Former French President Nicolas Sarkosy will appear in court in 2025 on charges relating to the alleged Libyan financing of his 2007 presidential campaign. The announcement of the trial was made by the French National Financial Prosecutor today. Twelve other people are also appearing in court. The former president denies all allegations.
French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin is in Nimes today following two deaths this week connected with drugs trafficking. An 18 year old died on Wednesday night and a ten year old child was caught in gunfire on Tuesday night. During his visit this afternoon he said that he was in favour of the establishment of a police station in the district where the shootings took place. The minister announced yesterday that police reinforcements would also be deployed to the town.
The Meteo France red level alerts for heat which had been in force in over a dozen French departments for several days have now been lifted. Meteo France said that an episode of strong heat affected the southern two-thirds of the country with unprecedented intensity for the end of summer. Many monitoring stations had never experienced such levels of heat. New absolute temperature records were measured in places such as Orange, Toulouse, Lyon and Carcasonne. In our region, a new high in overnight minimums was experience in Menton, with a temperature of 30.4 degrees recorded one night earlier this week. Several dozen departments are still on orange level alerts for heat and/or storms. The Var and the Alpes-Maritimes are still on an orange warning for heat, but only until 10pm this evening.
A Roma camp has been evacuated by the municipal and national police in Nice this morning. The encampment was on land belonging to motorway company Escota.
A man in his forties has died from cardiac arrest on a beach in Marseille. The man was found alone on the Huvaune beach early this morning. Emergency services arrived on the scene but he couldn't be revived.
BUSINESS
Retail sales volumes in the UK fell in the year to August for a fourth consecutive month, and at the fastest pace since March 2021, according to the latest quarterly CBI Distributive Trades Survey. Sales are expected to contract again next month, albeit at a slower pace.
India's finance minister has said that a free trade deal with the UK is "very close". Nirmala Sitharaman said that further talks will be carried out and the hope is that a free trade agreement will be completed as soon as later this year.
SPORT
Motorsports... Red Bull's Max Verstappen was fastest in first practice at the Dutch Grand Prix, despite going off into the gravel at the side of the track at the end of the session. Fernando Alonso was in second and Lewis Hamilton in third. In second practice this afternoon, McLaren's Lando Norris was ahead of Max Verstappen. Alex Albon had the third-fastest time, ahead of Lewis Hamilton.
Football... In the Premier League this evening Chelsea are at home to Luton Town. Tomorrow in the lunchtime game Bournemouth play Tottenham. Later Arsenal are at home to Fulham, Brentford play Crystal Palace, Everton play Wolves, Manchester United are at home to Nottingham Forest and Brighton play West Ham. On Sunday Burnley are at home to Aston Villa, Sheffield United play Manchester City and Newcastle are at home to Liverpool.
Cycling…Belgian cyclist Tijl de Decker has died at the age of 22 after an accident while training. De Decker crashed into the back of a car on Wednesday.
Train traffic is completely halted after 5:30pm today, Thursday 17th of October.
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A 26-year-old biker has died following a road accident behind the Eze-Village tunnel.
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Thirteen departments in southern France are under orange weather alert for rain, flooding, thunderstorms, and/or river surges. ...
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All schools in the Alpes-Maritimes will be closed today Thursday 17th October, due to the orange weather alert which is to be reinstated from 9am this...
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The Alpes-Maritimes and Var regions were placed under an orange weather alert for storms and rain-induced flooding on Wednesday, the 16th of October,...
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