MARSEILLE: French Communist-backed presidential candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon drew tens of thousands of supporters to a mass open-air rally Sunday, underlining his surging popularity just two weeks from the unpredictable election.
Polls show far-left Melenchon closing in on the frontrunners, 39-year-old centrist Emmanuel Macron and far-right leader Marine Le Pen ahead of the April 23 vote, adding new drama to a rollercoaster campaign.
After strong performances in two televised debates, several new surveys this weekend showed him climbing to third position, with 18-19 percent of voters saying they would vote for him.
Speaking in southern Marseille, he said voters had a choice other than the extreme-right “condemning our great multi-colored people to hate itself” and fans of the free-market that “transforms suffering, misery and abandonment into gold and money.”
Left-leaning news magazine L’Obs commented on Sunday that “the sudden emergence of Jean-Luc Melenchon among the four candidates with around 20 percent has shattered all the predictions, (and) is sowing doubt among the favorites.”
Analysts say forecasting the French two-stage election is even more difficult than usual, with an unusually high number of voters saying they do not plan to cast their ballots, or have not made up their minds.
Elsewhere on Sunday, scandal-hit rightwinger Francois Fillon held one of his biggest rallies so far, gathering thousands of flag-waving supporters at a conference hall in southern Paris.
The 61-year-old ex-prime minister is desperate to pick up momentum heading into the closing fortnight after a campaign dominated by allegations he paid his wife hundreds of thousands of euros for a fake job in parliament.
“If he doesn’t rise a few points (in the polls) this week, it’s over,” one former minister and Fillon ally admitted to AFP on condition of anonymity.
During the meeting, Fillon kept up his attacks on election favorite Macron, painting him as the continuation of unpopular Socialist President Francois Hollande, whom Macron served for four years as adviser then as economy minister.
“France would be the big loser: another five years of half-measures, another five years of missed opportunities,” he said to cheers.
While Melenchon and Fillon gathered supporters, Macron and Le Pen were happy to spend time giving interviews.
Macron detailed what would be his priorities for his first few months in office to the Journal du Dimanche newspaper, saying one of his first measures would be to pass a law setting new ethical standards for parliament.
This would be followed by other legislation to cut the number of MPs by a third and to free up the labor market.
Asked about a slight fall in support according to recent surveys, he replied: “They show exactly what I feel: that nothing is decided yet. We are entering a crucial phase.”
In a sign that his team are growing anxious about the impact of Melenchon, particularly among the young, supporters spread a video online set to techno music warning about the leftwinger’s huge tax-and-spend plan.
Melenchon’s radical program includes a new 100-billion-euro (106-billion-dollar) stimulus plan and a reduction in the working week to 32 hours, as well as proposals to overhaul the European Union and pull France out of NATO.
Le Pen meanwhile and her closest allies hit the airwaves selling their vision of a nationalist France, unburdened by the European Union and the euro currency and tougher on crime and Islamists.
Her telegenic niece Marion Marechal-Le Pen made a rare television appearance to deny reports of differences and tensions in the family, which led to speculation this week she might quit.
“I’m 100 percent behind Marine Le Pen,” she said on BFM television, adding that she planned to stand in parliamentary elections in June.
Two new polls published this weekend confirmed shifting momentum seen earlier this week following a second and final televised debate between the 11 candidates vying to be France’s next leader.
Le Pen and Macron — dubbed the “fragile favorite” by the Journal de Dimanche — are neck-and neck but both have lost ground slightly and would win 23-24 percent if the vote were held today.
This would mean they both qualified for the second round run-off scheduled on May 7, which Macron is seen winning comfortably.
Far-left Melenchon’s surge shakes up French presidential race
Far-left Melenchon’s surge shakes up French presidential race
Bad weather set to hit UK New Year celebrations
- Edinburgh’s Hogmanay street party was canceled on public safety grounds
LONDON: Adverse weather on Monday looked set to hit UK New Year festivities, as the organizers of Edinburgh’s Hogmanay street party canceled the event on public safety grounds.
