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French press review 15 April 2015

French candle light vigils for Nigeria's Chibok girls, Nokia's offer of a life wire for ageing jewel of French industry Alcatel-Lucent, distress calls from France's councils hit by the Socialist government's tax overkill and a die or die night for Paris Saint-Germain as they face mighty Barcelona in the Uefa Champions League quarter finals.

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The more than 200 Nigerian girls abducted by Boko Haram exactly one year ago continue to be a subject of some sharp reporting in the French press. The momentum here in France was maintained by candle light vigils including one in Paris led by ex-first lady Valerie Trierweiler, in an event which has given the Communist party newspaper Lā€™HumanitĆ© a chance to do some catching up.

There wasnā€™t a single word about the Chibok girls in the previous dayā€™s issue as the national dailies all marked the start of the students' second year in detention. There were reflections about the ordeal of their parents, the killing spree unleashed by Boko Haram on Nigerians and the failures of the Nigerian government and the army to deal with the Islamist insurgency.

Lā€™HumanitĆ© can now comment about the lives broken by Boko Haram. Pointing out that 14 April marked the start of a long series of abductions and massacres, the paper reported that the group not only targeted Christians but also Muslim men, women and even children.

Le Figaro examines the worsening situation in Gao in northern Mali where civilians have become soft targets for jihadists weakened by the French Barkane mission trying to restore peace in the war-ravaged west of the country. A prominent Tuareg leader told the newspaper that suspicions will remain between the government in Bamako and northern-based rebels even if they finally agree to sign an internationally backed landmark peace treaty.

Plans by Finnish telecoms equipment maker Nokia to purchase its Franco-American rival Alcatel-Lucent have drawn comments from several national dailies. Le Monde reports some 8,000 jobs at Alcatel in France are at risk, according to the paper, which is why French President Francois Hollande wasted no time to meet with the chief executives of Nokia, Rajeev Suri, and Alcatel-Lucent, Michel Combes, at the Elysee palace.

Another jewel of French industry is about to be lost, writes Le Figaro. It looks back at the unfortunate marriage it contracted with the American consortium Lucent, and its failure to join the 3G revolution in mobile phone technology. The right-wing newspaper says the ageing telephone maker had been losing 800 million euros every year since 2012 as it confronted an abyssal 5.7-billion-euro debt.

Le Figaro is warning French tax payers to expect an explosion of local taxes in 2015. The right-wing newspaper campaigning against the so-called tax-overkill in France reports that local councils which account for 70 per cent of public investment slashed 5.3 billion euros from their investment budgets last year and expect the worst to come due to the governmentā€™s budget squeeze.

And Monacoā€™s 1-0 defeat against Juventus in the first leg quarter finals of the Uefa Champions League tie in Turin leaves Lā€™Equipe with a feeling of frustration. The sports daily praises the ā€œMonĆ©gasquesā€ for the brave resistance they put up against the old Italian lady, cheering them on to be more efficient in the second leg.

French champions Paris Saint-Germain face their hour of truth when they take on Barcelona at the Parc des Princes in Paris later tonight in their own first leg quarter final. The sports daily is betting on an upset for the hosts, despite being without star players Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Marco Verratti, who are both banned and Italian midfield dynamo Thiago Motta, unfit to play.

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