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What people are reading: The front pages: Last night’s north American papers European front pages for Monday

The hospitalization of Valérie Trierweiler made public yesterday, after the revelations about the private lives of François Holland, place the president in a very delicate situation on the eve of his big press conference. La France, mauvaise élève de l’Europe - France, bad student of Europe The still champion Germany’s exports, the United Kingdom and its spectacular economic restart, the Italy in good conditions to take advantage of the recovery, the Spain and its morale boosted by good economic indicators… And the France? Not so, according to official figures and analysis of some economists. The absence of recovery, combined with a still sluggish business climate and a degraded trade deficit, place the head of State at the foot of the wall. The latter prepares to present its ‘responsibility Pact’, whereas closed foot by many business leaders, little reassured until ‘ now by the lack of clarity in the economic strategy of the president of the Republic. NRW-Schulmi...

From this morning’s Australian papers . A glance at  the front pages  will confirm that it was hard to find much serious reading this morning. Abbott’s hard line on boat arrivals pays off  – “The Abbott government has won a mighty, if still provisional, victory against people-smugglers. Today, it is just under four weeks during which no illegal immigrant has arrived in Australia by boat, nor been taken into Australian immigration authority for transfer to Manus Island or Nauru.” – Greg Sheridan in The Australian. ‘Repeal day’ to target government red tape  - “The Coalition will seek to abolish more than 8000 redundant federal laws with its first “repeal day”, scheduled for the final parliamentary sitting week in March as part of its plan to slash red and green tape by $1 billion a year. Tony Abbott is expected to make a special statement to the House of Representatives on March 19 outlining the government’s progress in reducing red and green tape after writing to...

POLITICS AND ECONOMICS Elections and polls Coalition ahead in WA with Abbott at top: poll - The Westpoll shows the coalition has returned to a slight lead over the ALP in WA on a two-party preferred result of 51 per cent to 49 per cent. In December, Westpoll had Labor in front 53-47 after the Liberal Party's leadership woes. However, the Liberal Party still faces losing at least three seats in the State at the next Federal election. – The West Australian Coalition surges to poll lead – Support for Kevin Rudd in his home state has crashed as Tony Abbott's new-look Coalition powers ahead of Labor for the first time since the 2007 federal election. The latest Galaxy poll, conducted exclusively for The Brisbane Courier-Mail , reveals the energetic new Opposition Leader is making inroads in the crucial battleground of Queensland . If preferences were allocated as per the last election, the Coalition would lead on 51 per cent to the ALP's 49 per cent. Bligh says voter ange...

POLITICS AND ECONOMICS Economic matters Bank support scheme to end  –  Australia  will axe the wholesale bank guarantee offered to assist lenders during the worst of the global financial crisis, in another sign of the resilience and recovery of the national economy –  The Australian Banks warned of rate 'wrath'  – The nation's banks have been warned they will face the ''wrath of the Australian government'' if they push up mortgage rates in the face of a decision announced yesterday to stop guaranteeing their overseas borrowings – Melbourne Age OECD calls for tighter monetary and fiscal policy  – The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development says Australia 's quick policy response to the global financial crisis helped the economy to weather the storm. Now it says both budget and interest rate policy need to be tightened further to manage the economy's recovery –  The Australian Polls Abbott leads poll revival  – Tony Abbott's...