Newly appointed French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne has been carrying out wide ranging consultations before deciding on her new cabinet. Reports say she has consulted former Prime Ministers Edouard Philippe and Bernard Cazeneuve as well as the presidents of the Senate and the National Assembly. She is also consulting with a range of social, political and civil society figures. The appointments must be in place before Friday when the first meeting of the new cabinet is scheduled to take place.
Two people died in separate attacks in Marseilles last night. Local reports say that a man in his twenties was stabbed in the chest. A second man was found with gunshot wounds to the neck. Investigations have been opened to establish the circumstances of the deaths, but at least one is suspected of being related to a settling of accounts in the criminal community.
Traffic was disrupted on part of the A8 motorway this afternoon. A heavy goods vehicle carrying 20 tonnes of asphalt overturned at 11:30 am on the carriageway towards Italy, between the Nice Est interchanges (N°55) and the junction between A8 and A500. The truck's load spread over the 3 lanes of traffic causing major disruption. VINCI Autoroutes teams were mobilized to allow emergency services to intervene, then to evacuate the vehicle involved. Surface cleaning operations to remove the asphalt required several hours of intervention with a contraflow being put in place. Traffic is beginning to improve but as at early this evening, delays were still ocurring on the A8 around Nice in the direction of Italy.
Hollywood star Tom Cruise is in Cannes today where his movie Top Gun: Maverick is being shown out of competition at this year's Film Festival. Yesterday he met the French airforce display team, the Patrouille de France, who said that he had "inspired a generation of pilots". The team are flying over Cannes today. Speaking at the Festival, he said that he makes films "for the big screen" and said his films won't be released directly on streaming platforms, adding that he goes to see films in cinemas himself when they are released.
BUSINESS
UK inflation has risen to its highest level in about 40 years. The annual inflation rate rose to 9% in the 12 months to April, up from 7% in March. The high rate was driven by higher fuel and energy and also food price rises caused by the Ukraine war.
Streaming company Netflix has laid off about 150 staff. The redundancies mainly affect its US office in California and represent about 2% of its North American workforce. The move comes just a month after the company said it was losing subscribers for the first time in a decade.
SPORT
Cricket.... James Anderson and Stuart Broad have been recalled by England for the New Zealand Tests. Yorkshire player Harry Brook and Durham's Matty Potts have received their first call-ups. The first Test begins on 2 June at Lords, followed by the second test at Trent Bridge on 10 June, with the series finishing at Headingley.
Football....It's the Europa League final this evening between Eintracht Frankfurt and Rangers. It's the Scottish club's first European final in 14 years and Frankfurt's first since 1980. Kick off is at 9pm.
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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