Local
Shooting in Toulon leaves one dead and four injured - One person has died and four have been seriously injured after shots were fired in Toulon on Wednesday night. Several armed individuals entered a housing estate at around 9pm in the Sainte Musse district of Toulon. Police were deployed to the area and have opened a criminal investigation.
Yellow Vest movement - President Emanuel Macron has warned that the government will take action against those involved in any further violence around the yellow vest protests. A government spokesman said that the implementation of "visible solutions" will be put in place by the government in the coming weeks. The government said that there was legitimate suffering which must be heard but there had also been unacceptable behaviour and public order must be upheld.
Meanwhile protests continue in the region with several pay tolls on the A8 being left open by protestors. In Cannes a handful of protestors continue to occupy the roundabout at the entrance to the town while at the motorway exit in Avignon demonstrators have been serving coffee to those stranded.
Human rights - Several human right groups have alerted the prosecutor in Nice of offences committed concerning the treatment of immigrant minors aged between 15 and 18 at the French Italian border in Menton. The report claims that police are using “arbitrary detention of several hours, sometimes up to ten or eleven hours”. In recent months, the administrative court in Nice has already condemned the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes for illegal deportation of twenty foreign minors. The report was published on 20th November to coincide with the “International Day of Children’s rights” and hopes to draw attention to the situation of young foreigners from Italy trying to cross the border in Menton.
Dangerous buildings - Two weeks after the fatal collapse of buildings in Marseilles, it’s been announced that the municipal council in Nice will discuss the risk of dangerous buildings in the city at its meeting on Friday. Currently, there are twelve buildings which are subject to a dangerous buildings order in Nice.
Best cities for employment - Nice has ranked 81st out of 100 as one of the best cities in the world to find employment. Coming 4th behind other French cities such as Paris, Lyon and Marseille, Nice is seen as a destination of choice for those in search of a balance of professional and personal life. Boston came top of the ranking with the highest standard of living and disposable income. Prague showed the highest employment rate for young people while London has the highest level of new startups.
National
Bitcoin - According to French media reports on Wednesday as of the 1st January 2019 tobacco shops in France will be able to sell, coupons convertible into bitcoin. The new service, presented last month by the national tobacconists will see tobacconists able to market coupons of 50, 100 or 250 euros.
Corrupt payments - The trial of 14 French companies accused of making corrupt payments to the regime of Saddam Hussein in Iraq in the 1990s and 2000s has opened at the Paris appeals court. A different court cleared the firms of wrongdoing three years ago, but judges may now take a different view. A UN inquiry concluded in 2005 that some 2,200 companies around the world, including 180 in France, made more than 1.5 billion euros’ worth of corrupt payments.
Graffiti - This weekend a street artist will be awarded the Prix du Graffiti in Paris. The winner will be selected from among thirty or so graffiti artists whose work are currently on display at the Pavillon de l’Eau Gallery in Paris. All the art works will go under the hammer on Sunday during an auction that is expected to attract some seasoned contemporary art collectors.
Advert - A French court has ruled that posters showing a woman tied to train tracks did not promote violence against women. The posters were put up around the town of Béziers last December to celebrate the arrival of high-speed TGV trains. They carried the caption: "With the TGV, she would have suffered less." The ads faced a legal challenge from a number of feminist groups and criticism by France's equality minister. But the court said they were legal, despite the questionable humour.
Business
The European Commission has taken the first steps to sanctioning Italy over its budget in an escalating row over the country’s finances.
Last month,the EU rejected Italy’s draft budget and told it to make changes.
Italy maintains that it will stick to its spending goals resulting in the EU saying that formal proceedings that could now bring financial sanctions are “warranted”.
The European Commission cited particularly serious non-compliance with the fiscal recommendation for 2019 and warned that Italy risked “sleepwalking into instability”.
Under possible sanctions Italy risks being fined 0.2 percent of GDP which would cost the economy hundreds of billions of euros and also see a halt on the payment of any development funds.
Nissan is holding a board meeting to remove chairman Carlos Ghosn following his arrest and detention in Japan on charges of financial misconduct.
The company’s 19 year alliance with Renault of France has been rocked following Mr Ghosn’s arrest with some reports suggesting that the affair is motivated by a desire to “reset the balance” between the two firms.
The French and Japanese finance ministers will meet in Paris today to discuss the crisis.
Renault has so far refused to remove Mr Ghosn from his post as chairman and chief executive with Thierry Bollore appointed to replace him on an interim basis.
On Monday,Nissan said that an internal investigation had revealed that Mr Ghosn had engaged in wrongdoing including personal use of company money and under-reporting his earnings for several years.
And-The Swedish furniture chain Ikea has said that it may open stores in city centres to adapt to changing shopping habits.
The firm says that the proposed new stores would be “in between” the size of its new smaller city centre format and its big out-of-town premises.
The retailer said that it planned to add 4,000 staff to its global workforce over the next two years as part of a business revamp.
It added that it would create a total of 11 and a half thousand new posts but eliminate 7,500 other jobs.
Sport
Football-The Republic of Ireland manager Martin O’Neill and his assistant Roy Keane have both left their positions with immediate effect.
Ireland have not won a match this year and O’Neill had been coming under increasing pressure.
A statement by the Football Associaton of Ireland said that the board would meet shortly to discuss its options.
The former Republic of Ireland manager Mick McCarthy has said that he’d be willing to take on the job again.
The former Chelsea striker Didier Drogba has announced his retirement from the game.
The Ivory Coast star had two spells at Chelsea scoring 164 goals in 381 games and winning 4 Premier League titles and the 2012 Champions League.
He’d spent the last 18 months of his career at Phoenix Rising in the US but at the age of 40 said that it was time to call it a day.
Cricket-James Anderson is being rested by England for the third Test against Sri Lanka.
Stuart Broad and Jonny Bairstow both return for the match.
England have already won the series and will be looking for a 3-0 clean sweep.
Rugby Union-Jack Nowell looks set to miss England’s final autumn international against Australia on Saturday with a hamstring injury.
Nowell didn’t train on yesterday and looks like he’ll be replaced on the wing by Joe Cokanasinga.
Centre Manu Tuilagi is also doubtful with a recurring groin injury.
Scotland coach Gregor Townsend has made 8 changes for Saturday’s match against Argentina.
Finn Russell moves to centre and Adam Hastings to fly-half.
There are six changes to the pack with Allan Dell,Fraser Brown and Simon Berghan forming a new front row while Grant Gilchrist comes in at lock and Jamie Richie and Josh Strauss are into the back row.
Golf-Excitement is building ahead of tomorrow’s pay-per-view showdown between Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson in Las Vegas.
The two will square up at the Shadow Creek Golf Club tomorrow with no spectators allowed on the course and thus the only option for watching the action via pay-per-view.
Both players will wear microphones during the event with the winner taking away 9 million dollars.
Weather
Partially cloudy with light variable winds and a high of 16 degrees Celsius.
Overnight lows of 1 degrees with cloudy skies.
Friday and the start of the weekend-Rain tomorrow.Partially cloudy on Saturday with highs of 14-16 degrees.
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