PARIS: French leader Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday picked Gabriel Attal as prime minister in a bid to give new momentum to his presidency, with the 34-year-old becoming France’s youngest and first openly gay head of government.
Following days of speculation, Macron on Monday accepted the resignation of Elisabeth Borne, 62, who stepped down after serving less than two years in office.
The overhaul comes ahead of the Olympic Games in Paris and European parliament elections this summer, where Macron’s centrist forces risk defeat at the hands of the far-right under Marine Le Pen.
It also further intensifies manoeuvring to succeed Macron, who himself took office in 2017 aged just 39, ahead of 2027 presidential elections.
A wider cabinet reshuffle is expected this week as Macron seeks to sharpen his team for the final three years of his presidency.
Attal hailed his appointment as a symbol of “audacity and movement” as he took over from Borne during an official ceremony at the prime minister’s Matignon residence in Paris.
“France will never be synonymous with decline, France will be synonymous with transformation, France will be synonymous with audacity,” he said.
Borne, only the second woman to lead the French government, said she would continue to serve France as a lawmaker, telling women “the future belongs to you.”
Attal is set to bring a major change of style to the office of the prime minister.
Borne’s austere and no-nonsense demeanour won respect from colleagues but not necessarily popularity among the public, whereas Attal is a highly popular figure in government after his brief stint at the politically crucial education ministry.
The president said he wanted Attal to bring back the spirit of bold change from when Macron first won office on a wave of hope for radical reform in 2017.
“I know I can count on your energy and your commitment,” said Macron on X, adding that the new premier would act in line with the spirit of “excellence and audacity” of 2017.
But the conservative daily Le Figaro warned “youth does not create a program” and said Attal may also have his eye on climbing to the very top.
“With such a promotion, the race for the 2027 presidential election is also inevitably set in motion,” said the newspaper.
Attal plunged straight into the job Tuesday with a visit to people hit by repeated flooding in northern France “to show the solidarity of the whole country” and promise “exceptional resources” to build back.
“You are the embodiment of the France that works hard, that gets up early in the morning... we are with you,” he told one distressed shopkeeper in the village of Clairmarais in Normandy.
Opposition leaders reacted with derision to the elevation of Attal to prime minister, which makes him the fourth head of government since Macron took power.
“The presidential monarch rules alone with his court,” said hard-left figurehead Jean-Luc Melenchon.
“What can the French expect from this fourth prime minister and fifth government in seven years?” said Le Pen.
“They can expect nothing.”
Under the French system, the president sets general policies and the prime minister is responsible for day-to-day government management, meaning the latter often pays the price when an administration runs into turbulence.
The appointment of Attal had been expected, although the absence of a swift announcement fueled talk that heavyweight government figures were unhappy over the meteoric promotion of a man known sometimes by fellow ministers as “young Gabriel.”
Sources close to those said to be behind the tensions, including Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin and Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, denied this.
Commentators see the reshuffle as essential to relaunch Macron’s centrist presidency for its last three years and prevent him becoming a “lame duck” leader after a series of crises.
Since he defeated the far right to win a second term in 2022, Macron has faced protests over unpopular pension reforms, the loss of his overall majority in parliamentary elections and controversy over immigration legislation.
With Macron unable to run again in 2027, ministers have publicly aired concerns that Le Pen has her best chance yet to win the presidency.
Attal will go toe-to-toe ahead of the European elections with another rising star of French politics, the even younger Jordan Bardella, 28, who is now party leader of the far-right RN.
Constitutional expert Benjamin Morel told AFP that Attal’s appointment signals a “very offensive strategy with a view to the European elections” in June.
Gabriel Attal picked as France’s youngest PM
https://arab.news/j9673
Gabriel Attal picked as France’s youngest PM
- A wider cabinet reshuffle is expected this week as Macron seeks to sharpen his team for the final three years of his presidency
Putin’s order for three-day truce with Ukraine enters force
MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin’s order for a three-day truce with Ukraine to coincide with Moscow’s World War II Victory Day commemorations has taken effect, Russian state media reported.
Ukraine never agreed to the truce and has dismissed it as theatrics, calling instead for a 30-day ceasefire.
The three-day order began at midnight Thursday (2100 GMT on Wednesday) and is scheduled to last until the end of Saturday, according to the Kremlin.
“The ceasefire ... on the 80th anniversary of the Great Victory has begun,” Russia’s state RIA news agency reported.
Hours before Putin’s order was scheduled to enter force, Moscow and Kyiv traded a slew of aerial attacks, prompting airport closures in Russia and leaving at least two dead in Ukraine.
The Kremlin has said Russian forces will honor Putin’s order to cease fire, but will respond “immediately” if Ukraine launches any attacks.
Putin announced the truce last month as a “humanitarian” gesture, following pressure from the United States to halt his three-year assault on Ukraine.
US President Donald Trump has been trying to broker a lasting ceasefire between Moscow and Kyiv since his inauguration, but has failed to extract any major concessions from the Kremlin.
Putin rejected a joint US-Ukrainian proposal for an unconditional ceasefire in March, and has since offered only slim contributions to Trump’s peace efforts.
Ukraine has said it does not believe Russia will adhere to this truce and accused Moscow of hundreds of violations during a previous, 30-hour ceasefire ordered by Putin over Easter.
Polish police say one killed in axe attack at Warsaw University
- "Police have detained a man who entered the University of Warsaw campus," Warsaw Police said
- Gazeta Wyborcza daily reported that the attacker was a third-year law student
WARSAW: Police said on Wednesday they had detained a 22-year-old Polish man after he killed one person with an axe at Warsaw University, in an attack the institution described as a "huge tragedy".
