Far-right gains in EU election deal stunning defeats to France’s Macron, Germany’s Scholz and Spain’s socialist PM

Far-right gains in EU election deal stunning defeats to France’s Macron, Germany’s Scholz and Spain’s socialist PM
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Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez speaks to media after voting during the European Parliament election, in Madrid, Spain, June 9, 2024. (REUTERS)
Far-right gains in EU election deal stunning defeats to France’s Macron, Germany’s Scholz and Spain’s socialist PM
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German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (R) of the Social Democratic Party poses with Elisabeth and Valentin Jahn with their baby Benedikt after voting for the European Parliament Elections at a polling station in Potsdam, eastern Germany, on June 9, 2024. (AFP)
Far-right gains in EU election deal stunning defeats to France’s Macron, Germany’s Scholz and Spain’s socialist PM
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Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni arrives to vote for the European Parliament elections, in Rome, Saturday, June 8, 2024. (LaPresse via AP)
Far-right gains in EU election deal stunning defeats to France’s Macron, Germany’s Scholz and Spain’s socialist PM
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Assessors count votes at a polling station, after the European Parliament elections in Palma de Mallorca on June 9, 2024. (AFP)
Far-right gains in EU election deal stunning defeats to France’s Macron, Germany’s Scholz and Spain’s socialist PM
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French President Emmanuel Macron speaks through a screen at the far-right National Rally (Rassemblement National - RN) party headquarters after the polls closed during the European Parliament elections, in Paris, on June 9, 2024. (REUTERS)
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Updated 10 June 2024
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Far-right gains in EU election deal stunning defeats to France’s Macron, Germany’s Scholz and Spain’s socialist PM

Far-right gains in EU election deal stunning defeats to France’s Macron, Germany’s Scholz and Spain’s socialist PM
  • Italy’s PM Meloni solidifies top spot in EU vote -exit poll
  • Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk stayes undefeated

BRUSSELS: Voting has ended to elect the European Union’s regional lawmakers for the next five-year term after the last remaining polls closed in Italy, as surging far-right parties dealt a body blow to two of the bloc’s most important leaders: French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

In Spain, the center-right People’s Party (PP) came out on top, garnering 22 seats out of the 61 allocated to the country, and dealing a blow to the Socialist-led government of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.
In Italy, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s arch-conservative Brothers of Italy group won the most votes in the weekend EU parliamentary election, exit polls said, confirming its status as the country's  most popular party.

Official results were expected any moment after Italian polling stations closed at 11 p.m. local time (2100GMT), officially ending a marathon election spanning four days across 27 bloc member countries.
An initial projection provided by the European Union indicated far-right parties have made big gains at the European Parliament.
In France, the National Rally party of Marine Le Pen dominated the polls to such an extent that Macron immediately dissolved the national parliament and called for new elections, a massive political risk since his party could suffer more losses, hobbling the rest of his presidential term that ends in 2027.
Le Pen was delighted to accept the challenge. “We’re ready to turn the country around, ready to defend the interests of the French, ready to put an end to mass immigration,” she said, echoing the rallying cry of so many far-right leaders in other countries who were celebrating substantial wins.
Macron acknowledged the thud of defeat. “I’ve heard your message, your concerns, and I won’t leave them unanswered,” he said, adding that calling a snap election only underscored his democratic credentials.
In Germany, the most populous nation in the 27-member bloc, projections indicated that the AfD overcame a string of scandals involving its top candidate to rise to 16.5 percent, up from 11 percent in 2019. In comparison, the combined result for the three parties in the German governing coalition barely topped 30 percent.
Scholz suffered such an ignominious fate that his long-established Social Democratic party fell behind the extreme-right Alternative for Germany, which surged into second place. “After all the prophecies of doom, after the barrage of the last few weeks, we are the second strongest force,” a jubilant AfD leader Alice Weidel said.
The four-day polls in the 27 EU countries were the world’s second-biggest exercise in democracy, behind India’s recent election. At the end, the rise of the far right was even more stunning than many analysts predicted.
The French National Rally crystalized it as it stood at over 30 percent or about twice as much as Macron’s pro-European centrist Renew party that is projected to reach around 15 percent.
Overall across the EU, two mainstream and pro-European groups, the Christian Democrats and the Socialists, remained the dominant forces. The gains of the far right came at the expense of the Greens, who were expected to lose about 20 seats and fall back to sixth position in the legislature. Macron’s pro-business Renew group also lost big.
For decades, the European Union, which has its roots in the defeat of Nazi Germany and fascist Italy, confined the hard right to the political fringes. With its strong showing in these elections, the far right could now become a major player in policies ranging from migration to security and climate.

