Evening Update 17 Jan

The new Prefect of the Alpes-Maritimes Bernard Gonzalez made a passionate inaugural speech in Nice today, praising the courage of the security forces, saying they had restored confidence in a department touched by terrorism. He also praised their commitment during the recent floods and the fight against illegal immigration. He referred to the 21,000 arrests made last year at the Franco-Italian border saying it would remain a priority in 2020. To organised crime and the mafia, he made a direct message, saying they were ‘gangrene on our land’ and would face the direct resolve of France.

Marine Le Pen has announced that she will definitely be a candidate for President in 2022 and that her aim is to 'unite the country'. She made the announcement at what she called the launch of her pre-presidential campaign which she said was preparing a huge change from the Macron presidency.

Ski resorts could be the next to be hit by the strike against pension reform. The CGT union say they intend to coordinate action in the Isère, Savoie and Haute-Savoie départements during mid-term.

France wants streaming services like Netflix and Amazon to invest a quarter of their sales in local productions. Up until now, broadcasters and cinemas have tended to be the ones to subsidise local content. Now France wants streaming sites that offer mostly TV series and films to put at least 25 percent of their revenues to local productions.

BUSINESS

Thales Alenia Space, based in Cannes, are predicting an uplift in sales this year. Speaking yesterday, as the company’s latest satellite was launched by ArianeSpace, they revealed four new contracts have already been signed for commercial satellites this year.

Morgan Stanley have raised their price targets for Apple stock as the tech giant’s shares continue to surge. However they cautioned that inflated iPhone 12 expectations may make the music stop as replacement cycles can’t stretch much further and may in fact begin to shrink.

A new tax on tech giants like Facebook has been called for by British doctors, who want it used to fund research on the harms caused by social media. Facebook, Google and Twitter have yet to comment.

SPORT

Football - OGC Nice has been fined 2,000 euros by the French Football League for an incident before Christmas where children accompanying players onto the pitch wore Santa hats. According to regulations, escort kids must wear the same equipment as professionals, and as the footballers did not wear Santa hats the League imposed the fine.

Basketball - AS Monaco’s Roca Team are hoping to keep their unblemished record this weekend, but they face a tough opponent in Pau-Orthez. While Monaco are protecting their No.1 position in the league, Pau have nothing to lose, which could see some unexpected game play from the team. The match kicks off at 6.30 tomorrow evening at Salle Gaston Medecin, at Stade Louis II in Monaco.

Formula 1 - Ferrari have announced the induction of a second Monagasque driver to its Academy .. none other than Arthur Leclerc .. younger brother of Grand Prix winning driver Charles Leclerc. Born in the Principality in October 2000, Arthur Leclerc began his career in motorsport in the French Formula 4 championship in 2018.