Latest update: 09/02/2009 

In the papers
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FRANCE 24 journalists present a daily round-up of the world's papers
By Sophie DAVIDSON (text)
Jerusalem Post (Israel)
Olmert gives Livni belated endorsement

It’s the day before the country goes to the polls, and it's all about last minute efforts to sway the remaining undecided voters. The unpopular outgoing PM Ehud Olmert has given Tzipi Livni his support.
 
Hilariously this article is all about how her supporters think this can do her more harm than good. Olmert knows this, and is sabotaging her on purpose at the eleventh hour, the paper says. They’ve always been at loggerheads so this is in no way Olmert having a change of heart.


Jerusalem Post (Israel)
Palestinian poll: Hamas support has dropped sharply since Operation Cast Lead

An interesting article on how Hamas support has dropped since the Israeli offensive in Gaza. A poll of Palestinians has found that the majority of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank believe that Hamas are leading them in the wrong direction. The war has helped Mahmoud Abbas and Fatah in the popularity stakes.


Le Figaro (France)
6 milliards d'euros pour l'automobile francaise (6 billion euros for the French automobile industry)

Front page news is Sarkozy freeing up 6 billion euros of public money to help the automobile industry, a HUGE sector in France. About 10 per cent of the active workforce is directly or indirectly employed by this industry.
 
The president has given the money on the condition that any new factories must be built in France and not abroad, including other EU countries. In fact he specifically mentioned no new factories to be built in the Czech Republic or elsewhere. The Czech authorities are enraged and say Sarkozy is not playing the game. We are supposed to be all for Europe and not in competition with each other, say the Czechs.


South China Morning Post  (China)
Thousands of cloud seeding shells fired in bid for rain
Drought busting crucial to economic stimulus - Wen

More cloud seeding in China as the drought continues. The Chinese premier Wen Jiabao says that busting the drought will help the economy. This isn't the first time China has tried to make fake rain.

Beijing has come under criticism from weather experts who say you shouldn’t mess with the natural run of things. But with the economic crisis Wen is encouraging local government to invest more in drought busting ideas.


China Daily (China)
City in search of rain

This article talks to locals in Henan who simply aren’t used to having rain problems. They say they are glad the governmenthas put up signs reminding them that it won’t rain for say a month, and that they should therefore remember to irrigate their crops.


The Independent (UK)

Its been called a ‘ticking toxic time bomb’ by residents in Hartlepool. The Clemenceau is grabbing the headlines as it reaches its final destination after years of political wrangling. The aircraft carrier will be dismantled at Teeside dock – it needs to be rid of 770 tonnes of asbestos – prompting outrage among the local population.
 
The Clemenceau has been a political hot potato for some years now. In 2006 she was turned away from Gujarat after an outcry over protection for workers. Jacques Chirac who was French president at the time, was accused of double standards, for dumping France’s toxic waste abroad while lecturing the world on the environment.
 
Friends of Hartlepool aren’t being silenced by assurances that the company who has won this contract has passed all tests to make sure the waste will be safely disposed of.

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