Lithuania’s Gitanas Nauseda declares victory in presidential election | Elections News

Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte conceded defeat in the final round of the Baltic nation’s presidential election.

Lithuania’s President Gitanas Nauseda has declared victory in the final round of the Baltic nation’s presidential election, as partial results showed him far ahead in the two-way race against Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte.

Ballots from nearly 90 percent of polling stations on Sunday showed Nauseda, 60, winning roughly three-quarters of the vote, followed by Simonyte, 49, from the ruling centre-right Homeland Union party.

Simonyte conceded defeat in comments to reporters and congratulated Nauseda.

This is the second time Nauseda and Simonyte have competed in a presidential run-off election. In 2019, Nauseda beat Simonyte with 66 percent of the vote.

As president, Nauseda has a semi-executive role, which includes heading the armed forces, chairing the defence and national security policy body and representing the country at NATO and European Union summits.

The former senior economist with the Swedish banking group SEB, who is not affiliated with any party, won the first round of the election on May 12 with 44 percent of the votes, short of the 50 percent he needed for an outright victory.

Simonyte was the only woman out of eight candidates in the first round and came second with 20 percent.

Both Nauseda and Simonyte support increasing defence spending to at least 3 percent of Lithuania’s gross domestic product, from the 2.75 percent planned for this year, in the wake of Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Like other Baltic nations, Lithuania worries it could be Moscow’s next target. Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has said he has no intention of attacking any NATO countries.

The uneasy relationship between Nauseda and Simonyte has also caught the limelight in foreign policy debates, most notably on Lithuania’s relations with China.

Bilateral ties turned tense in 2021, when Vilnius allowed Taiwan to open a de facto embassy under the island’s name, a departure from the common diplomatic practice of using the name of the capital, Taipei, to avoid angering Beijing.

China, which considers self-ruled Taiwan a part of its territory, downgraded diplomatic relations with Vilnius and blocked its exports, leading some Lithuanian politicians to urge a restoration of relations for the sake of the economy.

Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Macron makes rare state visit to Berlin to boost ties, defend democracy | Politics News

For the first time in nearly a quarter of a century, a French president visits Berlin to warm frosty ties.

Emmanuel Macron has begun the first state visit to Germany by a French president in 24 years, to boost ties between the two countries and to emphasise the importance of defending democracy against nationalism in upcoming European elections.

“Franco-German relations are indispensable and important for Europe,” said Macron at the start of his three-day state visit to Germany on Sunday. He rebuffed the suggestion that the relationship, often described as the engine of Europe, has begun to stutter.

“That is not true. We are moving forward,” Macron said through a translator.

Upon landing in Berlin, Macron immediately travelled to the German capital’s government quarter to meet with President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and attend a democracy-themed festival.

Steinmeier greeted Macron and called his visit “proof of the depth of the Franco-German friendship”. He said that despite sometimes differing on individual policy points, Berlin and Paris always “come to an agreement in the end”.

The French president also emphasised the importance of the European elections in June and called the European Union a defender of democracy and common values. He warned of a “form of fascination for authoritarianism which is growing” in the two EU nations. “We forget too often that it’s a fight” to protect democracy, Macron said.

If the nationalists had been in power in Europe in the last years, “history would not have been the same”, he said, pointing to decisions on the coronavirus pandemic or Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The German president too noted how rights “did not fall from the sky”, saying they need to be fought for.

“There is much from both presidents the stress from them about the need for European citizens to think very carefully when they cast their vote in the EU elections in a few weeks,” said Al Jazeera’s Dominic Kane.

Polls show that the European elections could turn into a major potential embarrassment for Macron as his coalition is trailing well behind the far right and may struggle to even reach third place. In Germany too, all three parties in Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition are polling behind the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in surveys, despite a series of scandals embroiling the anti-immigration party.

After the talks with Steinmeier, Macron is due to bring his message to Dresden in the former East German Saxony state, where the AfD has a strong supporter base.

Tuesday sees Macron in the western German city of Munster and later in Meseberg, outside Berlin, for talks with Scholz and a Franco-German joint cabinet meeting.

Beyond making joint calls for the European elections, the three-day visit will seek to emphasise the historic importance of the post-war relationship between the two key EU states, as France next month commemorates 80 years since the D-Day landings that marked the beginning of the end of German World War II occupation.

