The Mayor of Antibes, Jean Leonetti, has said that force will be used to remove yellow vest protestors at the Provence roundabout near the motorway entrance. At a meeting last night the protestors decided to continue their occupation of the roundabout. In a post on Twitter the mayor said he regretted that the proposal of appeasement by the town hall was rejected and that the use of force is therefore necessary. He didn’t elaborate on how this would be carried out but said he would continue dialogue with those who want it. At Nice St Isadore, where a camp was removed by authorities yesterday, reports say there were only a few yellow vest protestors present earlier today.
Five police officers have received letters of congratulations in an official ceremony at the town hall in Grasse today. The awards were in recognition of their actions during an incident in Grasse in November in which one of the officers was struck by a car driven by a yellow vest protestor.
A man was attacked at his home in Six-Fours in an armed robbery yesterday evening. Three individuals with hand guns burst in to the man’s home and assaulted and tied up the man, who is in his fifties, before making off with possessions worth between 80 and 100 thousand euros.
A French military aircraft disappeared from radar near the Swiss border at about 11.00 this morning. The Mirage 2000D fighter plane took off from an airbase near Nancy. Authorities were searching for the aircraft and its two pilots in a mountainous are between the Doubs and Jura regions. Latest reports say that wreckage from the aircraft was located this afternoon.
The Zest bus network in Menton is expected to be disrupted by industrial action tomorrow from 7am to 8am and from 4 to 5pm. Strike action is planned for Thursdays, Fridays, Mondays and Tuesdays until further notice.
It’s the first day of the sales in the shops of the PACA region today. The sales end on the 19th of February and in the meantime there are many bargains to be had in the region’s stores. The dates of sales are strictly regulated by the French government.
BUSINESS
There’s been a surprise fall in unemployment figures in the Eurozone. Eurostat, the EU statistics agency, said unemployment in the Eurozone dropped to 7.9%in November, the lowest level since October 2008.
French statistics agency INSEE has released the results of research which shows that household confidence fell sharply in December. An index level of 100 indicates the long term average household confidence in France. This fell to 87, down 4 points from November. The proportion of households who consider it appropriate to make major purchases decreased by 15 points and reached its lowest level in five and a half years.
Car sales in China have seen their first annual fall in twenty years. Sales fell 6% to 22.7 million units in 2018, according to the China Passenger Car Association. Meanwhile, the Chinese government announced earlier today that trade talks in Beijing between China and the US have concluded, and the results will be released soon. The meeting was initially due to finish yesterday but continued into Wednesday.
SPORT
Tennis…World number one Simona Halep has been beaten by Australia's Ashleigh Barty at the Sydney International. It was Halep’s first match in more than three months. The final score was 6-4 6-4.
Andy Murray will play world number one Novak Djokovic in a practice match tomorrow as part of his preparations for the Australian Open. Murray missed most of last season after hip surgery and is now ranked 230th in the world.
Cricket… Australia have named uncapped batsman Will Pucovski in their Test squad to play Sri Lanka, while Shaun and Mitchell Marsh have been left out. Aaron Finch and Peter Handscomb have also been dropped following Australia's series defeat by India, with batsmen Matt Renshaw and Joe Burns recalled. Australia play two Tests against Sri Lanka, starting on 24 January.
Football…Tottenham say their new stadium will not be ready to host matches until at least March. Spurs were originally scheduled to move into the new stadium in September but the project has apparently experienced construction delays. The new ground, which will also host NFL games, has a capacity of just over 62,000.
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