genie: you're watching france 24. time for 60 minutes live around the world. i'm genie godula. these are the headlines. emmanuel macron holds his first ministerial meeting today with his newly named cabinet. more from the presidential palace on the way. the u.s. justice department names of former fbi director as special counsel to oversee the investigation into possible ties between russia and donald trump. the latest twist since the last fbi director was fired last

week. iran gets set to hold its first presidential election since the nuclear deal with the west came into play. the moderate president is going head-to-head with a hard-line cleric. coming up, good news for the new french government as unemployment drops to its lowest level in five years. we will have the details in our business update. as the cannes film festival opens, we will take a look at the films being screened today. ♪ francelet's start in where the new president has unveiled his cabinet. emmanuel macron ran as an independent, smashing the

traditional left right grip on french politics. his ministers reflect that spirit. top spots have gone to conservatives, socialists and political newcomers. their names were released yesterday. they are holding their first meeting today at the elysees palace. what can you tell us? journalists were ushered out of the elysees court before the meeting was over, not allowed to speak to the ministers and not present for the traditional photo. we are told all of this is only temporary. also goingkesman through some of the details of the meeting saying that emmanuel macron had insisted on unity and solidarity, calling his prime between any referee

disputes between cabinet members and implying that in the background emmanuel macron remains the boss. all too aware of the harm that cabinet infighting has done to previous french governments. the big priorities for the first few months of his administration are reinvigorating the eu, reinforcing the relationship with germany, getting through a law to clean up politics. crucially his promise to shake up the labor laws. said those laws are too rigid. tied up with that is his bid to reach out to center-right politicians ahead of parliamentary elections in a months time. he needs a majority to strengthen his hand. todays of the new cabinet

reminded if they are standing in those elections and failed to win they will lose their places on the cabinet. genie: thank you, chris. government's main portfolios, president macron and his prime minister chose politicians with long experience. other ministries were given out to people from outside the political sphere. the new culture minister is little known even in her own country. shirley explains. >> i am a publisher. >> the new culture minister still needs to introduce herself. little-known to the french oflic, she has headed one france's top publishing houses. she is the perfect example of what president emmanuel macron promised to bring into the government. people from the civil society, not power thirsty politics

professionals. she has been her career behind the scenes. biologist first and then publisher. the publishing house has thrived under her management, printing bestsellers. such as the millennium series and critically acclaimed books. in 2015 her authors received the nobel prize and two of france's main literary awards. she has opened a culture center featuring arts exhibits and concerts. >> culture is our biggest treasure. it allows us to inspire our fellow citizens. and encourage them to resist. >> she will get down to work quickly as she takes over. she is already expected in ca nnes. genie: now to washington with the new development in the story

of russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign. on wednesday the u.s. justice department appointed a former fbi director as special counsel. president donald trump is struggling to cope with fallout from his decision to fire the last fbi director, james comey. sayings a growing chorus those actions could be viewed as obstruction of justice and could be an impeachable offense. to decision to name mueller leave the probe has been hailed on both sides of the political divide. suspicion that russia may have colluded with the trump campaign to sway the u.s. election has been weighing on his presidency from day one. many republicans and democrats hailed the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate the matter. robert mueller, a respected former fbi chief, was

selected for the job. >> i'm happy about it. i think it's a good sign in the right direction. this administration has been in crisis from week to week. it's one thing after the other. >> to bring in someone like robert mueller that is already worked in the fbi, you have a prime decision-maker working within the process. it's a good hybrid. folks at fbi.reer >> concern on capitol hill has been growing in the wake of a series of stunning allegations against president donald trump. the most damaging of which he may have obstructed justice by asking fired fbi director james comey to let go of an investigation into one of his top advisers.

some democrats have gone as far as to call for the president's impeachment. senate and house leaders have welcomed mueller's appointment, but they said they will continue their own probes into the russian matter. i have already invited comey to testify before -- they have already invited comey to testify before their committees. voters in iran are gearing up for their presidential election tomorrow. they will decide the fate of the moderate president and his policy of engagement with the west. he is going head-to-head with a hard-line cleric. how close is this election looking at this point? increasingly over the past couple of days, analysts say this could be a close election. one of the challenges when it comes to gauging the election

and predicting what's going to happen is there is simply no dependable polling here in iran. we have a pretty good feel of what's going to happen in tehran. what's going to happen in the areas?ral conservative is the conservative cleric going to do well in those areas? another area of concern is what happened five days ago. another popular candidate dropped out to support the conservative candidate. that could spell trouble for the incumbent president and that's why his supporter over the past -- supporters over the past week have pushed to get more voters out. analysts say it's going to be close.

