Local
Fatal accident at Lac Saint Cassien - A 26 year old British national has drowned after jumping from the Pré Claou bridge of Lac Saint Cassien in the Var. The accident happened on Thursday afternoon. The victim was on holiday in the region.
Weather warning - Météo France has issued a yellow weather warning in the Var with thunderstorms forecast tonight and strong winds with gusts of up to 90km/hr during the day.
Chickenpox - France’s national health body has warned that the Provence Alpes Côte d’Azur Region has been hit by an outbreak of chickenpox. The PACA region along with Corsica, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, are all affected by an epidemic of the illness which France has estimated at 34 cases per every 100,000 inhabitants with twelve identified regional outbreaks.
Greenest city in France - A recent survey has shown that Toulon in the Var is one of the greenest cities in France. In the ratings published on Thursday the city of Nîmes was ranked first ahead of Toulon.
French Grand Prix - With one week to go before the French Grand Prix takes place at Castellet in the Var. Organizers have announced that there are still tickets available. This year new measures have been put in place to ease traffic in the area and parking for those attending the event. There will be entertainment for all ages including a three day music festival with DJs Bob Sinclar and Martin Solveig performing.
National
Reproductive rights in France - The French government has announce plans to end discrimination over women’s reproductive rights by lifting a ban that prevents single women and lesbian couples accessing medically-assisted procreation. Currently in France, only heterosexual couples who have been married or living together for more than two years can access procedures such as artificial insemination, IVF or sperm donation. In nearby countries such as the UK and Spain these procedures are open to all women.
Urban forest - The mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo has announced plans for the creation of an “urban forest” in the capital. Speaking to French media on Thursday Hidalgo spoke of the obligation to act now in order to avoid the impossibility of living in the city later. The project is expected to be in place by 2020.
Business
Oil prices have jumped by 4 percent following Thursday's suspected attacks on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman.
Iran has denied any involvement in the attacks with Washington pointing the finger of blame at Tehran. The suspected attacks come just a month after four oil tankers were attacked off the United Arab Emirates. The United States has said that it believes that it will be able to recover enough debris from the attacks to "come up with solid evidence for tracing them back to their source".
Both tankers were evacuated following the blasts with crew rescued by US and Iranian authorities.
Vodaphone says it is working to tackle "disruption" to its mobile and fixed line broadband services.
It has experienced a fault with an international link used to transmit data between countries but is rerouting traffic to address the issue. Reports on the DownDetector website indicate that subscribers in the UK, Ireland, Greece, Italy, Portugal and Germany are among those affected.
The problem appears to have begun after 3pm central European time.
Some affected users have, however, reported that issues with email and other internet-based acitivities have been resolved.
The fault comes a day after the firm announced that it had begun allowing users to link their accounts to Amazon's Alexa service, letting them call contacts via the US company's smart speakers. However, there is no suggestion that this was the case of the outage.
Sport
Nice Airport Qatar Airways World Cup Report
There were two games on Thursday.
China beat South Africa 1-0 in Group B while in Group C Australia came from behind to beat Brazil 3-2.
There are three more games today. Jamaca play Italy in Group C while in Group D Japan play Scotland and England fact Argentina. The England coach Phil Neville says that his side will have to "manage the emotion" of playing against "historic rivals".
England will reach the knockout phase if they win tonight's game. Kick off is in Le Havre at 9pm.
Football - Chelsea have agreed a deal in principal for their manager Maurizo Sarri to join Juventus.
An agreement was reached late on Thursday evening after talks between senior officials. A deal could be completed as early as Friday.
It is understood a compensation fee in excess of £5m has been agreed.
Sarri arrived from Napoli in July 2018 and led the Blues to third place in the Premier League and won the Europa League in his one season in charge.
Despite signing a three year deal last July, he will become the ninth full-time manager to leave the club under Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich.
Golf - England's Justin Rose finished with three successive birdies to hold one shot first round lead at the US Open. Rose who won his only major at the 2013 US Open, carded a six under par 65 at Pebble Beach, California.
Formula 1 - Ferrari will not appeal against the penalty that cost Sebastian Vettel victory in the Canadian Grand Prix. A Ferrari spokesperson confirmed on Thursday that they had decided against moving forward with an appeal.
Cricket - Thursday's Wolrd Cup match between India and New Zealand at Trent Bridge has become the 4th game in the tournament to be washed out by the weather. Both teams get a point each.
Weather
Hazy sunshine in coastal area with some showers inland.
Moderate to strong easterly winds with gusts of up to 75km/h in costal areas of the Var.
Overnight lows of 19 degrees with partially cloudy skies.
The weekend - Paritally cloudy tomorrow with some showers inland. Fine on Sunday. Highs of 25-28 degrees.
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