Aujourd’hui en France

“Nos astuces pour une rentrée moins chère”

It’s at the frontpage of most French newspapers this morning, including France Soir and Aujourd’hui en France.

The newspaper suggests “tricks to have a cheaper start of the school year”.

Some twelve million French kids are expected to go back to school in two weeks time.

The newspaper says they can reduce the cost of school equipments, by avoiding big batches.

They seem cheap but one kilo of paper sheets is not a good idea, because your child will not use all of it. It’ll be wasted, says the article.

It also warns againt low cost equipment.

A schoolbag at 3.99euros is cheap, but it might not last very long… Same with a one euro glue. It’ll dry up after the first use.

Not to worry, says Aujourd’hui en France, school equipment should be cheaper this year.

The French government asked some 20 supermarkets, to freeze the price of around 40 basic school equipments. 

Thanks to this new measure, the prices are expected to drop by up to 3%.

La Croix

“Une rentrée à prix modérés”
 

La Croix says that when it comes to the price of school equipment, it is the biggest drop in prices in twenty five years.

And Government aid has also decreased since 2008.
For example, if you’ve got a 10 year old kid, you’ll get around 280 euros in aid, compared to 270 euros  last year.

Le Figaro

“Comment l’Elysée négocie son retour en France”

She’s on the frontpage of Le Figaro for the second day this week.

Clotilde Reiss is the French student held in Iran for spying. She’s been released on bail but is still awaiting the final verdict. 

The newspaper talks about the French Government’s role in attempting to release her.

According to the article, President Sarkozy made several phone calls to the Syrian President, Bachar Al Assad, who acted as a mediator with Iran.

The article says it’s an important step for Sarkozy, as he has now encouraged a new relationship with Syria.

The French hope the Iranian justice will dismiss Clothilde’s case  and expect she will be released by Friday, before the start of Ramadan.

Meanwhile, Clothilde’s support group on the internet keeps growing.

You may have noticed that there’s been no huge protest, demanding her release.

According to the newspaper, that’s because the support group doesn’t want to mess up Government negociations.

Aujourd’hui en France

“Suicides en prison: le cri d’alarme”

80, that’s the number of detainees who committed suicide this year.

The French Justice Minister is about to reveal a series of new measures to prevent this.

Aujourd’hui en France says the suicide rate has increased by 30%, compared to this time last year.

The newspaper goes back on the case of Belkheir, a 24 year old man who hung himself with a sheet, in his cell.

He was found dead in April, and was meant to get out of jail this September.

He was convicted for violence on a police officer and a passer-by.

Like most detainees who commit suicide, it was his first time in jail.

The newspaper reveals that authorities had described 70% of cases as suicidal, yet they still managed to kill themselves.