Elisabeth Borne has been named as the new French Prime Minister. The announcement was made in a press release early this evening. She previously held the post of Labor Minister in the government of Jean Castex. The outgoing Prime Minister, Jean Castex, was at the Elysees Palace this evening to present his resignation to President Macron. The names of ministers in the new government should be known over the next few hours.
Jean-Baptiste Djebbari is to join the board of a company which specializes in hydrogen fueled cars. The company, Hopium, made the announcement in a Tweet earlier today. He has served as Transport Minister in the Castex government.
Train services have been severely disrupted between Nice and St Raphael in both directions this afternoon and early this evening because of a signaling problem near Cannes train station. At one point no trains were operating on the line, but at about 5.30 this evening SNCF said that some traffic had resumed with difficulty between Nice and Marseille. However, it said that only trains that are displayed on train indicator boards are running and traffic will remain "extremely disrupted until the end of the day". SNCF are advising travelers to postpone their trip.
One person has died in an apartment fire in Marseilles this afternoon. An investigation has been opened to establish the cause of the blaze in the 8th arrondissement in the south of the city.
A fire has broken out in undergrowth in Frejus this afternoon. The Var Prefecture said that firefighters were attending the blaze in rue de Montouray.
The French Ministry of the Interior has said that deaths on French roads rose by 29% in April compared to the same month last year. The figure is an increase of 11% on April 2019. In April this year 262 people lost their lives on French roads.
Renauld Muselier, the President of the Provence-Alpes-Cote-d'Azur Region, has inaugurated a new regional natural park in the Vaucleuse department. Speaking to French media, he also expressed the hope that this classification could be extended to the Plaine des Maures in the Var.
BUSINESS
Restaurant operator McDonald's has said it will permanently leave Russia. It said it made the decision because of the "humanitarian crisis" and "unpredictable operating environment" caused by the war in Ukraine. It opened its first restaurant in Russia in Moscow in 1990. The company said it was aiming to sell of all its restaurants in Russia to a local buyer.
Ryanair has reported a full year loss of €355m. It said that traffic had recovered "strongly" To 97.1 million passengers but at lower fares. It said that traffic is still 35% below pre-covid levels. CEO Michael O'Leary said he expects prices for flights to rise by a "high single-digit per cent" this summer due to high demand for European beach holidays.
SPORT
Tennis... British player Laura Robson has announced her retirement from tennis at the age of 28. During her career she achieved number 27 in the world rankings, reached the fourth round at Wimbledon and the US Open and was an Olympic Silver medal winner. However, she's suffered from injury in recent years, having wrist surgery and three separate hip operations.
Speed restrictions are in place on all major roads in the Alpes-Maritimes today because of a smog alert....
Read More
A Marseille magistrate has been sentenced on the 17th of June in Nîmes for repeatedly avoiding motorway tolls using fake license plates. ...
Read More
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...
Read More
SFR has announced automatic compensation of 100GB of free mobile data for affected customers following a major network outage on the 16th of June....
Read More
French President Emmanuel Macron will chair a high-level Security and Defence Council meeting at the Élysée Palace today Wednesday, June 18th at 4pm, ...
Read More
