Will David Beckham finally become a 'Sir' in king's birthday honours list?

Donald Trump and Elon Musk's spectacular, messy and public fallout is in all the papers this Friday. The former BFFs-turned-enemies started feuding this week over Musk’s criticism of Trump's "big beautiful bill" – a domestic policy bill that will add trillions to the public deficit. Vindictive, petty, childish, messy and public are just some of the adjectives used by The New York Times to describe Musk and Trump's spat. The Wall Street Journal recalls that the spat escalated gradually, starting with Musk criticising Trump's bill, to which Trump said Musk was aware of what had been coming. This was followed by Musk's calls to "kill the bill", to which Trump responded by saying that Musk suffered from Trump derangement syndrome. Then came the ultimate insult: Musk said that Trump wouldn't have won the election without him. The editors of the Wall Street Journal liken the two men's breakup to the War of the Roses. However, their spat may be as short-lived as their bromance. An exclusive from Politico's US website notes that Trump told the media outlet that all is OK between Musk and him. Privately, White House officials are working to de-escalate the feud.

We turn our attention to an interesting article in The Economist, which looks at the rising preference for girl babies and the stunning decline in the preference for boys. In the 1980s, with the rise of ultrasound machines that could determine sex during pregnancy, millions of girls were aborted. Having a girl at the time was perceived as undesirable. But today, in some regions, preferences for girls are growing. The magazine notes this is the case among Japanese couples who only want one child. American and Scandinavian couples are more likely to have more children if their first one is a boy. In adoption, parents pay more for a girl and prospective mothers opt for XX chromosomes when sex selection is possible in IVF. The reasons for these changing attitudes are myriad and quite stereotypical – that girls are easier to raise and more academically astute, unlike boys who are perceived as more likely to get into trouble, as 93 percent of prisoners in the world are male. There is also the perception that a surplus of men, as we saw with gender selection in the 1980s, has created a sexually frustrated generation, leading to violence against women. The feeling is that a surplus of females in the world will have a counter-effect: more peace.

The sports pages are awash with jubilation, joy and heartbreak after France's loss to Spain in the Nations League. The Spanish daily Marca calls it a dance that ended with a scare for Spain who were leading 4-0 and then 5-1 in the second half before Les Bleus scored three goals in the last fourteen minutes. But it wasn’t enough for France to win what Le Figaro calls a crazy game. Spain play Portugal in the final on Sunday. L'Equipe shares the same sentiment, calling the match "totally mad". Also sharing front page space today is French tennis player Loïs Boisson, who lost to Coco Gauff in the semi-finals of the French Open despite a dream run at the tournament.

There's good news, however, for Jordan's national team. Jordan Times reports that the team has qualified for the first time ever for the 2026 World Cup after beating Oman 3-0. The paper calls it "a monumental moment for Jordanian football and a culmination of years of effort, heartbreak and relief."

Finally, British daily The Sun reports that David Beckham could be set to become Sir David Beckham in next week's king's birthday honours. It's been a years-long campaign – Beckham was first put forward for knighthood in 2011 after helping secure the 2012 London Olympics. But the footballer was blocked after being embroiled in a tax avoidance scheme. The long wait may now be almost over for the man known as Golden Balls – or possibly, Sir Golden Balls!

You can catch our press review every morning on France 24 at 7:20am and 9:20am (Paris time), from Monday to Friday.