The Edinburgh celebrations, a major tourist draw which last year attracted some 30,000 people, had been due to feature a fireworks display and a concert headlined by Scottish band Texas.
But organizers said it would not be safe to go ahead with preparations for outdoor events scheduled for Monday and New Year’s Eve on Tuesday due to “ongoing high winds and inclement weather.”
Planned New Year fireworks in the holiday resort town of Blackpool in northwestern England were also canceled due to a forecast of high winds, the local council said.
The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) issued a rare severe flood warning of “danger to life” for parts of Scotland.
It said a heavy downpour was expected to burst riverbanks in Aviemore in northern Scotland and nearby areas of the Scottish Highlands.
“Due to persistent and heavy rainfall, river levels on the River Spey will rise throughout Monday night and into Tuesday morning causing serious flooding,” it said.
“Extensive flooding to properties and businesses is expected in and around Aviemore.”
The UK’s Met Office, meanwhile, said heavy rain and strong winds could be expected in parts of Scotland, Northern Ireland and northern England.
Some snow was also forecast for parts of Scotland.
“A series of low-pressure systems will track across the UK over the next couple of days bringing some potentially disruptive weather,” said Met Office meteorologist Steve Willington.
“Almost the entire UK is covered by at least one weather warning” over the coming week, he added.
A Met Office amber warning for rain and snow — the second most severe weather notice, meaning there is a potential risk to life — is in place for Scotland.
A number of less severe yellow warnings for rain, wind and snow were also in place for Scotland and northern England.
US Treasury says was targeted by China state-sponsored cyberattack
- Breach accessed Treasury workstations and some unclassified documents
WASHINGTON: The US Treasury Department said Monday that a China state-sponsored actor was behind a cyber breach resulting in access to some of its workstations, according to a letter to Congress seen by AFP.
The incident happened earlier this month, when the actor compromised a third-party cybersecurity service provider and was able to remotely access the Treasury workstations and some unclassified documents, a Treasury spokesperson added.
Treasury contacted the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency after it was alerted of the situation by its provider BeyondTrust, and has been working with law enforcement partners to ascertain the impact.
“The compromised BeyondTrust service has been taken offline and there is no evidence indicating the threat actor has continued access to Treasury systems or information,” the department’s spokesperson said.
In its letter to the leadership of the Senate Banking Committee, the Treasury said: “Based on available indicators, the incident has been attributed to a China state-sponsored Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) actor.”
An APT refers to a cyberattack where an intruder establishes and maintains unauthorized access to a target, remaining undetected for a sustained period of time.
The department did not provide further details on what was affected by the breach, but said more information would be released in a supplemental report at a later date.
“Treasury takes very seriously all threats against our systems, and the data it holds,” the Treasury spokesperson added.
The official said that the department would continue working to protect the US financial system from threats.
Several countries, notably the United States, have voiced alarm in recent years at what they say is Chinese-government-backed hacking activity targeting their governments, militaries and businesses.
Beijing rejects the allegations, and has previously said that it opposes and cracks down on all forms of cyberattacks.
In September, the US Justice Department said it had neutralized a cyber-attack network that affected 200,000 devices worldwide, alleging it was run by hackers backed by the Chinese government.
In February, US authorities also said they had dismantled a network of hackers known as “Volt Typhoon.”
The group was said to be targeting key public sector infrastructure like water treatment plants and transportation systems at the behest of China.
In 2023, tech giant Microsoft said Chinese-based hackers seeking intelligence information breached the email accounts of a number of US government agencies.
The group, Storm-0558, had breached email accounts at approximately 25 organizations and government agencies.
Accounts belonging to the State Department and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo were among those hacked in that breach.
Argentine judge orders arrest of Nicaragua’s Ortega over human rights violations
- The warrant, lawyer Dario Richarte said, also applies to Ortega’s wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo
BUENOS AIRES: An Argentine judge has ordered the arrest of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega over his alleged “systematic violation of human rights,” a lawyer who filed a case against the leader told AFP on Monday.
The warrant, lawyer Dario Richarte said, also applies to Ortega’s wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, and is based on the principle of universal jurisdiction, which allows for nations to prosecute crimes against humanity outside their country of origin.
