Over 2,000 demonstrators took to the streets of Nice today to protest at pension reforms. The protestors included rail workers, teachers and medical staff. Tram services were disrupted because of the demonstrations. Six hundred people also marched in Brignoles from the sub-prefecture in the city center to near the A8 payage. Disruption has also been reported in some of the region’s schools because of industrial action by staff. According to the CGT union, seven of the eight oil refineries in France were blockaded again today. According to the Ministry of the Interior, 339,000 people marched throughout France today. Unions put the figure at 885,000. As regards tomorrow’s train services, the SNCF have said that only 25% of the TGV trains will be running. In our region, it’s expected that 3 out of 10 TER services will be running, in the Alpes-Maritimes, the Var and the Bouches-du-Rhône. Some of those services will involve the use of replacement bus services. Only 24 return journeys will be taking place tomorrow on the Nice to Ventimiglia line and 20 return trips on the Cannes- to Nice line. As several unions call for the strike to continue indefinitely French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe will give a speech at midday on Wednesday following a meeting with ministers and will later be the guest of the “vingt heure” on TF1 on Wednesday evening.
In the Val-de-Marn, two delivery drivers are suspected of making off with one million euros worth of parcels. They are alleged to have taken about 250 parcels, most of which contained mobile phones. One of the two delivery vans was later recovered with only a small number of parcels still inside.
The French public health authority has released figures showing the number of fatalities caused by wild mushroom picking. 22 people died in France between 2010 and 2017 as a result of mushroom poisoning. Over 10,000 cases of illness through mushroom poisoning were recorded during this period.
Thirty innovative startups from across the Southern Region have been selected to attend the Consumer Electronic Show (CES) 2020 which will take place in Las Vegas from January 7th to January 10th. The international show welcomes every year some 170,000 professionals to discover the 20,000 start ups. Among the 30 start ups will be a dozen from the Alpes Maritimes including “My Keeper” from Bar-sur-Loup, an innovative alert solution for smartphones in case of an emergency and “BodyO” from Nice a virtual assistant in the field of wellbeing and health. There will be four from the Var region including “Instant2gether” from Toulon which allows you to find an activity nearby, in seconds, to practice alone or with friends.
BUSINESS
The UK economy suffered its worst three months for more than a decade after official figures revealed output failed to grow once again in October. New data showed the economy flatlined month-on-month in October, after two months of declines. It was the weakest three months since early 2009.
Amazon has signed an exclusive deal in Germany securing the rights to 16 Champions League matches a season. This will give the firm its pick of the Tuesday night matches in the group and knockout stages for three seasons in 2021 to 2022. Rights to Champions League matches in Germany are held by Sky Deutschland. Other than the deal with Amazon, a package of matches is sub-licenced to sports streaming service Dazn.
Japanese markets watchdog, the Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission, has recommended that carmaker Nissan should pay a fine of up to $22m over the under-reporting of former chairman Carlos Ghosn's compensation. Mr Ghosn was arrested in November 2018 over allegations of financial misconduct, including understating his salary by around 9.1 billion yen (£62.9m) over a period of nearly a decade and temporarily transferring personal financial losses to the books of Nissan.
SPORT
Football… Didier Deschamps has extended his contract with France until the end of the 2022 tournament in Qatar. Deschamps took over in 2012 and led France to the Euro 2016 final before their victory at the 2018 World Cup. The extension means the 51-year-old will become France's longest-serving coach.
The final group games in the European Champions League are being played tonight and tomorrow. Liverpool need at least a point away at Red Bull Salzburg in Group E if they’re to make the knockout phase while Chelsea who’ve been in patchy form of late need to beat Lille at Stamford Bridge to make sure they qualify for the last 16.
Motorsport… Formula 1 teams have unanimously rejected the tyres proposed by Pirelli for the 2020 season. Pirelli had hoped the new design would be a step forward in plans to introduce less sensitive tyres, on which drivers can push and race harder. But at a test in Abu Dhabi last week, teams said that they preferred the 2019 tyres.
Speed restrictions are in place on all major roads in the Alpes-Maritimes today because of a smog alert....
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A Marseille magistrate has been sentenced on the 17th of June in Nîmes for repeatedly avoiding motorway tolls using fake license plates. ...
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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...
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SFR has announced automatic compensation of 100GB of free mobile data for affected customers following a major network outage on the 16th of June....
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French President Emmanuel Macron will chair a high-level Security and Defence Council meeting at the Élysée Palace today Wednesday, June 18th at 4pm, ...
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