Measures have been introduced aimed at limiting the reoccurrence of recent violence around the French national holiday. Busses and trams will stop running in Nice at 10pm this evening and tomorrow evening, which is also the case in many metropolitan areas across France. The prefect of the Alpes-Maritimes Bernard Gonzalez has said that about seven hundred security personnel will be mobilised this evening. In the Var a prefectoral decree prohibits certain activities until Monday morning at 9am, including the sale and possession of fuel in a portable container, the sale and use of fireworks and the possession of weapons or objects which may constitute a weapon. Similar measures are in force in the Alpes-Maritimes. Police officers have been carrying out road checks in Menton, targeting vehicles from Italy likely to import firework mortars. By prefectoral decree, the capture, recording and transmission of images by the internal security force by means of cameras installed on aircraft, are authorized in certain sectors of Nice until July 17.
A firework display is taking place in Nice on the Quai de Etats Unis this evening which will be visible over a wide area of the city. Many traffic restrictions have been put in place. The maritime prefecture has also put restrictions in place. There are other firework displays in our region this evening including in Grasse, Villefranche-sur-Mer, Roquebrune Cap Martin and Bealieu-sur-Mer.
TER and ZOU train and bus services are set to be disrupted by industrial action this weekend. The action is from tomorrow, July 14 to Sunday July 16.
More information is available from:
• The SNCF TER SUD website: Se Deplacer ► Info Trafic ► Info Greve
• Contact TER SUD on 0800 11 40 23 (free call: Monday to Sunday from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.)
• At the station where a display is available to passengers
• On the @TERSUD_SNCF Twitter feed (Monday to Friday from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Sunday and public holidays from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m.)
French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire has said that the interest rate of the Livret A account will be maintained at 3% for 18 months. Normally, the rate is recalculated every six months but the 3% rate will now apply until January 2025.
A TGV train has been boarded by authorities at Le Creusot in eastern France after shots were fired by a passenger. The train was en route from Paris to Milan via Annecy when a passenger reportedly tried to open a door while the train was moving. He was approached by a police officer who was on board. The individual apparently managed to grab the officer’s gun before firing it. The man has been arrested and no injuries have been reported.
A final search of an area of ground has been performed today in the search for two and a half year old Emile in the hamlet of Vernet in the Alpes-de-Haut-Provence. The Public prosecutor of Digne-les-Bins said today that a strip of about ten metres at each side of 1.8km of road were searched again today. About fifty gendarmes from Gap were involved in the search. Authorities are now moving into a new phase of the investigation centred around the processing of information collected.
BUSINESS
UK GDP is estimated to have fallen by 0.1% in May according to the office for National Statistics. The figures were affected by the additional bank holiday for the King's coronation. The ONS said that GDP is now estimated to be only 0.2% above its pre-pandemic levels of February 2020.
Demand for oil this year is likely to be less than previously estimated according to the International Energy Agency. It said that a slump in manufacturing has led it to reduce its estimate by 220,000 barrels per day. However, it is still estimating that there will be record demand for oil this year at 102.1 million barrels per day.
SPORT
Tennis.... It's women's semi-finals day at Wimbledon today. Marketa Vondrousova is through to Saturday's final after beating Ukranian wildcard Elina Svitolina 6-3 6-3. She becomes the first unseeded player to reach a Wimbledon women's singles final. The other semi-final is Ons Jabeur against Aryna Sabalenka.
Rugby Union... The Champions Cup and Challenge Cup competitions have released their pool fixtures. Champions Cup winners La Rochelle will host Leinster. Premiership champions Saracens are away to Bulls in South Africa. Glasgow Warriors will host Northampton with Ulster travelling to Bath. Bristol Bears open their campaign against Lyon while Cardiff are away at Toulouse.
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