Local
Pastor trial - After two weeks on trial Wojciech Janowski’s lawyer shocked the court on Tuesday by saying his client “is guilty of ordering Hélène Pastor’s murder”. Janowski was Poland’s honorary consul to Monaco at the time of the murder of the billionaire heiress Hélène Pastor and her driver. They were gunned down in her car by two hitmen in Nice on 6th May 2014. Janowski, initially admitted to orchestrating her death but he later retracted the confession, saying his difficulties with French had made him misunderstand investigators’ questions.The trial continues.
Oil spill washes up on beaches in Saint-Tropez - Some of the oil that leaked from ships involved in an accident in the Mediterranean earlier this month has washed up on the beaches of Saint-Tropez. The mayor of the village of Ramatuelle, which lies on the Gulf of Saint-Tropez, said that 16 kilometres of coastline had been affected by the spill, including the beach where Brigitte Bardot posed for scenes in the 1956 classic "And God created woman". The pollution had affected "creeks and beaches, particularly banks of seagrass". The city council of Ramatuelle said that all the affected beaches will be closed during the clean-up.
Chicanes on the RD21 - Motorists in the commune of Peillon have taken to social media in protest against plans to install speed-control chicanes on the RD21. The decision has been taken by the mayor after vehicles were reportedly travelling at speeds of upto 150km/h in a 50km/h zone.
3 year olds able to learn Chinese - An association in Sophia Anitpolis is giving three year olds in the region the opportunity to learn Chinese. “Ink of China” has set up fun courses for toddlers. A spokesperson for the association added that “The Chinese language is much easier to tackle at a young age”.
National
Investigators raid the home and party headquarters of far left leader Jean Luc Mélenchon - Anti-corruption investigators have raided the home and party headquarters of Jean-Luc Mélenchon leader of France’s hard left party. The raids are part of an inquiry into the alleged misuse of European parliament funds and suspected funding irregularities in Mélenchon’s presidential campaign last year. The raid has prompted a furious and potentially illegal protest from Mélenchon. French Prime Minister, Édouard Philippe, said in parliament that he “understood the emotion and anger” of the far-left leader, but that the justice system was “completely independent” and the public prosecutor had acted entirely of her own accord in ordering the raids.
Marie Antoinette’s jewellery to be auctioned - Jewellery belonging to France’s last queen, Marie Antoinette, who was beheaded in Paris during the French revolution, is among a number of pieces to be auctioned by Sotheby’s in Geneva next month. The collection, which is described as one of the most important royal jewellery collections ever to come to auction, has not been seen in public for 200 years.
Fugitive found living in France - A high-profile fugitive from Ukraine who faked his death and lived a lavish lifestyle in France has been arrested. The man - suspected of international fraud and money laundering, and wanted in Ukraine - was held near Dijon. Europol says more than 4.6million euros in assets - including a castle, a vintage car and works of art - were seized in the raid in eastern France.
Man’s best friend - A new study by the University of Rennes has shown that dogs and humans have an intertwined story dating back 9,000 years with dogs being part of a key moment in human history. DNA evidence fills in some of the gaps in the story of how wolves became the dogs of all shapes and sizes that we know today.
Business
President Trump has increased his war of words with the US Federal Reserve calling the US central bank his “biggest threat”.
In an interview with Fox Business on Tuesday,the President said that he was worried that the Fed’s policy of increasing interest rates would hurt economic growth.
The US central bank has been gradually increasing rates since 2015 in an effort to pull them away from the ultra-low levels put in place during the financial crisis.It maintains that the economy is strong enough to handle the increases.
Mr Trump said that he was not happy with what Fed chair Jerome Powell is doing.Last week he said that the central bank had “gone crazy”.
The United States has said that it wants to negotiate three separate trade deals with Japan,the EU and the UK.
Washington says that it could take “several months” for negotiations to begin and that the move is part of President Trump’s efforts to reshape trade policies to support his “America First” agenda.
The US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said that US trade and investment would continue to be expanded by negotiating trade deals with the EU,UK and Japan and that Washington was committed to concluding negotiations with timely and substantive results for US workers,farmers,ranchers and businesses.
And-The video streaming giant Netflix added nearly 7 million new customers in the three months to September,bringing its total number of customers to more than 137 million worldwide.
The numbers were better than analysts had expected with Netflix shares jumping by more than 10 percent on the news.
The firm has said that it intends to spend as much as 8 billion dollars on content this year with more than a quarter of the money dedicated to original programming.
Netflix has been facing increasing competition from other streaming services, notably Amazon and its costs have been increasing as it invests more heavily in its own material.
Sport
Football-Wales were 1-0 winners over the Republic of Ireland in Dublin last night as they went top of Uefa Nations League Group B4.
France are also top of their group after coming from behind to beat Germany 2-1 thanks to a brace of goals from Antoine Griezman.
In other results last night Ukraine beat the Czech Republic 1-0 and the battle of the minnows ended Gibralter 2 Liechtenstein 1.
Formula 1-Lewis Hamilton is on the brink of winning his 5th world championship at the US Grand Prix this weekend if he can better Sebastian Vettel.
Hamilton will take the drivers’ championship at Austin if he wins the race and Vettel finishes third or lower.
He’ll also be world champion if he outscores his Ferrari rival by 8 points.
With 5 titles in the bag,Hamilton’s thoughts will turn to equaling or beating Michael Schumachers record 7 Formula 1 drivers’ championship titles but at the age of 33,he may have some doubts as to whether he can better the great German’s feat.
Cricket-Australia dismissed Pakistan for 282 on day 1 of the second Test in Abu Dhabi.
Nathan Lyon was the pick of the Australian bowlers taking 4-78.
At stumps Australia were on 20-2 in reply.
Sri Lanka are due to play England in the third one day international in Kandy today.
England lead the series 1-0 after the first match was abandoned due to rain.
There’s been a lot of rain around in Kandy too and the match may well be interrupted.
Play is due to start at 11am French time.
Rugby Union-England’s injury problems continue to mount ahead of the autumn internationals.
Following the news that Billy Vunipola will miss all 4 matches after breaking his arm,Chris Robshaw is the latest player to have to pull out.
The former skipper has had surgery on a knee problem and will be out for several weeks.
Coach Eddie Jones is now struggling to fill his back row.He’ll announce his squad for the games tomorrow morning.
Weather
Sunshine and occasional showers with light to moderate north easterly winds.
Top temperature 22 degrees Celsius.
Overnight lows of 17 degrees on the coast and 15 degrees inland with occasional showers.
Thursday and Friday-Partially cloudy with highs of 23-24 degrees.
Finally
In a recent study, researchers have used two UK surveys to analyse whether being married affects your happiness.
Their analysis revealed that married people were more satisfied with life than singles.
The boost that being married gave to a person was especially high during middle age - a period in life that is often associated with a dip in well-being.
The researchers also found that people who think their partner is their best friend benefit the most from marriage and living together.
The team suggests that happiness that is associated with marriage seems to flow through social channels.
This indicates that friendship could help explain why the benefits of marriage don't decrease with time, and why partners are often referred to as 'super-friends.'
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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