National News France
France will deliver hundreds of old armoured vehicles and new surface-to-air missiles to Ukraine - French Defence Minister Sébastien Lecornu has announced that France will deliver hundreds of old armoured vehicles and new surface-to-air missiles to Ukraine in its war against Russia. Lecornu said that President Emmanuel Macron, following talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, had asked him to prepare a new aid package, which will include old but still functional French equipment. The French government is pushing defence companies to ramp up production to meet the needs of its own army and to ensure continued support to Ukraine after more than two years of war with Russia.
Report on the impact of screens on young people postponed - A report on the impact of the exposure of screens on young by a committee of experts will finally be submitted at the beginning of May to the Elysée. Scheduled for the end of March, the report on the exposure of young people to screens has been postponed until the beginning of May. The committee "aims to submit its conclusions to the President of the Republic by the beginning of May". The Elysée insists on the “desire to move quickly” on the project. A project which was announced by Emmanuel Macron on January 16th. The working group's "mission is to bring to light a shared observation on the impact of screens, in particular on the physical and mental health of young people and their development; to evaluate the effectiveness of limits put in place since 2017 and propose action to better control the exposure to screens amongst young people.
Local News
Record rainfall - With the recent heavy rain in our region Cannes has broken its record rainfall and it rained twice as much in Nice as in Brest in the month of March. Marked by a new Mediterranean episode at the weekend Cannes witnesses 284mm of rainfall that’s 4.5 times more than normal. A record for the city which had never before seen as much rainfall as it did in March. The previous record was set in 2013, when 234.6mm of rainfall was recorded beating the 228mm of rainfall back in March 1960.
Road to Isola 2000 reopens - Meanwhile, the road to Isola 2000 ski resort which was closed due to heavy snowfall on Sunday has reopened. Blocked since Sunday by heavy snowfall and a risk of avalanche, the RM 97 between Isola village and its resort reopened on Monday.
Tabacs in the region disappointed by relaxed rules - Tobacconists on the French Riviera say they're disappointed after France introduced relaxed rules on how many cigarettes people can bring into the country from Italy. A decree published late last week scraps the previous limit of one carton - that's 200 cigarettes - in order to comply with European law. The European limit is set at four cartons. However, from now, French customs officers will have more power to assess on a case-by-case basis whether they think an import of cigarettes is fair personal use or potentially for illegal resale. Tobacconists in France point out that the cost of cigarettes in Italy is much lower - some cartons are almost half the price - and they fear that will harm their business. Pierre Romero, president of the Alpes-Maritimes tobacconists’ federation, described the relaxed rules as an "economic disaster" for the sector.
Checks carried out - Meanwhile, customs officers in the Alpes-Maritimes have reinforced their checks on illegal cigarette imports in recent days. Last week, a major operation saw 115 kilos of contraband tobacco products seized locally and 27 tonnes nationwide. Raids took place in Nice, Cannes, Vallauris and Antibes. It was part of a France-wide operation that led to 108 arrests nationally, eight of which were in the Alpes-Maritimes. Customs officers are also carrying out more checks on businesses selling cigarettes illegally - including late-night convenience stores and bars. A few weeks ago, agents seized 1,000 cartons of cigarettes and €30,000 in cash from a shisha bar in central Nice.
Larvotto beach – Access to Larvotto beach in Monaco will be limited for three weeks later this month, and swimming at Larvotto will be banned. The measures apply from 15 April to 3 May. It's to allow for works to be carried out on the beach ahead of the peak summer season, as well as some off-shore work to help promote marine biodiversity. A small plot of the beach will still be accessible and local restaurants and businesses will remain open.
Business
Less than a week after it began publicly trading under the DJT ticker shares of Donald Trump's social media company have fallen by more than 20%. On Monday it was announced that the drop comes after Trump Media & Technology Group reported it had lost nearly $60m (£48m) last year while only bringing in around $4m in revenue. According to Bloomberg the price plunge caused the former president's net worth to shrink by $1bn.
Under the terms of a proposed legal settlement Google has agreed to delete billions of records and agree to some restrictions on its power to track users. The deal aims to resolve a class action lawsuit brought in the US in 2020, which had accused the tech giant of invading people's privacy by collecting user data even when they were browsing in "private mode". The suit had sought $5bn in damages.
Sport
Rugby Union – The East Midlands club Leicester Tigers have again been fined for exceeding the Premiership Rugby salary cap. The club has been handed a £47,000 overrun tax for going over the set limit in the 2019-20 season. Leicester was fined almost £310,000 in 2022 for breaches from 2016 to 2021.
Football - There was some thrilling games in the Championship yesterday including the race for automatic promotion. Leicester went top after beating Norwich 3-1 in the lunchtime game. Ipswich then leapfrogged them with a 3-2 win over Southampton. In the late game Leeds returned to 2nd spot with a 3-2 win against Hull including 2 goals in the last ten minutes.
Further down the table QPR won 1-0 away at Swansea to see them move up to 16th and away from the relegation zone.
Tonight in the Premier league Newcastle play Everton, Forest entertain Fulham Bournemouth v Palace, Burnley v Wolves. And the London derby at the Olympic stadium sees West Ham take on Spurs.
Cycling - British rider Tom Pidcock has withdrawn from the Itzulia Basque Country stage race after crashing on a practice run for the opening individual time trial. 24-year-old Pidcock, came 11th in the monument Milan-Sanremo in his last race.
Weather
Fine and sunny with highs of 19 degrees in Nice and Monaco. 17 degrees with a fresh breeze in Saint-Tropez. 18 degrees in Mougins and 20 degrees in Cannes. This evening going down 11 degrees with clear skies.
The outlook for Wednesday cloudy with scattered showers. Thursday fine. Highs of 17 degrees.
Sunrise 7.09am
Sunset 7.58pm
Sea temperature
Saint-Tropez 14.3°
Weather elsewhere
Paris 15° light rain
Belfast 11° light rain
Palma 20 sunny.
TGV services across much of France are gradually improving after several arson attacks affected the network in the early hours of this morning....
Read More
Paris is getting ready to shut down it’s city centre and its airspace as well as mobilise 45,000 police and several army units in what has been billed...
Read More
Lucie Castets, the left-wing candidate for Prime Minister, reiterated her desire to lead the government during a media appearance on July 25. A poll s...
Read More
French President Emmanuel Macron is preparing to welcome world leaders to the Olympic games opening ceremony tomorrow night and has been visiting key ...
Read More
France will host the 2030 Winter Olympics in the Alpes, conditional on state and regional financial guarantees. President Macron confirmed his full su...
Read More
