Press Review

PRESS REVIEW – Tuesday, October 6: The death of a researcher in Siberia, reportedly from the plague, sparks concern despite Russian authorities' denial. But first: French high school protesters are promising "Act 3" of their protest movement against learning conditions. Also, Le Monde speaks to the editor of Russian independent outlet Novaya Gazeta ahead of the 20th anniversary of the murder of investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya. Finally, it appears that butter is back in fashion. French high schoolers are promising "Act 3" of their protest movement and there is great concern in the press about how it is going to unfold. French left-wing daily Libération worries about the police crackdown on the high schoolers. It calls on police to "act with discretion". The Communist paper L'Humanité evokes the "rage of student protesters". In its editorial, the paper pays tribute to a generation who have grown up with social anxiety: they learned to read with soldiers patrolling their schools in 2015 (due to terror attacks), they hit puberty during the social distancing years of Covid-19 and they are finishing school amid two wars and rising inflation. The right-wing paper L'Opinion, however, is less sympathetic. It expresses concern about how violent the protests will become and says the student movement has "no instruction manual", calling it "a movement that has been, up to now, volatile, violent and unable to be controlled by the government." The movement is garnering a lot of interest in Europe too. The British daily The Times says the French government is "bewildered" by the anger and fury of the high school students. The conservative daily quotes a Paris school principal as saying that in 20 years she has seen strikes, blockades and protests, but never as violent as what is happening now. Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine explains the movement by France's economic woes, which were exacerbated by the 2024 dissolution of parliament and by the emergence of artificial intelligence while Le Soir, the Belgian daily, reports that the movement is starting to spread to Belgium as well. Students in Liège told the paper that they too want to fight against a "sick" educational system. Meanwhile, authorities in Russia are playing down fears after a researcher in Siberia died of the plague. Time magazine reports that dozens of people have been quarantined and outbreak control measures are underway at the Irkutsk Research Anti-Plague Institute of Siberia. A 28-year-old lab worker known as Darya Shipilova died in unknown circumstances. A local report says she died after being exposed to the plague via a broken test tube, but those reports are no longer available online. Local authorities say there is no evidence to support this. But experts have been quick to play down fears of an outbreak. The Times of London explains that the pneumonic plague can be spread through close contact and is dangerous if untreated. However, it can be managed with antibiotics and outbreaks can be controlled if cases are caught early and isolated and treatments are respected. We stay in Russia for our next story. Wednesday marks the 20th anniversary of the death of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who was assassinated in Moscow on October 7, 2006. As Le Monde notes, Politkovskaya was killed for "understanding Putin before anyone else did". Her reporting from Chechnya foreshadowed the war in Ukraine. The paper interviews Dmitry Muratov, the founder of the independent Russian media outlet Novaya Gazeta, where Politkovskaya worked. He notes that her belongings are still in the office, including a yellowed copy of the Russian penal code opened to the last page she had consulted before her death. For Muratov, her death was clearly orchestrated by the Russian government. Finally, it appears that butter is back in fashion, at least according to the Guardian. Here in France, butter was never out of fashion but elsewhere, butter is enjoying a renaissance right now: from butter sculptures, to a quest for a butter sommelier, to after-dinner "butter and crackers". This summer, a young entrepreneur opened Le Butter in Paris, a shop dedicated to 50 different varieties of butter. An Egyptian American artist has carved fragments of Michelangelo's David out of butter. Butter is back – butter late than never! You can catch our press review every morning on France 24 at 7:20am and 9:20am (Paris time), from Monday to Friday.

PRESS REVIEW – Monday, October 5: More than 400 schools are closed across France, as the government fails to assuage the anger of protesting high school students. In other news: Boulder, Colorado takes on ExxonMobil and Suncor Energy, demanding billions for damage caused by wildfires. Finally, we take a look at some of nature's most whimsical offerings. "How to get out of the crisis?" reads the front page of Le Parisien this Monday, as high school students are set to continue to blockading schools across France. The editorial suggests that the government may find itself waiting out the crisis, and hoping that rain forecast for Thursday will send protesters indoors. Le Monde has printed an op-ed by a protester saying these are not the actions of "out-of-control teenagers", but the result of an anger that has been too long contained. He references chronic shortages of teachers and decrepit school infrastructure as some of the reasons. Le Figaro headlines on a completely different anger: that of children who are not sympathetic with the protesters, but whose classmates are blockading or forcing their schools to close. Meanwhile, La Croix focuses on the dilemma of parents, torn between supporting their children's demands for improvements, and fears of their children being either hurt or involved if protests degenerate.  Over in the US, the Supreme Court is set to examine the case of Boulder, Colorado, as it seeks billions in damages from oil majors ExxonMobil and Suncor Energy for damage caused by wildfires. The Washington Post explains how this is one of about 60 disputes in which city, county and state authorities are demanding damages of major historic polluters. The Atlantic explains how cases like these could pose an existential threat to the oil industry, but will be a test for so-called "attribution science", whereby scientists have sought to confirm which events are specifically attributable to greenhouse gas emissions, and which companies bear what proportion of that overall responsibility.  Finally, a giraffe's outlandish hairdo, a friendly azure damselfly, and a mafia of walruses are among the finalists in Nikkon's Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards this year, as featured in the Guardian. 

