Local
Weather warning - Météo France has issued an orange weather warning forecasting rain, flooding and thunderstorms in the Var from midday today. The Alpes Maritimes is also under an orange alert for rain and flooding from 2pm today and for thunderstorms from 1pm. There’s also currently a yellow avalanche warning for the Alpes Maritimes which is in force until at least 3pm today.
New tramline - The mayor of Nice Christian Estrosi has opened line 3 of the Tramway in Nice. Officials were present on Wednesday for the new line which runs from Nice airport to Allianz Riviera, in the Saint-Isidore district and will eventually stop at the new Swedish home store Ikea which is currently under construction next to the stadium. Work started on the new complex which will offer office space, 19 other shops and 290 housing units, just over a year ago. Ikea is expected to open its doors in the spring of 2021 with the other facilities being completed the following spring.
Farmers - Farmers have left dead sheep on the steps in front of the Haut Alpes Prefecture, symbolically blocking the doors with two sheep, that were alive and well. The move comes as they expressed their anger at several new attacks carried out by wolves on their herds. According to farmers, since the beginning of the year, there have been 20 attacks with 1,500 sheep killed in the Hautes-Alpes, 20% more than last year. Farmers are asking the government for permission to shoot wolves in the Ecrins National Park in the event of an attack.
Local elections - MP for the Alpes Maritimes Éric Ciotti, has announced that he will not be running for the municipal elections in Nice. The deputy Republican of the Alpes-Maritimes announced on Wednesday that he would “leave the way open to outgoing Mayor Christian Estrosi”. Estrosi Ciotti’s main opponent is still to confirm if he is running for mayor five months from the elections.
Strike action continues - Traffic wardens in Nice are continuing their strike action today. The employees of Moovia began strike action on Wednesday protesting against poor wages and tough working conditions.
National
Terror attacks - Several hundred people have gathered in Paris on Wednesday to pay tribute to the 130 people killed in terror attacks on 13 November 2015. Survivors and family members of victims gathered for an official ceremony in front of the Bataclan concert hall, one of several targets of attacks around the French capital on 13 November 2015. Police officers, firefighters and paramedics were also in attendance for a fourth-anniversary ceremony marked by a reading of the 90 people who died, a moment of silence and a laying of wreaths.
Polanski – Film director Roman Polanski was facing calls for a boycott of his new film which opened in France Wednesday, in the wake of the latest rape accusation against the director. An online campaign to boycott his historical drama based on the Dreyfus affair, "An Officer and a Spy," was backed by former French women's minister Laurence Rossignol.
Business
The legendary film-makerhas been under mounting pressure since a French photographer claimed on Friday that he raped her in 1975 when she was 18 after beating her "into submission" at his Swiss chalet.
The Chairman of the US Federal Reserve has said that the economy is strong and that America has growth ,a strong consumer sector and inflation.
In testimony to the Joint Economic Committee of Congress on Wednesday ,Jerome Powell said that the Fed’s job was not to set trade ,immigration or federal trade policies but to concentrate on growing the economy.
Mr Powell dismissed calls from President Trump for negative interest rates and said that would not be in the interest of the economy.
He said that the recovery had been slow but that it had come “a long way” and that negative interest rates would certainly “not be appropriate” in the current environment.
He said that negative interest rates tended to be seen in larger economies when the growth rate is quite low and inflation is quite low and that wasn’t the case in the United States.
Mr Powell said that the impact of three rate cuts so far this year is still to be properly felt in supporting household and business spending and that there were no plans to further adjust rates unless there is a “material” change in the economic outlook.
Google has become the latest tech giant to propose financial services for users.
The internet giant says that it plans to partner with banks and credit unions in the United States to offer users “smart” cheque accounts.
The service which will be launched via Google Pay will allow users’ to add Google’s analytic tools to traditional banking products.
Other tech giants including Facebook ,Apple and Amazon are already offering credit cards ,payment systems and loans.
Google says that its partners which are reported to include Citigroup would start to offer accounts by 2020.
