News
Carros opens psychological unit following death of deputy mayor - The town hall of Carros in the Alpes Maritimes has opened a psychological unit for its inhabitants and the employees of the town council, following the death of its first deputy mayor Yvan Remond. Fifty-year-old Remond was found dead from a bullet wound on Wednesday afternoon after allegedly taking his own life.
Two thieves arrested in the Var - Police in the Var have arrested two serial thieves of bicycles and electric scooters. Numerous stolen items were found at the home of one of the suspects including, ten electric bicycles and scooters as well as mobile phones. The two had been operating in the region for several months.
Man poses as a supply teacher - A 45-year-old man has been taken into police custody after posing as a primary school teacher. The incident occurred in Douai northern France, when the individual arrived at the school premises pretending to be a supply teacher and gave a lesson to CM1 CM2 students. Staff were alerted by his “strange behaviour” and filed a complaint with the police. He was later caught attempting to enter a second establishment under the same pretext. The man is already known to the authorities.
Property tax to increase in Toulon - Property tax, known as the taxe foncière, is set to increase in Toulon in the Var. The announcement at the city council on Thursday has been met with strong criticism. It is indeed the first time in twelve years that there has been an increase in the tax which will affect homeowners with a jump from 4 to 5%.
French Prime Minister refuses debate with far-right leader ahead of elections- French Prime Minister Jean Castex has refused to hold a debate with the National Rally candidate Marine Le Pen, ahead of the first round of the elections on April 10th. During a campaign promotion on Thursday in Seine-Saint-Denis Castex refused Marine Le Pen’s proposal after it was known that the far-right candidate had previously opposed to any debate with other candidates, such as far-left candidate Jean Luc Mélenchon, Republican Valérie Pécresse and far-right Eric Zemmour, saying she was only willing to debate with President Emmanuel Macron or the Prime Minister.
Sweeteners are associated with a hight risk of cancer - According to an Inserm study the consumption of sweeteners is associated with a higher risk of cancer. French researchers conducted a study on more than 10,000 people between 2009 and 2021. Sweeteners which give a little sweet taste to food, while reducing their added sugar content are consumed on a daily by millions of people. But according to a study carried out by researchers from Inserm, Inrae, Cnam and Paris-Sorbonne University these food additives are associated with an increased risk of cancers, in particular breast cancer and cancers linked to obesity.
Jazz à Juan - Organisers of “Jazz à Juan” have announced this year’s line-up including Paul Anka, George Benson and John Legend. It had already been announced that Herbie Hancock and Van Morrison will be performing at the Jazz Festival with tickets going on sale on March 31st. The festival runs from July 6th to the 19th.
Rugby World Cup 2023 - It's been announced that Nice will host the Official Base Camp for the Scotland team during the 2023 Rugby World Cup. The tournament takes place at venues across France in September and October next year.
Business
Unemployment in the United States has fallen to its lowest level since 1969 with new figures showing a massive turn around in the job market since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
Only 187,000 people filed for unemployment last week -down by 28,000 on the previous week’s figure.
The last time that unemployment was so low in the US was when America landed the first man on the moon and the Woodstock music festival was taking place.
When the coronavirus lockdowns were first imposed two years ago, the weekly jobless report hit record highs with claims eventually hit 6 million.
The economy has been boosted by a massive government stimulus programme with growth jumping by 5.7 percent last year while pay rolls have been expanding at a lightning speed.
Last month’s jobless rate was just 3.8 percent putting the country close to full employment.
The European Union has agreed tough new rules to prevent the dominance of large tech firms.
Under the European Digital Markets Act ,tech giants such as Google and Apple will be forced to open up their services and platforms to other businesses.
Big tech has been facing mounting criticism that major players use their market dominance to squeeze out competition.
The development will usher in a new era of tech regulation worldwide and will include laws such as Apple being forced to open up its App Store to third-party payment options instead of users being forced to use its own payment system.
Google will be required to offer users of its Android smartphone technology alternatives to its search engine ,Google Maps or its Chrome browser.
The EU also wants consumers to be given more choice over how they send messages with Facebook ,WhatsApp and iMessage all targeted.
And-The cost of living in Russia is increasing at an alarming rate following the invasion of Ukraine.
Many Russians are being forced to queue for several hours to buy basic foods such as sugar and buckwheat as sanctions bite and inflation spirals.
The cost of basic foodstuffs has risen by 14 percent since the war started and the value of the rouble has fallen by 22 percent this year.
The Bank of Russia has doubled interest rates to 20 percent this month in an attempt to stop the rouble from sliding further.
Many Russians have said that they’re feeling the squeeze and shoppers are being forced to make lengthy expeditions to buy enough weekly supplies.
Sport
Football-Wales have reached the World Cup playoff final after Gareth Bale scored both goals last night in a 2-1 victory over Austria.
Bale struck in the 25th and 51st minutes and although Austria pulled a goal back on 64 minutes ,Wales held on and will now face either Scotland or Ukraine for a place at the World Cup Finals.
The European champions Italy won’t be there though.Roberto Mancini’s side were beaten 1-0 at home by North Macedonia with the winner coming at the death in the 92nd minute.It’s the second successive time that Italy have failed to qualify for the World Cup Finals.
Formula 1-First practice for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in Jeddah takes place at 3pm this afternoon with Charles Leclerc looking to repeat his success in the opening race of the season last weekend.
Ferrari scored their first 1-2 since 2019 at the Bahrain Grand Prix with Leclerc winning and Carlos Sainz second.
The signs are that Ferrari will be strong again this weekend with Red Bull seeking to eliminate the problems that forced both cars to retire in Bahrain and Mercedes still looking to solve their aerodynamic deficiency which is putting them behind the fastest cars.
Second practice is at 6pm this evening with qualifying at 6pm tomorrow and the race at 7pm on Sunday.
Cricket-England are in a pickle heading into day 2 of the third and final Test against West Indies in Grenada.
West Indies won the toss and elected to field on a lively pitch and England slumped to 114-9 before tail enders Saqib Mahmood and Jack Leach restored a veneer of respectability to the score with 49 and 41 not out respectively.
England were bowled out for 204 with West Indies yet to bat.Play resumes at 3pm this afternoon.
Cricket-Australia are trying to force victory and win the series on the final day of the 3rd Test against Pakistan in Lahore.
On day 4 ,the tourists declared their second innings on 227-3 leaving Pakistan to chase 351 to win.
Pakistan had reached 77-1 in their second innings with two and a half sessions to go in the day.
Weather
Clear skies with light to moderate easterly winds.
Top temperature 17-18 degrees.
Overnight lows of 9-12 degrees on the coast and 3-6 degrees inland with clear skies.
The weekend-Mainly fine with highs of 18 degrees.
And Finally
A poll in the UK has found that Sticky toffee pudding is the nation’s favourite dessert. Nearly half of the adults surveyed picked the dessert as the best. Second place went to a French pastry, the chocolate éclair. Apple crumble came a very close third. The study found that other puddings that Brits can’t resist are chocolate mousse at 33 per cent and millionaire’s shortbread at 32 per cent.
The mayor of Nice, Christian Estrosi, has passed a municipal decree banning the controversial comedian Dieudonné from performing in the city this week...
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French police have charged five soldiers over the deaths of 27 people who sank while trying to cross the English Channel on 24 November 2021. ...
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A kidnapping alert has been triggered by the French government. The alert was issued on Thursday evening May 25th, following the abduction in Fontaine...
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