Overnight papers lingered on Céline Dion's emotional comeback at Nanterre's Plenitude Arena, opening with 'On ne change pas' after six years off stage and launching a 26-date residency.
Morning attention moved to the left's rentrée at the Fête de l'Humanité, where Jean-Luc Mélenchon's speech on cost of living and patriotism set the tone, prompting Olivier Faure to call him a rival not an enemy and François Ruffin to warn the left could not win while rejected by two-thirds of French people, while François Hollande preached union at the Fête de la rose.
From midday, Marine Le Pen's rentrée speech in Hénin-Beaumont took over live coverage, pledging housing as a quinquennat priority, repeal of the SRU law and national priority, amid polls showing an unprecedented lead.
In the evening, France's women lost the basketball World Cup final to the United States.