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Political situation in Ethiopia

Top politician: 100 percent of the vote is too much


The ruling Progress Party looks set for a landslide victory in today's elections in Ethiopia. The party is so dominant that Deputy Prime Minister Temesgen Tiruneh says he is worried about winning too much.

- We do not want 100 percent of the vote. We want our opponents to have some victories because we want to make room for a diversity of voices.

According to Al Jazeera, the government is popular, but is also helped along by the fact that the opposition is divided and that voting has been canceled in the Tigray region, where open rebellion prevails.

Controversial peace laureate expected to win elections in Ethiopia

Incumbent Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed is expected to win by large numbers when Ethiopia goes to the polls on Monday, reports AFP. Ahmed has ruled the country since 2018 and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize the following year, for his efforts in brokering peace with neighboring Eritrea.

However, his reputation has since been severely tarnished. In 2020, Ahmed's government went to war against rebels in the province of Tigray, which led to the deaths of around 600,000 people, according to the BBC. His rule has become increasingly authoritarian and several opposition politicians have gone into exile or are in prison, writes AFP.

In the last election, held in 2021, Ahmed's party won 96 percent of the seats in parliament.

 

Big win expected for criticized Nobel laureate

TT

Published 08.37

 

Supporters of Ethiopia's ruling party with a portrait of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in Addis Ababa last week.

Supporters of Ethiopia's ruling party with a portrait of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in Addis Ababa last week. Photo: Amanuel Sileshi/AP/TT

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019, but has since been criticized for an increasingly authoritarian rule. When Ethiopia now goes to the polls, he is expected to win a landslide victory.

Queues at polling stations in Addis Ababa are long on Monday.

- It is a critical moment where the future of the country is being decided, 38-year-old Binyam Gideyelem, who is voting for the first time, told the AFP news agency.

However, analysts predict an almost guaranteed landslide victory for Abiy Ahmed, who came to power in 2018. The following year he received the Nobel Prize for the peace agreement with neighboring Eritrea, but since then his rule has become increasingly authoritarian and violent, with harsh crackdowns on dissent.

No election is being held in the Tigray region, where a brutal war between local rulers and Ahmed's central government has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives since 2020. 

Russian oil tanker seized – Kremlin furious

TT

Published 12.04

 

France has seized a Russian oil tanker, according to President Emmanuel Macron. In the picture, he visits one of the French navy ships in southern France in 2022. Photo: Eric Gaillard/AP/TT

France has, together with allies, seized a Russian oil tanker that is on Western sanctions lists, President Emmanuel Macron announced.

The ship Tagor was reportedly stopped in international waters on Sunday morning. According to prosecutors in Brest, France, the ship's captain refused to follow the navy's orders and a criminal investigation has now been opened.

Russia is furious. The Kremlin calls the seizure illegal and equates it with "piracy".

- Russia is taking measures to secure the cargo, says spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

According to ship tracking services, Tagor was last week off the coast of Norway.

The EU's list of sanctioned Russian "shadow vessels" - ships believed to be used to circumvent sanctions on Russian oil exports - totals almost 600.

 

Review: Major damage to US missile defense

TT

Published 09.55

 

American missile defense of the Thaad type is loaded onto a military transport aircraft in Fort Bliss, Texas. Archive photo. Photo: Cory D Payne/U.S. Air Force Via AP/TT

Iran has caused damage to at least 20 American military facilities, satellite images analyzed by the BBC show.

The review indicates that the damage is more extensive than the US has admitted.

The US has been tight-lipped about damage to the country's military bases in the Middle East. The White House has also requested that the satellite company Planet Labs restrict access to satellite images of the region.

Using images from other suppliers, the BBC now finds that at least 20 American military facilities have been damaged in the war. Among other things, three of the US's eight Thaad - an advanced missile defense system - have been damaged.

“The conflict has significantly depleted the air defense stockpiles of the United States and its partner countries,” analyst Kelly Grieco told the BBC.

Tanker and surveillance planes in Saudi Arabia, as well as hangars and fuel depots in Kuwait, have also been damaged, according to the review.

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Political situation in Peru

Expert: “Least bad choice” could decide tight riot

Conservative politician Keiko Fujimori has a narrow advantage in public opinion ahead of next weekend’s presidential election in Peru, a new poll from Ipsos shows according to Reuters. She is heading for support of 38 percent, compared to leftist candidate Roberto Sánchez at 35 percent.

Notably, one in four voters do not know how they intend to vote or plan to vote blank.

“The logic of choosing the least bad option will ultimately decide,” says Ipsos CEO Alfredo Torres.

