Ceremony-A memorial ceremony has been held at the Villa Massena in Nice in honour of the 86 victims of the 2016 terror attacks in Nice.
The ceremony was not open to the public but reserved for the families of those who died or were injured in the attacks.
On the night of the 14th of July 2016,an Islamic State inspired terrorist drove a truck into crowds of people enjoying the annual Bastille Day celebrations on the promenade des Anglais resulting in carnage.
As well as those who died,some people injured in the attack are still undergoing medical treatment three years later and some have had their lives changed permanently.
The annual fireworks display for Bastille Day was moved to Saturday night as a mark of respect for those who died or were injured or lost loved ones in the attack.
Motorbike crackdown-Gendarmes in the Alpes-Maritimes have staged another big crackdown on the roads with motorcyclists targeted in particular.
Officers set up road checks at a number of major points in the department over the second weekend of the summer holiday period with dozens of offences recorded from speeding,running red lights and not observing give way regulations.
Gendarmes say they’ll continue to mount big road checks throughout the summer period.
Accidents involving two wheeled vehicles are the primary cause of serious injuries and deaths on the region’s roads.
Over the past few days ,a scooter rider has died following a head on collision with another vehicle in Antibes and two motorcyclists were seriously injured in an accident in Theoule-sur-Mer.
Sea death-A 60 year old man has died while swimming in the Bay of Cannes.
Emergency services were called to a private beach on the Croisette at lunchtime on Sunday after members of the public raised the alarm.They were unable to resuscitate the man who may have suffered a heart attack.
Lifeguards-Teams of lifeguards are now operating on the region’s beaches for the summer season.
France has a poor record for water safety with several hundred drownings registered around the country last year and latest figures suggesting numbers of fatalities will increase this year.
Lifeguards are on duty on all major public beaches from Menton to Saint Tropez.
Forest fires-6 woodland areas of the Var are at elevated risk of fire today with members of the public advised to stay away from the affected zones.
The Prefecture of the Var publishes a daily bulletin on the condition of forest land and then decides which measures to implement.
The Corniche des Maures,Saint Baume and Haut Var are among the areas at highest risk today.
Fires of any kind are banned in the affected areas as is smoking.
Accident-Police are appealing for witnesses to that accident in Antibes last Thursday which involved the rider of a scooter and a motorcyclist.
The motorcyclist died in the incident which happened at 6pm last Thursday on the Eucalyptus roundabout at the junction of the dual carriageways leading to Antibes and Juan les Pins.
Some reports say that one of the riders performed an illegal overtaking move which resulted in the two machines coming together but police want to hear from anyone who witnessed the incident and can be contacted in confidence on 04 92 90 78 63.
Car racket-The trial of 4 men accused of breaking into cars parked at Nice airport starts today.
The four who include the owners of two breakers yards in the region are accused of carrying out a series of thefts from mainly luxury cars parked at the airport with valuables and easily removable parts stolen.
One of the victims was the former Olympic pole vault champion Sergei Bubka.
It’s estimated that valuables and parts with a total value of 137,000 euros were stolen before the presumed gang was apprehended.
In National News.
Bastille Day-President Macron has led the annual Bastille Day celebrations in Paris with thousands of military personnel from all branches of the armed forces.
Gendarmes ,police and firefighters also took part including some from the Provence Alpes Côte d’Azur region.
Mr Macron made European defence cooperation the theme for this year’s parade with the German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the de facto deputy British Prime Minister David Liddington invited to attend.
Speaking before the parade,Mr Macron said that “never since World War II has Europe been so important”.
Forces from European Intervention Initiative countries also took part in the parade.
Fireworks displays have been taking place all over France over the weekend to celebrate the national holiday.
Dinner-President Macron has held a dinner for international leaders following the Bastille Day parade.
Present at the Elysee Palace event were the German Chancellor Angela Merkel along with the Prime Ministers of the Netherlands and Belgium Mark Rutte and Charles Michel.
The outgoing President of the European Commission Jean Claude Juncker was also on the guest list along with the NATO General Secretary Jens Stoltenberg.
Protests-Police have made 152 arrests during yellow vest protests on the sidelines of the Bastille Day parade in Paris.
Most of those arrested were taken in to custody for taking part in illegal demonstrations and there have been some cases of assault and vandalism.
Police fired teargas at demonstrators near the Champs Elysees as demonstrators set fire to rubbish bins and portable toilets.
Ardeche-Firefighters have been battling a large blaze in the Ardeche over the weekend which has destroyed more then 150 hectares of brush and other vegetation.
