A 29-year-old man is in a critical condition in a Toulon hospital after he was shot in the head by a police officer. Police were called out to the Mourillon district of the city in the early hours of Sunday morning amid reports that the man was threatening customers in a restaurant. When police arrived at the scene, the man fired shots in their direction. The officers fired back, with one of the shots hitting the man in the head. He was taken to Sainte-Anne hospital in Toulon in a life-threatening condition. The general inspectorate of the national police is carrying out an investigation.
Six people have been injured, one seriously, in a crash involving three cars in Peillon. The victim with serious injuries is a man in his 20s. The accident happened on Sunday morning.
Meanwhile, a motorcyclist has been seriously injured in a crash with a car on the main road from Mandelieu-la-Napoule to Fréjus on Saturday afternoon. 10 firefighters from Cannes La Bocca and Théoule-sur-Mer were called to the scene. The victim, a 23-year-old man, was taken to Pasteur hospital in Nice. The driver of the car was treated for shock.
And a driver had a lucky escape after a landslide caused major damage to their car between Isola and Saint-Sauveur-sur-Tinée yesterday evening. The car's front windscreen, bonnet and engine were destroyed in the impact from the falling boulders. Gendarmes were called out and one person was treated for minor injuries.
A demonstration in Nice calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and for peace in the Middle East was allowed to go ahead this weekend - despite being initially banned. Organisers appealed to Nice's administrative court after the Alpes-Maritimes préfecture said the march couldn't go ahead. The march attracted somewhere between 500 and 1,000 people. It's the eighth time that the court has ruled that the préfecture was wrong to ban a pro-Palestinian rally. Each time, the French state has had to pay damages to the organisers for infringing their right to peaceful protest. So far, those damages have totalled more than €11,000.
Residents in six towns around Fayence in the Var have been told not to drink or cook with the tap water, or use it to brush teeth, due to a possible contamination. Recent heavy rainfall means waste water may have entered the mains supply - and some people have complained that their tap water is an unusual colour. The affected towns are Fayence, Mons, Seillans, Montauroux, Tourrettes and Callian. Authorities are distributing bottled water to those affected.
Prosecutors in Draguignan have opened an investigation into corruption claims at Fréjus town hall. It comes after a journalist at the Nouvel Observateur published a book investigating the behaviour of David Rachline, the mayor of Fréjus and a rising star in the far-right National Rally party. The public prosecutor has said a preliminary investigation has been launched relating to the award of several public tenders and alleged illegal conflict of interest and favouritism.
A spot-check by gendarmes on 100 drivers in Sainte-Maxime in the Var found 13 of them committing road offences. The roadside checks were carried out late on Saturday night, on the main road heading out from Saint-Tropez. Four drivers were under the influence of drugs, five were drink-driving, three didn't have a valid licence and one tried to escape by dangerously reversing along the dual carriageway. Gendarmes say they'll be conducting more random spot-checks as the Christmas festivities approach.
Marseille football club have agreed to a 25% rent increase on the Vélodrome stadium. The City of Marseille is the venue's owner. It's putting up the rent from €6.5 million to €8 million per season. The council said this represented a fairer return on investment and would benefit the city's residents. Olympique Marseille are currently suing the city in a disagreement about rent payments during the Covid pandemic, when restrictions on attending sports fixtures were in place. A judgment in that case is expected sometime this week.
Monaco's first-ever woman firefighter has just been appointed - 114 years after the Monegasque fire brigade was founded by Prince Albert I. Colyne Gorgone, who's 23, was previously a volunteer firefighter in her home city of Lyon. She found the job in Monaco by chance, while searching online and passed two interviews and a medical. Now, after half a year of training, she's attended her first emergency scene - putting out a car fire in Beausoleil - and she also took part in the November 19th national day parade.
And Gassin, in the Var, is trying to get into the record books for having the narrowest street in the world. L'Androuno is a tiny passageway between two buildings, dating back to the 13th century, which at 29cm wide is perhaps best approached walking sideways. Gassin has been promoting it as a tourist attraction for some time and it frequently appears in visitors' Instagram posts. The official Guinness record for narrowest street currently belongs to a town in Germany, at 31cm. Gassin appears to have a good chance of beating that, but it needs official accreditation by the Guinness World Records judges.
BUSINESS
Argentina's new far-right president has vowed to deliver what he called "shock treatment" to mend the country's economy in his first speech after formally taking office. Javier Milei warned Argentines "there is no money" and recommitted to a programme of harsh austerity measures. The populist won a surprise election victory in November with radical pledges to overhaul the South American nation's ailing economy. Milei's inauguration was held in Buenos Aires on Sunday. In his first speech, he left Argentines in no doubt he intends to embark on an economic path unlike any previous president. He said he would undo "decades of decadence" with deep spending cuts, designed to slash huge public debts and drive down inflation, which is now higher than 140%.
Jobs growth in the US was stronger than expected last month, in part boosted as striking workers in Hollywood and the car industry returned to work. Employers added 199,000 jobs in November, the Labor Department said. That helped to push down the jobless rate to 3.7% - the lowest level since July. The monthly report is being closely watched as the US central bank tries to cool the economy to reduce inflation. The Federal Reserve has raised interest rates to the highest level in more than two decades in an attempt to slow price rises, and investors are increasingly betting that rates have peaked for now and may even start to fall next year.
SPORT
Football - Granada's La Liga match at home against Athletic Bilbao will be completed this evening after a supporter died in the stands at the stadium yesterday. Sunday's match was stopped after 17 minutes as paramedics tried to resuscitate a Granada season ticket holder who had a cardiac arrest. The match was abandoned an hour later. La Liga has announced the game will restart from the 17th minute, with Athletic 1-0 up, at 9pm tonight. Fans who had tickets for the initial game will be allowed to attend.
Staying in La Liga, Girona underlined their title credentials with a victory at Barcelona to move top of the table. Their 4-2 win was Girona's first ever league win over their Catalan rivals. The result sees Girona open up a two-point gap to Real Madrid.
In Italy's Serie A, Romelu Lukaku scored but was later sent off as nine-man Roma held on for a point at home to Fiorentina in Serie A. The Belgium striker headed the hosts into an early lead but Fiorentina levelled midway through the second half to end on a 1-1 draw.
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