genie: what's the biggest issue for voters in iran? is it the economy? >> there's no question. if you talk to supporters of both candidates, they want an improved economy. young population. 70% under the age of 35. they want more affordable lives. mr. rouhani got the nuclear deal size -- signed. that gave access to global markets. many iranians say we don't feel the benefits. it is the hard-line challenger who says we have to look back inside of iran. has failed toni deliver on the promised benefits of the nuclear deal and is ignoring the poor. without question it's the

economy that's the biggest issue for all voters. they have 12 hours to decide which president is going to be able to fix this issue. venezuela, the number of people killed over the past two months of antigovernment protest has now surpassed the number of victims from the country's last political crisis three years ago. demonstratedurses to denounce the crisis that has left hospitals desperately undersupplied. protesters held a candlelight vigil to honor the 43 people killed in recent weeks. the latest victim was a 15-year-old boy. the president of brazil is facing calls for his impeachment after a report surfaced wednesday saying he had been recorded discussing payments of hush money to a corrupt politician. just one year after becoming

president following the impeachment of president dilma rousseff for corruption, he could face a similar fate. >> the reports of corruption brought hundreds of protesters to the street. >> we already knew but now there is proof the president committed a crime. we want democracy. we are outraged. outlet presented an audio recording between the president and an executive from the meatpacking giant. he recorded the conversation in which he informed the president he was providing monthly payments to a disgraced politician, effectively buying his silence. speaker of brazil's lower house is currently serving time for corruption and for his involvement in the petrobras

scandal. president's is heard acknowledging and encouraging the bribes. the president's office prompt he denied the report. report.tly denied the >> what we have all been waiting for has finally happened. concrete evidence of corruption. >> he became acting president over a year ago after the impeachment of former president, dilma rousseff. it was a political earthquake in brazil. genie: the biggest film festival in the world kicked off yesterday in cannes. more about the very first films being screened in competition today. grexit is the first day of the official competition here in

cannes. the hot ticket tonight is wonder struck. it is the story of two deaf children whose destinies are intertwined in the new york of the 1920's and the 1970's. it stars michelle williams and julianne moore. she is accompanied by some talented young child actors. let's take a look at them in action.

this is seen as a triumphant return for director todd haynes. he directed his 2015 film carol at the festival. it was a word-of-mouth sensation and it won an oscar. there is also a russian film screening tonight. it is called loveless and the critics are expecting great things from that. the director's previous film, leviathan, was very well-received in 2014. genie: let's take a look at today's headlines. emmanuel macron held his first ministerial meeting today with his newly named cabinet. the independent french president giving top spots to conservatives, socialists and political newcomers.

departmentstice names a former fbi director as special counsel to oversee the investigation into possible ties between russia and donald trump. the latest twist since the last fbi director was fired last week. to hold its first presidential election since the nuclear deal with the west came into play. the moderate president is going head-to-head with a hard-line cleric. time for our business news with stephen carroll. some good news on unemployment in france. >> the unemployment rate has fallen to its lowest level in almost five years. ..3% in mainland france the biggest fall was among the young. it comes just days after francois hollande left office. he staked his presidency on a promise to bring down unemployment. brian quinn has the story. for symbolic line crossed

the first time in five years. france's overall unemployment rate dropped below 10% for the first three months of 2017. that's for the entirety of the country's territories. in mainland france, the rate stands at 9.3%. the lowest since the second quarter of 2012. chief beneficiaries of the trend are french youth. for francois hollande, the news is a taste of vindication with an ironic twist. he staked his presidency on lowering french unemployment and renounced a reelection bid after failing to do so. the new figures come just days after handing over the keys to the elysees palace to emmanuel macron. >> i know there is still so much misfortune, so much unemployment. so much hardship. allow me to tell you i leave the

country in a better state than when i found it. franceite the progress, remains well behind several of its western european counterparts, especially germany. macron has promised to loosen the country's labor codes, hire and easier to fire workers. instituting those reforms will fall to his administration and new labour minister. until now, a corporate human resources executive. it will be her task to try and bring down the country's stubborn jobless rate. investors are starting to turn sour on donald trump. is continuing over the latest white house scandal. the dollar falling further against the japanese yen. stable against the euro. it has lost all of the games since trump's election.

