PARIS The final abstention rate in the first round of the French presidential election is likely to be around 20 percent, broadly in line with that of five years ago, according to two surveys published on Sunday. A survey from Harris Interactive estimated the final abstention rate at 21.5 percent, while one from Ifop-Fiducial for Paris Match and CNews put the abstention rate at 19 percent. The […]
COPENHAGEN Russia has hacked the Danish defence and gained access to employees’ emails in 2015 and 2016, NATO member Denmark’s defence minister told newspaper Berlingske on Sunday. The report comes at a time when several Western governments, including the United States, France and Britain, have accused Russia of resorting to hacking to influence elections — allegations Moscow has repeatedly dismissed as baseless. A report from the Danish […]
By Michelle Martin | COLOGNE, Germany COLOGNE, Germany The anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party on Sunday chose a tough-talking former member of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives and an economist to lead its campaign for a September election in a line-up likely to drag the group further right. The party had stolen voters from Merkel during the migrant crisis but now looks less of a threat on […]
French voters are going to the polls in the first step of a nail-biting two-round process to elect France’s next president. The election, which will choose a leader with some of the greatest executive powers among western democracies, has turned into a four-way cliffhanger after months of campaigning marked by embezzlement scandals, terror attacks, the collapse of old mainstream parties and the rise of candidates from the […]
LONDON The leader of Britain’s main opposition Labour Party Jeremy Corbyn said on Sunday he could suspend British involvement in air strikes against Syria if he was elected prime minister at a June 8 election. The veteran peace campaigner, whose Labour Party is around 20 points behind the ruling Conservatives in opinion polls, set out his position on a range of security and foreign policies, saying he […]
BERLIN German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble is not worried by the prospect of cuts to corporate tax rates in the United States he told German magazine Wirtschaftswoche on the sidelines of the IMF and World Bank spring meetings in Washington. U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday promised a big announcement about tax reform shortly and ordered a review of Obama-era tax rules written to discourage U.S. companies […]
PARIS Turnout figures for the first round of the French presidential election showed a 28.54 percentage participation rate by midday local time, (1000 GMT) the Interior Ministry said on Sunday, slightly above the corresponding rate in the 2012 vote. The 28.54 percent compared to 28.29 percent in 2012 at the same hour, and compared to midday turnout rates of 31.21 percent in 2007 and 21.40 percent in […]
Julien Pain was tired of preaching to the choir. After spending several years debunking viral fakes for France 24’s Les Observateurs, Pain was on the lookout for a format that would expand the reach of his fact-checking. “I realized I was only reaching people who agreed with me,” says Pain. “And people who didn’t check their information wouldn’t be reading my fact-checking.” Since September, he has taken […]
LONDON Britain’s Theresa May appeared on course to win a crushing election victory in June after opinion polls put support for her ruling Conservative party at around 50 percent, double that of the opposition Labour party. May’s decision to call a June 8 election stunned her political rivals this week and a string of polls released late on Saturday suggested the gamble had paid off, with one […]
By Ingrid Melander | PARIS PARIS France goes to the polls on Sunday for the first round of a bitterly fought presidential election, crucial to the future of Europe and a closely-watched test of voters’ anger with the political establishment. Nearly 47 million voters will decide, under tight security, whether to back a pro-EU centrist newcomer, a scandal-ridden veteran conservative who wants to slash public spending, a […]
The weekly EIA report showed a surprise rise in gasoline inventories and a further rise in oil production, which rattled oil bulls. Image: Shutterstock 22 April 2017 Big commodity swings have been witnessed during the past month, not least in the farm sector where bloated global stocks and the prospect of another bumper year — weather permitting — have led to heavy selling by hedge funds […]
By Leika Kihara and Francesco Canepa | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON International Monetary Fund members on Saturday dropped a pledge to fight protectionism amid a split over trade policy and turned their attention to another looming threat to global economic integration: the first round of France’s presidential election. Concerns that far-right leader Marine Le Pen and far-left rival Jean-Luc Mélenchon, both critics of the European Union, could top the […]