In a question-and-answer session on social media with young people this month, Macron enlisted help from Scholz when asked if the Franco-German “couple” was still working.

“Hello dear friends, long live French-German friendship!” Scholz said in French in a video on Macron’s X feed. “Thank you Olaf! I very much agree with you,” Macron replied in heavily accented German.

Officials from both sides stressed that while there are periodic tensions on specific issues, the fundamental basis of the relationship remains sound.

But Macron’s refusal to rule out sending troops to Ukraine sparked an unusually acidic response from Scholz that Germany had no such plans. Germany also does not share Macron’s enthusiasm for a European strategic autonomy less dependent on the United States.

Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Leclerc ends Monaco jinx with dream F1 home victory | Motorsports News

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, the only Formula One driver born and raised in the area, finally wins his home race in Monte Carlo.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc won the Monaco Grand Prix to become the first home winner of Formula One’s showcase race since Louis Chiron raced around the city streets in 1931.

Sunday’s thrilling victory was the first time the 26-year-old had stood on the Monaco podium in six attempts, and it came after two standing starts from pole position in a race halted when first-lap collisions took out a fifth of the field.

McLaren’s Oscar Piastri finished second, 7.1 seconds behind, with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz Jr third.

Red Bull’s championship leader and 2023 Monaco winner Max Verstappen started and finished sixth, only the third time in eight races this season that the triple world champion has been beaten.

Leclerc’s Monaco triumph ends years of frustration at his home race by taking the jewel in the Formula One calendar from pole at his third attempt.

A tearful Leclerc said: “No words can explain this. It means a lot, it’s the race that made me dream of becoming an F1 driver.”

Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Twelve injured as Qatar Airways flight from Doha to Dublin hits turbulence | Aviation News

Dublin airport authorities say six passengers and six crew members were injured after flight hit turbulence over Turkey.

At least a dozen people have sustained injuries after a Qatar Airways flight from Doha to Dublin was hit by turbulence while flying over Turkey, Dublin airport authorities have said.

At least six passengers and six crew members were injured on Qatar Airways flight QR017, Dublin airport said in a statement on Sunday.

It said that the aircraft landed safely as scheduled before 1pm (12:00GMT). Upon landing, it was met by emergency services, including airport police and the fire and rescue department, the airport said.

“All passengers were assessed for injury prior to disembarking the aircraft,” it said, adding that eight passengers were taken to hospital in Dublin in the Republic of Ireland.

Qatar Airways confirmed that the flight, a Boeing B787-9 from Doha to Dublin, landed safely.

“A small number of passengers and crew sustained minor injuries in flight and are now receiving medical attention,” read the statement. “The matter is now subject to an internal investigation.”

The incident comes after a British man died and dozens of people were severely injured on a Singapore Airlines (SIA) flight that hit sudden and severe turbulence on Tuesday. The aircraft was forced to make an emergency landing in Bangkok, Thailand.

Health authorities said on Thursday that 20 people remained in intensive care while others sustained spinal cord, brain and skull injuries.

Following the incident, Singapore’s flag carrier adopted “a more cautious approach to managing turbulence in-flight”, SIA told Al Jazeera in a statement on Friday. Under the revised policy, meal service will no longer be provided when the seat belt sign is on, the airline said.

The cabin crew will also continue to secure all loose items and equipment during poor weather conditions and continue to advise passengers to return to their seats and secure their seat belts.

Air travel rarely leads to injuries. In the United States, the world’s largest air travel market, there have only been 163 injuries between 2009 and 2022 that required hospitalisation, according to the US Federal Aviation Administration.

The US National Transportation Safety Board hasn’t reported a single turbulence-related death on a large-body aircraft in that period.

It’s also almost unheard of for turbulence to bring down an aircraft – let alone a commercial one.

Experts warned that while aircraft are designed to withstand severe amounts of turbulence, climate-change-related factors such as warming temperatures could lead to higher wind speeds.



Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Russia strikes crowded store in Ukraine’s Kharkiv | Russia-Ukraine war

NewsFeed

This is the moment Russian strikes hit a crowded hardware store in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, killing at least four people and injuring dozens.

Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Lithuania’s Nauseda eyes re-election in run-off overshadowed by Russia | Politics News

Incumbent president says he sees Russia as an ‘enemy’ and has accused Moscow of trying to destabilise Vilnius.

Lithuania is holding its presidential election, with incumbent Gitanas Nauseda expected to win after a campaign dominated by security concerns in the post-Soviet state.

Sunday’s vote is a rematch between Nauseda and his closest rival, Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte, who has also promised to keep the country’s policies pro-European.

The Baltic nation of 2.8 million people has been a staunch ally of Ukraine since Russia’s 2022 invasion. Like other countries in the region, the NATO and European Union member worries it could be Moscow’s next target.

Nauseda, 60, a former senior economist with the Swedish banking group SEB who is not affiliated with any party, won the first round of the election on May 12 with 44 percent of the votes, short of the 50 percent he needed for an outright victory.

He is running against Simonyte, 49, from the governing centre-right Homeland Union party that has been trailing in opinion polls. She was the only woman out of eight candidates in the first round and came second with 20 percent.

More than half of Lithuanians believe a Russian attack is possible or very likely, according to an ELTA/Baltijos Tyrimai poll conducted between February and March. Russia has regularly dismissed the idea that it might attack a NATO member.

Nauseda told a debate on Tuesday he sees Russia as an enemy.

“Our enemies – who even call themselves our enemies, who are enemies of us and all the democratic world – are attempting to destabilise our politics, and we must do all to resist.”

Both Nauseda and Simonyte support increasing defence spending to at least 3 percent of Lithuania’s gross domestic product, from the 2.75 percent planned for this year.

But Nauseda, who is a social conservative, has clashed with Simonyte on other issues, including whether to give legal recognition to same-sex civil partnerships, which Nauseda opposes. He has said it would make such unions too similar to marriage, which Lithuania’s constitution allows only for a man and a woman.

Simonyte, a former finance minister and fiscal hawk, said on Thursday that if she won, “the direction for the country – pro-European, pro-Western – would not change”.

“But I would like quicker progress, more openness and understanding, larger tolerance to people who are different from us,” she added.

Lithuania’s president has a semi-executive role, which includes heading the armed forces, chairing the supreme defence and national security policy body and representing the country at EU and NATO summits.

The president sets foreign and security policy in tandem with the government, can veto laws and has a say in the appointment of key officials such as judges, the chief prosecutor, the chief of defence and the head of the central bank.

The uneasy relationship between Nauseda and Simonyte has at times triggered foreign policy debates, most notably on Lithuania’s relations with China.

Bilateral ties turned tense in 2021, when Vilnius allowed Taiwan to open a de facto embassy under the island’s name, a departure from the common diplomatic practice of using the name of the capital, Taipei, to avoid angering Beijing.

China, which considers self-ruled Taiwan a part of its territory, downgraded diplomatic relations with Vilnius and blocked its exports, leading some Lithuanian politicians to urge a restoration of relations for the sake of the economy.

It will be the second time Nauseda and Simonyte have competed in a presidential run-off. In 2019, Nauseda beat Simonyte with 66 percent of the vote.

Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Man claiming to be Israeli soldier arrested for anti-Muslim abuse in UK | Islamophobia

NewsFeed

A man who described himself as a soldier with the Israeli army was arrested for ‘racially aggravated assault’ after verbally abusing a Muslim woman at a London train station. Witnesses say he pulled a woman’s headscarf, triggering the altercation.

Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

UK’s Sunak promises mandatory national service for 18-year-olds if elected | Politics News

Ruling Conservative Party says it will bring back national service if it wins the July 4 general election.

Eighteen-year-olds will have to perform a mandatory national service if the Conservative Party is voted back to power in the United Kingdom’s July 4 election, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has announced.

The UK has “generations of young people who have not had the opportunities they deserve”, and this measure would help unite society in an “increasingly uncertain world”, Sunak said on Saturday.

The prime minister’s plan would entail young people being given a choice between a full-time placement in the armed forces for 12 months or spending one weekend a month for a year volunteering in their community, the party said.

The announcement came as Conservatives gear up for elections, heightening its attacks on the opposition Labour Party.

