By Andrew Cawthorne and Eyanir Chinea | CARACAS CARACAS Venezuelan security forces fired scores of tear gas volleys and turned water cannons on rock-throwing protesters on a bridge in Caracas on Wednesday as the death toll from this month’s anti-government unrest hit at least 29. A 20-year-old male demonstrator died in those latest clashes in the capital after being hit by a gas cannister, said officials of […]
PARIS France’s centre-right party, seeking to rebound after the defeat of its presidential candidate, said on Wednesday it could share power with Emmanuel Macron if he is elected, as pollsters predict, on May 7. Macron, a 39-year-old centrist, is tipped to comfortably win a run-off vote against far-right leader Marine Le Pen, but the political movement he created a year ago faces a huge challenge in the […]
ROME The anti-establishment 5-Star Movement, already Italy’s most popular party, is stealing a march on its divided rivals by drawing up its policy programme a year ahead of elections. With the ruling centre-left Democratic Party embroiled in a bruising leadership battle and centre-right parties unable to agree on a leader, opinion polls give 5-Star a growing lead, which one pollster last week put as high as 8 […]
French presidential frontrunner Emmanuel Macron was ambushed on the campaign trail on Wednesday by far-right rival Marine Le Pen, with the rivals for the Elysée Palace clashing over globalisation and compounding a shaky start for Mr Macron in the final two weeks of the election race. The rivals’ visits to a factory in Amiens in northern France came on what was the first day of vigorous campaigning […]
PARIS Far-right leader Marine Le Pen sought to steal presidential rival Emmanuel Macron’s thunder on Wednesday with a surprise visit to striking workers in northern France, aiming to wrong-foot him while he was campaigning in the same town. Visiting the site of a strike at the tumble-drier Whirlpool factory, which is due to close next year, Le Pen pushed her anti-globalisation agenda and attacked Macron who she […]
By Marton Dunai | BUDAPEST BUDAPEST Anti-government protesters have filled Budapest’s streets in recent weeks, but divisions within the opposition and weak support outside the capital mean they are unlikely to herald a serious threat to Prime Minister Viktor Orban in next year’s election. Triggered by a law targeting an international school founded by liberal U.S. financier George Soros, the rallies have galvanised broader public anger against […]
PARIS Jean-Luc Melenchon, the far left candidate who came fourth in the first round of France’s presidential election with nearly 20 percent of the vote, is polling core supporters on whether they will back centrist Emmanuel Macron in the second round. Melenchon’s ‘France unbowed’ political movement said in a statement that none of it members would vote for far-right leader Marine Le Pen on May 7. It […]
American officials said Turkey had informed the United States less than an hour in advance that it intended to carry out the bombing raids in the crowded airspace over northern Syria and Iraq. American officials said that they had asked Turkey not to proceed without proper coordination, but that the request was ignored. Continue reading the main story Mark Toner, a State Department spokesman, said the United […]
LONDON British Prime Minister Theresa May’s Conservatives have a large lead over the opposition Labour Party, according to an opinion poll published on Tuesday by the Kantar research group. The survey showed the Conservatives had the support of 46 percent of likely voters in the June 8 election, ahead of Labour on 24 percent, the Liberal Democrats on 11 percent and the UK Independence Party on 8 […]
After yesterday’s violent gap up in stocks across the globe in response to the “expected” outcome from the French election, today the risk on sentiment has continued if to a lesser extent, with stocks in Europe, Asia all rising while S&P futures point to a higher open. Yen, gold decline, while the euro traded as high as 1.09 this morning before fading some gains; oil is up […]
By Nichola Saminather | SINGAPORE SINGAPORE Asian equities advanced on Tuesday as the return of risk appetite following a centrist victory in the first round of the French presidential election lifted several regional markets to multi-year highs, while the euro retained most of its overnight gains. Safe-haven assets, including the yen and gold remained under pressure, while the Canadian dollar fell after the U.S. announced new duties […]
