ROME: Rival populist leaders fought Monday for the right to govern Italy after their surge in a general election left the country in political limbo.
The anti-immigrant League party and the anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S) each claimed Sunday’s vote gave them a mandate to lead the nation of 60 million.
League leader Matteo Salvini said that he had “the right and the duty” to form a government after its surprise success at the heart of a right-wing coalition.
But M5S, which won the biggest share of the vote of any single party, claimed it was the winner. Its leader Luigi Di Maio said it had a “responsibility” to form a government.
With most ballots counted, the League was leading the dominant right-wing coalition, which won roughly 37 percent of the vote overall.
The League by itself was closing in on 18 percent, ahead of former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia (Go Italy) party, which collapsed to 14 percent.
Salvini’s party surged in the polls after promising to shut down Roma camps, deport hundreds of thousands of migrants and tackle what it called “danger” of Islam.
“Italians have chosen to take back control of the country from the insecurity and precariousness put in place by (center-left Democratic Party leader Matteo) Renzi,” Salvini told a press conference.
However much depends on M5S, which has drawn support from Italians fed up with traditional parties and a lack of economic opportunity.
It won 32 percent of the vote.
The M5S had previously refused to align itself with other parties, which it considered part of a “corrupt” system.
But Di Maio said his party now “feels the responsibility to form a government.”
To that end, he said he was “open to discussion with all political actors.”
“This election was a triumph for the Five Star Movement. We are the winners,” a joyous Di Maio told a news conference conference on Monday.
“More than half of voters in some regions have voted for the Movement,” he added.
According to polling company YouTrend, the M5S was set to gain 231 seats in the lower house Chamber of Deputies and 115 in the upper house Senate.
It could therefore form a majority with either one of the League, Forza Italia and the Democratic Party (PD).
Given its heated rivalry with the PD and Berlusconi, M5S’s most likely ally looked to be the euroskeptic League.
However Salvini swiftly ruled out the prospect of forming a coalition with the M5S.
“N. O. No, underlined three times,” Salvini told reporters.
Di Maio responded to Salvini by saying that “we represent the whole nation, from Val D’aosta to Sicily. The others can’t say that.”
The boost for far-right and populist parties has prompted comparisons to Britain’s vote to leave the European Union and the rise of US President Donald Trump.
Prominent British pro-Brexit figure Nigel Farage congratulated the Five Star Movement, his allies in the European Parliament, “for topping the poll” as by far Italy’s biggest single party.
Resentment at the hundreds of thousands of migrant arrivals in Italy in recent years fired up the campaign, along with frustration about social inequalities.
“These are historic results,” Giancarlo Giorgetti, deputy head of the League, told reporters in Milan.
Alessandro Di Battista, another senior Five Star leader, said: “Everyone is going to have to come and speak to us.”
PD leader Renzi looks doomed after his party dropped to 19 percent of the vote.
“The populists have won and the Democratic Party has lost,” PD lawmaker Andrea Marcucci admitted.
Berlusconi, a flamboyant three-time former prime minister, is on the ropes after his electoral flop.
The billionaire, who won his first election in 1994, has returned to the limelight at the age of 81 despite a career overshadowed by sex scandals and legal woes.
But he has turned out to be the big loser alongside Renzi.
Populists battle over right to govern Italy
Populists battle over right to govern Italy
Multiple deaths feared after gunmen fire on tourists in Indian-controlled Kashmir
Initial reports said gunmen sprayed bullets at mostly Indian tourists visiting Baisaran meadow
SRINAGAR, India: Multiple deaths are feared after gunmen indiscriminately fired at tourists in Indian-controlled Kashmir on Tuesday, officials said, with police calling it a “terror attack” and blaming militants fighting against Indian rule.
“This attack is much larger than anything we’ve seen directed at civilians in recent years,” Omar Abdullah, the region’s top elected official, wrote on social media.
“The death toll is still being ascertained so I don’t want to get into those details,” he said.
Initial reports said gunmen sprayed bullets at mostly Indian tourists visiting Baisaran meadow, some five kilometers (three miles) from the disputed region’s resort town of Pahalgam.
Police said multiple tourists had gunshot wounds, and officials were evacuating them to hospitals.
Police and soldiers cordoned off the area and launched a hunt for the attackers.
The attack coincided with the visit to India of US Vice President JD Vance, who is on a largely personal four-day visit.
The meadow in Pahalgam is a top sightseeing destination, surrounded by snow-capped mountains and dotted with pine forests. It is visited by hundreds of tourists every day.
Nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan each administer part of Kashmir, but both claim the territory in its entirety.
Militants in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir have been fighting New Delhi’s rule since 1989. Many Muslim Kashmiris support the rebels’ goal of uniting the territory, either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country.