Federal Judge Ariel Lijo has also ordered the arrest of a dozen other people linked to Ortega’s rule.
The crimes Ortega and his wife are accused of include murder, forced disappearances, torture and “deportation or forced transfer of population,” Richarte said.
The complaint had been filed in 2022 by a group of prosecutors from the University of Buenos Aires.
Ortega, a 79-year-old ex-guerrilla, has engaged in increasingly authoritarian practices since returning to power in 2007, seizing control of all branches of the state.
His government has targeted critics, shutting down more than 5,000 non-governmental organizations since a crackdown on 2018 protests that the United Nations said left more than 300 people dead.
Most independent and opposition media now operate from abroad.
Around 450 politicians, businesspeople, journalists, intellectuals, human rights activists and religious figures have been stripped of their nationality since February 2023 under accusations of “treason.”
Amnesty International’s Americas director Ana Piquer warned earlier this month that nobody in Nicaragua was safe from Ortega’s “repressive machinery.”
“From indigenous leaders, journalists, human rights defenders and anyone seen as a risk to government policies, the authorities continue to consolidate the climate of fear,” she said.
Appeals court upholds verdict in Trump sexual abuse case
- Trump was ordered to pay $2 million for sexual abuse and another $3 million for defaming writer E. Jean Carrol
NEW YORK: A federal appeals court on Monday upheld a jury verdict ordering President-elect Donald Trump to pay $5 million for sexually abusing and defaming writer E. Jean Carroll.
A New York jury found after a nine-day civil trial last year that the former president had sexually abused Carroll at a Manhattan department store in 1996.
Trump was ordered to pay $2 million for sexual abuse and another $3 million for defaming Carroll, a former advice columnist for Elle magazine.
Trump denied the allegations and appealed the verdict on the grounds that two other women who said Trump had sexually assaulted them too should not have been allowed to testify.
The three-judge panel of the Second US Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed.
“We conclude that Mr. Trump has not demonstrated that the district court erred in any of the challenged rulings,” they said.
“Further, he has not carried his burden to show that any claimed error or combination of claimed errors affected his substantial rights as required to warrant a new trial.”
Carroll was awarded $83 million by another jury in a separate case she brought against Trump.
He has appealed that verdict and Steven Cheung, a Trump spokesman, said the Republican would lodge a further appeal against the $5 million damages awarded in the sexual abuse and defamation case.
“The American People have re-elected President Trump with an overwhelming mandate,” Cheung said in a statement.
“They demand an immediate end to the political weaponization of our justice system and a swift dismissal of all of the Witch Hunts, including the Democrat-funded Carroll Hoax, which will continue to be appealed,” he said.
Two federal cases brought against Trump by special counsel Jack Smith have been dismissed since he won the November 5 presidential election.
Trump was accused of mishandling classified documents after leaving the White House and seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 election but Smith dropped the cases under a Justice Department policy of not prosecuting a sitting president.
Trump was convicted in New York in May of 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.
Judge Juan Merchan recently rejected a bid by the president-elect to have his conviction thrown out but has postponed sentencing indefinitely.
US and foreign leaders praise Jimmy Carter’s legacy
Joe Biden led US presidents and other world leaders in paying tribute to Jimmy Carter, who died aged 100.
“America and the world lost an extraordinary leader, statesman and humanitarian,” Biden said in a statement released by the White House on Sunday.
He added later in a televised address that Carter “lived a life measured not by words, but by his deeds.” “We’d all do well to try and be a little more like Jimmy Carter.”
President-elect Donald Trump said Americans owe
Carter “a debt of gratitude.” “The challenges Jimmy faced as president came at a pivotal time for our country and he did everything in his power to improve the lives of all Americans,” he said on social media. Among former US presidents, Bill Clinton said his predecessor had “worked tirelessly for a better, fairer world.”
George W. Bush said Carter “dignified the office. And his efforts to leave behind a better world didn’t end with the presidency.”
Barack Obama hailed Carter for teaching “all of us what it means to live a life of grace, dignity, justice and service.”