EDINBURGH Most Scottish voters do not want another referendum on independence from the United Kingdom and support for secession itself appears to have weakened, according to a Kantar survey. Scots voted by a wide margin to stick with the European Union in last June’s referendum, clashing with the UK as a whole which voted to leave. Scotland’s devolved government, run by the Scottish National Party (SNP), says […]
KUALA LUMPUR • Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has launched a 10- year programme to help the country’s Indian community, promising to raise its members’ incomes and educational levels, open up business opportunities and reserve more jobs for them in government. Calling it the Malaysian Indian Blueprint, or MIB, Datuk Seri Najib pledged on Sunday that most of its main components will be delivered within a decade. […]
By Brian Ellsworth and Carlos Garcia Rawlins | CARACAS CARACAS Venezuelans erected barricades with garbage and even bathtubs on Monday and snarled traffic with mass “sit-ins” along major thoroughfares to press their demand for early elections as anti-government protests entered a fourth week. Ten people have been killed during near daily clashes this month between security forces armed with rubber bullets and tear gas and protesters sometimes […]
By Yashaswini Swamynathan U.S. stock index futures rose sharply on Monday, tracking European and Asian stocks, as investors breathed a sigh of relief after Centrist candidate and market favorite Emmanuel Macron won the first round of the French election. * Polls showed pro-EU Macron is expected to beat right-wing rival Marine Le Pen in a deciding vote next month, reducing the chances of France taking a Britain-like […]
Risk is definitely on this morning as European shares soar, led by French stocks and a new record high in Germany’s Dax, after a “French relief rally” in which the first round of the country’s presidential elections prompted investors to bet that establishment candidate Emmanuel Macron will win a runoff vote next month, and who is seen as a 61% to 39% favorite to defeat Le Pen […]
By Bate Felix and Sudip Kar-Gupta | PARIS PARIS Round two of the bitter fight for the French presidency got under way on Monday within hours of first round results with far-right leader Marine Le Pen’s top aide launching a stinging attack on her centrist opponent Emmanuel Macron. “Emmanuel is not a patriot. He sold off national companies. He criticised French culture,” Florian Philippot, deputy leader of […]
PARIS Emmanuel Macron’s camp should perhaps keep the champagne on ice a little longer. The young independent centrist’s qualification on Sunday for the runoff of France’s presidential election in two weeks’ time will certainly bring a sigh of relief in European capitals and financial markets; opinion polls suggest he will beat his far-right rival Marine Le Pen with ease. But to have a real chance of implementing […]
By Rodrigo Campos and Megan Davies | NEW YORK NEW YORK U.S. stock index futures rose sharply on Sunday on relief that centrist Emmanuel Macron took the first round of voting in the French presidential election, reducing the prospect of an anti-establishment market shock. Macron will face far-right leader Marine Le Pen in a May 7 runoff and opinion polls on Sunday had him easily winning the […]
LONDON The Scottish Conservative Party has opened up a 10 percentage point lead over the Scottish Labour Party in an opinion poll, reaching 28 percent, while the Scottish National Party remains in front on 43 percent, pollster Survation said on Sunday. “Survation’s latest poll in Scotland on behalf of the Sunday Post shows the Scottish Conservatives at their highest level in either a Survation Westminster or a […]
The euro surged in early Asian trading after Emmanuel Macron, investors’ preferred candidate, appeared on track to make it through to the final round of the French presidential election, which opinion polls suggest he will win. Mr Macron, who supports open markets and France staying in the EU, won 23.7 per cent of the vote in the first round vote on Sunday, according to three estimates for […]
April 23, 2017 by: Anne-Sylvaine Chassany in Paris Emmanuel Macron will go head-to-head against Marine Le Pen in the run-off election for French president on May 7 after qualifying in Sunday’s first round vote. Mr Macron, an independent centrist, came out on top with 23.7 per cent of the vote ahead of Ms Le Pen, the far-right leader, on 21-22 per cent, according to three estimates for […]
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 […]
