PRESS REVIEW – Tuesday, November 25: We look at reactions to an updated peace plan for Ukraine, which one paper says is an "acceptable end to the war." French President Emmanuel Macron is expected to unveil a voluntary military service plan for citizens. In Italy, three children removed from their parents after growing up off-grid in the Italian forest have sparked an intense discussion about alternative lifestyles. Plus, groundbreaking gene therapy offers new hope for children suffering from Hunter syndrome.
The clock is ticking for Ukraine to accept the peace plan put forward by Donald Trump. The US president has given Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky until Thursday, November 27 to respond to a proposal that would end nearly four years of war. Ukraine and its allies spent the last few days whittling away at the initial 28-point plan which was skewed in favour of Russia. An updated version puts the focus on Ukrainian sovereignty. New Voice of Ukraine, an English-language website described as an independent daily, quotes a Financial Times report which says that Zelensky has been advised to take his time in accepting the deal. For the Daily Telegraph, chief foreign editor Roland Oliphant goes through the seven key talking points of the amended proposal and concludes that "for the first time, an acceptable end to the war is in sight". The Wall Street Journal's editors remind us: "The test of any peace agreement isn't that fighting stops but that the conditions are created for durable peace." In the case of Ukraine, this means a "sovereign Ukraine with the means to defend itself militarily."
Speaking of the military, discussions around voluntary French military service are dominating the front page of Le Parisien. President Emmanuel Macron is expected to announce a plan this Thursday to introduce a 10-month military service designed to train thousands of volunteer soldiers. Le Parisien's editor reminds us of a recent warning from the head of the armed forces: as Russia gets more aggressive, conflict in Europe by the end of the decade is possible. Le Parisien's editors cite a survey showing that six out of 10 teenagers between 16 and 18 are willing to risk their lives for France. The discussion of a military service programme has created a sort of panic nonetheless – firmly replanting France in a wartime scenario. Le Figaro quotes Macron as playing down these fears. He has said this military service does not mean France will send young French soldiers to Ukraine or indeed sacrifice them.
We move on to a story that has divided the Italian press: the removal of three children from their parents who were raising them in the woods. As the Guardian reports, Nathan Trevallion and his Australian wife Catherine Birmingham have raised their three children in a wooded area in central Italy since 2021. They grew their own food, generated their own electricity and extracted water from a well. The children were homeschooled. But all this came to a head recently when the family was hospitalised after ingesting poisonous mushrooms. Italian authorities conducted a search and concluded that the parents were raising their children in insalubrious conditions. A court then removed them from their parents. Italian daily La Verità says the case has divided Italy and spurred a protest movement in defence of the family’s alternative lifestyle. The parents were naïve at worst, the paper adds. However, it defends them against allegations that their dwelling was not up to standard, saying that if this were the case, municipal authorities would never have allowed them to live there. A national demonstration is planned for December 6 in front of the family affairs ministry.
Finally, new gene therapy in the UK to treat the rare condition of Hunter syndrome has yielded very promising results. This rare genetic disorder means that an individual's body cannot break down complex sugar molecules, which leads to cognitive decline. A three-year-old boy called Oliver was one of five patients who received gene therapy in a groundbreaking trial led by researchers at the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital. As Manchester Evening News explains, doctors removed Oliver's stem cells and then gave instructions to the cells to produce the missing enzyme. They then re-injected the modified cells. Months later, Oliver seems to have fully recovered, and doctors are cautiously optimistic. After a decade of trying to find a cure, they are hopeful of an affordable and effective treatment for this rare genetic condition.
You can catch our press review every morning on France 24 at 7:20am and 9:20am (Paris time), from Monday to Friday.
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