News
Macron calls for a halt in arms export - French President Emmanuel Macron has been heavily criticised by his Israeli counterpart after calling for arms exported to Israel to be halted. The French president’s comments were directed mainly at the US and were part of continuing French efforts to revive its call for a ceasefire in Lebanon. In an interview broadcast on Saturday, Macron told France Inter radio: “I think that today, the priority is that we return to a political solution, that we stop supplying weapons to lead the fighting in Gaza.” “France is not supplying them,” he immediately clarified, indirectly turning the spotlight on the US, Israel’s main arms supplier. He also warned about “a resentment that is being born; a hatred that is being fuelled by this”. Lebanon could not be turned into another Gaza, he added. His comments brought a swift response from Netanyahu.
The comments come as today 7th October marks a year since the Hamas attacked the Jewish state, nearly 100 hostages remain held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip and according to the Israeli army more than 30 of them have died in captivity. On Sunday thousands of people gathered in Paris and London in support of Israel and the victims of the attack. Other rallies were also organized in several French cities. After twelve long months of conflict its reported that nearly 42,000 have died on the Palestinian side and more than 1,200 on the Israeli side.
Drugs war in Marseille involving 14-year-old hitman - A 14-year-old boy has allegedly been hired as a hitman, as the drugs war in Marseille hit the headlines again at the weekend. According to reports the teenager was recruited by a prisoner who later called police to report him over the killing of a taxi driver. An investigation has been opened into alleged murder and conspiracy to murder by a criminal gang. Police are trying to determine why the prisoner reported his own alleged recruit to police. The Marseille prosecutor, Nicolas Bessone, described the latest incident as “unprecedented savagery” in a press conference on Sunday, saying two recent crimes involving teenagers showed that drug turf wars were dragging in the “ultra-young”, who were being enlisted by gangs to carry out increasingly violent crimes.
National Rally declares that their “next campaign starts in Nice - Leader of the far-right National rally party Marine Le Pen, has declared at the groups National Assembly held in the Palais Nikaia on Sunday, that “Nice is the starting point for the great national unity that the party is calling for”, adding that “the next campaign starts here”. Standing in front of several thousand supporters in the Côte d'Azur capital, Marine Le Pen aroused the enthusiasm of her activists. She also praised Eric Ciotti and his political courage which according to her is a rare thing in today’s politics. She went on to declare that the “National Rally is now the leading party in France”.
Drug dealers store drugs in sewers in Hyères - Two young people aged 19 and 23 have been handed a 10 and 12 month suspended prison sentence after being found guilty of drug dealing in the coastal town of Hyères in the Var. Police had arrested the two individuals on the Bosquets housing estate on January 16th. During the trial it was revealed that they had taken to storing the drugs in the local sewers. The two defendants deny any participation in drug trafficking.
QR Codes Scam - Monaco's city hall warns motorists about a parking meter scam affecting 40 devices. Fraudulent QR code stickers, falsely labelled as "paybyphone," direct users to malicious websites for payment. None of Monaco's parking meters use QR codes, and legitimate payment methods include the PayByPhone app (without QR codes), Monapass, or card and coin payments at the meters.
Pink October - Casino Square has been lit up in Pink to launch the month of “Pink October” and a global campaign to raise awareness of breast cancer. On Friday Princess Charlene of Monaco, Honorary President of Pink Ribbon, attended the symbolic illumination. The Pink Ribbon association organizes each year the lighting in pink of the emblematic buildings of the Principality including the Prince's Palace.
19th Francophonie Summit – Meanwhile, Prince Albert II of Monaco has participated in the second day of the 19th Francophonie Summit, organised by France on Saturday, October 5th. The summit, held under the theme “Creating, Innovating, and Enterprising in French,” focused on key issues such as youth employment. Prince Albert emphasised the importance of the French language as a shared cultural heritage that unites diverse communities and reiterated that youth must be a priority, as 60 percent of the Francophone population is under 35. The next Ministerial Conference of La Francophonie is scheduled for autumn 2025 in Rwanda.
UTMB Nice 2024 – Finally, 6,000 runners have taken part in five races this weekend for the UTMB Nice 2024. With 79 nationalities supervised by 800 volunteers it was once again a successful year for the event which saw 4,343 runners cross the finish line on the Promenade des Anglais on Sunday.
Business
Hiring in the US surged unexpectedly last month, easing fears that the economy might be heading for a sudden, sharp downturn. The Labor Department sqaid that employers in the US added 254,000 jobs in September, much more than expected, while the jobless rate dipped from 4.2% to 4.1%. That was the strongest gain since March and was far higher than the roughly 150,000 many analysts had forecast. President Joe Biden welcomed the report, one of the last major pieces of economic data that voters will receive before the presidential election.
The UK needs a strategy to meet growing demand for data centres or risk losing its advantage in the race to develop artificial intelligence (AI), one of the sector's largest players has told reporters. Data centres are central to the digital economy. They provide the power, connections and security required for the vast amount of processing power on which everything from personal device browsing to AI learning relies on.
Sport
Football – In the English Premier League on Sunday evening Aston Villa drew 0-0 with Manchester United. Chelsea and Nottingham Forest drew 1-1 and Brighton beat Tottenham 3-2.
Meanwhile, in the French ligue 1 PSG drew 1-1 against Nice. The result means that Paris Saint Germain gives up its leadership position of the Ligue 1 to Monaco.
Cycling – Frenchman Christophe Laporte has won the Paris-Tours cycling race. Laporte covered the 214km in pouring rain on Sunday between Chartres and Tours winning his first race of the season.
Weather
Cloudy with showers and moderate to strong winds in the Var. Highs of 21 degrees in Nice, Monaco and Cannes. 22 degrees in Saint-Tropez and Toulon. This evening going down to 16 degrees with cloudy skies.
The outlook for tomorrow and Wednesday. Tomorrow thundery showers with highs of 21 degrees and strong winds. Wednesday, sunny intervals highs of 24 degrees with scattered showers by the evening.
Sunrise 07.35am
Sunset 06.59pm
Weather elsewhere
London 18° sunny intervals.
Paris 18° thundery showers.
Dublin 17° sunny intervals.
A criminal network that cloned payment cards to steal "hundreds of thousands of euros" from trucking companies across France, including the Côte d’Azu...
Read More
The CGT has released a map detailing nearly 200,000 jobs threatened across France due to layoffs and industrial restructuring since September 2023, wi...
Read More
The A8 motorway was temporarily closed at the La Barque toll plaza toward Nice due to a vehicle driving the wrong way near Aix-en-Provence....
Read More
The Monegasque Government is relaunching the Blue Fund initiative to support the Principality's economic development, highlighting the many opportunit...
Read More
The Fort Antoine open stage, dedicated to artists aged between 18 and 30 and organised by Monaco's Department of Cultural Affairs, is to return next y...
Read More
