France’s Macron Appoints New Government for 2nd Term

French President Emmanuel Macron poses in his office during a meeting with Moldovan President Maia Sandu at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France May 19, 2022. (Reuters)
French President Emmanuel Macron poses in his office during a meeting with Moldovan President Maia Sandu at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France May 19, 2022. (Reuters)
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France’s Macron Appoints New Government for 2nd Term

French President Emmanuel Macron poses in his office during a meeting with Moldovan President Maia Sandu at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France May 19, 2022. (Reuters)
French President Emmanuel Macron poses in his office during a meeting with Moldovan President Maia Sandu at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France May 19, 2022. (Reuters)

French President Emmanuel Macron announced a new-look Cabinet on Friday, with a new foreign minister part of the reshuffled line-up behind France’s first female prime minister in 30 years.

Three senior ministers - Gérald Darmanin at the interior ministry, Bruno Le Maire for economics and Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti - all survived the extensive shake-up for re-elected Macron's second term.

Catherine Colonna, a career diplomat and, most recently, France’s ambassador to Britain, takes over the foreign affairs portfolio as France is deeply engaged in international efforts to support Ukraine against Russia’s invasion and isolate the Kremlin.

Led by Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, who was named Monday, the Cabinet’s top priority will be trying to secure the parliamentary majority that Macron needs to implement the policy proposals that the centrist campaigned on in last month’s presidential election.

France's parliamentary election to determine seats in the National Assembly is being held over two rounds of voting in June and parties on both the far-left and the far-right are trying to reduce Macron’s centrist majority.

The Cabinet appointments were announced by Macron’s office in a statement read aloud by an aide on the stairs of the presidential Elysee Palace, in keeping with tradition.

Black French scholar Pap Ndiaye, an expert on US minority rights movements, was named France's new education minister. Ndiaye was previously in charge of France’s state-run immigration museum.

In an Associated Press interview last year, Ndiaye said France has to fight racial justice by confronting its often-violent colonial past, noting that "the French are highly reluctant to look at the dark dimensions of their own history."

Colonna replaces Jean-Yves Le Drian, Macron’s foreign minister throughout his first term. She is the first woman to head the Quai d’Orsay, the plush headquarters of French diplomacy on the banks of the Seine River, since Michèle Alliot-Marie’s short stint as foreign minister ended in February 2011.

The new government also has a new spokesperson, Olivia Grégoire. The former junior minister replaces Gabriel Attal and will be one of the administration’s most visible members.

The core cabinet of Borne and 17 ministers is evenly split between men and women. One of the new additions, Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, is also minister of the Olympic Games and the Paralympics, a new title ahead of the 2024 Summer Games in Paris.



Taiwan Shuts Down as Strong Typhoon Kong-Rey Hits, One Dead

This Himawari satellite handout image from the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) website in collaboration with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NOAA/NESDIS) and Colorado State University-CIRA (CSU/CIRA) taken and released on October 31, 2024 shows typhoon Kong-rey developing over the Pacific as it approaches Taiwan (center L). (Photo by Handout / various sources / AFP)
This Himawari satellite handout image from the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) website in collaboration with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NOAA/NESDIS) and Colorado State University-CIRA (CSU/CIRA) taken and released on October 31, 2024 shows typhoon Kong-rey developing over the Pacific as it approaches Taiwan (center L). (Photo by Handout / various sources / AFP)
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Taiwan Shuts Down as Strong Typhoon Kong-Rey Hits, One Dead

This Himawari satellite handout image from the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) website in collaboration with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NOAA/NESDIS) and Colorado State University-CIRA (CSU/CIRA) taken and released on October 31, 2024 shows typhoon Kong-rey developing over the Pacific as it approaches Taiwan (center L). (Photo by Handout / various sources / AFP)
This Himawari satellite handout image from the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) website in collaboration with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NOAA/NESDIS) and Colorado State University-CIRA (CSU/CIRA) taken and released on October 31, 2024 shows typhoon Kong-rey developing over the Pacific as it approaches Taiwan (center L). (Photo by Handout / various sources / AFP)

A strong Typhoon Kong-rey made landfall on Taiwan's east coast on Thursday, the largest storm by size to hit the island in nearly 30 years, closing financial markets, causing hundreds of flights to be cancelled and reducing rail services.
The typhoon knocked out power to nearly half a million households, the government said.
The storm hit the mountainous and sparsely populated east coast county of Taitung, according to Taiwan's Central Weather Administration, with strong winds and torrential rain affecting almost all the island.
The fire department reported one person had died when their truck hit a fallen tree in central Taiwan.
At one point a super typhoon, Kong-rey slightly weakened overnight but remained powerful as the equivalent of a Category 4 hurricane packing gusts of more than 250 kph (155 mph), according to Tropical Storm Risk.
Taiwan's weather administration put the typhoon's size at the biggest to hit the island since 1996.
"I hope that everyone in the country will co-operate in avoiding disaster and refraining from engaging in dangerous behaviour such as wave watching during the typhoon," President Lai Ching-te wrote on his Facebook page.
Administration forecaster Gene Huang said after hitting the east coast it would head towards the Taiwan Strait as a much weakened storm and urged people across the island to stay at home due to the danger of high winds.
Environmental officials were working on Thursday to prevent oil leaking from a Chinese cargo ship beached against rocks on Taiwan's northern coast after losing power in turbulent weather.
Warnings for destructive winds of more than 160 kph (100 mph) were issued in Taitung, whose outlying Lanyu island recorded gusts above 260 kph (162 mph) before some of the wind-barometers there went offline.
"It was terrifying last night. Many people on the island didn't sleep, worrying about something happening to their house," Sinan Rapongan, a government official on Lanyu, also known as Orchid Island, told Reuters.
Some roofs had been damaged and more than 1,300 homes had lost power but so far no injuries had been reported, she added.
Parts of eastern Taiwan recorded one meter (3.3 feet) of rainfall since the typhoon began approaching on Wednesday.
The defense ministry has put 36,000 troops on standby to help with rescue efforts, while almost 10,000 people have been evacuated from high risk areas ahead of time, the government said.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, the world's largest contract chipmaker and major supplier to companies like Apple and Nvidia, said it has activated routine typhoon alert preparation procedures at all its factories and construction sites.
"We do not expect significant impact to our operations," it said in an emailed statement.
Taiwan's transport ministry said 314 international flights had been cancelled, along with all domestic flights.
Taiwan's high speed railway, which connects major cities on its populated western plains, continued to operate with a much reduced service.
Kong-rey is forecast to graze China along the coast of Fujian province on Friday morning. China's financial hub Shanghai is bracing for potentially the worst rains in more than 40 years.
Subtropical Taiwan is frequently hit by typhoons. The last one, Typhoon Krathon, killed four people earlier this month as it passed through the south of the island.