The poll also shows that Fujimori is strongest in the capital Lima and among affluent Peruvians, while Sánchez is doing better in rural areas.

Protests against new generation of Fujimori in power

Hundreds of Peruvians took to the streets on Saturday to protest against Keiko Fujimori, daughter of former convicted president Alberto Fujimori, running for president next week, AFP writes.

The focus of the protests is the crimes committed by Alberto Fujimori during his role as leader in the 1990s.

“Keiko represents injustice and terror. She should not become president because, for us, she is a danger,” said Irma Cayo, one of the protesters.

Despite the protests, right-wing politician Keiko Fujimori is the favorite in the presidential election between her and leftist leader Roberto Sánchez.

The presidential election will be held next Sunday. It is the ninth time in ten years that Peru has elected a new president.

Russian invasion

Drone alarm in Europe
Romania: No doubt the drone was Russian

The drone that hit a residential building in Romania this week was undoubtedly Russian. This is what the NATO country's President Nicusor Dan wrote in a post on X after the drone was examined by state experts.

The conclusion is based, among other things, on a Cyrillic marking on the wreckage and that several components match Russian drones that had crashed on Romanian soil earlier during the war.

Earlier this week, Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed that it was not possible to determine the origin without a proper investigation, and asked for "objective information".
 

The fighting
Nuclear power plant hit by drone: “Playing with fire”

A drone hit the occupied Ukrainian nuclear power plant Zaporizhzhia in southern Ukraine on Saturday, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on social media.

Russia accuses Ukraine of what it describes as a “deliberate attack” on the sensitive facility. Ukraine denies the accusations.

According to the IAEA, the drone caused a hole in the wall of a turbine hall, but did not cause any leak.

“No attacks of any type should be carried out from or against the facility. Attacking nuclear power plants is playing with fire,” IAEA chief Rafael Grossi wrote in a statement.

Ukraine: Why would we attack our own nuclear power plant?

Ukraine strongly denies allegations that it attacked the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant with a drone, writes The Independent.

The Russian nuclear energy company Rosatom has said that the drone that hit the plant on Saturday was controlled via a fiber-optic cable, which it says shows that the attack was not accidental.

“It is unclear why Ukraine would attack its own nuclear power plant, located on our own territory, which we are trying to bring back under our own control,” the Ukrainian military wrote in a statement according to the AP.

Expert: Ukraine has gained the upper hand in the war

Ukraine has gained the upper hand over Russian forces in recent months, military analyst Giorgi Revishvili told Newsweek. He says the situation is “noticeably better” than last year, largely thanks to drones being able to reach logistical targets on occupied territory, far from the front lines.

Ukraine is launching daily attacks on Russian supply lines in occupied territories between mainland Russia and the annexed Crimean peninsula.

– Even pro-Russian military bloggers are sounding the alarm.

Middle East Crisis

Peace Talks
Trump: Iran has agreed not to acquire nuclear weapons

Donald Trump claims that Iran has given him guarantees that the country will not acquire nuclear weapons. In an interview with his daughter-in-law Lara Trump on Fox News, the president says that his only demand on Iran is that they not have any nuclear bombs.

– They have agreed to that, and it was very interesting, he says in the interview.

The US and Iran seem to remain far apart despite Trump's new statements. In addition to Iranian nuclear weapons, the opening of the Strait of Hormuz is important to the administration.

Both the New York Times and Axios report that Donald Trump has recently tightened the US demands in the proposed agreement on the table in order to put more pressure on Iran.

Iran claimed even before the war that it has no intention of acquiring nuclear weapons. 

Sources: Trump has tightened the requirements for an agreement with Iran

US President Donald Trump has changed several parts of a proposed agreement with Iran that is on the table, reports the New York Times. Sources tell the newspaper that Trump has tightened the US demands.

Axios has been reached by the same information and their sources state that the president has mainly made changes to parts that deal with Iran's nuclear energy. The move is said to be aimed at putting more pressure on Iran to agree to a deal with the US. It could take a few days for the parties to look through and discuss the new proposal, according to the site.

Several media outlets have reported this week that an agreement has been negotiated and that all that remains is Trump's approval.

Iran War
Sources: Chinese missile may have shot down US plane in Iran

Iran may have shot down a US fighter jet with a Chinese missile earlier this spring, according to NBC.

According to the channel's sources, it is suspected that it was shelling from a hand-held missile, made in China, that caused a plane to be shot down and the pilot to be forced to eject over Iranian territory.

It is unclear when Iran is said to have acquired the Chinese missiles, but according to NBC, it risks complicating relations between the US and China. The shooting down in April is still being investigated.

