Local
Road accident - Eleven people have been injured one seriously following a collision involving three vehicles and a minibus. The accident occurred on Monday evening shortly after 6.30pm on the road leading to local ski resorts. Emergency services from Carros and Saint Isidore intervened as traffic heading to Auron, Isola 2000 and La Colmiane was diverted. Police have launched an investigation to determine the cause of the collision.
Meanwhile police in the Var are investigating the death of a 19-year-old boy after he fell from the roof of a high school in Hyères. Emergency services were alerted on Monday evening after three individuals believed to be former students climbed over the gate and onto the roof.
Strike - Due to the strike against the pension reform, on average 3 out of 10 regional trains will be running in the Var and the Alpes-Maritimes today.
Meanwhile Monday saw striking French rail workers clash with riot police in Paris after holding a demonstration against pension changes despite Emmanuel Macron’s call for a Christmas truce.
Hundreds of trade unionists and strikers gathered outside Gare de Lyon. Some strikers made speeches denouncing the government’s proposed changes to the pension system and vowed to continue their stoppages into Christmas and the new year.
The nationwide transport strikes have been going on for 19 days, causing what the state rail operator SNCF called “ongoing severe disruption” to services.
Prince Albert speaks to Riviera Radio - His Serene Highness Prince Albert the second of Monaco has given an exclusive interview to Riviera Radio.
During his conversation with Rob, Prince Albert talks about his hopes for the future, his family, progress in Monaco and the environment. You can hear our exclusive interview with Prince Albert after the 12 noon BBC news on Christmas Day, repeated after the 12 noon BBC news on New Years Day.
Weather over the Christmas period - Following the recent bad weather which has hit the region Météo France has said that sunshine and mild temperatures are to return from today and over Christmas with highs of 17 degrees. It will however become a little colder from New Year but will remain dry.
Meanwhile regions of the south West of France and Corsica remain on an orange weather alert due to the risk of flooding with 1,500 households still without electricity.
National
Mali - France’s military has said it carried out a drone strike for the first time, during operations in Mali in which 40 alleged terrorists were killed. In a statement on Monday, the French military command said the drone strike took place during a follow-up operation on Saturday in which a further seven IS fighters were killed.
Twitter - France’s equalities minister has said that social networks must do more to ensure illegal content is immediately taken down, the statement comes after a video of an alleged rape was shared widely on Twitter.
Two 16-year-old boys have been charged with the rape of a teenage girl and remanded in custody outside Paris. The boys were quickly identified online.
Business
The US aerospace giant Boeing has fired chief executive Dennis Muilenberg in a bid to restore confidence in the firm in the wake of 2 deadly crashes involving its 737 Max jet.
More than 340 people died in the disasters which has prompted accusations that Boeing put profit before safety.
Families of the crash victims have welcomed Mr Muilenberg’s dismissal but say that Boeing’s decision to replace him with a long-term board member raises questions about its commitment to change.
Boeing has named David Calhoun as its new chief executive and president.He’s been on the board since 2009 and is the firm’s current chairman.
The German carmaker BMW has said that it’s being investigated by the US Securities and Exchange Commission following reports of a probe related to the firm’s sales practices.
A spokesman for BMW said that the firm was co-operating fully with the investigation but declined to comment further.
The Wall Street Journal first reported that BMW was under the SEC spotlight but didn’t specify the context under which it’s sales practices are being investigated.
And-UK retailers hoping for a pre-Christmas boost have been disappointed with figures showing an 8 percent decline in footfall on the last Saturday before the festivities.
Competition is tough with some retailers accepting online orders as late as today and shoppers with many more choices about the way that they find goods.
Monday was the busiest day for food retailers with Waitrose selling some 214,000 kilos of brussels sprouts in the past few days and sales of quails eggs up 250 percent.
John Lewis says that it expects novelty socks and gadgets like airpods and smart speakers to be its most popular last- minute purchases.
The lower turnout on Saturday came despite a flurry of discounts from retailers in an effort to tempt people into the shops at the end of what’s been a difficult trading year.
Football-Spurs say that their investigation into alleged racist abuse of the Chelsea player Antonio Rudiger during Sunday’s Premier League game is “inconclusive” but that a Chelsea fan has been arrested for allegedly abusing their player Son Heung-min.
Play in the game was stopped after Rudiger said that he heard monkey noises being directed towards him from the crowd.
Spurs say that their investigation continues.
The British government has called on football clubs to stamp out the scourge of racism in grounds and the Professional Footballers’ Association has called for a wide ranging enquiry.
Sport
The Christmas football bonanza gets into full swing on Boxing Day with a full programme.
Spurs play Brighton.Aston Villa host Norwich.Bournemouth play Arsenal.Chelsea host Southampton.Crystal Palace face West Ham.Everton play Burnley.Sheffield United play Watford.Manchester United play Newcastle and Leicester host the leaders Liverpool.
Wolves play Manchester City on Friday.
Formula 1-Charles Leclerc has signed a new 5 year deal with Ferrari which will keep him at the team until 2024.
Leclerc finished 4th in the drivers’ championship last season and won back to back Grand Prix in Belgium and Italy.
He registered 7 pole positions and scored more wins ,poles and points than team-mate Sebastian Vettel.
The 22 year old Monaco star said that he was “so grateful to be driving for such a team and had learned so much during his first season with Ferrari”.
Cricket-England players recovering from the flu have all taken part in net sessions ahead of the first Test against South Africa which starts on Boxing Day.
Joffra Archer ,Jack Leach and Stuart Broad are all said to be recovering well and should be available for selection.
Temperatures are climbing in South Africa with the forecast for Centurion on the opening day expected to be hot with a top temperature of 32 degrees.
Weather
Clear skies with moderate westerly winds across the Var.
Top temperature 17 degrees.
Overnight lows of 10 degrees with clear skies.
Christmas Day and Boxing Day-Clear skies with highs of 15-18 degrees.
The Riviera's ski resorts are celebrating a record winter season.
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The Monegasque government informed its residents today that a fraudulent call campaign is currently targeting the Principality, mainly the most vulner...
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A new study suggests businesses in the Alpes-Maritimes are losing millions of euros per year and hundreds of thousands of hours of workers' time due t...
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Food safety inspectors plan to carry out 100,000 checks on French restaurant and bakeries this year, almost twice as many as last year, to coincide wi...
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France's foreign minister has said that it is no longer in Paris's "interest" to talk to Russia after differing accounts emerged from a rare phone cal...
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