French Villa Holiday News.

French News Mon 4 May, 2009

Probable PACA swine flu case

Authorities say there is one “probable” case of swine flu in our region, the Provence Alpes Cote-d’Azur. It is one of eight “probable” cases across the country, following confirmation late last week of the first two cases of swine flu in France. All of the infected people had recently visited Mexico or the U.S. French Health authorities say they remain calm and vigilant, with experts believing the full effects of the virus may not be know until next autumn.

Fatal flat fire

Investigations continue into the cause of a fire in Antibes early Saturday morning that killed an elderly couple. They died of smoke asphyxiation during the fire in their top floor home, in the “Le Galia” apartment block.

Jet ski rescue

A jet skier from Villefranche was rescued in the early hours of yesterday morning in the sea off Monaco. His motor cut out around four miles from the coast on Saturday afternoon. But it wasn’t until three o’clock the next morning that he was brought to shore.

Mountain helicopter airlift

A 60-year-old cross country skier had to be rescued by helicopter yesterday afternoon from the Parc Mercantour. The 60-year-old from Vallaruis was injured in a fall. He was suffering from severe hypothermia when he was airlifted to safety.

St Tropez season starts

Monaco’s Prince Albert was among the celebrities leading the summer charge to Saint Tropez. The Prince and his companion, Charlene, were pictured relaxing in the world famous resort yesterday. Also spotted over the weekend, Ivana Trump and Victoria Silvstedt.

Prison warder strike

French justice minister, Rachida Dati, faces another crisis as prison officers launch a crippling four-day strike over a lack of resources to deal with France's overcrowded prisons. Warders from the biggest three unions will today begin blocking all prisoner movement and transfers at more than 190 prisons, eventually blocking all outside visits, including those from lawyers and families.

Large Hadron Collider fixed

Engineers have fixed the "Big Bang" machine after an electrical fault led to it being shut-down in September last year. The last of 53 replacement magnets for the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) - the largest scientific instrument ever built - has been lowered into the 16-mile tunnel straddling the Swiss-French border which houses the machine. And scientists say they are back on track to re-start the particle accelerator in the autumn.

SPORT

Football - Newcastle United and their North East neighbours Sunderland continue to struggle towards the bottom of the English Premier League after both sides lost on Sunday.

Birmingham City have joined Wolves in being automatically promoted to the Premier League after beating Reading 2-1 in their final Championship game on Sunday. Reading have to settle for a place in the play offs where they’ll meet Burnley in the semi final. The other play off will be between Preston and Sheffield United. Cardiff City just missed out on the play offs to Preston on the number of goals scored. At the bottom Norwich City were relegated along with Southampton and Charlton. It’s the first time that Norwich have dropped into the 3rd tier of English football since 1960.

Rugby Union - Leicester Tigers are through to the Heineken European Cup final following an extraordinary semi final against Cardiff Blues on Sunday. The match went into extra time after Blues had battled back magnificently in the second half to tie the match 26 all. After the 20 minute extra time period the match had to be settled by penalty shoot out for the first time in the history of the European Cup. Leicester eventually came through when Jordan Crane landed the sudden death kick after Martyn Williams had missed for Cardiff. The Tigers will play Leinster in the final.

Boxing - Ricky Hatton is considering his future after his crushing IBO light-welterweight world title defeat by Manny Pacquiao in Las Vegas. Hatton was knocked down 3 times before being KO’d at the end of the second round.He was taken to hospital for a brain scan but was later released and given a clean bill of health. At the age of 30 many commentators and medical experts say it’s time he retired.

Formula One - The president of the F.I.A Max Mosley says that the sport could survive without Ferarri. Mr Mosley’s comments came after the president of Ferarri Luca di Montezemolo referred to plans for a 40 million pound budget cap for teams as fundamentally unfair. The .F.I.A president says that Ferarri would have to obey the new rules or leave the sport adding that Formula 1 could survive without them although it would be very sad.

Cricket - Pakistan won the final one day international against Australia by 7 wickets in Abu Dhabi on Sunday. Australia win the series 3-2.
Tennis - Rafael Nadal has won the Rome Masters after defeating the defending champion Novak Djokovic in straight sets. The win extends Nadal’s unbeaten run on clay to 30 matches and confirms him as overwhelming favourite to retain the French Open. For Djokovic the defeat means that he’ll drop from World number 3 to number 4 when the new A.T.P rankings are published next week. Andy Murray will be the new world number 3.

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And finally, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who has compared himself to Jesus Christ and Napoleon, boasted on Friday that he was the world's most popular leader. The conservative premier, in his third term in office, said opinion poll findings in his possession showed his popularity at just over 75 percent, making him far more popular than U.S. President Barack Obama -- or any other head of government. "The opinion polls I know say that he (Obama) is at 59 percent. Only (Brazilian President Luiz Inacio) Lula tops 60 percent -- he is at 64 percent. So mine is a record high," he told reporters in Naples where he attended a May Day concert. Berlusconi, who regularly complains of unfair treatment by the media despite directly or indirectly controlling 90 percent of Italy's television, put his own popularity at 75.1 percent.