Malta's Labour wins for the fourth time

TT

Published 17.30

 

Malta's Prime Minister Robert Abela. Archive photo. Photo: Petros Karadjias /AP/TT

Malta's social democratic Labour has won the announced parliamentary elections. The victory is the party's fourth in a row.

Prime Minister Robert Abela called the elections with reference to the geopolitical situation.

- Today we have written history, together, said Abela when the 48-year-old party leader proclaimed the election victory from the balcony of the party's headquarters.

Abela and the Labour Party's main opponent was Alex Borg from the Nationalist Party (PN), a 30-year-old lawyer who had previously won the "Mr World Malta" beauty contest. Borg's election manifesto was based partly on the demand for "change".

But voters elected Abela, who has governed the country since 2020. The representative was forced to leave office after a political scandal that followed the murder of investigative reporter Daphne Caruana Galizia in 2017. 

Colombians choose direction in violence-torn country

TT

Updated 16.50 | Published 16.49

 

Businessman and lawyer Abelardo de la Espriella is one of the main candidates in Colombia's presidential election. Photo: Ivan Valencia/AP/TT

Colombians will vote on Sunday to elect a new president.

The election is largely a choice of direction for how to break the country's drug-fueled cycles of violence.

Above all, it is about three candidates.

Left-wing senator Iván Cepeda is leading in opinion polls ahead of the election. He is an ally of outgoing President Gustavo Petro and has promised to continue his efforts to achieve peace with the country's remaining guerrilla and rebel groups.

Opposing Cepeda are right-wing candidates, lawyer Abelardo de la Espriella and conservative senator Paloma Valencia.

Both have promised a tougher, more aggressive line against rebels, drug cartels and other criminals. They are both outspoken supporters of US President Donald Trump.

The election is largely a vote on Petro's peace policy, which has failed to tame, among other things, the groups that refused to lay down their arms in connection with the peace agreement with the FARC guerrillas in 2016.

On the contrary, critics and experts believe that criminals and guerrillas have exploited the power vacuum and peace attempts to advance their positions. Recent years have been marked by car bombs, political assassinations, extortion and rampant drug trafficking.

At the same time, Petros' four years in power have resulted in, for example, higher employment and minimum wages - also a direction that Cepeda intends to continue.

If no candidate receives 50 percent of the vote on Sunday, which is unlikely, the top two will meet in a second round on June 21.

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Latest news

The future of the UN
UN money is running out – US and China are dodging payments

The UN is running out of money, as the US and China are dodging payments. This is reported by the Wall Street Journal.

Normally, the US and China account for 42 percent of the UN's core funding. Washington has avoided paying tens of billions of kronor, and has also dropped out of dozens of UN programs that Donald Trump considers a waste of money.

China, for its part, owes the UN more than 4.2 billion kronor, even after Beijing paid in around 7.8 billion kronor this week.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has previously warned of a "very real risk of the organization collapsing completely". If things continue in the same way as they are doing today, the UN risks being left with an empty wallet as early as mid-August.

Political situation in Peru
Protests against new generation of Fujimori in power

Hundreds of Peruvians took to the streets on Saturday to protest against Keiko Fujimori, daughter of former convicted president Alberto Fujimori, running for president next week, AFP writes.

The focus of the protests is the crimes committed by Alberto Fujimori during his role as leader in the 1990s.

“Keiko represents injustice and terror. She should not become president because, for us, she is a danger,” said Irma Cayo, one of the protesters.

Despite the protests, right-wing politician Keiko Fujimori is the favorite in the presidential election between her and leftist leader Roberto Sánchez.

The presidential election will be held next Sunday. It is the ninth time in ten years that Peru has elected a new president.

Japan-China Relations
Japan Concerned About Chinese Armaments: “Think About It”

Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi is concerned about China’s increasing spending on defense. When Koizumi spoke at the major Shangri-La security conference in Singapore, he spoke about the growing tensions in the region.

– China’s actions and military activities are a source of serious concern, both for Japan and the international community, he said, according to Reuters.

The minister also hit back at Chinese accusations that Japan would return to militarism.

– Think about it. There is a country that has a huge arsenal of nuclear weapons and strategic bombers. Japan has none of that.

Elections in Malta
Social Democrats win fourth consecutive election

The forecasts turned out to be correct. On Sunday, fireworks were set off over Malta after the Social Democrats won their fourth consecutive election in the country, reports Malta Today.

The vote count from Saturday's election began at 9 a.m. and a couple of hours later it was announced that the Social Democrats had been given a new mandate. According to the local newspaper, the margin of victory was 18,000 votes over the challenger, the Nationalist Party.