India insists the Kashmir militancy is Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. Pakistan denies the charge, and many Kashmiris consider it a legitimate freedom struggle. Tens of thousands of civilians, rebels and government forces have been killed in the conflict.
Twelve children and teens drown in Ivory Coast boat capsize: minister
- “Twelve bodies have been recovered and are being taken to the morgue,” said Sports Minister Adje Silas Metch
- The outing was organized by a Methodist church in Tiaha
ABIDJAN: A boat overturned during a church outing for Easter on a lagoon near the city of Abidjan in Ivory Coast, killing 12 children and teenagers, a government minister told AFP Tuesday.
“Twelve bodies have been recovered and are being taken to the morgue,” said Sports Minister Adje Silas Metch, who went during the night to the site of the accident late Monday.
The bodies are “of children and adolescents,” he added, saying one was a youngster who was not from the church but had joined the boat crossing.
“Four people were rescued,” he said.
Young people from the village of Tiaha had gone to another village to take part in the “Galilee” event to mark the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The outing was organized by a Methodist church in Tiaha, about 60 kilometers (40 miles) from the economic capital, Abidjan, Gerard Gbato, deputy chief of the Dabou police district, told AFP.
“It was on the way back that the tragedy happened. The canoe’s engine stopped at one point, the canoe overturned,” he said.
It is possible the boat was overloaded, he added.
Police have opened an investigation.
Gbato said that such dugout canoes with an engine were commonly used by the local community.
The lagoon winds between the districts of Abidjan and the towns surrounding the metropolis of more than six million inhabitants.
Vance calls for greater ties with India, hails progress on trade talks
- “I believe there is much that India and America can accomplish together,” Vance said
- The Trump administration “seeks trade partners on the basis of fairness and shared national interest
NEW DELHI: US Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday called for enhanced engagement with India and said that the South Asian country should buy more defense equipment and energy from the US and allow Washington greater access to its market, lending momentum to an expected bilateral trade deal.
Vance, who is on a four-day visit to India, said that he and Prime Minister Narendra Modi made progress on trade talks during their discussions on Monday, and confirmed that both sides had finalized the terms of reference for the trade negotiation — a vital step toward setting the road map for the final agreement.
India and the US hope to seal a bilateral trade agreement this year and have set an ambitious target of more than doubling their bilateral trade to $500 billion by 2030. If achieved, the trade deal could significantly enhance economic ties between both countries and potentially strengthen diplomatic ties as well.
“I believe there is much that India and America can accomplish together,” Vance said at an event in the western city of Jaipur, where he, his wife Usha Vance and their three children were on a sightseeing tour.
Vance’s first visit to New Delhi came amid the backdrop of US President Donald Trump’s partially-paused tariff program against most countries, including India. Earlier this month, Trump announced a 90-day pause in which imports from most countries would face a baseline 10 percent tax so that there was time to hold talks and possibly structure broader deals.
The trade negotiations are especially urgent for India and could help New Delhi avoid sharp US tariffs. Meanwhile, the Trump administration has portrayed its strategy of tariffs as forcing negotiations that could limit the reach and influence of China, the world’s dominant manufacturer and New Delhi’s main rival in the region.
At the event, Vance sought to assuage fears over Trump’s tariff decisions and said his administration was seeking to rebalance global trade so that the US, with friends like India, can build a better future. He said that trade relations must be based on fairness.
“I come here with a simple message,” Vance said. The Trump administration “seeks trade partners on the basis of fairness and shared national interest. We want to build relationships with our foreign partners who respect their workers.”
Vance said that he was in India to strengthen ties between both nations, and criticized previous governments for looking at New Delhi as a cheap source of labor.
“I believe that if India and the United States work together successfully, we are going to see a 21st century that is prosperous and peaceful,” he said, adding that if this didn’t happen, it would mean a “dark time for all humanity.”
Washington has long sought to develop a deeper partnership with New Delhi, which is seen as a bulwark against China. Modi has established a good working relationship with Trump, and the two leaders are likely to further boost cooperation between their countries.
Modi was also among the first leaders to visit the US and hold talks with Trump that kickstarted a negotiation process to minimize the possible fallout of Trump’s tariffs. The two leaders also said they planned to grow their defense partnership.
India is a close partner of the US and is part of the Quad, which is made up of the US, India, Japan and Australia, and is seen as a counterbalance to China’s expansion in the region. It is also a major defense partner of the US, a status only enjoyed by some of the closest allies of Washington.
In line with Trump’s push for supplying more military equipment to India, Vance said Washington was seeking greater collaboration with New Delhi for the sale of advanced military gear, as well as coproduction. He also pitched Washington’s fifth-generation stealth fighter to India.
