Washington Post (USA)

 

The Washington Post gives its initial verdict on the third and final televised debate between US presidential hopefuls John McCain and Barack Obama. The Post’s political blogger Chris Cillizza says McCain did well, but perhaps not well enough to change the outcome of the race. He writes: “McCain did not score the knockout blow that many Republicans had hoped but he did land several solid body shots”.

 

The Guardian (UK)

 

During the candidates’ debate a rather unlikely figure rose to the fore: “Joe the plumber”, otherwise known as Joe Wurzelbacher, a plumber from Ohio who recently clashed with Barack Obama over tax on the campaign trail. Joe was brought up 13 times by John McCain in the opening minutes of the debate, prompting The Guardian’s Oliver Burkeman, who’s covering the debate in the US, to comment that the situation was “becoming ridiculous” and that the debate was “completely dominated by Joe the plumber”. His Guardian blog also includes a link to an interview with the famous Joe given to a right-wing advocacy group. Joe’s quoted as saying he’s an example of the American dream, and that you “need rich people”, otherwise no one would have anyone to work for.

 

 

Chicago Tribune (USA)

 

 

 

Aujourd’hui / Le Parisien (France)

 

Hitting the headlines in France is the aftermath of an incident at an international football friendly between France and Tunisia. France’s national anthem, ‘La Marseillaise’, was jeered and whistled at by some in the stadium, and President Nicolas Sarkozy has said all football games will be stopped immediately if this happens again. The incident has stirred up a lot of the existing tension between France and North African communities, where France was once a colonial power. The French newspaper Aujourd’hui / Le Parisien devotes its front cover and first two inside pages to the uproar – their coverage contains comments from French cabinet minister Fadela Amara, and a French man of Tunisian origin who says jeering the national anthem wasn’t a political act; it’s more of a trend. The newspaper has also commissioned an opinion poll which shows 80 percent of the French public are shocked by the incident.

 

 

El Watan (Algeria)

 

Meanwhile, in the North African press, there’s very different coverage. An editorial in the Algerian paper El Watan criticises the French government’s reaction to the affair as way over the top. It says France should re-examine its policies on integrating immigrants rather than cancelling football games.

 

 

La Presse (Tunisia)

 

And there’s not much mention of the affair in today’s Tunisian press. La Presse covers the game, but purely in terms of football performance (Tunisia were beaten 3-1 by France), not touching on the political uproar.

 

 

The Herald (UK)

 

A report in the Scottish newspaper The Herald states that Benazir Bhutto’s daughter Bakhtawar, a first year at Edinburgh university, has just been elected onto the student representative council. The Herald claims Bakhtawar is following in her mother’s footsteps and perhaps even continuing the Bhutto dynasty – Benazir started off her political career as president of the Oxford Union in the 1970s.