PRESS REVIEW – Friday, October 2: We look at reactions in the French papers after high school blockades turned violent across France. We also look ahead to Brazil's two-round presidential election, which begins this weekend. The electoral campaign culminated with the cancellation of a presidential debate after both President Lula and his rival Flavio Bolsonaro pulled out. Finally, this year's Comedy Wildlife Awards finalists do not disappoint. There's lots of focus on this week's high school protests in France that turned violent on Thursday. Le Parisien evokes the anger of pupils and talks of a "situation that escalated", with more than 2,000 arrests.  Many of the papers point their finger at the far-left France Unbowed party, whose members have publicly supported the high schoolers. Le Figaro, the right-wing daily, calls them "the proxies" of the protesters and says that behind the demonstrators lurks the "shadow of the France Unbowed party". La Croix is more tempered in its coverage, reminding us that the violence of the protests is still marginal. Libération, the left-wing paper, is one of the few dailies that actually looks at what high schoolers are demanding: more funding for schools, better school facilities and adequate numbers of teachers and personnel. It offers some examples of how bad the situation is for some schools: one maths teacher was absent for three months and in one school, only one toilet was available for 1,200 pupils. Communist paper L'Humanité denounces the police action against protesters on Thursday. Its headline reads "Take your police away first" – a play on words of the word "bac", which also means high-school leaving diploma. L'Humanité is also focusing on Brazil on its front page. Brazilians head to the voting booths this Sunday for the first round of presidential elections and the election is garnering a lot of attention in the papers there. The election pits incumbent President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva against Flavio Bolsonaro, the son of former president Jair Bolsonaro. Jornal do Brasil is focusing on polls that predict Lula will win the first round, but it could be neck and neck for the run-off on October 25. The paper also reports that international observers have arrived in Brazil to observe the correct undertaking of the electoral process. It has been a bitter electoral campaign, culminating on Thursday with the cancellation of the final presidential debate, set to be hosted by O Globo, after both Lula and Bolsonaro refused to attend. In its editorial, Brazilian daily O Globo explains why it cancelled the debate. The Superior Electoral court authorities refused to leave an empty chair for absent candidates to allow the other candidates to direct questions at them in absentia. As O Globo explains, this is a deep-seated tradition in campaign debates and part of the democratic process. The other grievance was the inclusion of certain candidate from Lula's party who did not meet the requirements necessary to participate in the debates. O Globo says that faced with political interference and violations of the constitution and press freedom, it had no option but to cancel the presidential debate. A columnist for another daily, Folha da Sao Paolo, says the Supreme Electoral Court's meddling with the debate "with such brazenness would have been unthinkable not long ago, something associated with banana republics. Not anymore." Finally, this year's Comedy Wildlife Awards finalists have been announced and they do not disappoint! We look at some of those in the running for Nikon's Comedy Wildlife Awards, which will be announced in December. They include an orangutan flipping the bird, a pair of elephant seals necking each other and a macaque learning the hard way that you shouldn't ram into a tree at full speed! You can catch our press review every morning on France 24 at 7:20am and 9:20am (Paris time), from Monday to Friday.

