United Kingdom
Many papers covered the publishing of Michelle Obama’s memoir, Becoming, as the Brexit deadline drew ever closer.
— The Guardian said the book “reveals [her] dread of Trump and how [the news] cycle turns her stomach.” The Independent said Michelle Obama didn’t think her husband could become president because he was “a black man in America.” The Telegraph focused on her meeting with the Queen.
— The BBC news website said ministers were told “judgement day” was looming to finalize a Brexit deal.
— The Guardian warned “time is running out” and said Theresa May had told the Lord Mayor’s banquet in London that talks were in the “endgame.”
Germany
German papers focused on the struggling SPD and the new government in Bavaria.
— Berliner Morgenpost says SPD leader Andrea Nahles is performing a “U-turn” by dropping her party’s support for the welfare reforms known as Hartz IV. But the paper said the exact changes the SPD wanted to make, other than creating a “friendly” welfare state, in Nahles’ words, were still “unclear.”
— Frankfurter Allgemeine said the SPD’s last few months had been characterized by “troubles, heavy defeats and mourning.” Now, the paper said, the party knows there must be “no more moping.”
— Süddeutsche Zeitung presented the new Bavarian cabinet — a coalition of CSU and Free Voters led by Markus Söder. The paper described the regional government as “younger, female and Catholic.”
France
French media followed the deadly fire in California as well as developments closer to home.
— FranceInfo said the forest fire in California, which has killed 42 people, was “by far the worst in the state’s history.”
— Le Figaro said the government’s spokesperson Benjamin Griveaux and Equalities Secretary Marlène Schiappa defended themselves from accusations of overspending in their departments. Both Griveaux and Schiappa went on TV to denounce the figures as false.
— Le Parisien covered Monday’s national education strike, but said the threat of jobs being cut only “weakly” mobilized people.
— The website of radio station France Bleu said the police were dealing with the emotional shock of losing Maggy Biskupski, who took her own life with her service weapon Monday night. She came to prominence after the 2016 Viry-Châtillon attack, when a gang of youths threw 13 Molotov cocktails at two police cars in a Paris suburb.
Italy
Italian papers were watching the deputy prime ministers closely.
— La Repubblica said bishops were warning the government over its handling of the EU budget dispute.
— Il Fatto Quotidiano said Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini promised he would “not oblige anyone” to pay penalties under his pension reforms.
— Il Giornale investigated where the other Deputy Prime Minister Luigi di Maio might have got a press card.