Analysts say that the major tech firms are all competing for consumer attention and to make their services indispensable.
And-A report by the UK Institute of Fiscal Studies says that the top 1 percent of the country’s earners now account for more than a third of income tax paid to the government.
The report says that the development is the result of changes to the system over the past decade that have made more than half of the population exempt from making payments.
The IFS says that above-inflation increases in the personal allowance to 12,500 pounds a year mean that 42 percent of adults paid no income tax.
The share of income tax paid by the top 1 percent has risen from 24 percent of the total in 2007-8 to 30 percent currently.
Before taxes and benefits were taken into account, the highest 20 percent of earners had incomes that were 12 times higher than the poorest 5th of the population.
Sport
Tennis-Rafael Nadal has fought back to beat Daniil Medvedev at the ATP World Tour Finals in London to keep his hopes of making the last 4 alive.
The world number one lost the first set before coming through 6-7 6-3 7-6.
He’ll now have to beat Stefanos Tsitsipas in order to reach the semi finals.
Tsitsipas made the last 4 with a 6-3 6-2 win over the defending champion Alexander Zverev.
Later today,Roger Federer needs to beat Novak Djokovic if he’s to make the last 4.
The pair haven’t met since Djokovic saved match points to win Wimbledon’s longest ever men’s singles final in July.The loser of the this evening’s match will be eliminated from the tournament.
Football-There are a number of European Championship qualifying games tonight with England at home to Montenegro in Group A. France play Moldova in Group H.
Rugby Union-The England coach Eddie Jones says that he’s “ not over” his side’s World Cup final defeat at the hands of South Africa.
Jones said that “it goes through your head all the time” and is not something that gets lost easily.
England play their first match since that defeat against the Barbarians at Twickenham on Saturday.
Jones hasn’t yet said if he’ll extend his contract beyond 2021.The English Rugby Football Union has said it wants him to stay in charge until the next World Cup.
Cycling-The former head coach of British Cycling will not return to give evidence at a tribunal into doping allegations today after storming out of the hearing on Tuesday.
Shane Sutton left the hearing in Manchester after repeatedly denying claims by the lawyer acting for Dr Richard Freeman that he is a “liar ,bully and a doper”.
Dr Freeman claims that testosterone that he ordered to be sent to British Cycling headquarters in 2011 was on behalf of Sutton.
The Australian denies the allegations and is not compelled to give evidence.
The hearing at the General Medical Council has been convened to determine whether Dr Freeman is fit to practice medicine.
Weather.
Overcast with rain spreading across the region and moderate to strong easterly winds.
Top temperature 13 degrees.
Overnight lows of 11 degrees on the coast and 5 degrees inland with cloudy skies.
Friday and the start of the weekend-Sunshine and showers with a high of 13.
Finally
A recent survey in the UK has shown that hard-up young people want to ban the office whip-round – because it forces them to put their hands in their pockets.
Collections for leaving dos and birthdays stress out the group who are most strapped for cash.
Some 22% of employees aged 23-38 said they felt angry at the organiser for not considering people’s financial situations.
A total of 17% said they suffered allegations of stinginess, leading to a sense of shame in the workplace.
As a result, 35% said they would like to see the office whip-round banned, according to the poll
Almost three-quarters said they paid more than they could afford into them.
A man from Nice used a stolen bank card to make purchases in Monaco, spending over €1,700 in various shops, mostly on airpods that he planned to resel...
Read More
Electric bike-sharing firm Pony says all of its vehicles will be back out on the streets of Nice no later than June, after they were withdrawn last mo...
Read More
Gabriel Attal announced new measures In response to recent acts of violence among young people during a visit to Viry-Châtillon. Attal highlighted the...
Read More
The owners of a vast floating artificial island that had been planned for last summer off the coast of Mandelieu have won a legal battle to be allowed...
Read More
The Monegasque State has successfully conducted its first national voluntary surrender operation, with 123 firearms being handed over by private indiv...
Read More
