French and Riviera News Thursday September 26th 2019

Local

Mafia - Politicians in Corisca have launched a call to denounce the presence of the Mafia on the Island. Some say the grip that the Mafia hold on the island has reached an intensity, never seen before. The group has called on all political leaders to commit to the movement in order to “pull together and protect themselves adding that “the threats are a serious compromise on the collective interests of our society”.

Man fires shots from home in Breil sur Roya - Police have arrested a man in Breil sur Roya after several shots were fired from his home in the middle of the night. According to officers the individual who was arrested on Wednesday morning was under the influence of alcohol at the time.  No casualties were reported.

Atman osteopathic care center - Local media is reporting that  the Atman osteopathic care centre in Valbonne in the Alpes-Maritimes has been hit with another sexual assault allegation filed with police in Cannes on Wednesday. A young woman accuses the director of sexual assault during a treatment session. Two complaints had been previously made against the director of the centre. In 2018 the director reportedly told local media that it was “an error of interpretation adding that his manipulations were normal in pelvic osteopathy” The investigation continues.

Mushroom pickers - Mountain rescue police in the region have warned members of the public, who are making the most of the beginning of an abundant mushroom season, to be prudent. The warning comes after several cases of people getting lost in  the hills while out picking mushrooms. Rescue services have had to intervene four times in the last two days due to those unfamiliar with the region getting lost.

Caisse d’Epargne - After the recent launch of a business centre dedicated to the boating world the Caisse d'Epargne Riviera is now expanding into the sporting world of the Riviera. Already partners for many of the major sporting events in the region the group plans to expand in both the Var and the Alpes Maritimes. On a national level the Caisse d'Epargne has launched, with Seventure Partners the creation of a Sport and Performance Capital investment fund. With approximately 80 million euros, the fund will be used to finance start-ups and SMEs operating in the field of sport and well-being and promoting the practice of physical activity.

Football returns to La Castellane - Meanwhile the city of La Castellane, north of Marseille, where French footballer Zinedine Zidane grew up, once again has a football club, thanks to Olympique de Marseille. Since 2017 the city had been unable to provide facilities for a club leading to the OM foundation investing 40,000 euros to restructure new facilities which were inaugurated on Wednesday

National

Immigration - French President Emmanuel Macron has declared that France "cannot welcome everyone", the latest in a series of comments suggesting tighter new laws on immigration. Macron set the tone last week when he hinted at a tougher line on immigration arguing the government must stop voters drifting to far right parties.  The president noted that France had seen a sharp increase in the numbers of people asking for asylum since the 2017 presidential election and said much tighter European cooperation was needed.

Meanwhile a fresh political row has erupted over the Muslim headscarf after the French education minister said he wanted to avoid having mothers in hijab as volunteers on school outings. Jean-Michel Blanquer criticised the country’s largest parent’s association for using a picture of a mother in a headscarf on a pamphlet. Blanquer told French media that even though French law did not ban mothers in headscarves from going on school trips as volunteers, he wanted to avoid this “as much as possible”. He said he encouraged “dialogue” in which headteachers would ask mothers to remove their scarves. He said the parent’s association had made a “regrettable” mistake by using the picture.

#balancetonporc - The woman who started France's campaign to encourage other women to expose their sexual harassers has lost a slander case brought by a man she accused of harassment. Sandra Muller was ordered to pay €20,000 in damages and fees to ex-TV boss Éric Brion, who she said had flirted with her inappropriately. She created the "#balancetonporc" hashtag in 2017. Ms Muller said she would appeal.

Business

The chief executive of the e-cigarette maker Juul has stepped down as merger talks between its biggest investor Altria and Philip Morris collapsed in the wake of a regulatory backlash against vaping.

Kevin Burns has left his post with immediate effect and the firm has also announced that it’s pulling all of its advertising in the United States.

Juul Labs which is 35 percent owned by Altria is facing intense scrutiny following accusations that it’s been targetting its vaping devices at children.

