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French press review 16 October 2018

Violent rainstorms and flooding kill 13 and leave a trail of devastation across southeastern France in grim reminder of climate emergency.

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The papers are all about the trail of death and destruction left behind by violent rainstorms that turned rivers into raging torrents in southwestern France killing at least 13 people on Monday.

Le Parisien reports that towns and villages around the fortress city of Carcassonne, were the worst devastated by the flash floods which overturned cars, damaged roads and swept away homes.

L'Humanité says it's unacceptable to reduce the tragedy to the whims and caprices of the climate.

The lef-wing daily expresses outrage that issues such spatial planning, drainage of waterways the construction of flooded areas and safeguard of habitable areas always end up on the tail end of budget allocations schemes.

The paper warns that the state will not be allowed to escape its responsibilities, this time.

Paris Normandie recalls the famous speech made 16 years ago by French President Jacques Chirac at the Johannesburg Climate Summit in September 2012 in which he warned that "our house is burning down and we're blind to it". What have we done since then, the newspaper asks?

The regional publication says experts have been ringing the alarm bells for thirty years now For Paris Normandie, the latest ecological disaster once again underlines the urgency to act.

Libération deplores the trail of death left behind by gang violence in French neighbourhoods, after a 13 year old lost his life in a gang brawl. It is the second teenager to be killed in a month after the lynching of a student in Garges les Gonesses in September observes says Libé.

What's most shocking, according to the left-leaning publication, is that some of the victims are hacked to death with a baseball bat or crossbars just because they dared look at criminals in their neighbourhoods in the eye.

Libération warns that the patient work of teachers, educators, city councilors to reduce inequalities in French cities is no longer enough to weave together the shattered fabric of French society.

French manager coach Didier Deschamps talks to the sports daily l'Equipe ahead of tonight's Nation's League showdown in Paris, between France and Germany.

The manager of the World Champions says he doesn't expect Joachim Lowe's Mannschaft to be demotivated, after their 3-Nil trouncing by the Netherlands on Saturday.

That loss left Germany bottom of their Nations League group, and a win for the "Les Bleus" this Tuesday would leave them on the verge of relegation to the B division of the Nations League.

Some French papers are betting on another sterling performance by teenager sensation Kylian Mbappe who came off the bench to rescue a 2-2 draw for France during last Thursday's Nation's League match with Iceland.

The 19-year-old from the Paris suburb of Bondy is on the front page of the current edition of American weekly magazine Time. The honour comes after he tore Lyon to shreds with four goals in 13 minutes last Sunday.

Kylian Mbappe is only the second teenager in history after Pele to score in a World Cup final.

L'Est républicain says it's no surprise that the phenomenon is already a stronger contender for the 2018 Ballon d'Or award, which in its view for once could slip from the hands of fading Argentine star Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

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