"Police have detained a man who entered the University of Warsaw campus. One person died, another was taken to hospital with injuries," Warsaw Police said in a statement on X.
They said the incident occurred at around 6:40 p.m. (1640 GMT), when the man attacked people on the campus with an axe, adding that the detainee was a 22-year-old Polish citizen.
Gazeta Wyborcza daily reported that the attacker was a third-year law student.
Private broadcaster Polsat News reported that a woman's severed head and an axe had been found at the university.
A spokesperson for the district prosecutor's office declined to comment on whether a severed head had been found.
The spokesperson said that a female administrative employee of the university had been killed at the scene and a security guard was injured and was taken to hospital in critical condition.
He said that the attacker had entered an auditorium at the university.
Reuters reporters at the scene saw police vans and a cordon around the auditorium where the attack took place.
The Rector of the University of Warsaw said in a statement that May 8 would be a day of mourning at the institution, calling the attack a "huge tragedy".
"We express our great sorrow and sympathy to the family and loved ones," the statement read.
Belgian teens found with 5,000 ants in Kenya given option of fine or sentence
- Authorities said the ants were destined for European and Asian markets in an emerging trend of trafficking lesser-known wildlife species
NAIROBI: Two Belgian teenagers found with 5,000 ants in Kenya were given a choice of paying a fine of $7,700 or serving 12 months in prison — the maximum penalty for the offense — for violating wildlife conservation laws.
Authorities said the ants were destined for European and Asian markets in an emerging trend of trafficking lesser-known wildlife species.
Belgian nationals Lornoy David and Seppe Lodewijckx, both 19 years old, were arrested on April 5 with 5,000 ants at a guest house in Nakuru county, which is home to various national parks. They were charged on April 15.
Magistrate Njeri Thuku, sitting at the court in Kenya’s main airport on Wednesday, said in her ruling that despite the teenagers telling the court they were naïve and collecting the ants as a hobby, the particular species of ants they collected is valuable and they had thousands of them — not just a few.
The Kenya Wildlife Service had said the teenagers were involved in trafficking the ants to markets in Europe and Asia, and that the species included messor cephalotes, a distinctive, large and red-colored harvester ant native to East Africa.
“This is beyond a hobby. Indeed, there is a biting shortage of messor cepholates online,” Thuku said in her ruling.
The illegal export of the ants “not only undermines Kenya’s sovereign rights over its biodiversity but also deprives local communities and research institutions of potential ecological and economic benefits,” KWS said in a statement.
Duh Hung Nguyen, a Vietnamese national, told the court that he was sent to pick up the ants and arrived at Kenya’s main airport where he met his contact person, Dennis Ng’ang’a, and together they traveled to meet the locals who sell the ants.
Ng’ang’a, who is from Kenya, had said he didn’t know it was illegal because ants are sold and eaten locally.
Bill Gates meets Indonesian leader to discuss development initiatives
- Gates’ foundation is developing a tuberculosis vaccine that’s planned to be tested in Indonesia
JAKARTA: Bill Gates was in Indonesia on Wednesday to discuss health and sustainable development initiatives with the leader of the world’s fourth most populous country.
Gates met President Prabowo Subianto at the colonial-style Merdeka palace in Jakarta to discuss global health, nutrition, financial inclusion and public digital infrastructure, Indonesia’s presidential office said in a statement ahead of the meeting.
The co-founder of Microsoft and Gates Foundation praised Indonesia’s adoption of vaccines against Rotavirus for diarrhea and Pneumococcus for pneumonia and the country’s efforts in reducing child mortality.
He said 10 million children under the age of five worldwide died when his foundation launched in 2000, with 90 percent of the deaths due to diarrhea, pneumonia or malaria. That number has now been cut in half to below 5 million, Gates said.
“It’s been an amazing time period. And there’s many new tools coming,” he told the meeting, which was also attended by prominent Indonesian businesspeople and philanthropists.
Gates’ foundation is currently developing a tuberculosis vaccine that’s planned to be tested in Indonesia, Subianto said.
“This is crucial because TB is still a deadly disease in the country,” he said.
Gates said that because rich countries don’t have tuberculosis, “it just doesn’t get hardly any money for diagnostics or drugs or vaccines.”
Gates has granted more than $159 million to Indonesia since 2009.
Much of it was allocated to the health sector, especially for vaccine procurement, Subianto said.
Thanks to the funds, Subianto said Biofarma, a state-run pharmaceutical company, now can produce 2 billion doses of its polio vaccine every year, benefiting more than 900 million people in 42 countries.
France says Algeria has issued arrest warrants for writer Daoud
PARIS: Algeria has issued two arrest warrants for acclaimed French-Algerian writer Kamel Daoud, the French Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday, as tensions surge between the two countries.
The Algerian judiciary informed France of the move, the Foreign Ministry said.
“We are monitoring and will continue to monitor developments in this situation closely,” he said, stressing that Daoud was “a renowned and respected author” and that France was committed to freedom of expression.
In 2024, Daoud won France’s top literary prize, the Prix Goncourt, for his novel “Houris,” centered on Algeria’s civil war between the government and radicals in the 1990s.
The novel, banned in Algeria, tells the story of a young woman who loses her voice when a hard-liner cuts her throat as she witnesses her family being massacred during the war.
In November, the woman, Saada Arbane, told Algerian television, using a speech aid, that the main character in the book is based on her experiences. Daoud, 54, has denied his novel is based on Arbane’s life.
Arbane says she told her story during a course of treatment with a psychotherapist who became Daoud’s wife in 2016.
She has accused Daoud of using the details narrated during their therapy sessions in his book.