wall street had its first -- worst day in eight months on wednesday. we are expecting more falls later onwall street had. european markets continuing their slide today. big moves in the value of the british pound. >> sterling has jumped in trading after some retail sales figures. that night was up 2% last month. economists are warning that this economic bump may prove to be temporary. for more of today's business headlines, japan's economy is on a winning streak, recording its longest run of consistent growth in a decade. on an annualized basis. that is almost double the rate of the previous quarter. there are warnings that a slowdown could be coming later in the year. the european commission has find facebook for providing

misleading information on its takeover of whatsapp. facebook says the errors were unintentional. profits at the british luxury brand burberry fell. the company says the drop was down to a challenging trading environment in hong kong and the united states. some of the losses were offset by u.k. sales. $3ie: tell us about what billion might be able to buy. >> i would be spending it on a car parked in hong kong -- i wouldn't be spending it on a car park in hong kong. and a record total per square meter as well. the building covers 2900 square meters and was bought by a local developer, henderson land. it is the first property to go

on sale in the central district since the territory was handed back to china in 1997. the demand is also being driven by sky high office rent. 75% higher in hong kong then new york. genie: incredible, paved in diamonds. thank you, stephen carroll. it's time for the press review. ♪ me ton sergeant is with take a look at what the papers have been saying. you're starting with the papers in france looking at the new cabinet that was announced yesterday. , 11 women.rs, 11 men they come from left, right and center. the news calls it a government in working order. several papers are heralding this government as being quite balanced.

paper says it shakes up divisions we are used to seeing in french politics. in thear response catholic paper. they call it a balanced government. a balance that macron worked really hard to achieve. where we seeawing emmanuel macron and his prime minister building their government very carefully like they are playing a game of j enga. genie: other papers are saying to government is not as perfectly balanced as all of that. >> there is a really interesting article going through emmanuel macron's promises. technically he has created a government with an equal number of men and women, but men are still playing most of the major with theroles exception of the defense minister. he also had promised to create an entire ministry devoted to women's rights and he has only named a secretary of state.

it's alsodoes seem not as politically balanced. >> is on the move to the center right -- it's on the move to the center right. left wing papers agree. they say mostly on the right. they have an image of macron. there is a much larger pile on the right. similar to what we saw with the positions of women versus men. the right-wing members of the government actually hold much more power even though the left side is the one he wants to show off. they joke that the right will be managing the cash box while the left will be writing poems. genie: the latest development in the possible ties between the trump campaign is russia -- and russia. a special counsel has been named

to oversee the investigation. >> that's right. his name is robert mueller. democrats are very happy. they have finally gotten their wish. we can take a look at the editorial in the new york times. they call him the special counsel america needs. they are really glad this investigation will continue under the leadership of a former fbi director who the president cannot fire. that is precisely the problem with him according to the wall street journal. the conservative paper worries that mueller will abuse his power because he is politically unaccountable. there are a lot of headlines about how republicans are beginning to turn their back on donald trump. that is illustrated by a cartoon in the washington post. the elephant seems to be thinking of donald trump off of that cliff. sayld trump says, i did not

i hope you can let this go. he's about to get a little bit of a break. he is embarking on his first overseas trip as president. today's new yorker cartoon, we see trump boarding air force one and he says, i bet obama never had cheering crowds like this when he left the country. genie: from presidents to royalty. in japan, the japanese princess is planning on marrying a commoner. him,e must really love because she is going to have to relinquish her royal status in order to marry him. pictured second from the right. her marriage is reigniting a debate over whether or not royals should lose their status for marrying commenters, and whether women should be able to create imperial family branches. there is a lot of worry that the japanese imperial family is

shrinking. right now, the only one who can carry on her family line is her brother. he is only 10 years old. genie: the dutch king is admitting he held a part-time job. >> he was an airline pilot. he flew twice a month for more than two decades. he has just admitted to the press to what extent he has been carrying out this job. he says he enjoys flying because it's relaxing and he is rarely recognized by pensioners -- passengers. i guess royals are people, too. thank you, allison sergeant. you can get a closer look at the press review on our website. we will take a quick break. we will be right back with more headlines from all over the world here on france 24. stay tuned.

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