PARIS (AP) — France’s new prime minister named a government Sunday, bringing back former finance minister Bruno Le Maire to serve at the defense ministry, where he'll help oversee French military support for Ukraine and address threats to European security posed by Russia.
Other key positions in the new cabinet, announced by President Emmanuel Macron 's office, remain largely unchanged, with conservative Bruno Retailleau staying on as interior minister, in charge of policing and internal security, Jean-Noël Barrot remaining as foreign minister, and Gérald Darmanin keeping the justice ministry.
But the life span of Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu’s new minority government risks being short, facing hostility in Parliament where it lacks a stable majority. Macron's opponents on the left of the National Assembly are mustering efforts to bring down Lecornu with a no-confidence vote, and the far-right National Rally party of Marine Le Pen is pushing for snap legislative elections.
The immediate priority for 39-year-old Lecornu, a centrist and close ally of Macron, is to keep his job. Macron promoted Lecornu — previously the defense minister — last month as France’s fourth prime minister in a year, after his predecessor was ousted by the deeply divided parliament amid turmoil over spending cuts.
The prolonged political instability is complicating French government efforts to tackle the country's budget difficulties and weakening Macron's position domestically as he wrestles with pressing international challenges, including wars in Ukraine and Gaza and the shifting priorities of U.S. President Donald Trump.
Le Maire — a former government heavyweight as finance minister until last year — takes over as defense minister from Lecornu, whose promotion to prime minister put him in the hot seat of the political turmoil that has gripped France for more than a year, with minority governments lurching from crisis to crisis, collapsing in short order one after the other.
The political deadlock is rooted in Macron’s stunning decision to dissolve the National Assembly, parliament’s powerful lower house, in June 2024. That triggered a legislative election that the French leader hoped would strengthen the hand of his pro-European centrist alliance. But the gamble backfired, producing a splintered legislature with no dominant political bloc in power for the first time in France’s modern republic.
Other than Le Maire, the most notable new cabinet appointment is Roland Lescure as finance minister. France's economy is one of the world’s biggest and the second-largest in the European Union. But France's ballooning deficit and debts are worrying investors and dividing political opinion. Lescure previously held more junior roles under the finance ministry until last year.
Lecornu will face a key test on Tuesday when he gives a speech to the National Assembly, outlining his government’s direction and his plans for crafting next year’s budget — a pressing but divisive national priority.
He announced Friday that he will not use a special constitutional power to force a budget through parliament without a vote — as predecessors have done — and will instead seek a compromise with lawmakers from the left and the right.
Unions and activists have staged three days of nationwide protests since Lecornu’s appointment, including one that shut down the Eiffel Tower on Thursday, protesting expected spending cuts to public services.
French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu delivers a statement at the Hotel Matignon in Paris, Friday Oct. 3, 2025, before a round of consultations with political parties ahead of the announcement of the new government. (Alain Jocard, Pool Photo via AP)
French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu delivers a statement at the Hotel Matignon in Paris, Friday Oct. 3, 2025, before a round of consultations with political parties ahead of the announcement of the new government. (Alain Jocard, Pool Photo via AP)
French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu delivers a statement at the Hotel Matignon in Paris, Friday Oct. 3, 2025, before a round of consultations with political parties ahead of the announcement of the new government. (Alain Jocard, Pool Photo via AP)
AL HENAKIYAH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Ricky Brabec deliberately gave up his motorbike lead over Luciano Benavides in the Dakar Rally while Nasser Al-Attiyah was happy to cruise through another day closer to his sixth car title on Thursday.
Al-Attiyah started 346-kilometer stage 11 between Bisha north to Al Henakiyah with a 12-minute overall lead and let it drop to less than nine minutes over new second-placed driver Nani Roma in a Ford.
Al-Attiyah was content to let Dacia teammate Sébastien Loeb catch up and pass him to have a teammate nearby for any help and to minimize errors on the mazy, dirt track. Al-Attiyah was 17th, nearly 13 minutes behind stage winner Mattias Ekström, and said he needed to execute the same plan on Friday's last effective racing stage before the end on Saturday.
“If we lose two, three, four minutes no problem,” Al-Attiyah said. “We just need to finish this Dakar in first place.”
Honda cooked up a strategy in the Saudi desert for Adrien van Beveren to open the way and let Brabec catch up after the 190-kilometer pit stop and pick up time bonuses.
Brabec boosted his overall lead from 56 seconds to nearly four minutes just 25 kilometers from the finish. He was also within a minute of the stage lead but he slowed down so KTM rival Benavides was the new overall leader, but only by 23 seconds.
Brabec got his his wish to start Friday's stage 12 six minutes behind Benavides, so he can eye him. They head west to the rally starting point of Yanbu on the Red Sea coast on 311 kilometers of gravel, some river beds with a finish in the dunes.
“A little bit of strategy today and hopefully it pays off tomorrow,” Brabec said. "I feel like its going to be a good day. We’re going back into the rocks so it will be a little bit better for us.”
Brabec is counting on his experience of winning the Dakar in 2020 and 2024 to trump Benavides, who has a best placing of fourth last year.
“I've been in this situation before,” Brabec said. “For the whole two weeks I've been just trying to stay relax, stay comfortable and just be confident, so two days more. I'm gonna do the same thing tomorrow that I've been doing every day; ride dirt bikes and have fun.”
Van Beveren helped Brabec with navigation while fighting with another teammate, Skyler Howes, the entire day for the stage win.
Howes prevailed by 21 seconds for his first career major stage in his eighth Dakar. He was third in 2023 and sixth last year. He's running fifth, 34 minutes off the pace.
Benavides was fourth in the stage and believed the race will be decided on the final 105-kilometer sprint on Saturday.
“I played no strategy like Ricky. I don't care,” Benavides said. “I'm doing what I can to control what I can control.”
Ekström won his third car stage of this Dakar, a special so fast that 12 other drivers were within 10 minutes.
Ford achieved another 1-2-3 stage. Romain Dumas, a three-time winner of the Le Mans 24 Hours, was a career-best second just over a minute back and Carlos Sainz was third.
Only Toyota's Henk Lategan beat Ekström to a checkpoint but Lategan's podium hopes were wrecked after 140 kilometers when a bearing broke on his rear left wheel. Lategan was second last year and second overall overnight but he plunged out of the top 15, at least.
Loeb moved up to third overall, 10 minutes behind Roma and three minutes ahead of Ekström.
AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
Rider Daniel Sanders competes during the eleventh stage of the Dakar Rally between Bisha and Al Henakiyah, Saudi Arabia, Thursday, Jan.15, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Driver Nasser Al-Attiyah and co-driver Fabian Lurquin compete during the eleventh stage of the Dakar Rally between Bisha and Al Henakiyah, Saudi Arabia, Thursday, Jan.15, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Rider Skyler Howes competes during the eleventh stage of the Dakar Rally between Bisha and Al Henakiyah, Saudi Arabia, Thursday, Jan.15, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Driver Henk Lategan, left, and co-driver Brett Cummings repair their car during the eleventh stage of the Dakar Rally between Bisha and Al Henakiyah, Saudi Arabia, Thursday, Jan.15, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Driver Nani Roma and co-driver Alex Haro compete during the eleventh stage of the Dakar Rally between Bisha and Al Henakiyah, Saudi Arabia, Thursday, Jan.15, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