This will give Prime Minister Robert Abela another five years in power.

Middle East Crisis Israel-Hezbollah

Netanyahu: Has ordered expanded operation in Lebanon

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he has ordered the army to further expand the military operation in Lebanon, writes Reuters.

The Israeli military announced on Sunday morning that it had crossed the Litani River and captured the medieval fortress of Beaufort. It is the most extensive occupation of the country since Israel withdrew from Lebanon in 2000.

- We will restore security for our population in the north, just as we did for the population in the south. It will take time, but we will complete the mission, says Benjamin Netanyahu according to L’Orient Le Jour.

During Sunday, the Israeli military continued to issue what are called evacuation orders for villages further inland.

France calls for emergency meeting on Lebanon: “Big mistake by Israel”

France is calling for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on the situation in Lebanon, reports France Info.

– Nothing can justify the extension of Israel’s military presence in Lebanon and its ever-widening occupation of Lebanese territory. This is a big mistake by Israel, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot told BFM.

Israeli troops have taken over increasingly large parts of Lebanon during the ongoing conflict, despite the fact that a ceasefire formally prevails. The Israeli military has claimed that this is necessary to defend itself against the terrorist movement Hezbollah.

Israel advances in Lebanon – has taken castle ruins

Israeli forces continue to advance in southern Lebanon. Soldiers have now taken the Beaufort castle ruins near the town of Nabatieh, a site controlled by Israel until 2000.

The AP reports that Israel has now made its deepest advance into Lebanon in over 25 years.

Intense fighting has been going on between Israeli soldiers and Hezbollah members in the area for several days, despite a formal ceasefire.
 

France calls for emergency meeting of UN Security Council

TT

Published 13.08

 

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot. Archive photo. Photo: Johan Nilsson/TT

France has submitted an official request for an extraordinary meeting on developments in Lebanon to the UN Security Council in New York.

France, which is one of the council's five permanent members with veto power, is demanding the meeting after Israel moved forward front lines in Lebanon.

- I have requested an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council. as nothing can justify the continued Israeli operations in Lebanon and the increasingly extensive occupation of Lebanese territory - even though Israel has the right to self-defense like all countries do, Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot tells the French television channel BFMTV.

One reason for the demand for a meeting is said to be the Israeli military's capture of the medieval Beaufort castle, which has great cultural and historical value.

Trump's USA ICE operations

Governor: Immigrant extremists attacked

New Jersey's Democratic Governor Mikie Sherrill claims that immigrant "national extremist groups" are participating in violent protests against immigration police ICE in the state. The New York Times writes.

Sherrill's statement does not state which groups they are.

- I do not know why these individuals attacked or what they wanted to achieve, she says.

According to the governor, the violent protests risk shifting the focus from what she describes as the political regime's attempts to protect people from ICE and ensure that those arrested are treated with dignity and respect.

Police fire tear gas at ICE protests in New Jersey

Police and protesters have clashed during protests against immigration police ICE in New Jersey during the night towards Sunday, several American media outlets report.

A curfew has been imposed around an immigration detention center in Newark. According to local authorities, several armed protesters have been arrested by police.

Video footage from the scene shows police in riot gear firing tear gas and protesters setting fires in the street.

 

Opposition profile wants to see presidential elections in Venezuela

TT

Published 22.52

 

Edmundo González Urrutia left Venezuela after the 2024 elections and lives in exile in Spain. Archive photo. Photo: Jacquelyn Martin/AP/TT

Former presidential candidate Edmundo González Urrutia wants to see a new presidential election in Venezuela.

On social media, he says that it is time to “create the conditions to hold presidential elections” and give the people a chance “for change”.

The call comes about five months after Delcy Rodríguez took power as interim president, after the US military attacked the capital Caracas and took away President Nicolás Maduro.

González Urrutia, 76, a former diplomat living in exile in Spain, was seen by many international observers as the rightful winner of the 2024 presidential election.

The US government has recognized Rodríguez as the new leader, normalized diplomatic ties, eased sanctions and negotiated oil deals. Neither Washington nor Caracas has indicated that an election is imminent. 

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Shaky public opinion for Donald Trump

TT

Published 11.49

         

         

        US President Donald Trump at a cabinet meeting in the White House on Wednesday.

        1 / 2Photo: Jacquelyn Martin/AP/TT

The unpopular Iran war and rising gas prices are causing US President Donald Trump's public support to decline.

But support is stable among core voters, the Republican party chairman emphasizes.