Germany, traditionally a stronghold for environmentalists, exemplified the humbling of the Greens, who were predicted to fall from 20 percent to 12 percent. With further losses expected in France and elsewhere, the defeat of the Greens could well have an impact on the EU’s overall climate change policies, still the most progressive across the globe.
The center-right Christian Democratic bloc of EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, which already weakened its green credentials ahead of the polls, dominated in Germany with almost 30 percent, easily beating Scholz’s Social Democrats, who fell to 14 percent, even behind the AfD.
“What you have already set as a trend is all the better – strongest force, stable, in difficult times and by a distance,” von der Leyen told her German supporters by video link from Brussels.

Italy’s PM Meloni solidifies top spot in EU vote — exit poll

As well as France, the hard right, which focused its campaign on migration and crime, was expected to make significant gains in Italy, where Premier Giorgia Meloni was tipped to consolidate her power.

An exit poll for state broadcaster RAI said Brothers of Italy won between 26-30 percent of the vote, with the center-left opposition Democratic Party (PD) coming second with 21-25 percent
The other main opposition party, the 5-Star Movement, was seen on 10-14 percent, while Forza Italia, founded by the late Silvio Berlusconi, was in fourth place on 8.5-10.5 percent, potentially beating its old ally, the far-right League, which was on 8-10 percent.
Brothers of Italy won just 6.4 percent of the vote in the last EU ballot in 2019, but jumped ahead of all other parties in 2022 national elections, when it took 26 percent, with Italians seeing Meloni as a no-nonsense, straight-talking leader.
Her party traces its roots back to a neo-fascist group and her 2022 victory set the tone for far-right gains across Europe, including in the June 6-9 EU ballot, which has seen the continent swing sharply right.
Meloni governs in Rome with the center-right Forza Italia and the League, presenting this as a model for the next EU government in Brussels, where Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will need to build consensus to secure a second term.
If confirmed, the PD result would represent a good score for its leader Elly Schlein, who took charge of the party in 2023 and has struggled to impose her will on the old guard. The PD won 19 percent in 2022 and Schlein was anxious to improve on that.
The one disappointment for all parties this weekend was the turnout, which was expected to come in at around or even beneath 50 percent — a record low in a country that has had historically strong voter participation.

Spain’s right wing wins

In Spain, Prime Minister Sanchez’s Socialists, spearheaded by Energy Minister Teresa Ribera, earned 20 seats after a campaign in which the opposition honed in on private corruption allegations against the premier’s wife and an amnesty law for Catalan pro-independence leaders passed just one week before the election.
With 99.7 percent of the vote counted, far-right Vox finished third with six lawmakers, up from the four it had in the previous legislature.
Still, in terms of vote share, support for Vox dipped to 9.6 percent from 12.4 percent in the July 2023 general election. The far-right party is struggling to break a vote ceiling of 14 percent, making it an outlier compared to its peers in other EU countries.
Alvise Perez, a far-right social media influencer running against what he describes as universal corruption, managed to obtain three seats with a campaign mostly conducted through the messaging app Telegram.
The combined right won nearly 50 percent, while the left followed with 43 percent.
The leftist vote was split between Sumar — the junior partner in the government coalition — that won three seats and hard-left Podemos, led by former Equality Minister Irene Montero, which got two.

