillion dollars ,driven by the government’s massive coronavirus relief spending.

The Federal Government spent more than 6 trillion dollars in the first 11 months of the financial year including 2 trillion on coronavirus programmes.

The Treasury Department said that that the deficit outpaces the 3 trillion dollars that it took in taxation.

The shortfall is more than double the previous full year record which was set in 2009 at the height of the financial crisis.

 

Trade talks between the EU and UK will continue this week despite the threat of legal action by Brussels hanging over the British government over its plans to rewrite parts of the Brexit Withdrawal Bill breaking international law in the process.

The government’s Internal Markets Bill will be presented to Parliament later today with a number of MPs from the ruling Conservative Party threatening to rebel and reports that the House of Lords will strike it down.

The Bill has been criticised by three former Prime Ministers and the former leader of the Conservative Party Lord Howard who have warned that breaking international law will damage Britain’s good name as a country that plays by the rules.

In the United States ,members of Congress from both sides of the House have warned that the UK has no chance of securing a trade agreement with Washington if the Internal Markets Bill threatens the Good Friday Agreement and peace in Northern Ireland.

The EU has given the UK until the end of the month to withdraw its plans or face legal action for breaking the Vienna Convention which states that countries must abide by the international treaties that they’ve signed.

The UK Attorney General Suella Braverman in her advice to the government has stated that parliamentary sovereignty overrides international law but many legal experts disagree and say that the Vienna Convention trumps all domestic law.

 

And-The President of the European Central Bank has said that eurozone governments must keep spending heavily to keep,unemployment down and bolster economic confidence while the bloc recovers from the biggest recession in its history.

Christine Lagarde says that confidence in the private sector rests to a large extent on confidence in fiscal policies.

She said that continued expansionary fiscal policies will be vital to avoid excessive job cuts and to support household incomes until the recovery is more robust.

In a speech at the annual meeting of the Council of Governors of the Arab Central Banks ,Ms Lagarde said that keeping job schemes in place to avoid a sharp increase in unemployment later this year will be critical.

Sport 

Cycling-Tadej Pogacar won stage 15 of the Tour de France on Sunday as fellow Slovenian Primoz Roglic retained the Yellow Jersey.

Pogacar beat Roglic in a sprint finish to the line and is now 40 seconds behind the race leader.

Egan Bernal dropped out of contention after cracking on the final climb to the Grand Colombier and has now fallen from overall 2nd to 13th.

The two Slovenians look like they’ve pretty much sewn up this year’s Tour with Roglic holding a 40 second advantage over Pogacar.Then there’s a big gap to Rigoberto Uran in third who is 1 minute 34 seconds behind the leader.

Today is a rest day.

Tennis-Dominic Theim has won the US Open after coming from two sets down to beat Alexander Zverev to claim his maiden Grand Slam.

The Austrian looked down and out as he lost the first two sets 2-6 4-6 but he made a stunning comeback to take the final three sets 6-4 6-3 7-6 to become the first man to come from two sets down to win the US Open for 76 years.

Formula 1-Lewis Hamilton won the Tuscan Grand Prix on Sunday in an incident packed race which was punctuated by two red flags.

At the third start ,Hamilton streaked away from Valtteri Bottas and Daniel Ricciardo to take the chequered flag ahead of Bottas and Alex Albon in the Red Bull.

The original start only lasted three laps because of a pileup involving Kimi Raikkonen, Roman Grosjean and Pierre Gasly and the race was halted twice more following another pileup and then a crash involving Lance Stroll in the Racing Point.

Hamilton leads the drivers’ championship on 190 points from Mercedes team-mate Bottas on 135.Max Verstappen in the Red Bull is in third on 110.

Football-There were two games in the English Premier League on Sunday.

West Brom lost 3-0 at home to Leicester while Everton were 1-0 winners at Spurs. There are two games tonight. Sheffield United play Wolves and Brighton host Chelsea.

Cricket-England have squared the one day series against Australia as the tourists managed a spectacular collapse when they appeared to be cruising to victory,

England batted first and were pegged to 231-9 from their 50 overs with the innings saved by a stand between Adil Rashid and Tom Curran.

Australia were in complete control on 1424-2 in their reply before Chris Woakes and Jofra Archer induced a collapse of 4 wickets for just 3 runs in 21 balls.

The tourists were bowled out for 207 to hand England a 24 run series levelling win with one to play.

Rugby Union-There were 5 games in the Gallagher Premiership in England on Sunday.

Wasps beat Bristol 59-35 .Leicester beat Northampton 28-24 .Worcester were 40-25 winners at London Irish. Bath were 37-22 winners at Sale and Saracens ended Exeter’s winning run with a 40-17 win at the Allianz Park.

Weather

Clear skies with light to moderate south easterly winds.

Top temperatures 28-30 degrees.

Overnight lows of 23 degrees on the coast and 20 degrees inland with clear skies.

Tuesday and Wednesday-Clear skies with highs of 28-30 degrees.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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