PRESS REVIEW – Thursday, October 1: A FlyDubai flight was diverted to Saudi Arabia after the pilot was stabbed by his co-pilot in what the Israeli media are calling a terror attack. The co-pilot was detained by off-duty pilots on board and passengers before making a safe landing in Saudi Arabia. Also in the news, Cornell University's college campus culture is back under scrutiny after a shocking sexual assault claim. Plus, a man learns that Singapore does not take AI slop lightly. The terrifying events on a FlyDubai plane that was heading to Tel Aviv are dominating the press. The captain was stabbed by his co-pilot, who was then restrained by passengers and off-duty pilots on board. The plane was diverted to Saudi Arabia, where it safely landed, but not before a terrifying nosedive. According to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the co-pilot who stabbed the captain was an Omani national who aimed to crash the plane. One India and the Daily Telegraph evoke this would-be attack as "Israel's 9/11", although the co-pilot's motivations for the stabbing are yet to be revealed. The Jerusalem Post reports on the "heroic actions of Israelis" who stormed the cockpit to thwart the attacker. The paper reports that luckily, four flyDubai pilots were on board on standby due to regional rerouting that could delay flight times and require extra pilots. The centre-left paper Haaretz notes that Israel was "moments away from one of its worst terror attacks". The incident also comes at a crucial time in Israel and could serve Netanyahu well ahead of legislative elections next month. The French-language Lebanese daily L'Orient-Le Jour notes that the "hypothesis of terror" has entered the electoral campaign in Israel.  In the US, the botched execution of a death row prisoner is shedding light on the shortcomings of the justice system. As The New York Times reports, Christa Pike has been on death row for 30 years for the brutal murder of a classmate when she was 18. She was due to be executed this week but got an eleventh-hour reprieve. She was then given two lethal injections but somehow survived and is now being treated in hospital. An opinion writer for MS NOW argues that Pike's guilt was never in question, but her childhood sexual abuse, mental illness and PTSD could have been a factor in her committing murder. The author says: "Her case is a reminder that lives of capital defendants are often shaped by brutality and violence" and makes a case for clemency.  Meanwhile, the fallout from the alleged 2024 sexual assault of a student at Cornell University continues to make headlines. In a six-page statement, the victim known as Jane Doe alleges she was subjected to hours-long sexual attacks by seven members of a fraternity club. The case is back in the spotlight now after the woman sued the university for failing to properly handle her sexual assault complaint. It has also sparked soul-searching and a review of college campus culture. The Washington Post analyses three chilling words reportedly revealed from a group chat during the assault: "Shop still open?" The paper says the "very presence of a group text regarding this alleged assault is both gob smacking and banal", as it conveys that whatever was happening that room, "several people thought to document it in real time and make it a bonding experience".  Finally, a man has learned the hard way that Singapore is not a country that takes AI slop lightly. According to Gizmodo and the Straits Times, a man in Singapore thought it would be a great laugh to share an AI-generated image of a crocodile in a reservoir at a popular public park. Unfortunately, the park's staff took the image very seriously, shutting down the park and spending two days looking for the non-existent crocodile. It was then reported to police and the man in question, Myanmar national Ye Lin, has been charged and faces possible prison time for sharing a false image. He's also been charged with obstruction of justice for deleting the image and the AI programme he used to create it. So learn your lesson: AI slop is no laughing matter in Singapore!  You can catch our press review every morning on France 24 at 7:20am and 9:20am (Paris time), from Monday to Friday.

PRESS REVIEW – Wednesday, September 30: The Cornell University gang rape investigation reopens. But first: students and prisoners protest in Iran "in a rare show of dissent". Journalist Evan Gershkovich speaks about his 16 months in a Russian prison. Bonus: what can we do to be less lonely? Finally, Fat Bear Week has chosen its winner. Radio Free Europe reports that "in a rare show of dissent amid crackdown, Iranian university students stage protest". They are rallying against the country's hijab law, calling for the release of some of their classmates who have been imprisoned and speaking out about the poor living conditions on campus. The paper says that protests in Iran have been rare after the mass crackdown in January, when thousands of people were killed according to human rights groups. Iran Wire reports that inmates from 66 prisons across Iran are also protesting. The campaign is called "No to executions Tuesdays" and consists of weekly hunger strikes protesting the death penalty and demanding its abolition.  Next, The New York Times interviews Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal reporter who was imprisoned in Russia for 16 months. He was released after a US-Russian prisoner swap in 2024. The article is called "The Russian prison Gershkovich carried home". In the interview, he describes the tiny cell he lived in. He could take around six steps in there. He spent his waking hours in anger, panic attacks or crying. He is feeling better now and the nightmares have faded. Gershkovich has published a memoir entitled "This Cursed Beautiful Land" about his experience, but also that of the broader Russian population. Also: the Cornell University rape investigation has been reopened in response to a lawsuit filed by a woman who says she was raped there in 2024. The New York Times says that her lawsuit brought renewed pressure to reopen the investigation – she is suing seven men, the university, her sorority and the fraternity. The NYT reminds readers that she says she was raped repeatedly over nearly seven hours at the Chi Phi fraternity house. The lawsuit details a series of sexual assaults and how she was pressured into taking drugs. There have been many text messages tied to the lawsuit. CBS News says it has obtained a video of the fraternity's Snapchat group. At 1:42 am – during the rape – one fraternity guy texted "shop still open?" – like "is the woman still available?" And the answer was "Yeah". The Cut focuses on the journalists who broke the story – student journalists from The Cornell Daily Sun – they've been covering every beat and new development. For the past two weeks, they have been "relentlessly" chasing follow-ups and responses from the university's administration. Earlier, The Cornell Daily Sun published a blistering editorial entitled "Cornell won't, we will" – printing the names of the accused men and blaming the university for its lack of transparency. The Cut says that "throughout it all, the team has approached this case with care and moral clarity".  Bonus: The Atlantic looks at "one reason people are spending so much time alone". The article's central argument is that "inconvenience is the cost of community": we should sometimes do things that we don't want to do – or find irritating – if we want to maintain our relationships.   Finally, The Washington Post looks at Fat Bear Week's winner: a chunky bear named Backpack.  You can catch our press review every morning on France 24 at 7:20am and 9:20am (Paris time), from Monday to Friday.