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French press review 27 October 2015

The WHO lands a bombshell with a new study blaming cancer rates on over-consumption of red meat. September jobless figures record highs drop in France for the first time in eight years; even as endemic unemployment and discrimination leave neighbourhoods on the brink of another social explosion on 10th anniversary of the Clichy-sous-Bois riots.

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We start with the shock warning by the World Health Organisation’s International Agency for Research on Cancer that a study has revealed "strong mechanistic evidence, supporting a carcinogenic effect" of red meat consumption.

The Lyon-based agency stated in a new report published on Monday that beef was responsible mainly for cancer of the colon, the rectum and also of the pancreas and prostate. Processed meats such as sausages, ham, hot dogs, corned beef, dried meat like beef jerky or South African biltong, and Cameroonian Kilishi, canned meat or meat-based sauces, causes colorectal and bowel cancer, and red meat "probably" does too.

Le Monde underlines that its findings are based on 800 studies carried out in 10 countries by 22 of its finest experts. The evening newspaper highlights the line in the report stating that the daily consumption of 50 grams of processed beef increases the risk of colorectal cancer by 18 percent.

Australia, one of the biggest consumers of meat in the world, cited in the WHO report as having the eighth highest incidence of colorectal cancer globally wasted no time in ridiculing the research results.

The argument that processed beef is as lethal as cigarettes is simply a farce giggled the country’s Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce. He told national radio on Tuesday that anyone who takes “everything the WHO said about their daily requirements, should know they are kind of heading back to a cave”.

The papers also mark the 10th anniversary this week of the 2005 Clichy-sous-Bois riots, sparked by the death of two boys, electrocuted in a transformer where they sought refuge, after being chased by police in the Parisian region council estate.

President Francois Hollande took advantage of the occasion to pay a rare visit to La Courneuve, one of the infamous "banlieues" in the north of Paris -- where he vowed that under the egalitarian principles of the French Republic, "no areas are left behind."
But as Libération reports the whistles of disapproval that accompanied his speech underlined the disillusionment of locals, even though many of them voted for him in 2012.

La Croix describes in an editorial how the general feeling of neglect and discrimination in the banlieues which boiled over, spreading to the suburbs of France 10 years ago, have been compounded by endemic levels of unemployment, insecurity and fear.

According to l’Humanité, the clamour for equal opportunities for all and respect which resonated from the suburbs is getting stronger and stronger by the day. The Communist party newspaper published a new survey carried out for Le Parisien by the Odoxa polling institute showing that 43 percent of Parisians do not believe any of France’s political parties has the capacity to improve conditions in problematic banlieues, almost twice the figures recorded in 2011.

Libération welcomes the first substantial drop at last in French unemployment figures. The left-leaning newspaper expressed delight at the new data showing that the economy stopped shedding jobs in September and even witnessed the shortening of jobless queues by 23,800, or 0.7 percent. Libé called it “the biggest monthly drop since the global economic crisis began in 2007”.

Labour Minister Myriam El Khomri welcomed the fact that for the first time since 2011 that the number of jobless had dropped over a four-month period. However, over a year the number of unemployed was still up by 3.1 percent, and including those working a few hours in the past month was still at a record 5.4 million.

Right-wing Le Figaro also recognizes the “largest decline in jobless figures in eight years”. But the conservative newspaper argues that the facelift doesn’t guarantee a credible reversal of the unemployment rate promised by President François Hollande.

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