Poland's Tusk holds on

Bucking the trend was former EU leader and current Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who overcame Law and Justice, the national conservative party that governed Poland from 2015-23 and drove it ever further to the right. A poll showed Tusk’s party won with 38 percent, compared to 34 percent for his bitter nemesis.
“Of these large, ambitious countries, of the EU leaders, Poland has shown that democracy, honesty and Europe triumph here,” Tusk told his supporters. “I am so moved.”
He declared, “We showed that we are a light of hope for Europe.”
EU lawmakers, who serve a five-year term in the 720-seat Parliament, have a say in issues from financial rules to climate and agriculture policy. They approve the EU budget, which bankrolls priorities including infrastructure projects, farm subsidies and aid delivered to Ukraine. And they hold a veto over appointments to the powerful EU commission.
These elections come at a testing time for voter confidence in a bloc of some 450 million people. Over the last five years, the EU has been shaken by the coronavirus pandemic, an economic slump and an energy crisis fueled by the biggest land conflict in Europe since the Second World War. But political campaigning often focuses on issues of concern in individual countries rather than on broader European interests.
Since the last EU election in 2019, populist or far-right parties now lead governments in three nations — Hungary, Slovakia and Italy — and are part of ruling coalitions in others including Sweden, Finland and, soon, the Netherlands. Polls give the populists an advantage in France, Belgium, Austria and Italy.
“Right is good,” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who leads a stridently nationalist and anti-migrant government, told reporters after casting his ballot. “To go right is always good. Go right!”


Vatican hopes for ‘wisdom’ from Trump

Vatican hopes for ‘wisdom’ from Trump
Updated 22 sec ago
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Vatican hopes for ‘wisdom’ from Trump

Vatican hopes for ‘wisdom’ from Trump
VATICAN CITY: The Vatican’s secretary of state congratulated US president-elect Donald Trump Thursday, while expressing doubt that the Republican had a “magic wand” to end conflicts quickly as promised during the campaign.
“We wish him a lot of wisdom because that is the main virtue of leaders according to the Bible,” Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin told reporters on the sidelines of a conference in Rome.
Asked about Trump’s promise to end the war in Ukraine “within 24 hours,” Parolin replied: “Let’s hope, let’s hope. I believe that not even he has a magic wand.”
“To end wars, a lot of humility is needed, a lot of willingness is needed, it really is necessary to seek the general interests of humanity rather than concentrate on particular interests,” he said.
To overcome divisions in American society, Parolin said he hoped Trump would be “the president of the whole country.”
He also hoped he would be “a factor that reduces tension... in the current conflicts that are bloodying the world.”
Parolin’s comments were the first diplomatic reaction from the Holy See to Trump’s win for the White House against Democrat Kamala Harris.
Pope Francis has not reacted.
In September, the Argentine pope criticized both candidates, accusing them of being “against life” in different ways: for Harris’ support of abortion, and for Trump’s anti-migrant policies.
During his first term in the White House, in May 2017, Trump was received by the Pope at the Vatican for a half-hour meeting.

NATO chief hopes to tackle North Korea-Russia threat with Trump

NATO chief hopes to tackle North Korea-Russia threat with Trump
Updated 1 min 4 sec ago
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NATO chief hopes to tackle North Korea-Russia threat with Trump

NATO chief hopes to tackle North Korea-Russia threat with Trump
  • ‘What we see more and more is that North Korea, Iran, China, and of course Russia are working together, working together against Ukraine’

BUDAPEST: NATO chief Mark Rutte said Thursday he aimed to work jointly with returning US leader Donald Trump in confronting the “dangerous new developments” linked to North Korea’s entry into the Russian war on Ukraine.
“What we see more and more is that North Korea, Iran, China, and of course Russia are working together, working together against Ukraine,” Rutte told reporters at a European leaders’ meeting in Budapest.
“This is more and more a threat, not only to the European part of NATO, but also to the United States — because Russia is delivering the latest technology into North Korea,” he warned.
“I look forward to sit down with Donald Trump to discuss how we can face these threats collectively,” Rutte said.
North Korea has become one of the strongest backers of Russia’s full-scale offensive in Ukraine, and the West has long accused Pyongyang of supplying artillery shells and missiles to Moscow.
Based on intelligence reports, Western powers now believe Pyongyang has deployed around 10,000 troops to Russia, suggesting deeper involvement in the conflict.
Iran meanwhile stands accused of supplying Russia with missiles and drones, while China is suspected of helping Moscow to circumvent Western sanctions on technologies for use in the war against Ukraine.


