Egypt’s apparent low voter turnout in presidential elections could be driven by millions boycotting the process because of objections to the two candidates or simply by apathy to yet another ballot during a tumultuous three years. But wedged in between the boycotters and enthusiastic voters is a group that is carrying on the tradition of spoiling their ballots, often with poignant or whimsical messages to the state. Here’s […]
Early results in Egypt’s presidential election show former army chief Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi heading for an overwhelming victory. The first results give Sissi about 93% of the vote while the only other candidate, leftist politician Hamdeen Sabahi, has around 3 percent. Voter turnout was a low 44 percent even after voters were given an extra day Wednesday to cast ballots. Final official results are expected next week. The […]
At least 40 people, including two civilians, have been killed in the eastern Ukraine city of Donetsk following a day of heavy fighting, in which the government forces used combat jets and helicopter gunships to reclaim the regional airport. “The airport is under our full control. The enemy suffered heavy losses. We have none,” Ukraine Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said in a statement on Tuesday. He said […]
Low voter turnout has been reported on the second and final day of Egyptian presidential elections, as former army chief Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is expected to emerge as the country’s next president. While the Egyptian government declared a national holiday for Tuesday in an effort to get voters to cast their ballots, an official with international monitoring group Global Network for Rights and Development reported that voter turnout […]
Nigeria’s military has located nearly 300 school girls abducted by Boko Haram almost seven weeks ago, the country’s chief of defence said. Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh, Nigeria’s Chief of Defence Staff, said on Monday that any potential armed rescue operation was fraught with danger as the 223 girls still held hostage could be caught in the crossfire. Boko Haram fighters kidnapped 276 girls from the remote northeastern town […]
Egypt’s election commission has extended the presidential poll by one day in an effort to increase voter turnout in an election that is widely expected to bring former army chief Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi to power. The two-day vote was expected to end Tuesday, but polling Monday was reported to be moderate in a country with 54 million registers voters. The extension is widely seen as an effort to boost […]
Egyptians were urged to vote on Tuesday, the second and final day of the presidential election, amid signs of a lower-than-expected turnout on Monday. Election monitoring groups said the turnout on the first day of the vote was moderate and often thin or non-existent in towns and areas where Islamists dominate. Victory for former military chief Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, 59, is a foregone conclusion. However, el-Sissi and his supporters have been […]
French President Francois Hollande has called for the European Union to reduce its role “where it is not necessary” after Eurosceptic parties made sweeping electoral gains across the bloc. Reacting to the spectacular success of parties like France’s own National Front and the UK Independence Party (UKIP) in Sunday’s European Parliament elections, Hollande acknowledged that the EU had become “remote and incomprehensible” for many of its citizens. […]
A Turkish court has ordered the arrest of four former Israeli military chiefs over a deadly 2010 raid by Israeli commandos on a Gaza-bound Turkish aid ship which killed nine unarmed human rights activists. The court in Istanbul will ask Interpol to issue international arrest warrants for the four commanders, Cihat Gokdemir, a lawyer working on the case, told AFP news agency. Turkish prosecutors are seeking life […]
DUBAI // A wish list of 21 requests from Indian expatriates in the UAE was delivered to Narendra Modi’s office on Monday as the Bharatiya Janata Party leader was sworn in as prime minister. It included long-standing demands such as voting rights for non-resident Indians, encouraging investment in infrastructure, joint-venture incentives and exemption from restrictive taxes. “These issues relate to NRIs all over the world, not just […]
Nigeria’s military has located nearly 300 school girls abducted by Boko Haram six weeks ago but fears using force to try to free them could get them killed, the country’s chief of defence said. Air Marshall Alex Barde told demonstrators supporting the much-criticised military on Monday that Nigerian troops could save the girls. But he added: “We can’t go and kill our girls in the name of trying to get them […]
JERUSALEM — Making history for the second day running, Pope Francis laid a wreath Monday on the grave of the founder of Zionism, becoming the first pope to do so, a gesture of support to Israel after several symbolic signals the day before that lent a spiritual lift to Palestinian aspirations for sovereignty. At the request of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Francis added to his marathon morning […]
