A 21 year old man has been sentenced to one year in prison for a social network post referencing the Nice attack of July 2016. The resident of Auxerre made the post, which included an image of the truck used in the attack, on the evening of the match between OGC Nice and Olymique de Marseille. His lawyer had submitted that the defendant was a Marseille supporter and the post had been made in the context of the match. However, the court did not accept this argument and sentenced him to a year in prison for incitement to hatred. Commenting on the court case, Nice mayor Christian Estrosi said that "the authors of these messages on the networks must be systematically condemned".
The Covid-19 incidence rate has risen slightly in Monaco, according to government data published today. The incidence rate over the 7 days to last Sunday was 222, up from 189 the previous week. 87 new positive cases of Covid-19 were detected in the week. As of Sunday, 13 people, including 6 residents, were hospitalized at the Princess Grace Hospital. One person was being treated in intensive care. One person, aged 78, died on October 22. As of Sunday evening, 42 people were being followed by the Home Monitoring Centre.
A gendarme has died after being hit by a truck on the A13 motorway in the Eure department in north-west France. The 21 year old driver of the truck hit five vehicles. French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said that the incident occurred during an operation to arrest drugs traffickers. He offered his "full support" to three gendarmes who were also injured, one of them seriously.
The Monaco government has held a meeting with passenger transport professionals from the Principality and the Alpes-Maritimes. They discussed the results of the 2022 summer season, which were regarded a being very positive. Also discussed were the various possibilities of adapting the system for picking up and dropping off customers on the territory of the Principality, with a view to the winter period. The Minister of State and the Prefect of the Alpes-Maritimes both agreed on the need to set up a balanced, simple and sustainable system. From January 1, 2023, and during the first quarter of 2023, subject to certain exceptions, Monegasque and French transport professionals must limit themselves to just dropping off passengers in the neighbouring territory.
Two hydro-electric power plants in the Alpes-Maritimes have been brought back on line after two years of work following Storm Alex. The Prefect for the reconstruction of the valleys, Xavier Pelletier attended a ceremony this morning in St Dalmas de Tende with local mayors and representatives of power company EDF. The project has cost 54 million euros and will provide 280 megawatts of power.
BUSINESS
WhatsApp has come back online after an outage earlier today. Users who tried to use the app for about an hour this morning were faced with a "connecting" message. Meta, which owns WhatsApp, said the problem had been fixed but did not give a reason for the disruption.
The lowest-priced UK supermarket items have increased in cost by around 17% over the year to September, according to data collected by the Office for National Statistics. The ONS published the results today of what it called "highly experimental research", based on web-scraped supermarket data for 30 everyday grocery items. There was considerable variation across the 30 items, with vegetable oil showing the largest percentage increase between April and September and orange juice showing the largest decrease.
SPORT
Rugby Union... Justin Tipuric will replace Dan Biggar as Wales captain for the autumn internationals against New Zealand, Argentina, Georgia and Australia. Biggar is out because of a knee injury.
Italy women's team player Sara Tounesi has been given a 12-match ban for biting at the World Cup. The tournament's judicial committee upheld the decision for biting an opponent during Sunday's match against Japan in Auckland. She has the option of appealing against the decision.
Cricket... England have recalled Jason Roy for the one-day international series against Australia which follows the T20 World Cup. Sam Billings, James Vince and fast bowler Olly Stone have also been named in the squad.
A new optional regional transport tax for businesses, introduced in France’s 2025 budget, aims to fund eco-friendly mobility projects. ...
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A judge has authorised a dive to inspect the wreckage of a plane in the sea off Antibes. The plane crashed into the Mediterranean on September 11 1968...
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In France, drinking water is heavily contaminated with "forever pollutants," particularly trifluoroacetic acid (TFA), as revealed by two studies from ...
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The trial of the Tunisian man accused of the murder of three people in the Nice Basilica attack is continuing in Paris. Yesterday the families of the ...
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Four cities in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (PACA) region made Booking.com's 2025 list of the "most welcoming destinations in France." ...
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