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  • Straight to press review now with Leo McGuinn.

  • He's going to start in the UK with a developing story.

  • This is the death of a British man recently arrested on spying offences.

  • Yeah, and this story is just going to run and run.

  • So definitely worth keeping an eye on it.

  • It does make the front page of The Eye this morning.

  • You can see the headline, Brit charged with spying for China, found dead in park.

  • Matthew Trickett, who you can see on that front page there, was found dead by a member of the public in a park in Berkshire.

  • He had been arrested earlier this month and charged alongside two others with assisting the Hong Kong intelligence service and with foreign interference.

  • He had been released on bail awaiting a trial that was due to start on Friday.

  • According to The Telegraph, they have a few more details.

  • They say the death actually took place on Sunday, but we've only learnt the identity of Matthew

  • Trickett in the last few hours.

  • Mr. Trickett's lawyer reacted to the news saying he was shocked.

  • Mr. Trickett was a Home Office immigration officer who'd previously served as a Royal Marine for six years.

  • Between December and May, he was accused of agreeing to undertake information gathering, surveillance and acts of deception that were likely to materially assist a foreign intelligence service.

  • The case has fuelled a diplomatic row between Britain and China.

  • Britain's foreign ministry summoned the Chinese ambassador to explain the incident, and there have been no details released so far on Trickett's death.

  • But, of course, the circumstances have led to many questions.

  • The local police released this statement online, referring to the death only as unexplained.

  • They say an investigation is underway with more details to be released in due course.

  • Let's get back to what was our top story a little earlier on New Caledonia.

  • The French President Emmanuel Macron is going to touch down later on today.

  • What are the French press saying about this one?

  • Yeah, Macron is set to arrive in New Caledonia tonight after ten days of rioting sparked by that proposed electoral overhaul.

  • Libération have this front page saying that Macron is pulling out all the stops, a headline rather dripping in irony.

  • The unrest began last week as politicians in Paris voted on a bill to allow French residents who've lived in New Caledonia for ten years the right to vote in provincial elections.

  • And in the riots that have ensued, six people have been killed and hundreds injured.

  • The left-leaning paper Libération have this full two-page spread on the visit.

  • They accuse the government of making decisions with a lack of consensus and not thinking about the people of New Caledonia and how it will affect them.

  • They have this line.

  • At this crossroads of disappointment, unfulfilled expectations and inequalities that have not been sufficiently combated,

  • Emmanuel Macron must above all accept the failure of his method.

  • Libération go on to warn that the violence will not simply disappear because Macron appears.

  • L'Opinion also have it on their front page, this cartoon of Macron.

  • They call him the mediator-in-chief and have him dressed as Zorro.

  • They call him the omnipresent president, a pyromaniac fireman trying to put out a fire that he himself fanned.

  • They say ointment is all very well, but it's even better to avoid fueling fire in the first place.

  • And for one presidential visit to another, this is the Kenyan President William Ruto currently in the US on a state visit.

  • He's going to meet with President Biden tomorrow, demonstrating we're deepening ties between the two countries, Leo.

  • Yeah, it's a really interesting piece in the Washington Post this morning.

  • It's actually the first state visit by an African president to the US in 16 years, and as Nairobi and Washington deepen their ties, the US influence on the rest of the continent is waning, as this piece explains.

  • Chad and Niger, formerly staunch US allies, both ask American troops to leave their territories this year.

  • Ethiopia is currently infuriated by US allegations of gross human rights violations, and Washington's support for Israel has also distanced South Africa and Egypt.

  • That means the US has increasingly turned towards Kenya.

  • Before the end of the month, 200 Kenyan police officers will head to Haiti.

  • The United States is helping to fund the year-long deployment to help stabilise the nation after the gangs have taken control there.

  • And despite his favour in Washington,

  • Ruto's popularity at home has been absolutely hammered recently due to inflation and a raft of unpopular new taxes.

  • And one thing he's received heavy criticism for, as we can see in The Standard, which is one of Kenya's biggest newspapers, is the cost of his trip to the US, and particularly the cost of the private jet that they've hired.

  • Some Kenyans have expressed outrage that he chartered an aircraft instead of using his usual presidential plane, especially given his government's austerity measures and the cost of living crisis.

  • The price of hiring the luxury private jet came in at a whopping $1.5 million.

  • The government have defended the decision, saying that the benefits from this visit far outweigh the costs a million times over.

  • Ruto has made more than 50 visits abroad since he became president in 2022, averaging three a month.

  • Leo, thanks very much, Leo.

  • We'll go in there with the press review for us here on France 24.

Straight to press review now with Leo McGuinn.

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