News
Man charged for attempted femicide in Nice - A man has been charged in Nice for an attempted femicide. The victim was stabbed on Monday February 21st, 48 hours after having gone to the police accusing her husband of sexual assault. According to the family, the victim's five-year-old son called emergency services after she was stabbed and strangled in her sleep suffering severe injuries in the neck and face. The woman had reported her husband to the police over the weekend, saying she had been the victim of a sexual assault, but she had not filed a complaint. The man had been placed in police custody and then released on Sunday evening "for lack of sufficient evidence”. The couple was known to the courts for acts of domestic violence dating back to 2020.
Sponsorships for presidential elections - While the hunt for sponsorships for France’s Presidential election is in full swing, the mayors of three towns in the Var have granted their sponsorships to far left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon and far right leaders Marine Le Pen and Eric Zemmour. Faced with the risk that the "three candidates representing 42% of French people" would be excluded from the presidential election the mayor of Grimaud gave his sponsorship to Zemmour, the mayor of La Garde-Freinet gave his to Jean-Luc Mélenchon and the mayor of Plan de la Tour gave his to Marine Le Pen. Candidates require 500 signatures to be able to run in the elections to date Jean-Luc Mélenchon has 442, Le Pen 393 and Zemmour 350.
Voting - Meanwhile the French have until March 2nd to register online to vote or March 4th to register at a town hall. The first round of the presidential election has been set for April 10th.
Emergency summit - An emergency European summit is to be held today in Brussels on the situation in Ukraine. During the summit, in which French President Emmanuel Macron will participate, the EU intends to prepare sanctions according to the actions of Russia. Discussions will also focus on the economic and migration consequences of the crisis.
Meanwhile France’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has advised the French against traveling to Ukraine until further notice classifying the country as a red zone and inviting French nationals in the country to leave “without delay".
Open letter on working conditions for doctors in Nice - In an open letter posted on social networks and addressed to France’s Minister of Health, the Office of Interns in Medicine of Nice, has warned about the working conditions of doctors in training since the start of the health crisis and the "lack of consideration" from the French government. In the letter doctors are asking for "a salary increase for all interns in France", with reduced hours and fair payment.
Strike action - Strike action has been announced today on the local Envibus network affecting commuters in Antibes and Sophia-Antipolis. The action will affect all routes, except for school busses, between 9am and 4.30pm.
Abortion - The period for aborting a pregnancy has been extended from twelve to fourteen weeks. The change was made by the National Assembly on Wednesday, after a campaign said that many women did not realise they were pregnant until after the legal deadline for a voluntary termination had passed.
French billionaires - 63 French billionaires are emitting as much greenhouse gas as that of 50% of the entire French population. That’s according to a report by Greenpeace and Oxfam entitled Billionaires are Burning the Planet. They say they are not referring to the lifestyle of the ultra-rich but their financial heritage, through their participation in polluting companies, which is the largest item in their total carbon footprint.
Washing machines to be fitted with microplastic filters - France is the first country in the world to introduce a legislation requiring that all washing machines sold in France are to be fitted with microplastic filters by 2025. The idea is to capture the microplastic residues torn from the fibres of clothes during laundry.
Grand Prix - Registrations are now open to work at the Grand Prix in Monaco. As part of the 5th Monaco E-Prix on April 30th, the 13th Historic Monaco Grand Prix from May 13th to 15th and the Monaco Formula 1 Grand Prix at the end of May, the Automobile Club de Monaco is looking for people. To find out more and submit an application go to www.acm.mc
Business
Asian markets have nosedived this morning while gold ,oil and the dollar rose strongly after Russia launched military strikes on Ukraine and warned Western powers not to intervene or face “consequences greater than any you have faced in history”.
As the world braced for a Russian attack which was preceded by cyber attacks on Ukraine’s banks and security services ,the United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres made a direct appeal to Russia to pull its troops back “in the name of humanity”.
Ukraine says that a full scale invasion of its territory is now underway and reports say that Russian ground forces are crossing the border at Mariupol and Odessa.
The latest developments provoked a grim sell off in Asia pushing the MSCI index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan down by more than 3 percent.
US stock futures have fallen sharply with markets pricing in a full scale invasion of Ukraine on the back of what’s being seen as insufficient sanctions imposed on Russia by the West.
