PRESS REVIEW – Tuesday, July 1: The French left-wing papers rejoice after a controversial public broadcasting bill is rejected by parliament. The New York Times looks at how the Sinaloa cartel is making new alliances with enemies, which could reshape the global drug trade. Also: a photo report documents horrific sexual violence inflicted on Tigray women in Ethiopia. Plus: Oliver Tarvet, an amateur player, will face world n° 2 Carlos Alcaraz in the second round at Wimbledon.

French MPs have rejected a bill that aims to bring France's public services under one holding company. The text was rejected in the National Assembly on Monday before it could even be debated. It will now head to the Senate for a review. L'Humanité, the Communist paper, says: "Dati persists, public services resist." That headline is in reference to French Culture Minister – and Paris mayor hopeful – Rachida Dati, who spearheaded the controversial bill. Libération says the MPs' outright rejection of the text is a "slap in the face" for Dati, noting that she was abandoned in the vote by Macron’s ruling coalition. In its editorial, Libération says Dati failed in her fourth attempt at passing the deeply controversial bill. It accuses her of being dogmatic in her bid to seek revenge on the journalists who have investigated her many corruption scandals.

As Le Monde explains, the proposal seeks to merge France's three major public broadcasting companies: France Télévisions, Radio France and INA, the national archives. This merger has been likened to a French-style BBC. Those opposed to the move say it would hamper editorial independence and offer fewer resources at a time when maintaining editorial independence is crucial. Le Monde notes that this reform comes at a time when French public services are in relatively good health: Radio France's podcasts are among the most listened to and France Télévisions is holding strong against competition. This doesn't detract, however, from the challenges the sector faces: ageing audiences and fierce competition from on-demand television.

In other news: The New York Times looks at how tough times for the Mexican Sinaloa dug cartel could push them to make dangerous alliances. The Sinaloa cartel is the world's most feared fentanyl cartel. It is reeling from internal fighting and a crackdown by Mexico and the USA. The cartel has for years run a global empire through alliances with affiliates around the world. But now, amid troubled times, a faction of the group have allied with a powerful adversary: the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. This alliance could turn the latter in to the world's biggest drug trafficker and redraw alliances and power structures around the world. As one expert puts it, it’s as if the East Coast of the US seceded during the Cold War and reached out to the Soviet Union.

The British daily The Guardian has a haunting photo report looking at the horrific sexual violence inflicted against Tigray woman in Ethiopia. Uruguayan photographer Ximena Borrazas specialises in documenting humanitarian conflict. During the 2020 war, tens of thousands of Tigrayan women were gang-raped by Ethiopian and Eritrean soldiers. As Borrazas reports, some had foreign objects forcibly injected into their uterus – metal screws and even letters written by soldiers covered in plastic. These letters expressed a desire to render the women infertile so as to end the Tigrayan population. Some expressed a desire to seek revenge for Tigray's border war in the 1990s. Other women were subjected to acid attacks and still suffer today. The Guardian notes that nearly 90 percent of victims have not received any medical or psychological help. Justice for them seems an even more distant prospect.

Finally, an amateur tennis player will face world n° 2 Carlos Alcaraz in the second round of Wimbledon. Britain's Oliver Tarvet, who is ranked 733rd in the world, is the lowest-ranked player in the entire singles draw. His three-set first round win over a Swiss opponent earned him nearly £100,000. But his amateur status and the fact that he's a US college student mean he can only received £10,000 in profit this year because of the national collegiate athlete rules. Nonetheless, he has a mammoth task ahead of him: his second-round match will be against Alcaraz on Wednesday!

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