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French press review 26 August 2015

Le Monde leads with the consequences the Monday's stock market crash saying it has put the Chinese regime to a test. It says that the crisis has raised doubts about the Chinese economy that could affect the course of the euro as well as the growth prospects of emerging markets. 

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Le Monde adds that the failure of the economy could weaken President Xi Jinping as growth and employment are the pillars of strength of the Chinese Communist Party.

Already the Chinese government’s limitations were demonstrated following the disaster in the port city of Tianjin on 12 August.

Le Monde also carries a profile of Sri Lankan actor Antonythasan Jesuthasan, who is the hero of the film Dheepan, released in France today.

The movie which won the Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes film festival, documents the story of a former member of the Tamil Tigers separatist guerrilla movement (LTTE), played by Jesuthasan.

The daily also carries reports on the situation in northern Sri Lanka six years after the end of the civil war between the Sri Lankan army and the LTTE.

Le Monde’s weekly science supplement has an interesting article on dark matter and dark energy, which still remain elusive to physicists.

The article states that physicists have still not managed to catch the two fugitives who have been taunting them for decades.

The daily explains that dark matter is necessary to ensure the cohesion of galaxies while dark energy is a mysterious force that is accelerating the expansion of the universe.

Between them, they constitute more than 95 per cent of the universe. The fact that we still haven’t been able to detect either of the two shows our ignorance.

The daily reports on new techniques that are being developed to detect these two phenomena.

Libération has an exhaustive coverage on how the elusive profile of the Thalys train assailant Ayoub El Khazzani illustrates the puzzles intelligence services have to tackle in order to prevent terror acts. It dedicates three inside pages to the story.

The left-leaning daily also has an interesting science feature.

Libération dedicates two pages on the mysteries of Pluto, the ninth planet of our solar system.

The report states that Nasa’s New Horizons probe had surprised astrophysicists by revealing new facets of Pluto.

The new information has raised even more questions about the dwarf planet, the first being the incredible youth of its surface.

It adds that the low number of impact craters in some areas involves geological activity that renews the surface, which is a puzzle for scientists.

According to the report, even stranger is Pluto's moon, Charon, which also exhibits strong geological activity.

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