Michel Barnier, the EU’s former chief Brexit negotiator, has been named France’s new prime minister, the French president, Emmanuel Macron’s office says, after two months of stalemate following inconclusive parliamentary elections.

In a statement on Thursday, September 5, the Élysée Palace said: “The President of the Republic has appointed Michel Barnier as Prime Minister. He has to form a united government to serve the country and the French people.”

The statement added that Barnier’s appointment comes after “an unprecedented cycle of consultations” in order to ensure a stable government.

Barnier, 73, is best known on the international stage for his role in mediating the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union.

A 40-year veteran of French and European politics, Barnier has held various ministerial positions in France, including roles as foreign, agriculture and environment ministers. He served twice as a European commissioner as well as an adviser to the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen. In 2021, Barnier announced his bid for presidential elections but failed to garner enough support within his party.

Macron accepted the resignation of former Prime Minister Gabriel Attal and his government in July after his centrist Ensemble alliance was defeated in the second round of France’s snap parliamentary election.

The leaders of France’s main far-right and far-left political parties reacted to the appointment of Barnier following Thursday’s announcement, with the far left condemning the decision.

Jordan Bardella, president of the far-right National Rally party, said on social media that his party will “judge” Barnier based on his inaugural “general policy speech, his budgetary decisions and his actions.”

Bardella’s party colleague Marine Le Pen also stressed in televised remarks that the party “will not participate in any government whatsoever” until after they have heard Barnier’s speech laying out his policy plans.

Le Pen did go on to praise Barnier on one level, saying the veteran politician is “someone who is respectful of the different political forces” and “capable” of addressing her party.

Jean-Luc Melenchon of the far-left France Unbowed party delivered a rebuke of President Macron, accusing him of “stealing” the parliamentary elections held in July.

“The president has just officially denied the results of the legislative elections that he himself had called for. He (Barnier) is a member, among others, of a party which was last in the legislative election. The election was therefore stolen from the French people,” Melenchon remarked in a televised speech.

At least four people died and nine were wounded in a high school shooting in the US state of Georgia on Wednesday, law enforcement authorities said, with a suspect taken into custody.

After the latest chapter of America’s gun violence crisis — nearly 400 mass shootings this year alone, by one tally — people gathered at a sports field outside Apalachee High School, some forming a circle with their arms linked.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said four people had been killed. There was no immediate word on a motive.

“An additional nine taken to various hospitals with injuries. Suspect in custody and alive. Reports that the suspect has been ‘neutralized’ are inaccurate,” the bureau said in a social media post.

Earlier, school authorities were reported to have sent a message to parents saying they were enforcing a “hard lockdown after reports of gunfire.”

After the all-clear was given, parents were invited to the school to be reunited with their children, with long lines of vehicles visible outside.

A student told local media that he saw blood on the floor and a body as he was led out of the building by authorities.

“I heard gunshots go off… I thought it was fake until I heard more gunshots and screaming,” said the male student, whose name was not given by the Fox 5 News channel.

On Wednesday morning, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper quoted 11th grade student Henry van der Walt as texting his mother that he thought “there’s a school shooting.”

Minutes later, he texted: “I love you.”

Local television footage showed ambulances driving across a school field about two hours after the attack was first reported, with scores of vehicles parked around the school.

The shooting occurred near the town of Winder, about 45 miles (70 kilometers) northeast of Atlanta, the state capital.

US President Joe Biden said he was mourning the dead.

“Students across the country are learning how to duck and cover instead of how to read and write. We cannot continue to accept this as normal,” he said, referring to the frequency of such attacks across the country.

School shootings have become a sadly regular occurrence in the United States, where about a third of adults own a firearm and regulations on purchasing even powerful military-style rifles are lax.

Polls show a majority of voters favor stricter controls on the use and purchase of firearms, but the powerful gun ownership lobby is opposed to additional restrictions and lawmakers have repeatedly failed to act.

(AFP)

North Korean leader, Kim Jong-Un allegedly ordered up to 30 officials to be ex3cuted over their alleged failure to prevent massive flooding and landslides in the summer that resulted in the death of some 4,000 people.

An official under Kim’s regime said between 20 to 30 leaders in North Korea had been charged with corruption and dereliction of duty, with the state sentencing them to capital punishment, TV Chosun reported.

“It has been determined that 20 to 30 cadres in the flood-stricken area were executed at the same time late last month,” the official told the outlet.

The North Korean Central News Agency previously reported that Kim ordered authorities to “strictly punish” the officials after catastrophic flooding hit the Chagang Province in July, claiming about 4,000 lives and displacing more than 15,000 people.

Kim was seen last month surveying the damaged areas and meeting with residents as he estimated that it would take months to rebuild the flooded neighborhoods.

The North Korean leader also slammed reports from South Korea about the death toll, refuting the allegations that thousands were killed.

The officials who were executed were not identified, but the report noted that Kang Bong-hoon, the Chagang Province Provincial Party Committee Secretary since 2019, was among the leaders dismissed by Kim in an emergency meeting during the flooding disaster.

Following the meeting with Kim, former North Korean diplomat Lee Il-gyu told TV Chosun that it was clear officials in the province were “so anxious that they don’t know when their necks will fall off.”

It’s not the first time reports have emerged of Kim ordering officials to be killed over a reported failure, as back in 2019, the state allegedly executed Kim Hyok Chol, its nuclear envoy to the US, for failing to negotiate a summit between Kim and then-US President Donald Trump.