Bishop Jailed - The Archbishop of Lyon has been given a six month jail sentence, for failing to act on allegations of sexual abuse on boy scouts in the city. The bishop is the most senior French Catholic cleric to be caught up in paedophilia scandals. During the case, victims accused Bishop Barbarin of trying to cover up information under orders from the Vatican. The Bishop is to resign his post but will still appeal the case.
Greve - Bus services in Nice will be disrupted tomorrow due to strike action. However, as the action is by workers of a contractor to Lignes d’Azur the tram service will not be affected. Meanwhile on the trains, agreement has been reached today with tobacconists, to allow them to sell TER train tickets. The Head of SNCF said his plan was to make tickets more easily and widely available.
Prison - The entrances to many prisons including Nice, Draguignan and Grasse have been blocked by prison officers today. For more than a year they have been fighting the Minister of Justice to get more staff, but with 102 violent attacks on guards in the last two months alone, they’re escalating their protest.
Gillets Juane - The Prime Minister has given a curt response to a United Nations call, for an enquiry into police violence, during the gillets juanes demonstrations. Edouard Philippe said that in France, the rule of law is that an investigation is automatically conducted if a complaint is lodged against the police, and there are currently 162 such investigations underway.
Killer - An appeal will be made against the twenty year jail sentence, handed to a man found guilty of poisoning two pensioners to ‘speed up’ the viager contract he held on their apartments in Le Cannet. The 49 year-old maintains his innocence saying he his life has been hell for the last four years.
BUSINESS
The ECB has made sharp cuts to its forecasts for growth and inflation this year, and unveiled a round of fresh measures to try and revive the economy across the 19 Eurozone countries. The news has seen the Euro drop against the dollar and sterling.
It’s reported a third of British billionaires have made their home in countries like Monaco to avoid almost 40% tax on dividends or 20% tax on capital gains in the UK. The Times newspaper says there are 7,000 Britons in Monaco, the Bahamas and other low tax economies, with many holding titles including a viscount, one baron, six knights and one dame among the billionaires.
SPORT
Football - Paris St Germain star player Neymar as completely slammed the decision to award Manchester United a penalty in the 94th minute of last night’s game, which knocked the French team out of the Champions League.
He said the decision was a ‘disgrace’ made by four guys, who know nothing about football, watching a slow-motion replay, in front of the television.
Manchester’s win is the second shock result this week after Ajax came back to knock out holders Real Madrid on Tuesday.
Rugby - England captain Owen Farrell says he wouldn't like to play against the giant backline that head coach Eddie Jones is unleashing on Italy at Twickenham on Saturday.
Meanwhile Scotland Captain Greig Laidlaw has been dropped to the bench, in favour of Ali Price for their Six Nations meeting with Wales at Murrayfield. It is one of four changes made for Scotland's penultimate game of the competition.
Tennis - Rafael Nadal says he has ‘immense respect’ for Nick Kyrgios's talent, despite his criticism of the Australian last week. Kyrgios beat Nadal in last weeks quarter-finals in Mexico, but afterwards Nadal claimed that Kyrgios lacked respect and needs to show good values.
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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