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Latest update: 21/08/2009
- Clotilde Reiss trial - environment - François Fillon - Ramadan - Youth
In the French Papers
A daily look at some of the stories in the French papers.
La Croix
The Christian newspaper La Croix did the portrait of several French Muslims, preparing for the Ramadan.
Hundreds of thousands of Muslims will start fasting tomorrow at dawn, for a month.
The newspaper interviewed a man, who has been doing it for twenty years.
“I’ve never been ill during Ramadan”, he says, whilst another man says the hardest, is not being able to drink.
But according to them, you can beat thirst, by washing your face several times, dubbing water over your throat, or even putting water in your mouth without swallowing.
Le Figaro
According to Le Figaro, Ramadan in France is particularly popular amongst the youth.
The newspaper reported in the North of Paris, in La Courneuve.
“Cafés here, will be empty soon”, says a local politician. And that is largely because 70% of Muslims say they will fast this year.
The newspaper interviewed a school teacher, who explains that children mostly do it, to follow their siblings.
A student also says that group pressure is difficult to handle, and that some teenagers have been seen hiding to eat a sandwich, she says.
France Soir
Some beaches in Brittany have been covered in algae, and the gases they release are lethal and can kill within minutes, according to authorities.
France Soir interviewed the French Prime Minister, Francois Fillon.
He cut his holiday short and went to Brittany yesterday.
He vowed the Government would pay to clean the beaches, and says an action plan will be put into place within the next three months, to fight against the spread of the algae.
Le Parisien
“Halt the green Algae in Brittany”, reads the title of Le Parisien.
The newspaper interviewed Maurice Brifault. His job, was to pick up vegetation, and clean the beach.
He says he once fell into a coma on the beach.
Maurice says a jogger even died here, twenty years ago. Many dogs have also died and last month, a horse collapsed.
Local associations have been warning against the algae for the past two decades.
Next week, they plan to file some 300 complaints against the local prefect, accusing him of putting people’s lives in danger.
Le Monde
There were reports that the French student was going to come home on Friday.
But it seems she’s still held in Iran. She was released on bail last week, and is now staying at the French Embassy in Teheran.
She is accused of spying during the protests that followed the contested presidential election.
Le Monde interviewed the French Foreign Minister, Bernard Kouchner.
He says negotiations for her return are tricky. Mainly, he says, because France doesn’t get to speak to President Mahmous Ahmadinejad.
Kouchner warns that Clotilde Reiss could stay in Iran fro another “few weeks”, he says.
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