9 Canadair water bombers have been used to douse the flames which have been whipped up by 50 km/h winds.
A campsite had to be evacuated as the flames got uncomfortably close and two high tension power lines were taken out of service as a precaution.
The fire has been mostly brought under control but emergency services remain on the ground to make sure that it doesn’t reignite.
Business.
US markets start the week on the back of a positive session last Friday which saw the S&P 500 climb half a percent,the Dow Jones Industrials up 0.9 percent and the Nasdaq up 0.6 percent.
A new report by the Resolution Foundation says that the UK Is at its highest risk of recession since the financial crisis and that urgent measures are needed to combat the next downturn.
The report cites a number of factors including uncertainty over Brexit and the downturn in the global economy as the main reasons why the country is at the highest risk of recession since 2007.
The report is the latest in a series of warnings about the health of the UK economy following downbeat assessments from the Governor of the Bank of England Mark Carney and the National Institute of Economic and Social Research.
The Resolution Foundation has also warned that it would be dangerous to assume that the next recession would be similar to the last when major job losses were avoided.
Passengers using Heathrow Airport over the next few weeks are at risk of having their travel plans disrupted after more than 4,000 workers voted for strike action.
Workers from a range of sectors at the Airport from security to engineering have voted to strike over pay.
Walkouts have been called for July the 26th and 27th as well as the 5th ,6th,23rd and 24th of August.
The Unite Trade Union which represents the vast majority of workers at Heathrow has warned that the walkouts will cause “chaos” for passengers.
A series of votes resulted in a 2.7 percent pay rise over 18 months being rejected.
Heathrow management said that it had contingency plans in place to remain open and operate safely.
And-Apple’s Cupertino headquarters in California has been valued at one of the world’s most expensive buildings.
The donut shaped building in Santa Clara County has been valued at 4.17 billion dollars.
While it sounds like a lot of money,the building cost 5 billion dollars to construct and Apple pays some 40 million dollars annually in property taxes.
To contrast the cost ,the world’s tallest building ,the Burj Kalifa in Dubai cost 1.5 billion dollars while Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands Resort cost 5.5 billion dollars.
Usually ,the market value of a property equates to the cost of its construction plus the land it occupies.
Sport.
Cricket-England have won the World Cup for the first time in a thrilling and bizarre end to the final at Lords against New Zealand.
The scores were tied at 241 each at the end of the match with England scrambling to the total in a frantic final over.
The tie necessitated the use of the “super over” to settle the match with each side having an extra over and the match decided on who scored the most runs.
The scores were still tied at the end of the super over but England won on the strength of having scored more boundary fours and sixes in the entire match.
A huge crowd watched the match in an electric atmosphere.
It’s unlikely that any future match will end in a similar fashion.
Tennis-Novak Djokovic has won the men’s singles title at Wimbledon after beating Roger Federer in a five set thriller.
The two players slugged it out for 4 hours 57 minutes-the longest Wimbledon final in history before Federer hit a ball high to hand Djokovic victory 7-6 1-6 7-6 4-6 13-12.
Djokovic has now won 16 Grand Slam titles and four out of the last 5.
Formula 1-Lewis Hamilton won the British Grand Prix at Silverstone with a safety car ruining the chances of Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas who’d started on pole.
Bottas held off early challenges from Hamilton but he took the lead following the safety car period and never looked back.
Bottas finished second with Charles Leclerc in the Ferrari third.
It was another bad day for Sebastian Vettel collided with Max Verstappen and was given a 10 second penalty and two penalty points on his super license.
Hamilton now leads the drivers’ championship by 39 points from Bottas with Max Verstappen in third place.
The next race is the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim on the 28th of July.
Football-Reports say that Manchester United have agreed a fee of 80 million pounds for the Leicester City defender Harry Maguire.
If it goes through then the fee would make Maguire the most expensive defender in history.
It’s understood that United will pay Leicester 60 million pounds upfront with a further 20 million to follow in add-ons.
Golf-Bernd Weisberger of Austria has won the Scottish Open following a playoff against Benjamin Herbert of France.
Both players had reached 22 under par at the end of the final round at The Renaissance Club.
The Austrian triumphed in the third sudden death hole at the 18th.
The final Major of the year,the Open Championship starts at Portrush on Thursday.
Weather.
Becoming overcast with the chance of thundery showers across the region.
Moderate to strong easterly winds and a high of 26 degrees Celsius.
Overnight lows of 21 degrees on the coast and 15 degrees inland with clearing skies.
Tuesday and Wednesday-Clear skies with highs of 27-31 degrees.
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