Two buildings have collapsed in Marseille today. Authorities are currently searching the area to locate anyone who may be trapped in the structures, but at the moment it’s thought that the only casualties have been two passers-by who suffered slight injuries. Local residents have been evacuated from the surrounding area and are being accommodated in the town hall. According to the town hall, heavy rainfall recently could have caused the collapse.
A taxi driver was arrested in Cannes this morning suspected of being intoxicated whilst being in charge of his vehicle. Reports say the driver, who is from Nice, left his taxi in the middle of the road near the town hall and threatened police when they arrived to investigate.
In Paris, a gendarme of the Republican Guard was found dead this morning with his police weapon by his side. The gendarme was responsible for the protection of the Hotel Matignon, the official residence of the French Prime Minister. Suicide is suspected.
36 victims of the Nice terror attack have been awarded a “medal of recognition”. 124 victims of terrorism were awarded the medal on Sunday including 36 victims of the Nice attack on July 14th 2016. The medal was created on July 12th 2016, following the attacks which took place in Paris and Saint-Denis in 2015, during which 130 people died, and that of Charlie Hebdo in the same year.
According to a new poll France’s far-Right National Rally, formerly called the National Front, is now more popular than Emmanuel Macron’s governing party, as the country becomes more anti-EU and opposed to immigration. The results come just a year-and-a-half after President Macron roundly defeated his closest rival, Marine Le Pen, to become head of state. The poll, examining voting intentions for upcoming European Parliament elections, show the National Rally on 21 per cent with Mr Macron's Republic on the Move at 19 per cent.
BUSINESS
Brittany Ferries has said that UK holidaymakers are delaying booking Channel crossings for next summer because of concerns about the consequences of Brexit. The company said that forward bookings were down between 4% and 5% from some of its regular customers. The company said people were worried about the impact on areas such as pet travel, health insurance and driving licences.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has confirmed that the US has granted waivers to eight countries allowing them to buy oil from Iran - including China. The others include Italy, India, South Korea and Turkey. The US has also announced that it will impose sanctions against Iran Air and 67 of its aircraft.
Online bookings and check-in with Ryanair will close for 12 hours after the airline said it needed to shut down its website and mobile phone app. Ryanair said the shutdown from 18.00 French time on Wednesday until 06:00 Thursday morning was needed for a computer systems upgrade.
SPORT
Football…Liverpool have left Xherdan Shaqiri out of their squad to face Serbian side Red Star Belgrade in the Champions League on Tuesday. The club said the decision was because they want to "avoid any distractions" that may be caused by the midfielder's Albanian heritage.
Anderlecht defender James Lawrence has been called up by Wales for the games against Denmark and Albania. Lawrence was with Arsenal, QPR and Ajax before joining Anderlecht in August 2018.
Rugby Union…Owen Farrell has been cleared to face New Zealand next weekend after avoiding disciplinary action for his 84th minute challenge at the end of the England against South Africa match at Twickenham. The TMO ruled that the challenge had been legal and the citing commissioner has decided that it did not meet the red card threshold and that no action will be taken.
Speed restrictions are in place on all major roads in the Alpes-Maritimes today because of a smog alert....
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A Marseille magistrate has been sentenced on the 17th of June in Nîmes for repeatedly avoiding motorway tolls using fake license plates. ...
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A major police stop-and-search operation along France's borders is being carried out today, involving 4,000 police officers, gendarmes and customs off...
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SFR has announced automatic compensation of 100GB of free mobile data for affected customers following a major network outage on the 16th of June....
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French President Emmanuel Macron will chair a high-level Security and Defence Council meeting at the Élysée Palace today Wednesday, June 18th at 4pm, ...
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