“F-35 will help protect your people like never before,” he said.
Over the past several decades, India has been largely dependent on Russian weapons, fighters and military equipment, but has gradually started diversifying its purchase basket from countries such as the US, France and the UK
In recent years, India has embedded advanced American jets, helicopters, missiles and other equipment into its armed forces and the two countries have announced plans to sign a 10-year framework later this year to further strengthen the defense partnership.
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Philippines, UAE sign agreement to combat cybercrime, drug trafficking
- New deal provides ‘strategic framework’ for cooperation, Philippine ambassador says
- UAE is the only country in the Middle East where Philippines has defense attache
MANILA: The Philippines has signed a new security agreement with the UAE to tackle transnational and organized crime, officials said on Tuesday.
Signed by Philippine Interior Secretary Juanito Victor Remulla and UAE Interior Minister Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, the new deal focuses on cybercrime, drug trafficking and human trafficking.
“Transnational crimes with global networks powered by new technologies and the ease of cross-border movement of persons and criminal syndicates need more international cooperation and partnerships,” Alfonso Ver, Philippine ambassador to the UAE, told Arab News on Tuesday.
“This is one concrete step to address the growing menace above … We have gone into new and heretofore unexplored areas of bilateral cooperation, moving beyond the issues of OFWs (Overseas Filipino Workers), migration and oil.”
The Philippines and the UAE celebrated 50 years of diplomatic relations last year.
The two countries have been working to expand security ties over the past few years, with discussions ongoing for a wide-ranging bilateral defense pact.
In 2021, the Philippines posted a defense attache in the UAE, making it the only country in the Middle East where Manila has such representation.
The two countries also signed several treaties on extradition, mutual legal assistance and transfer of prisoners in February.
Ver said the new agreement was a “milestone” that provides a “strategic framework” that will help guide Philippine-UAE “future engagements in a more structured, sustainable, and effective” manner.
It is also expected to promote the exchange of best practices and expertise.
“We discussed ways to strengthen bilateral relations between the two friendly countries and develop cooperation in the security and police fields,” Sheikh Saif said in a post on X, referring to his meeting with Remulla.
“This underscores our shared commitment to supporting effective international institutional cooperation to enhance the security and stability of societies.”
Cybercrime and trafficking have been growing concerns for countries like the Philippines.
More than 200 Filipinos were among several thousand people freed in late February and March from online scam centers run by syndicates operating along Myanmar’s border with Thailand, where many of them are believed to have been recruited and trafficked by criminal gangs.
Lured by well-paid job offers in Thailand, they were released in a weeks-long, highly publicized crackdown by Thai, Myanmar and Chinese forces.
Bangladesh’s largest private airline starts Riyadh flights as demand grows
- US-Bangla Airlines offers 5 weekly flights on Dhaka–Riyadh route
- First private Bangladeshi carrier to operate flights to the Kingdom
DHAKA: US-Bangla Airlines, the largest airline in Bangladesh by fleet size, has launched direct flights from Dhaka to Riyadh amid increasing demand for travel to Saudi Arabia.
The inaugural flight from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport to King Khalid International Airport took off on Monday, with 423 passengers on board.
The flights will run five times a week on an Airbus 330 aircraft, with plans to gradually expand to daily service.
“Today, also, we are flying with full occupancy. There is always demand for destinations in the Middle East,” Kamrul Islam, the carrier’s general manager for public relations, told Arab News on Tuesday.
“We are receiving very good responses from the passengers ... The route will soon be served by daily flights.”
The airline is tapping into the growing market for Middle East travel. Flights to Saudi Arabia have been too few to accommodate the needs of some 3 million Bangladeshi workers in the Kingdom and hundreds of thousands of people traveling for the annual Hajj and Umrah pilgrimages.
In August last year, it launched daily flights to Jeddah, becoming the first — and so far the only — private Bangladeshi airline to fly to the Kingdom.
“Our aim is to start flight operations gradually in all the destinations where Bangladeshi migrants live,” Islam said.
“In the near future, we are planning to begin flight operations to Dammam and Madinah. Our plan is to begin these flights by the next year. It takes six to seven months of preparations to launch a new station.”
Founded in 2010, US-Bangla Airlines started as a domestic carrier and has lately expanded its routes to go international. The Riyadh route marks the airline’s 14th international destination and sixth in the Middle East.
“Every destination in the Middle East is a base for Bangladeshi migrants,” Islam said.
“We are currently operating also to other places in the region, like Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi, Muscat, and Doha.”
With its latest acquisition of new Airbus A330 and Boeing 737 aircraft last year, the carrier has become the largest airline in Bangladesh by fleet size.
With the additions, the US-Bangla fleet now consists of 24 aircraft, while the national flag carrier Biman has 21.
