Local
Teenager electrocuted in bath - A 15-year-old girl has been found electrocuted in her bathroom. The accident occurred in Marseille after the victim was believed to have been charging her cell phone at the time. It’s the second such incident in the region in less than two months. On December 15th a 9-year-old girl died in Vitrolles after her phone fell into the bath while on charge.
France's competition and fraud watchdog the DGCCRF, has since alerted consumers to the risks associated with the use of mobile phones while charging.
Fire and weather alert - Firefighters have intervened after a blaze broke out in Saint Auban in the hills behind Grasse on Monday afternoon. Both the Alpes Maritimes and the Var were placed on an orange alert on Monday due to violent winds which helped to fan the fire which destroyed seven hectares of forest land. 100 firefighters were deployed and remained on site throughout the night as a precaution due to the windy conditions. Violent winds are expected to continue this morning with the warning in place for the region until midday.
Armed man shot by police officer in the Var - Police have launched an investigation after an armed man was shot by a police officer near Barjols in the Var. The incident occurred on Monday morning when the victim’s ex-wife filed a complaint for domestic violence at the police station in Barjols. Police then went to his home to arrest the 40-year-old man who opened fire at the officers, wounding one. The victim was taken to hospital in Toulon where he later died from his injuries.
Man shot in Marseille - Meanwhile, in what police believe to be a settlement of accounts, a man in his twenties has been shot dead at the wheel of his car in Marseille. The shooting occurred on Monday evening around 8pm. The neighourhood has in recent years battled a heavy drug trafficking network.
Mayor of Nice Christian Estrosi announced further projects - The mayor of Nice Christian Estrosi, who is currently in the middle of his electoral campaign, has revealed further plans for the city. After announcing his intention to continue the “Promenade du Paillon” and the demolition of the Acropolis and the National theatre he has also announced plans for the Palais des Expositions to become a “Palace of Sport and Culture”.
The building was designed and constructed by the mayor at the time Jean Médecin in the 1960s.
National
Extension of bereavement leave - MPs at the national assembly in France will today discuss the “extension of bereavement leave” which had been rejected by the majority ten days ago. In a case which has caused controversy amongst French members of parliament following the President’s intervention on February 1st where he called for the government to show “humanity”. Emmanuel Macron’s party the LREM will today propose a “universal leave of three weeks” an increase from the current 5 days.
Brexit - British national Denise Lewis, a municipal councilor in the commune of Saint-Jean-Froidmental in Loir-et-Cher has been forced to leave her seat on the local village council following Brexit. Denise and her husband decided to settle in the village 15 years ago and Lewis had been elected since 2014.
Business
President Trump’s 4.8 trillion dollar budget plan for the fiscal year has been given a negative reception in Congress with Democrats saying that it betrays his promise to protect health and safety-net programmes.
The White House has presented the bill as a blueprint for Mr Trump’s policy priorities. It includes funding to build a wall on the US-Mexico border and fight the opioid crisis but cuts billions of dollars from welfare payments.
Analysts say that the bill is largely a political document that will serve as a starting point for negotiations with congress with an eye to reducing debts and deficits.
The President is proposing steep cuts to housing ,environmental ,transportation and other programmes that have all been rejected by lawmakers in recent years.
UK government minister Michael Gove has said that frictionless trade with the European Union will end this year with the introduction of import checks at the border.
Mr Gove told business leaders on Monday that EU trade will not be “waved through” with zero checks as had been the plan under a no-deal Brexit.
He said that traders would be able to use special arrangements to log paperwork after a grace period at a later date.
The Minister warned that the UK will be outside the single market and outside the customs union so that preparations would be made for regulatory checks that will inevitably follow.
The new trading arrangements are set to have a big effect on the UK economy with many businesses relying on the frictionless flow of goods between Britain and the continent.
A spokesman for the British Retail Consortium said that the government would have to move fast if it intended to provide the necessary infrastructure to carry out full border controls on imported goods from January 2021.
And-Apple’s main iPhone maker Foxconn has reopened two major plants in China following the outbreak of the coronavirus.
Sources say that so far only 10 percent of the workforce has returned despite the factories being open again.
Together ,the two plants make up the bulk of Foxconn’s assembly lines for Apple’s iPhones.
Further delays to production are likely to hit global shipments.
The market research firm Trendforce has cut its forecast for iPhone production in the first quarter by 10 percent to around 41 million handsets.
Sport
Formula 1-The Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has said that Lewis Hamilton staying with the team beyond the end of next season would be the “perfect pairing”.
There has been speculation that the 6 time world champion may be eyeing up a move to Ferrari to see out his career but Wolff said that Mercedes wanted to have the fastest man in the car and that he knows that Lewis wants the fastest car ,so it’s an obvious pairing.
Meanwhile ,Jim Ratcliffe whose Ineos petrochemicals firm has just signed a five year partnership with Mercedes has said that he’d be surprised if Hamilton left the team.He said that he thought that Hamilton should be focusing on equaling Michael Schumacher’s record of 7 world titles and then continue the partnership.
Football-Leeds United have a chance to restore some confidence to their promotion bid when they face Brentford in the Championship tonight.
Leeds have won just two of their last 10 games and coach Marcelo Bielsa says that the team is not doing anything fundamentally wrong.
Brentford are also pushing for promotion and will leapfrog Leeds in the table if they win the game tonight.
Rugby Union-The Scotland coach Gregor Townsend says that comments from out of favour fly-half Finn Russell show that he is not yet willing to “align” himself to Scotland’s standards.
Russell ,who’s missed the first two 6 Nations games for disciplinary reasons told the Sunday Times that he “doesn’t have a personal relationship” with the coach.
Townsend was expected to meet with Finn before Scotland’s next match against Italy on February the 22nd and says that he hopes he’ll play for him again.
Russell left the Scotland training camp before the first 6 Nations game against Ireland following reports that he’d breached squad discipline during a drinking session.
Weather
ORANGE ALERT IN FORCE FOR THE ALPES MARITIMES AND CORSICA UNTIL NOON
YELLOW ALERT IN FORCE FOR THE VAR UNTIL NOON.
Clear skies with strong westerly winds across the region.
Top temperature 21 degrees.
Overnight lows of 12 degrees on the coast and 9 degrees inland with clear skies and less windy.
Wednesday and Thursday-Partially cloudy ,less windy and highs of 15-17 degrees.
The Côte d'Azur is on alert for a surge in imported cases of dengue fever. Since the beginning of 2024, a record 1,679 imported cases have been record...
Read More
The post-mortem will take place next Monday for a 33-year-old man whose body was recently found in the Var after being missing for more than a month....
Read More
French scientists have been developing technological tools for the past four years to help athletes optimize their training for the Paris 2024 Olympic...
Read More
Nice airport says as many as 60% of flights will be cancelled tomorrow due to a nationwide strike by air traffic controllers....
Read More
After eight months of work and several sea trials, the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle has begun a six-week operation in the Mediterranean, ...
Read More
