French Immigrant of the Day: Ali Akbar, who's sold newspapers on the streets of Paris for 50 years, is now a knight
France named Ali Akbar, a 73-year-old Pakistani immigrant who has sold papers on the Left Bank of Paris for decades, a knight in the National Order of Merit, one of France's highest honors.
According to NPR, "[f]or more than 50 years, the Pakistani-born newspaper hawker has made the same daily rounds on his secondhand bicycle, weaving between brasseries with fresh stacks of papers like Le Monde and Libération. His customers have ranged from neighborhood regulars to Left Bank intellectuals like the 20th century philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre and visiting presidents including Bill Clinton. . . . Akbar's medal comes with a quiet footnote: He is believed to be the last newspaper hawker left in Paris."
