France's Last Newspaper Hawker To Receive Nation's Top Honour From President Macron

France will honour the country's last newspaper hawker, Ali Akbar, with the National Order of Merit for his decades-long service of delivering newspapers to cafes and restaurants in Paris' fashionable Latin Quarter.

Mr Akbar, originally from Rawalpindi in northern Pakistan, is also believed to be the last newspaper hawker in all of Europe. He will receive the honour from President Emmanuel Macron, who was once his customer, after spending over half a century selling dailies, reported the BBC.

"When he [Macron] was a student at Sciences Po, he used to offer me coffee or a glass of red wine. But now that he's president, I see less of him," the 73-year-old told The Telegraph.

Once a common sight in French cities, newspaper hawkers have disappeared over the past few decades after online news consumption on mobiles and tablets replaced street sales.

"When I began here in 1973, there were 35 or 40 of us hawkers in Paris. Now I am alone," he told the BBC.

He said he had his own way of selling newspapers. "I try to make jokes. So people laugh. I try to be positive and I create an atmosphere... I try and get into people's hearts, not their pockets."

"I just love the feel of paper," he told Reuters. "I don't like tablets and all that kind of stuff. But I do like reading. Whatever the type. Real books. But never on screens," he added.

These days, Mr Akbar goes around the cafes in the fashionable Saint-Germain area in Paris and still manages to sell around 30 copies of Le Monde. For each copy sold, he keeps half the sale price. 

For the unsold newspapers, he loses money and doesn't get a refund for returns.

Akbar said things were different before the emergence of the Internet. He would sell 80 copies within the first hour, more than double what he sells in an entire day now.

"In the old days, people would crowd around me looking for the paper. Now I have to chase down clients to try to sell one," he said.