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French Press Review 2nd December, 2017

Today's papers are all about the Football World Cup draw, the fallout of the Weinstein scandal and how the Pope finally used the "R" word.

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Centrist Le Monde headlines today with the wage gap between men and women and why it hasn't changed. The paper offers a piece  with in-depth debate and analysis.

It says that the wage discrepancy is not something which evolves over the course of one's career - which one might have thought because of part-time contracts, maternity leaves etc. But no, the gap is there straight out of university.

But Le Monde’s editorial is a completely different story. It says that between the football World Cup and the Olympic Games, Russia’s been handed a red card. The editorial starts off by saying that we often see the FIFA and IOC presidents as more powerful than Heads of States.

But Le Monde says we couldn’t be more wrong. Why? It says that over the past seven years, these institutions have been unable to answer humiliations from Russian President Vladimir Putin and how he has used sports and sporting events as instruments of his own power. Le Monde says that the fact the World Cup draw was made at the Kremlin is just more proof of this.

Left leaning Libération headlines with #exposeyourmovie - following up on the #exposeyourpig that was trending in France after the Weinstein scandal hit the fan.

The article says that two months on, now another question arises: is the movie industry promoting masculine domination? It goes big with this, with several angles to the story: can we truly dissociate the man and the artist? Is there any self censorship? How Hollywood has applied a moral clause to their contracts?

Libération also comes back on the trial of a fake Bataclan victim. Cedric Rey, 29, was sentenced to two years in jail with 18 months suspended for attempted fraud against a state fund for the victims of terrorism.

Rey's account of the 2015 November 13 attack was used by several French media. At least seven people have been found guilty of fraud or attempted fraud over the Paris attacks.

Right leaning Le Figaro leads with “How the President is giving the Elysée Palace a Macron makeover”. The article explains just how much Macron and his wife are trying to shake things up at the Palace, trying to be less pompous, and trying to lift up the entire protocol. And the house decoration…

But on its website, Le Figaro headlines with Michael Flynn and how his conviction might cast a shadow on the White House. Le Figaro says that if the investigators didn’t let Flynn go, it was only to get a bigger fish. And the bigger fish can only be in Donald Trump’s close circle. So it beggars the question: who’s next?

La Croix headlines with Pope Francis finally saying the “R” word - Rohingyas. While the Pope did not pronounce the word while visiting Myanmar, he acknowledged the minority when he met 16 of them yesterday in Bangladesh.

In a brief but strongly worded speech, he asked for forgiveness for all that the Rohingya have suffered "in the face of the world's indifference". "Today the presence of God is also called Rohingya," the pope said on the sidelines of a gathering with the leaders of different faiths in Dhaka.

There you have it.

Left leaning L’Humanité leads with an article on how there’s still territorial segregation in Seine Saint Denis, one of Paris’ suburb area. The article says it is seen in education, justice and security - and politicians have been raising their voices, hoping for the government to finally make a change to this situation.

There’s more on this, with other articles.

One says that in one high school, there’s only eight people to watch 1 300 kids. Another article explains that the ‘real’ problem is the way police operate and finally, another one highlights that justice in this department is overwhelmed, and doesn’t have enough resources. It’s time for the government to pay more attention the article says.

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