Kyiv targeted in massive Russian drone barrage overnight

Kyiv targeted in massive Russian drone barrage overnight
Updated 34 min 22 sec ago
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Kyiv targeted in massive Russian drone barrage overnight

Kyiv targeted in massive Russian drone barrage overnight
  • Russia has systematically targeted the Ukrainian capital with drone and missile barrages
  • Kyiv was targeted by drone attacks on six days in the first week of November and 20 days in October

KYIV: Kyiv was targeted by another “massive” Russian drone attack that wounded two people, damaged buildings and sparked fires in several districts, Ukrainian authorities said Thursday.
Officials meanwhile in the south and east of the country said Russian attacks had killed two Ukrainian civilians in Kherson and Sumy.
Russia has systematically targeted the capital with drone and missile barrages since the first day of its invasion launched nearly three years ago on Febr. 24, 2022.
The capital was targeted by drone attacks on six days in the first week of November and 20 days in October, officials said.
“The attack took place in waves, from different directions, with drones entering the city at different altitudes — both very low and high,” the city administration said.
It added that more than 36 drones had been downed over the capital and the surrounding area and that falling debris had fallen on six districts of Kyiv and wounded two people.
AFP journalists heard air raid sirens ring out over the capital beginning shortly after midnight Kyiv time and the alert lasted some eight hours.
The reporters also heard drones buzzing over the city and air defense systems working to shoot down the drones.
The attack caused a fire in a 30-story residential building in the city center, and residents had to be evacuated, the mayor’s office said.
The head of the Kherson region meanwhile said the body of a deceased man was recovered from the rubble of a house destroyed by the attack in a Russian attack overnight.
In the eastern Sumy region, the body of another killed person was recovered following a Russian airstrike hours earlier, the interior ministry said.


Joe Biden set to address nation after Donald Trump’s decisive US election win

Joe Biden set to address nation after Donald Trump’s decisive US election win
Updated 07 November 2024
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Joe Biden set to address nation after Donald Trump’s decisive US election win

Joe Biden set to address nation after Donald Trump’s decisive US election win
  • Biden was replaced as the Democrats’ candidate by Kamala Harris due to concerns about his mental acuity
  • Former President Trump’s victory underscored how disenchanted Americans had become with the economy

WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden was set to address the nation on Thursday after a stinging election defeat for his Democratic Party at the hands of Republican Donald Trump, whose stunning political comeback has reverberated around the world. Biden, who was replaced in July as the Democrats’ candidate in the race by Vice President Kamala Harris due to concerns about his mental acuity after a stumbling debate with Trump, will speak at 11:00 a.m. (1600 GMT), the White House said. Harris sought on Wednesday to console the voters who had hoped she would become the first woman to win the White House. She, like Biden, has promised to aid Trump’s transition between now and his inauguration on Jan. 20 but said she was not prepared to embrace his vision for the country.
Trump’s campaign said Biden had invited him to a meeting at the White House at an unspecified time.
Former President Trump’s victory, surprisingly decisive after opinion polls that had showed a neck-and-neck contest ahead of Tuesday’s election, underscored how disenchanted Americans had become with the economy – in particular the effect of inflation on their standard of living – border security and the direction of the country and its culture. Hispanics, traditionally Democratic voters, and lower-income households hit hardest by inflation helped fuel the victory. Harris’ campaign had sought to press the message that Trump was unfit to serve again as president, as a convicted felon and one whose false claims of voting fraud after his 2020 election defeat spurred a mob to storm the US Capitol.
This time, Trump prevailed in five of the seven battleground states to push him past the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win the presidency and was leading in the remaining two, Arizona and Nevada, where votes were still being tallied.
He was also on track to become the first Republican presidential candidate to win the popular vote since George W. Bush two decades ago.
Republicans wrested control of the US Senate from Democrats, ensuring Trump will control at least one chamber of Congress next year. It is not clear if they will retain their majority in the US House of Representatives, with dozens of races not yet called.
In the days and weeks ahead, Trump will select personnel to serve under his leadership, his campaign said on Wednesday.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and a prominent Trump donor, has been promised a role in his administration, as has former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon and billionaire hedge fund manager John Paulson are seen as possible new entrants to his administration, while former Trump officials Robert O’Brien and Mike Pompeo could return to office.
On trade, Trump is expected to revive policies he favored during his first term, notably tariffs that he has called the “most beautiful word.” That could set him on a collision course with China, which has the world’s second largest economy, sow discord with allies and roil global industries from automakers to chipmakers.
Chinese President Xi Jinping sent Trump a congratulatory message and said he hopes the two powers will coexist peacefully and achieve win-win cooperation, China’s state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was among world leaders congratulating Trump. But Trump has been critical of Biden’s assistance for Ukraine in its war with Russia. He has said he could end the war in 24 hours but has not offered a detailed plan. The White House plans to rush billions of dollars in security assistance to Ukraine before Biden leaves office in January, sources said on Wednesday, hoping to shore up the government in Kyiv before Trump takes over.