As her email mess was growing, Hillary Clinton scheduled the first national TV interview of her campaign with Brianna Keilar of CNN. It went poorly. But wait. It now turns out that Clinton aide Huma Abedin had meant “Bianna,” not “Brianna” when she disclosed her belated intent to a communications aide. She wanted what she figured would be a non-threatening session with Yahoo! News’ Bianna Golodryga, who […]
By Brian Ellsworth | CARACAS CARACAS Venezuela’s opposition prepared to march in silence on Saturday to honor a dozen people killed in three weeks of protests demanding that the government of President Nicolas Maduro hold delayed elections and address a growing economic crisis. Twelve people have been killed in a renewed wave of demonstrations this month in incidents primarily involving security forces or armed civilians. Another eight […]
By Bate Felix and Daniel Pardon | PARIS/PAPEETE, French Polynesia PARIS/PAPEETE, French Polynesia French overseas territories and French residents in the United States and Canada began voting on Saturday in France’s presidential election, a day before the main first-round of a poll that could change the global political landscape. Of nearly 47 million registered French voters, there are fewer than a million resident in far-flung places like […]
The Congressional Leadership Fund’s ad blitz has been particularly scathing, with one spot panning Ossoff for his college glee club stylings and dressing up as Star Wars’ Han Solo. The super PAC is funded in large part by GOP megadonors such as billionaire casino mogul Sheldon Adelson and his wife, Miriam Adelson; Houston Texans owner Robert McNair and fossil fuel giants Chevron and Devon Energy. So far, […]
By Michelle Martin | COLOGNE, Germany COLOGNE, Germany The co-leader of the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) suffered an embarrassing defeat on Saturday when delegates refused to discuss her motion to shift the party into the “mainstream”, putting it on course to turn further right. The party, a pariah in German politics, has seen its support drop in recent months, and thousands turned up to protest the […]
BOSTON Officials of two large California public retirement systems said Friday they are voting against nine of 15 Wells Fargo & Co directors up for election at the bank’s annual meeting next week, citing the bank’s phony-account scandal. Leaders of the largest U.S. state pension system, known as CalPERS, said in an email it is voting about 13.9 million shares against the bank nominees, including its chairman, […]
PARIS A knife-wielding man threatened police at Gare du Nord train station in Paris on Saturday, causing panic before he was arrested, a spokesman for French rail operator SNCF said. The incident occurred a day before France holds the first round of its presidential election. The country is on alert following the killing of a policeman by an Islamist militant on Thursday. The SNCF spokesman said the […]
The recent split judgment of the Pakistan Supreme Court, giving the country’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif breathing space by appointing a joint investigation team (JIT) to probe the Panama Papers’ claims of financial irregularities by him and his family, has changed the strategic scenario in the country. The JIT comprises members of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan […]
COLOGNE, Germany Two police officers were injured and a police car was set ablaze during protests in Cologne on Saturday, police said, as some 600 delegates of the deeply divided anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party met to discuss policy for September’s national elections. AfD co-chief Frauke Petry suffered a crushing blow at the start of the congress when delegates voted down her motion calling for efforts […]
April 22, 2017 by: Kathrin Hille in Krasnoyarsk When Kremlin officials are asked about Alexei Navalny, they like to laugh off the Russian opposition politician’s chances of challenging president Vladimir Putin. But this week the Kremlin appeared to signal that it does take Mr Navalny seriously after all. In a video published on YouTube on Wednesday, the politician who organised protests in more than 80 Russian cities […]
By Francesco Canepa and Gernot Heller | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON Global economic leaders on Friday continued downplaying possible friction with the Trump administration over currencies, trade and other potentially contentious issues, even while acknowledging that much about the U.S. president’s plans remains unclear. On a day when Donald Trump himself seemed focused on domestic matters – promising a new U.S. tax plan next week and announcing reviews of […]
The welcome After some confusion finding the valet parking service – the entrance is not where you would expect and signage is not straightforward – when I eventually pull up, I am attended to promptly and efficiently. At the reception counter, I’m greeted with a smile, but despite requesting an early check-in and having it confirmed before arrival, the room is not ready. After a 10-minute wait […]