Earlier this month the Trump administration said that it was preparing a nationwide ban on flavoured e-cigarettes.

Juul is also facing multiple investigations including into its marketing practices.

Juul promotes its e-cigarettes which contain nicotine as a safer alternative to traditional tobacco products.

 

The United Nation’s postal agency has voted unanimously to reform its fees ,potentially averting a withdrawal by the United States.

The compromise deal was agreed after two days of emergency talks by the Universal Postal Union in Geneva.

The agreement means that the United States and other high volume importers can set their own rates for delivering mail abroad.

The United States had earlier threatened to pull out arguing that discount rates for countries such as China were putting it at a disadvantage.

The Universal Postal Union has been setting the price of international mail for 145 years with a mandate to ensure that the cost of global postage is affordable to all.

The 193 members of the Union are categorised into different postal rates based on their economic and postal development.

 

And-The Bulgarian economist Kristalina Georgieva has been selected as the new managing director of the International Monetary Fund.

Mrs Georgieva was previously the chief executive of the World Bank and becomes the first person from an emerging economy to lead the IMF.

She’ll succeed Christine Lagarde who’s leaving to become the president of the European Central Bank.

The 66 year old studied political economy and sociology at the Karl Marx Higher Institute of Economics in Sofia while Bulgaria was still under communist rule.

In her working life ,she’s built up a strong reputation at the World Bank and at the European Commission having held senior roles at both institutions.

Sport

MA NOLANS RUGBY WORLD CUP REPORT.

Uruguay caused an upset at the World Cup on Wednesday by beating Fiji 30-27 in Pool D.

The defeat leaves Fiji on the edge of being knocked out and they’ll now face a crucial game against Georgia which they must win to have any chance of progressing.

Uruguay’s next game will be against Australia with the Wallabies and Wales looking most likely to move through to the quarter finals.They play each other on Sunday.

There are 2 games today.Italy play Canada in Pool B and a much changed England side face the USA in Pool C.

Meanwhile ,the Australian winger Reece Hodge has been banned for three games following his dangerous tackle on Peceli Yato in his side’s Pool D victory over Fiji.

No action was taken at the time but an independent disciplinary panel sitting in Tokyo on Wednesday ruled that the no-arms challenge had merited a red card.

Hodge will miss Australia’s remaining Pool matches.

Football-There were 8 ties in the third round of the League Cup in England last night.

Aston Villa were 3-1 winners at Brighton.Burton Albion beat Bournemouth 2-0. Chelsea thrashed Grimbsy Town 7-1.Milton Keynes Dons lost 2-0 at home to Liverpool.Oxford United beat West Ham 4-0.Sunderland were 1-0 winners at Sheffield United.Wolves beat Reading on penalties and Manchester United squeaked through on penalties against Rochdale.

Cricket-Essex are all but certain of winning the English County Championship after the penultimate day of their title decider against Somerset was washed out by rain.

Essex only need a draw to win their 8th County Championship while Somerset need a win for their first ever title.

Athletics-Lord Coe will serve a second term as the president of the International Athletics Federation after being reappointed unopposed.

The double Olympic 1500 meters champion was first appointed in 2015 and will be in charge for another four years.

The appointment was announced before the start of the World Athletics Championships which get underway in Doha tomorrow.

Weather.

Clear skies with light to moderate westerly winds.

Top temperatures 24-27 degrees.

Overnight lows of 18 degrees on the coast and 15 degrees inland with clear skies.

Friday and the start of the weekend-Clear skies with highs of 24-27 degrees.

Finally 

A water company in the UK has triggered backlash after threatening its customers with a hosepipe ban – as the country was being hit by torrential rain and flooding.

Affinity Water emailed households to warn ‘we are now in drought’ and measures had to be taken to reduce usage.

However, just two months ago the firm was fined £8million for missing targets on reducing the amount of water it loses through leaks – an average of 130 litres of water per property per day in 2018, making it the fourth-worst performer across England and Wales. 

 

 

 

 

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