National News France
Teenage girl to be sued by the French state - France's prime minister Gabriel Attal has announced that a teenage girl who falsely accused her headteacher of striking her in a heated exchange over her wearing an Islamic head-covering will be sued by the French state. The headteacher insisted that the pupil remove her head-covering inside the school, in accordance with French law. Since the incident in February and as reported on Wednesday the teacher has resigned after death threats circulated on social media. The Islamist threat to French schools is taken extremely seriously since the murder of two teachers. Samuel Paty was decapitated on the street in a Paris suburb in 2020 and Dominique Bernard was killed at his school in Arras five months ago.
French President call s proposed trade agreement “a very bad deal” - French President Emmanuel Macron has called a proposed trade agreement between the EU and South America’s Mercosur bloc a “very bad deal”. Macron made the comments to Brazilian businessmen on Wednesday while on a three-day trip to Brazil. The comments come amid troubled talks over a free trade deal between the two economic blocs. While Brazil has said it is ready to sign a deal, France has repeatedly expressed reservations and said its farmers have objected to the prospect that could allow in agricultural imports, notably beef, that do not meet strict EU standards.
Local News
Mayor of Nice calls for reinforcement - The mayor of Nice, Christian Estrosi, has asked for national police reinforcements to help bring the Les Moulins housing estate under control. There was more violence in Les Moulins this week, when a mass fight broke out involving about 40 hooded young people. An 18-year-old was injured and taken to Pasteur 2 hospital under police escort. Another four people were injured in clashes with police yesterday evening. CRS riot police from Marseille have been drafted in to patrol the neighbourhood in recent days. Christian Estrosi had a phone call with France's interior minister. He says more police reinforcements have been promised. According to the Alpes-Maritimes préfecture, more than 400 targeted police operations have been carried out in Les Moulins in the past year, leading to the arrests of more than 900 people and the seizure of 30 kilos of drugs and more than €140,000 in cash.
Traffic - New figures from the Var departmental council show traffic in the Gulf of Saint-Tropez is progressively getting worse. Six permanent traffic counting stations measure the daily number of vehicles on some of the area's busiest roads - and all but one of them recorded an increase last year compared with 2022. The RD25 heading into Sainte-Maxime had 28,000 vehicles a day - that's an increase of 1,000 on the previous year. The RD559 to the east of Sainte-Maxime also saw about 1,000 more vehicles per day, at 15,600. The communes that make up the Gulf of Saint-Tropez are due to draw up a mobility plan to improve traffic in the area before this summer.
Snowfall – Finally, heavy snowfall has hit the mountains of the Alpes Maritimes ahead of the Easter weekend with more snow forecast. The ski resorts are looking forward to welcoming visitors over the long weekend following the rather late arrival of snow on the slopes.
Business
French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal has spoken on measures he intends to take to fill France’s public deficit, which got out of control last year representing 5.5% of GDP. Speaking on TF1 on Wednesday evening the head of the government expressed his desire to move forward on reforms to unemployment benefits. According to the latest Elabe poll for BFMTV and La Tribune Dimanche published on Wednesday, a large majority of French people (81%) consider it urgent to reduce the public debt.
Former billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried will return to court in New York on Thursday to be sentenced for his crimes. The crypto boss was convicted of fraud and money laundering last year. It is certain the 32-year-old will be going to jail; what is not known is how long for. His legal team have called for leniency, but prosecutors are seeking 40 to 50 years in prison.
Millions of people in the UK are being urged to send meter readings to their energy supplier this weekend to ensure they don't overpay. The regulator's price cap drops 12.3% on Monday 1 April, from a typical £1,928 per year for a dual-fuel household to £1,690 - an average saving of about £20 per month. People without a smart meter who are on a standard variable tariff (SVT) should send readings so their company has an up-to-date record when the prices change.
Sport
Football - Crystal Palace and England goalkeeper Sam Johnstone has been ruled out for the rest of the Premier League season and is also set to miss Euro 2024 this summer after having elbow surgery.
Tennis - Jannik Sinner has reached the Miami semi-finals. Second seed Sinner won 6-4 6-2 against his 60th-ranked Tomas Machac.
Weather
Cloudy clearing as the day progresses. Sunny intervals with moderate winds. Highs of 18 degrees in Nice and Saint-Tropez. 17 degrees in Monaco. This evening going down to 10 degrees.
The outlook for Friday and the weekend. Light rain with sunny intervals. Highs of 17 degrees.
Sunrise 06.18am
Sunset 06.52pm
Sea temperature Cannes
14.3°
Weather elsewhere
Liverpool 10° Heavy rain
Brussels 12° Gusty winds
Oslo 8° Heavy rain
Competition time!
The Full English Breakfast Show – Anyone for tennis? All week we are giving away tickets to the ROLEX MONTE-CARLO MASTERS.
All you have to do is listen to the Full English Breakfast Show and answer the tennis question. All correct answers will be entered into a draw which will be held on Friday at 10am live on air.
Everyday a tennis story will be given here on our FB page and our website rivieraradio.mc in the morning’s news section. The tennis story will help you to find the answer to the question asked on air. Best of luck!
Tennis story – Strawberries and cream
Wimbledon is as much about fresh strawberries and sweet, clotted cream as it is about tennis. They have been part of Wimbledon’s tennis tradition since it started in 1877. These days, over a million high quality fresh strawberries (about 30 tons) are consumed each year during the two-week tournament. How strawberries and cream came to be such an integral part of Wimbledon remains a bit of a mystery.
According to some strawberries and cream were first served together in 1509 when Cardinal Thomas Wosley paired them at a banquet during Henry VIII’s reign. The combination stuck and nearly 400-year later was among the offerings at the first Wimbledon tournament in 1877.
A new optional regional transport tax for businesses, introduced in France’s 2025 budget, aims to fund eco-friendly mobility projects. ...
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A judge has authorised a dive to inspect the wreckage of a plane in the sea off Antibes. The plane crashed into the Mediterranean on September 11 1968...
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In France, drinking water is heavily contaminated with "forever pollutants," particularly trifluoroacetic acid (TFA), as revealed by two studies from ...
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The trial of the Tunisian man accused of the murder of three people in the Nice Basilica attack is continuing in Paris. Yesterday the families of the ...
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Four cities in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (PACA) region made Booking.com's 2025 list of the "most welcoming destinations in France." ...
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