A leading German economic institute has said that Europe could heat citizens’ homes and power its industry on existing gas reserves for the remaining months of what’s been a relatively mild winter even if there’s a total halt to Russian gas imports.
The German Institute of Energy Economics at the University of Cologne says that current levels of gas held in European reserves could compensate for a loss of Russian deliveries over the next 6 to 8 week unless temperatures drop dramatically in March.
Germany currently relies on Russia for 50 percent of its gas but France is less dependent with the majority of its imports coming from Norway.
Europe is also importing increasing quantities of liquid gas with a record 11 billion cubic meters secured in January.
A report from the Kiel Institute in Germany has gone as far as saying that shutting off the Russian gas taps would hit the Russian economy harder than Europe’s.
The Institute said that shutting off Russian supplies would result in a slump of around 3 percent in Russian economic output while there would be hardly any damage for the eurozone.
And-Oil prices have hit 100 dollars a barrel for the first time since 2014 as Russia launched airstrikes on Ukraine and reports said that ground forces had started crossing the border.
Martial law has now been imposed in Ukraine with the market reacting sharply over concerns that a war in Europe will disrupt global energy supplies.
Brent Crude hit 104 dollars 34 earlier this morning up by 4.5 percent while West Texas Intermediate also rose by 4.5 percent to 96 dollars 51.
Russia ,the world’s second largest producer mainly sells its crude to European refineries and is also the largest supplier of natural gas to Europe accounting for 35 percent of sales.
Analysts say that the latest developments suggest that the oil and gas markets will remain volatile for some time and prices will remain elevated.
Sport
Football-There were two ties in the European Champions League round of 16 last night. Athletico Madrid and Manchester United drew 1-1 and Benfica and Ajax drew 2-2.
In the English Premier League last night Burnley beat Spurs 1-0.Watford lost 4-1 at home to Crystal Palace and Liverpool thrashed Leeds 6-0 to close the gap on Manchester City at the top of the table to 3 points.
In the English Championship last night Derby’s chances of survival were dented after they lost 2-1 at home to Millwall.Fulham beat Peterborough 2-1.Huddersfield were 2-1 winners over Cardiff.QPR beat Blackpool 2-1.Sheffield United beat Blackburn 2-1 and Stoke lost 2-1 at home to Luton.
Formula 1- Lando Norris in the McLaren set the fastest time on the first day of pre-season testing in Barcelona on Wednesday.
Norris clocked a fastest time of 1 minute 19.568 seconds with Charles Leclerc in the Ferrari second quickest and the second Ferrari of Carlos Sainz third.
Lewis Hamilton was 5th quickest in the Mercedes with World Champion Max Verstappen in 9th place.
Testing continues until Friday.
Cricket-Joe Root says that he’s “grateful” to still be England Test captain despite the recent rout in Australia.
Head coach Chris Silverwood and director of cricket Ashley Giles left their roles after the 4-0 defeat but Root has kept his job.
He maintains that he’s the right man to lead England’s Test side as they prepare for the tour of West Indies.
Rugby Union- Jonny Sexton is fit for Ireland’s 6 Nations game against Italy this weekend but lock Iain Henderson is out after testing positive for Covid.
The return of Sexton will be a boost for Ireland after he missed the defeat in France with a hamstring problem.
Joey Carbery is set to return to the bench to make way for Sexton despite his good performance in the win against Wales.
Weather
Partially cloudy with hazy sunshine and light to moderate south westerly winds.
Top temperature 16 degrees.
Overnight lows of 8-11 degrees with clear skies.
Friday and the start of the weekend-Mainly fine with highs of 17 degrees tomorrow and 14 degrees on saturday .
And Finally
According to research Sheffield in the UK has been named the hardest working city followed by Belfast and Glasgow. 83 per cent of workers in the Yorkshire city have worked more than their contracted hours. In contrast, Glaswegians enjoy leaving the office early while those based in Leeds think them and their colleagues are the most sociable outside of work. Companies in Newcastle and Leeds came out joint top for being the most appreciative of staff and colleagues. The study also found those in Leeds consume the most cups of tea and coffee, an average of four cups a day. Bristol workers take the longest lunch breaks, getting a solid 30 minutes each day. It also emerged two thirds of all workers generally enjoy where they work, with the average worker typically taking part in two social events per month.
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