CAIRO — Voters around the capital lined up Monday morning to cast ballots in an election universally expected to make Abdel Fattah el-Sisi the next president of Egypt, turning out to show their support in a contest where turnout is the biggest question. In an interview on a pro-Sisi talk show Sunday evening, Abdel Aziz Salman, the general secretary of the High Presidential Election Commission, said that […]
Millions of Egyptians are due to elect their third president in as many years, in a race largely expected to be won by the country’s former army chief. The two-day vote, which began on Monday, pits retired field marshal Abdel Fattah el-Sisi , who enjoys widespread popularity in the country of 90 million, against left-wing candidate Hamdeen Sabahi . A former legislator and long-term Nasserist activist, Sabahi […]
Far-right and anti-EU parties in France and the UK have made sweeping gains in the European Parliament elections. The majority of almost 388m eligible voters across 21 of the 28 member states, including Germany, France and Spain, cast their ballots on Sunday at polling stations across the EU. The other seven countries, including the UK and the Netherlands, in the bloc had already voted. The European Parliament’s […]
JERUSALEM — Pope Francis met with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Shimon Peres Monday as he wrapped up his three-day trip to the Middle East. Netanyahu told the pope why he believes Israel needed to build a separation barrier around the West Bank city of Bethlehem. The Israeli prime minister said that when incitement and terror against Israel ends, there will not be a need […]
JERUSALEM — Pope Francis met with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Shimon Peres Monday as he wrapped up his three-day trip to the Middle East. Netanyahu told the pope why he believes Israel needed to build a separation barrier around the West Bank city of Bethlehem. The Israeli prime minister said that when incitement and terror against Israel ends, there will not be a need […]
Egyptians head to the polls in a presidential election that ex-army chief Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is expected to win easily. The two-day vote, which starts at 0600 GMT on Monday, follows more than three years of political turmoil that has seen two presidents overthrown, mass protests, thousands killed in clashes, deadly attacks and a battered economy. About 53 million people are registered to vote. Sisi is expected to trounce […]
CAIRO — Helicopters hovered over parts of the Egyptian capital, Cairo, early Monday as voting in the two-day presidential election began. Security was tight in many neighborhoods. Police blocked off streets and parts of city blocks to protect voters at polling stations. More than 400,000 Egyptian police and army soldiers were deployed Monday for the election, and more than 14,000 judges are overseeing the vote at polling stations across […]
An Egyptian elections worker guards boxes of ballots at the Giza courthouse in Cairo, Egypt, Sunday, May 25, 2014. TEXT SIZE – + VOA News May 26, 2014 12:35 AM Egyptians go to the polls Monday and Tuesday to elect a new president. Former Egyptian army chief Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, who ousted the elected Islamist leader Mohamed Morsi, is widely expected to win. The two-day election caps more than three […]
Far-right and anti-European Union parties have made sweeping gains in the European Parliament elections held over the 28 member states. Voters in 21 of the EU’s states went to the polls on Sunday, choosing members for the bloc’s 751-seat legislature. The other seven countries in the bloc had already voted in a sprawling exercise of democracy that began on Thursday in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. […]
|By K Raveendran| It is indeed a milestone in the history of UAE’s expatriate business. The purchase of a controlling stake in Travelex by Dr B R Shetty is easily the biggest acquisition by an expatriate both in terms of its value and profile. It is also perhaps the biggest global brand acquired by a UAE-based Indian entrepreneur. There have been buyouts of higher values, but these […]
Asian shares hit one-year high on Monday thanks to a strong session on Wall Street and a decisive win for billionaire Petro Poroshenko in Ukraine’s presidential election. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.15 percent while Japan’s Nikkei share average gained 0.7 percent to hit one-month high. Investors took their cue from upbeat U.S. hosing data on Friday, with sales of new single-family homes […]
Even before his inauguration, India’s Prime Minister designate Narendra Modi made waves on the global stage, where once he was treated by many with suspicion – and by some as a pariah – for a rash of Hindu-Muslim violence that erupted 12 years ago in Gujarat, the state he ruled. Modi, 63, has spoken with the presidents of the United States and Russia, and he has become […]
