National News France
Poll shows National Rally in the lead ahead of parliamentary elections - According to a poll from IFOP for the broadcasting group TF1 and Le Figaro France’s far-right National Rally is leading the race in the parliamentary elections, ahead of the leftwing Popular Front and President Emmanuel Macron's centrists. The survey said the National Rally (RN) would secure 34% of the vote, while the Popular Front would reach 29% and Macron's Together bloc would get 22%.
Tribute to French singer Françoise Hardy - Musicians, singers and politicians have paid a final tribute in Paris to the singer Francoise Hardy, who died on June 11th at the age of 80. Along with family and friends French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife Carla were present on Thursday along with the Minister of Culture Rachida Dati and the First Lady Brigitte Macron. Hundreds of fans also came to pay tribute to the artist whose hits “Tous les Garçons et les filles and Comment te dire adieu” shaped their younger years.
Hotels in Nice take Airbnb to court - Hotels in Nice have taken Airbnb to court for “unfair competition” demanding 9.2 million euros in compensation. About 20 hotel owners supported by the sectors main union claim that there are 3,673 unauthorised advertisements in Nice. The summons before the Paris commercial court was sent to the company Airbnb Ireland, established in Dublin and the group's European headquarters on Thursday 21st June. The hearing is scheduled for September 6th.
Lucky escape for jet-skier - Sea rescue services in Théoule-sur-mer have managed to rescue a person who went missing on a jet-ski off the nearby coast. Alerted by a friend at around 8pm on Thursday evening a large search was carried out and the individual was found safe and sound shortly after 9.30pm.
Online scams - Users of travel websites are being warned following a recent spate of online scams affecting those booking a summer holiday. The scams designed with ChatGPT are reportedly multiplying with recent figures showing that over the past year and a half, all industries combined, there has been an increase of 500 to 900% in scams leading to theft of identity or confidential information (access codes, bank details, etc.). Hackers are "undoubtedly using artificial intelligence to launch attacks that mimic emails much better than anything they've done before, thanks to generative AI tools, scammers can now work in multiple languages. The advice to users is not to click on anything that looks suspicious and if you have any doubts, call the property, hosts and customer service.
Reward – Finally, a reward will be offered to anyone that can help find the stolen watches from the Monaco Watch Company. Eighty-three luxury watches were stolen on the 29th of May for an estimated loss of 4 million euros on the boulevard des Moulins in Monaco. The owners have announced they would offer a reward for any information that would directly lead to the culprit’s arrest, or the recovery of watches.
Business
France’s finance minister Bruno Le Maire has promised to reopen negotiations with EDF on long-term electricity contracts, judging that the current price is not “competitive enough”. Bruno Le Marie made the promise during a meeting on Thursday, June 20, insisting that “negotiations would reopen with EDF because the exit price is not sufficiently competitive for French industry”.
Conservative billionaire Timothy Mellon has given a $50m boost to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. Mr Mellon, an heir of the Pittsburgh-based Mellon banking family, gave the donation the day after Trump was convicted on 34 charges of falsifying business records in his New York hush-money trial. Mr Mellon has also been the biggest donor to independent presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr, giving the pro-Kennedy Super-Pac American Values at least $20m.
Several American Airlines employees have been put on leave for their involvement in an incident in which black passengers were removed from a flight after a complaint about body odour. Three passengers filed a lawsuit against the carrier in May, alleging racial. The CEO said that the incident was unacceptable and that the company "fell short" of its commitment to customers.
Sport
Football - In the Euro 2024 England drew 1-1 with Denmark on Thursday, a result that leaves them top of Group C and in a strong position to qualify for the last 16.
However, just as in England's 1-0 win over Serbia on Sunday, Southgate's side failed to maintain control of the match and did not perform at their best.
Meanwhile, France boss Didier Deschamps says "everything is moving in the right direction" for Kylian Mbappe to be available to play against the Netherlands in their second Euro 2024 match this evening. The 25-year-old striker was forced off during Monday's 1-0 victory over Austria after breaking his nose. In other matches today Poland play Austria and Slovakia face Ukraine.
Cricket - India underlined their title credentials with a comprehensive 47-run victory over Afghanistan in the T20 World Cup Super 8s in Barbados.
Weather
Cloudy with rain and thundery showers in places. Strong westerly winds. Clearing by this afternoon with sunny intervals and highs of 26 degrees in Nice and Monaco. 25 degrees in Saint-Tropez. 27 degrees in Vence. This evening going down to 14 degrees inland and 21 degrees along the coast.
The outlook for the weekend. Saturday fine and sunny highs of 25 degrees. Sunday thundery showers, highs of 24 degrees.
Sunrise 05.48am
Sunset 09.15pm
Sea temperature
Nice 21.6 degrees
UV level 9
Weather elsewhere
London 24° sunny intervals.
Paris 22° light rain.
Dublin 18° thundery showers.
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Menton's mayor, Yves Juhel, supports the call made by Nice's mayor, Christian Estrosi, for the reintroduction of temporary border controls at the Fren...
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