President of Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes region withdraws subsidies to Grenoble following the authorisation of the burkini in public swimming pools - The President of the Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes region Laurent Wauquiez has announced that the region is to withdraw its subsidies to the city council of Grenoble, after the mayor adopted on Monday evening the authorisation to wear a burkini in public swimming pools in the city. On Monday evening, Grenoble city council approved, with a narrow majority, the authorization to wear the burkini in the city's swimming pools, shortly after Wauquiez announced that the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region was "immediately ceasing all subsidies” justifying his action by saying that “by authorizing the wearing of the burkini in public swimming pools, the mayor Eric Piolle breaks from secularism and the values of our Republic". In a press release, shared by Le Dauphiné Libéré, Laurent Wauquiez maintains that the deliberation voted by the Grenoble city council "marks a worrying drift and a real step backwards" saying that "it promotes, a total rupture with all the values of the Republic, a sign of the submission of women, a symbol of political Islam. It is the sign of a pact with political Islam. We will not be complicit in this manoeuvre of submission," he said. Ecologist mayor Eric Piolle brushed aside opposition objections during the city council, citing a "feminist", "health" and "secularism" fight because nothing prohibits the wearing of religious clothing in public space, "including at the swimming pool".
Speed restrictions are in place on all major roads in the Alpes-Maritimes today because of a smog alert....
Read More
A Marseille magistrate has been sentenced on the 17th of June in Nîmes for repeatedly avoiding motorway tolls using fake license plates. ...
Read More
A major police stop-and-search operation along France's borders is being carried out today, involving 4,000 police officers, gendarmes and customs off...
Read More
SFR has announced automatic compensation of 100GB of free mobile data for affected customers following a major network outage on the 16th of June....
Read More
French President Emmanuel Macron will chair a high-level Security and Defence Council meeting at the Élysée Palace today Wednesday, June 18th at 4pm, ...
Read More
