Skip to main content

French press review 25 December 2013

It's Christmas and that means most of French people are celebrating. It also means most of the newspapers did not come out this morning.

Advertising

 

According to Tabloid Aujourd'hui en France, there is some good news today - its readers are amazing.

There is a nice article on Bétoul, a young women living in Marseilles, who volunteered to give presents to homeless people around her city.

Bétoul explains to the tabloid that when she was a teenager she and her mum had financial difficulties. Now that life is a bit easier, she wants to give to people who are less fortunate than her. Plus she gets to dress as a green Santa Claus for the occasion, she says.
 
On a more serious note, France wants to invest in Ethiopia.
 
That's in today's Le Monde. According to the centre-left newspaper, more and more international companies are looking to invest in the African country. Ethiopia is planning to put 70 per cent of its territory on the electricity grid by 2015 and that means opportunities for international companies.

One example of that is Vergnet, a French firm that built Africa’s biggest windmill farm in Ashegoda. For Le Monde it's no surprise that the French Foreign Trade Minister Nicole Bricq recently said that "Africa, especially Ethiopia, is a priority for French investments".

But all is not so perfect. Investing in the country is a complicated matter because of bureaucracy and ever-changing rules, explains the paper.

Coming back to Christmas, some French Muslims are wondering if they should wish people a merry Christmas.

The website Rue89 reports that a small part of the Muslim community in France is saying Muslims should not be wishing a happy Christmas to the people celebrating it. According to some, you could even go to hell for doing so.

Borhene, the writer of the article, who is also a Muslim, say he doesn't understand why people are arguing about this. As a kid, he says, he always celebrated Christmas with his family and friends, even though the celebrations are not part of his faith. And to prove his point, he concludes the article with "Merry Christmas".

The website Slate.fr is asking a funny question this morning...

Was the name Jesus popular when Jesus Christ was born?

Well, according to Slate, the name Jesus comes from Iesus and was quite popular in the Roman Empire.

 

Daily newsletterReceive essential international news every morning

Keep up to date with international news by downloading the RFI app

Share :
Page not found

The content you requested does not exist or is not available anymore.