'Egomaniac': Papers discuss 'Trumpapalooza' midterm convention

PRESS REVIEW – Thursday, September 10: US papers react to the first night of the Republicans' midterm convention in Dallas. Also: five baby orangutans from Southeast Asia have been found in a forest in India. Then some dystopian science news. Finally, perhaps we don't need to do as much sport as we think we do. The Wall Street Journal reports that during the keynote speech, US president Donald Trump asked voters to pretend that he is on the ballot. There was also a “desperate election shocker”, says The HuffPost – Trump said he’ll bribe each citizen with a $5,000 payment if the Republicans win the Midterms. But The HuffPost recalls that Trump doesn’t have the legal authority to issue checks to everyone in the US, among other issues. The Atlantic asks whether "Trump really wants Republicans to win the Midterms"? The periodical says that it is currently impossible for the party to distance itself from the unpopular president. His approach “nicely illustrates the drawbacks of handing total control of a political party to an egomaniac”. But The Washington Post says that for many attending the convention, dubbed by some “Trumpapalooza”, “the main draw is Trump”. Many in the crowd are Trump loyalists and they are “mainly here to see their man”, writes the paper. Democrats believe that this will only help their midterm prospects, though, since the president’s approval ratings have dropped to a historic low. And The Daily Beast writes that the convention actually kicked off to empty chairs. The news site says that those who attended “struggled to stay energized” and the speakers “smiled as they looked out into a largely empty arena”. Next: five baby orangutans have been found in a forest in India, while they are native only to the islands of Borneo and Sumatra, reports The Guardian. Authorities are now investigating if they were trafficked from south-east Asia. International commercial trade in orangutans has been prohibited by a global agreement about endangered wildlife. The World Wildlife Fund says that about 104,000 orangutans remain in the islands of Borneo and Sumatra. A century ago, the population was more than 230,000. Authorities believe that the orangutans have stayed in India’s Odisha state only for a couple of days. They have been placed in quarantine. Also: Wired writes about a “new startup that lets you freeze your eggs for free […] But is anything ever free?” The startup is called Cofertility and promises to help women who cannot afford the expensive procedure. The catch is that the clients must give half of tjpse eggs to donors who are ready to pay up to tens of thousands of dollars. But there are both medical and ethical problems with this practice. One expert who was interviewed compared the practice to commercialised eugenics. Finally, The Washington Post writes that scientists compared 3- and 90-minute workouts. It turns out that only 3 minutes of intense exercise may have a more beneficial impact on our physiology and health compared to longer moderate exercise. The groundbreaking new study helps answer some questions and raise many new ones… You can catch our press review every morning on France 24 at 7:20am and 9:20am (Paris time), from Monday to Friday