The UK had national service between 1947 and 1960, with men between the ages of 17 and 21 serving in the armed forces for 18 months. The British Army has reduced in size from 100,000 in 2010 to nearly 73,000 as of January 2024, the BBC reported.

The Conservative Party said the placement with the armed forces would help the teenagers “learn and take part in logistics, cybersecurity, procurement or civil response operations”.

The community service option would entail helping local fire, police and the UK’s National Health Service, as well as charities tackling loneliness in elderly, isolated people. The programme would cost approximately 2.5 billion pounds ($3.2bn) a year, BBC reported.

A royal commission, with experts from military and civil society, would be created to design the national service programme.

The first pilot for the programme would open applications in September 2025. Following that, the Conservatives would introduce a “National Service Act” to make the measures compulsory by the end of the next parliamentary term.

The Conservatives have insisted the scheme does not amount to conscription, the Guardian reported.

“This new, mandatory national service will provide life-changing opportunities for our young people, offering them the chance to learn real-world skills, do new things and contribute to their community and our country,” Sunak said.

“The consequences of uncertainty are clear. No plan means a more dangerous world. You, your family and our country are all at risk if Labour win,” he added.

The Labour Party called the announcement “another desperate unfunded commitment” and said the foreign minister, David Cameron, introduced a similar scheme – the National Citizen Service – when he was prime minister.

A Labour spokesperson said: “This is not a plan – it’s a review which could cost billions and is only needed because the Tories hollowed out the armed forces to their smallest size since Napoleon.”

“Britain has had enough of the Conservatives, who are bankrupt of ideas and have no plans to end 14 years of chaos. It’s time to turn the page and rebuild Britain with Labour.”

Several European countries, including Sweden, Norway and Denmark, already have some form of conscription for their armed forces.

Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 821 | Russia-Ukraine war News

As the war enters its 821st day, these are the main developments.

Here is the situation on Sunday, May 26, 2024:

Fighting

  • The death toll in a Russian attack on a hardware superstore in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv has risen to 11, says the regional governor, with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemning the attack as “vile”.
  • Kharkiv region’s Governor Oleg Synegubov reported on Telegram that as many as 40 people were wounded and 16 missing after two guided Russian bombs hit the store.
  • Another strike hit the centre of Kharkiv, wounding 14 in an area with a post office, a hairdresser and a cafe, city’s Mayor Igor Terekhov said.
  • Ukraine’s air force on Sunday said it destroyed 12 missiles and all 31 drones launched by Russia during its latest overnight air attack. It said the missiles and drones had been shot down over parts of southern, central, western and northern Ukraine. Two hypersonic Kinzhal missiles remained unaccounted for.
  • In the eastern Donetsk region, shelling killed a 40-year-old woman and wounded four other people, according to the regional governor, Vadym Filashkin.
  • Ukraine said Russia also shelled the village of Kupiansk-Vuzlovyi, a railway hub in the region of Kharkiv, wounding five, the regional prosecutor’s office said. Two vehicles came under fire: a car with two passengers and an ambulance with a driver, a paramedic and a 64-year-old patient.
  • Prosecutors reported that a factory and residential buildings were damaged in separate Russian air attacks on the Kupiansk district.
  • Moscow accused Ukraine of shelling a small town in the Belgorod region, killing two people and wounding 10.

Politics and diplomacy

  • Russian President Vladimir Putin will be on an official visit to Uzbekistan, where he will meet President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and other top officials.
  • The war in Ukraine will be on the agenda as French President Emmanuel Macron travels to Germany on Sunday for a three-day state visit, followed by a bilateral cabinet meeting between the European Union’s two biggest powers.
  • France, which has nuclear weapons, has pushed for a more self-reliant Europe on defence matters and has been aggrieved by Germany’s decision to buy mostly US gear for its European Sky Shield Initiative air defence umbrella.
  • Germany says there is no credible alternative to the US military umbrella and that Europe does not have time to wait for a home-grown defence industry to be prepared for threats such as Russian hostility.
  • Lithuania holds presidential elections on Sunday, with incumbent Gitanas Nauseda anticipated to win after a campaign dominated by security concerns in the post-Soviet state. The Baltic nation of 2.8 million people has been a staunch ally of Ukraine since Russia’s 2022 invasion. Like other countries in the region, the NATO and EU member worries it could be Moscow’s next target.

