French and Riviera News Wednesday 6th April 2022

News

European sanctions against Russia - French President Emmanuel Macron and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky have spoken on the phone to discuss European sanctions against Russia. According to the Elysée during the conversation on Tuesday, the French Head of State said that “France was in favour of measures targeting Russian coal and oil”. Macron also told his counterpart of the “shock and emotion caused in France by the images of the crimes committed in Ukraine”.

In local news

Fatal road accident - Three people in their twenties have died in a fatal road accident on the route de Avignon in the Vaucluse. The accident occurred on Tuesday shortly after 5pm following a head on collision. Another person was taken to hospital in a critical condition and another suffered slight injuries. An investigation is underway to determine the cause of the crash.

Child hit by tram in Nice - A 10-year-old child has been hit by a tram in Nice. The incident occurred on Tuesday morning in Magnan near the Rue de France. Emergency services interned and the victim was taken to hospital suffering minor injuries. The cause of the incident remains to be determined.

Former mayor of Cannes found guilty of tax fraud - Republican MP for the Alpes Maritimes in 2017 and former mayor of Cannes Bernard Brochand has received a one-year suspended prison sentence for tax fraud. The 83-year-old was found guilty of not having mentioned accounts in Switzerland in his declarations of assets. Brochand was sentenced in Paris and was also handed a fine of 375,000 euros.

Presidential elections France - Five days before the French presidential election's first round, far-left candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon is holding the last major meeting of his presidential campaign in Lille. The meeting will be broadcast live in eleven other cities thanks to holograms, a technology he already used in 2017. The candidate is third in the polls at around 15.5% and is completing his marathon of weekly meetings at the Grand Palais in Lille, northern France, which began in January and have each time brought together thousands of people.

Gap closing between Macron and Le Penn - Meanwhile according to the latest Elabe poll the gap is closing between Emmanuel Macron and far right Marine Le Penn. The poll shows only a 5-point gap after the first round which is being held on Sunday.

Explorers from the Riviera arrive in Arctic - Three explorers from the Riviera have just embarked on an expedition to the Arctic to show the consequences of global warming. Aged 27 to 31, Flavien Hillat, Thomas Jarrey and Vincent Lavrov plan to film and document the 42-day trip to help raise awareness. The three adventurers spent the beginning of the year preparing for their journey in the local resort of Isola 2000.

Fancy buying a piece of Cannes - Heritage sites in Cannes have been transformed into NFTs and are set to be put up for auction. According to the city council this is a “first in Europe” and will see the city’s emblematic sites such as the Palais des Festival, the Old Port or even the famous marketplace digitalised and transformed into an NFT and sold. So if you dream of treating yourself to the Boulevard de la Croisette, the Palais des festivals or the underwater museum inaugurated in January 2021 near the Islands of Lérins then it will soon be possible thanks to the NFTs ( “non-fungible tokens”). Ten NFTs will be auctioned during the Cannes Lions international festival from June 20th to 24th, 2022, and the eleventh will be offered to a Cannes resident from a lucky draw.

“Elvis” world premiere in Cannes - Meanwhile the film "Elvis" is to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. The film about the American music legend is director by Baz Luhrmann a regular at Cannes and the only director to have presented two feature films at the opening of the event: "Moulin Rouge" in 2001, selected in competition, and "Gatsby the Magnificent" in 2013". Elvis will be released in North America on June 24th and worldwide from June 22nd, 2022. The film festival is on from May 17th to 28th.

Business

A governor at the Federal Reserve said on Tuesday that the American central bank is "ready to act should need be” adding that it is "essential" to slow down inflation which is at its highest for 40 years in the US. The rise in prices is expected to accelerate further in the months to come as the war in Ukraine has contributed to an additional spike in inflation, especially with fuel and food prices.