Local
Woman dies after falling from second floor - A 36 year old woman has died from her injuries after falling from the second floor of an apartment block in Antibes on New Year’s Eve. Police have launched an investigation to determine the exact cause of death.
New Year’s address - France’s opposition leaders have reacted furiously to President Emmanuel Macron’s annual New Year’s speech calling it a ‘smokescreen’. Macron embattled with protests and political scandal, addressed the French people on New Year's Eve calling for 'dignity' and 'hope' as his government faces tough times. In an allusion to sidebar riots at the Yellow Vest movement, Macron denounced 'the megaphones of a hateful crowd' who speak 'in the name of' the French people'. However, he did not specifically mention the movement, nor any political party.
Meanwhile in the region a twenty year old who was part of a group of yellow vests celebrating the New Year at the roundabout in Antibes has been injured in a hit and run incident which occurred shortly after midnight. Police have appealed for any witnesses to come forward in an attempt to identify the driver. Other groups of yellow vests welcomed in the New Year notably in Cagnes sur mer where a group of 20 occupied the roundabout at the pay toll of the A8 motorway.
Missing – Police in the Alpes-Maritimes are still looking for a 74-year-old man who left his retirement home on Sunday and a 36 year old man who has been missing since the 13th December in the Saint-Laurent area. Police have appealed for any witnesses to come forward concerning Jean Pierre Plas who is described as being of medium build with white hair and a beard. He was last seen wearing a blue t-shirt and jeans leaving his retirement home on Avenue de Rimiez in Nice.
Meanwhile 36 year old Chafik Taghouzi is still missing after his vehicle was found abandoned in Saint Laurent du Var on December 13th. Described as being of slim build with dark brown hair he was last seen wearing a black leather jacket orange t-shirt and grey tracksuit bottoms.
First swim of the year - With the sea temperature between 12 and 15 degrees, dozens of swimmers took part in the traditional New Year’s Day swim under the sun. Swimmers were seen running into the sea on the beaches of Nice, Antibes, Frejus and Marseille.
Lina top girl’s name for parents in Nice - In 2018, 6,832 babies were born in Nice and when it comes to girls names Emma which had long ranked at the top of the list has been overtaken by Lina. Two new names to appear in the ranking were Nina coming 3rd and Romy 5th. However names such as Chole, Eva and Leah which proved popular in previous years have all but disappeared from the ranking.
National
Fairground ride - Eight French people have been rescued by helicopter after becoming trapped for eight hours at the top a fair ride. The revellers, one as young as 13, were on the ride in the city of Rennes when the ride broke leaving firefighters on the ground unable to rescue the group trapped at the top of the ride. One of those trapped later said to reporters that next year he would be celebrating “New Year at home with champagne and biscuits”.
French football team - France's World Cup winning team have topped the new year's Légion d'honneur list for their triumph last summer in Russia, with a total of 402 people – half men, half women – receiving the award. The French football team raised the World Cup after beating Croatia, 4-2 in Moscow on the 15th July. The 23 players, including star strikers Kylian Mbappe and Antoine Griezmann, each received the honour of Chevalier (knight) for their victory over Croatia in the World Cup final in Moscow to claim France's second world championship. The team that won their first World Cup in 1998 also received the award. Many police officers and firefighters were on the 2019 list.
Business
Last year saw a sharp rise in fatalities from air crashes compared with 2017 but recent figures show that 2018 was still the ninth safest year on record. Airliner accidents killed 556 people last year compared with 44 in 2017, the Aviation Safety Network (ASN) reports. Last year's worst civilian accident was in October when a Lion Air plane crashed in Indonesia, killing 189. The year 2017 was the safest in history for commercial airlines with no passenger jet crashes recorded.
After many global stock markets suffered their worst year in a decade investors will be glad to see the back of 2018. The FTSE 100's traditional early New Year's Eve close saw it end the year down 12%. Big European and Asian markets faced similar losses in 2018, while the main US indexes saw their worst performance since the 2008 financial crisis.
Finally, New Year's Resolutions are, like rules, meant to be broken. According to a poll by YouGov last year, about one in five people came up with some sort of resolve on 1 January, However, separately it has also been claimed that most of us will have given up on them by 10 January.
Sport
Football – The Tottenham manager has said his team needs to "find a way to be consistent" if they want to be "contenders" in the Premier League after strolling to a comprehensive win at Cardiff City to climb back up to second place in the table. Meanwhile Chelsea need to solve the problem of Eden Hazzard.
And in this evening’s Premier League matches Bournemouth face Watford, Chelsea play Southampton, Huddersfield play Burnley, West Ham play Brighton, Wolves play Crystal Palace and Newcastle face Manchester United
Cricket - Afghanistan have qualified directly for the Super 12s phase of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup in 2020. Hosts Australia will be joined by the other seven highest-placed teams in the Twenty20 world rankings - Pakistan, India, England, South Africa, New Zealand, West Indies and Afghanistan.
Tennis - Roger Federer's Switzerland beat Serena Williams' USA as the two tennis greats met on court for the first time at the Hopman Cup in Perth, Australia.
Weather
Highs of 16 degrees in Nice and Saint Tropez. Some cloudy patches in Nice and the Alpes Maritimes clear skies in the Var with a moderate northerly wind.
This evening going down to 5 degrees in Nice, Antibes and Cannes and -1 in the Var with clear skies.
The outlook for Thursday and Friday becoming increasingly cloudy in the Var and feeling slightly cooler with highs of 11 degrees across the region.
Finally
If you're looking to get yourself a husband, one woman might have the perfect solution for you.
Instead of selling off her unwanted gifts on eBay this Christmas, one wife has decided to take things further and offer up her husband to the highest bidder.
The woman, who lives in Hamburg has listed her "used husband" on the online auction site over the festive season.
And the price of the man starts from just €18 (about £16) which is her lucky number.
Dorte, 40, claimed in the ad that she's "fed up" with her partner's negative ways and despite being married for seven years, feels they just don't "belong together anymore".
She wrote: "Dear women who may be interested.
"Over the first two days of Christmas I have realised that we simply don't belong together anymore.
"I would like to give up my husband. I am happy to negotiate the price. But no exchange. Please send me inquiries over email."
The post was advertised as "Husband, used" and contained a photo of the couple's Christmas tree.
According to the Hamburger Abendblatt , her advert had many responses - but no concrete offers.
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