  • Ukraine’s Zelenskyy is set to travel to Portugal on Tuesday, after his planned visit to Spain, according to news reports, as Kyiv seeks to reinforce support from Europe amid a more aggressive military push by Russia.

  • The Group of Seven will explore ways to use the future income from frozen Russian assets to boost funding for war-torn Ukraine, finance chiefs from the G7 industrial democracies said, but offered no details of how to do so. The G7 and its allies froze between $300bn and $350bn of Russian financial assets, such as major currencies and government bonds shortly after Moscow invaded Ukraine.

  • President Joe Biden reiterated his position that he does not intend to send troops to Ukraine, praising the US leadership in an address to the graduating class of the prestigious West Point Military Academy.

Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Exotic dancer drama, Anora, wins Cannes top prize | Arts and Culture News

Anora, a darkly funny and touching drama about a young exotic dancer who becomes involved with a Russian oligarch’s son, has won the Cannes Film Festival’s top prize, the Palme d’Or.

The film by US director Sean Baker beat the 21 other films in the competition lineup, including entries by established directors like Francis Ford Coppola and David Cronenberg.

Jury members including US actor Lily Gladstone and Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-Eda have said they are well aware their decision could make or break a director’s career.

As head of the jury, Barbie director Greta Gerwig praised Anora as an “incredible, human and humane film that captured our hearts”.

Baker’s win has made him one of the leading voices of American indie cinema. He dedicated the film to all sex workers.

“This literally has been my singular goal for the past 30 years, so I’m not really sure what I’m going to do with the rest of my life,” he said, while also thanking the film’s star, Mikey Madison, as well as his wife and producer.

Madison plays the character of the title, who meets Vanya, the immature son of a Russian oligarch with seemingly unlimited money, while working at a strip club.

Vanya, played by Mark Eydelshteyn, hires Anora to be his girlfriend for a week, deciding on a whim to take his private plane to party in Las Vegas, where they get married.

That decision upsets his disapproving parents so much that they jet over from Russia to ensure he gets an annulment.

US director Sean Baker poses during a photocall for the film, Anora, at the 77th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France [Loic Venance/AFP]

The second-place Grand Prix went to All We Imagine as Light, the first Indian entry in 30 years.

It wowed critics with its poetic monsoon-set portrayal of two women who have migrated to Mumbai to work as nurses.

Emilia Perez also won the third-place Jury Prize for its French director, Jacques Audiard.

And a devastating Iranian film about a family torn apart by the country’s recent women-led protests, The Seed of the Sacred Fig was given a special jury prize for “drawing attention to unsustainable injustice”.

Its director Mohammad Rasoulof, 51, fled Iran to avoid a lengthy prison sentence just before the festival.

Rasoulof said his heart was with the film’s crew, “still under the pressure of the secret services back in Iran”.

“I am also very sad, deeply sad, to see the disaster experienced by my people every day … the Iranian people live under a totalitarian regime,” he said.

Indian director Payal Kapadia, centre, celebrates on stage with her cast Indian actress Chhaya Kadam, left, Indian actress Divya Prabha, second left, and Indian actress Kani Kusruti, right, after she was awarded the Grand Prix for the film, All We Imagine as Light, during the Closing Ceremony at the 77th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes [Christophe Simon/AFP]

The 77th edition of the festival on the French Riviera, which began on May 14, saw several highly charged feminist and political movies.

A trans woman won best actress for the first time, as Karla Sofia Gascon took the award for the audacious musical Emilia Perez, in which she plays a Mexican narco boss who has a sex change.

The jury shared it between Gascon and her co-stars Zoe Saldana and Selena Gomez – saying they were rewarding the “harmony of sisterhood” – though only Gascon was at the ceremony.

She dedicated it to “all the trans people who are suffering”.

“We all have the opportunity to change for the better, to be better people,” she said.

“If you have made us suffer, it is time for you also to change.”

Meanwhile, there were fewer meaty roles for men this year.

But Jesse Plemons took the prize for Yorgos Lanthimos’s bizarro series of short stories, Kinds of Kindness, though he was not present to accept it.

Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Exit mobile version