PRESS REVIEW – Monday, May 19: The Sunday Times shows a map leaked by diplomats proposing to divide the Gaza Strip into military zones. Also, papers react to pro-European candidate’s win in Romanian elections. Next, the "eternal second" French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau is the new head of the French conservatives. And finally, the polarising love of the Brits: from hating seagulls to spoiling their dogs. 

The British daily The Independent reported that Israel has started a “major new Gaza ground offensive. The paper says that the ground operation was announced after indirect talks with Hamas in Qatar didn’t show much progress. Over the weekend, the Sunday Times reported that the Gaza Strip could be divided into military zones. It based its reporting on maps leaked by diplomats that showed three civilian zones divided by military areas. “Civilians would be forbidden to travel between the sections without permission,” writes the paper, adding that the proposal would prevent Palestinians from moving freely throughout the enclave. That means that Palestinians would be separated from their land and families. 

Next, moving on to Super Sunday – elections this weekend were held in Poland, Portugal and Romania. The pro-European mayor of Bucharest, Nicusor Dan, defeated far-right candidate George Simion. Simion is a “nationalist aligned with President Trump, who had been seen as the front-runner,” writes the New York Times. The article calls the win a “setback for Europe’s surging nationalist forces” that will likely “calm fears in Europe”. Politico focuses on the different reactions after the election: "Tate bro tears and EU delight", the headline reads. Andrew and Tristan Tate are popular misogynist influencers who were implicated in a vast investigation into human trafficking and rape in Romania. After Dan’s win, Tristan tweeted “Romania we had a good run”. But for the European Union, Dan’s win is a “huge relief”, writes Politico. In an editorial, Romanian newspaper Bursa writes that “Romania avoided regime change but not systemic crisis”. The country is now entering “a period of fragile transition”.

There has also been Romanian flag controversy on social media. The right-wing candidate, George Simion, seems to have mixed up his own national flag. During the exit polls, he wanted to tweet “I am the new president of Romania” using the flag emoji, but he put the one of Chad instead. The flags are fairly similar, the difference is in the colour shades. That didn’t stop many social media users from making fun of him online. One tweet says, “Chad elects Simion as president – Romania breathes a sigh of relief.” 

In France, Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau was chosen to lead the French conservative party with more than 70 percent of the vote. Les Républicains is also the party of former Presidents Nicolas Sarkozy and Jacques Chirac when it was known as UMP. French right-wing paper Le Figaro writes that he is the “new hope of the right” and that his victory will help reinforce his reputation “two years away from the presidential election”. The French daily Le Parisien calls the interior minister “the eternal second” saying that up until now, Retailleau has always played a supporting role but now he will be on the front line.

And in the United Kingdom, seagull attacks have risen. The Daily Star reports that "raging gulls" have assaulted half of the British population, or some 35 million "victims" per year. The Brits seem to hate seagulls, but that’s not at all the case when it comes to dogs. The Sunday Times writes about Goodwoof – a festival like Glastonbury but for pampered dogs. It's a two-day event in West Sussex that proposes dog yoga, blow-dries and even tarot card readings that attracted more than 12,000 dogs this year.  

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