Le Figaro (France)

There’s a very different mood in some of Europe’s newspapers following several EU governments’ announcements of rescue plans. French daily Le Figaro’s front cover headline hails “euphoria on the markets”, with the words superimposed on a photo of a laughing trader – marking a stark contrast with the images of stressed bankers seen in recent weeks.

 

 

The Guardian (UK)

The UK newspaper The Guardian has on its front cover a tranquil photograph of the City of London skyline, with headline the “Day the markets breathed again”. Their coverage portrays a feeling of relief.

Libération (France)

Several publications focus on American economist Paul Krugman, who has won the Nobel prize for economics. French left-wing paper Libération hails him as “the anti-Bush Nobel prize winner”, pointing out that Krugman has a record of criticising the current US administration. Libération is also running a previously unpublished interview with Krugman carried out a few days ago. The Nobel Laureate analyses the global financial crisis, and says it’s not as bad as the 1929 depression, but could be longer-running. He says he doesn’t believe there will be an imminent collapse of the capitalist system.

 

The British financial daily The Financial Times claims Krugman is a worthy winner of his Nobel Prize, and features an editorial listing reasons why he deserves the honour.

Economic Times (India)

 

Krugman is also praised by the Economics Times of India, in particular for having predicted details of the 1990s Asian market meltdown. To prove the point the Times reproduces an interview with him from that time, pulling out some of the economist’s more spookily accurate comments.

 

 

Tensions are brewing in the Great Lakes region of Africa, specifically between the DRC and Rwanda. Covering the situation, there’s an editorial in the Congolese newspaper ‘Le Potentiel’ which can only be described as a cry of alarm. The paper says the DRC is “once again the victim of an international plot to balkanise the country”, and says it’s really “now or never” to avoid another conflict, and calls for frank negotiations between Rwanda, the DRC, Uganda, and other regional actors.

 

 

The New Times (Rwanda)

 

Meanwhile Rwanda has just announced plans to switch official foreign language teaching in schools from French to English. Since Rwanda is a former Belgian colony, with formerly strong links to France, the move is being widely perceived as a snub; relations between Rwanda and France have been very frosty since the 1990s genocide. However, the Rwandan newspaper The New Times says it’s a practical measure, designed by the Rwandan government to improve development. The editorial argues English will be more useful on the international scene, and that French will still be learned– but as an additional language on a par with Spanish and Chinese.

 

 

L’Equipe (France)

 

Outrage and shock that another Tour de France cyclist has tested positive for doping is all over the sporting press. Austrian rider Bernhard Kohl, who came third overall in the 2008 and won the jersey for the ‘best climber’, tested positive retrospectively for a banned substance. French sports daily L’Equipe picks up on the story, adding that Kohl was a relative unknown before this year’s tour. The paper’s coverage includes comments from Kohl’s ex-manager, who says he believes the rider’s career is finished.