Typhoon Yinxing slams into northern Philippine region still reeling from back-to-back storms

Typhoon Yinxing slams into northern Philippine region still reeling from back-to-back storms
Updated 07 November 2024
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Typhoon Yinxing slams into northern Philippine region still reeling from back-to-back storms

Typhoon Yinxing slams into northern Philippine region still reeling from back-to-back storms
  • Typhoon Yinxing is the 13th to batter the disaster-prone Southeast Asian archipelago in 2024
  • Tropical Storm Trami and Typhoon Kong-rey hit the northern Philippines in recent weeks

MANILA: A strong typhoon slammed into a northern Philippine province on Thursday as thousands were evacuated in a region still recovering from back-to-back storms that hit a few weeks ago.

Typhoon Yinxing is the 13th to batter the disaster-prone Southeast Asian archipelago in 2024.

“I really pity our people but all of them are tough,” Gov. Marilou Cayco of the province of Batanes said by telephone. Her province was ravaged by recent destructive storms and is expected to be affected by Yinxing’s fierce wind and rain.

Tens of thousands of villagers were returning to emergency shelters, and disaster-response teams were again put on alert in Cagayan and other northern provinces near the expected path of Yinxing. The typhoon blew into Santa Ana town in Cagayan province on Thursday afternoon.

The slow-moving typhoon, locally named Marce, was packing sustained winds of up to 175 kilometers (109 miles) per hour and gusts of up to 240 kph (149 mph) just before it made landfall in the coastal town of Santa Ana in Cagayan province, government forecasters said.

There were no immediate reports of casualties or major damage.

Aside from flash floods, authorities were concerned about the higher possibilities of landslides in northern mountainous region, which has been inundated by pounding rains from two previous storms.

The coast guard, army, air force and police were on high alert. Inter-island ferries and cargo services and domestic flights were suspended in northern provinces.

Tropical Storm Trami and Typhoon Kong-rey hit the northern Philippines in recent weeks, leaving at least 151 people dead and affecting nearly 9 million others. More than 14 billion pesos ($241 million) in rice, corn and other crops and infrastructure were damaged.

The death and destruction from the storms prompted President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to declare a day of national mourning on Monday when he visited the worst-hit province of Batangas, south of the capital, Manila. At least 61 people perished in the coastal province.

Trami dumped one to two months’ worth of rain in just 24 hours in some regions, including in Batangas.

“We want to avoid the loss of lives due to calamities,” Marcos said in Talisay town in Batangas, where he brought key Cabinet members to reassure storm victims of rapid government help. “Storms nowadays are more intense, extensive and powerful.”

In 2013, Typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest recorded tropical cyclones, left more than 7,300 people dead or missing, flattened entire villages and caused ships to run aground and smash into houses in the central Philippines.