39 percent. In the latest survey by the conservative television channel Fox News, the proportion of registered voters who think Donald Trump is doing a good job has fallen below the symbolic 40 percent mark.

Broken down by issues such as the economy, inflation and foreign policy, support is even lower. But when Joe Gruters, chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC), was asked to comment on the poll on Wednesday, he ducked the question and focused on the party base.

“The grassroots love the president,” said Joe Gruters, according to The Hill.

“He is the leader of our party and when he makes a decision, when he supports candidates, they usually win.”

Supporting challengers

The move alludes to the fact that Trump-backed challengers have defeated sitting congressmen in primaries in several states in recent weeks. This means that the political careers of Texas Senator John Cornyn, Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy and Kentucky Congressman Thomas Massie are at stake – people whom Trump has described as “disloyal” (Cassidy) and “a bad guy” (Massie).

But primaries say little about public opinion in the country at large. The Fox poll is in line with other opinion polls published in recent weeks that have made headlines in American media. Forbes magazine recently noted that the president's support is falling in four out of five polls and is now at its lowest level since taking office.

Lower than Biden?

According to Real Clear Politics' compilation of 14 current polls, 39.6 percent currently give Trump a thumbs up for his job performance, while 58.6 percent have the opposite opinion.

However, the website Fiftyplusone, an opinion aggregator that weights current surveys using a mathematical model, claims that Trump's support is even lower: 36.4 percent. 60.1 percent believe that the president is doing a poor job.

Opinion expert Nate Silver reports similar figures on his website Silver Bulletin. Silver writes that Trump's support is now lower than both his predecessor Joe Biden's and his own during his first term at the same time.

However, Trump gets slightly better marks when it comes to immigration, where just over 43 percent think he is doing a good job.

US stops ship – fired a missile into the engine room

TT

Published 20.40

 

The US has been blocking all maritime traffic to and from Iranian ports since April, and has since stopped several ships in the Gulf of Oman. Archive photo. Photo: Fatima Shbair/AP/TT

US forces have stopped another merchant ship as part of the naval blockade of Iranian ports.

The Gambian-flagged ship Lian Star is said to have ignored more than 20 warnings on Friday as it headed towards Iran's coastline, the US military command Centcom wrote in a statement.

A US fighter jet then fired a missile into the ship's engine room.

"The ship is no longer on its way to Iran," Centcom wrote.

The ship is now adrift in the Gulf of Oman and has not been boarded by US forces, a source familiar with the matter told the AP.

The US has seized five merchant ships and diverted 116 since the naval blockade went into effect in April, according to Centcom.

Vietnam to release prisoners of conscience - no one is a prisoner of conscience

TT

Published 13.16

 

Vietnam's President To Lam at a press conference in Bangkok on Thursday. Photo: Sakchai Lalit /AP/TT

The regime in Vietnam announces that nearly 10,000 prisoners will be released in connection with the election of a new party congress in the country.

The communist regime in Vietnam usually honors national elections in the authoritarian society by releasing convicted criminals.

The announcement on Saturday also applies to a number of foreign prisoners. However, no prisoners who have been convicted of "attempting to overthrow the regime" or "terrorism" will be released.

In early June, 9,950 prisoners will be released, following a decision by the ruling Communist Party's General Secretary, also president, To Lam.

Vietnam elected a new party congress and National Assembly in March.

The country released 22,000 prisoners last year, in conjunction with celebrating the 50th anniversary of the fall of Saigon in the Vietnam War, as well as the 80th anniversary of independence.

Four more rescued from flooded cave

TT

Updated 11.27 | Published 10.49

 

A still from a video clip shows the first trapped person being pulled from the cave on Friday. Photo: Association Of Volunteers For Lao People/AP/TT

Four more men who have been trapped in a flooded cave in Laos for ten days have been rescued, rescue workers say.

A first man was rescued from the cave on Friday.

The seven trapped people entered the cave system in a remote mountainous area in Xaisomboun province to search for gold, among other things.

They were unable to get out when the entrance was flooded due to bad weather.

International experts have participated in the rescue effort.

The search continues for the two people who are still missing.

The rescue team tells CNN that they are currently assessing the situation and planning the next steps in the rescue effort. 

TOP NEWS

NATO's future
US may speed up withdrawal from European bases

The US is planning to withdraw troops from European countries faster than previously known, an American source told the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag.

Earlier in May, the Pentagon announced that 5,000 American soldiers will leave Germany within six to twelve months. The newspaper's article does not state how much faster it will happen or which bases are covered.

The plan will be presented to NATO allies next month, according to the source.

Security around the Baltic Sea
Economic shock for Russia if the Baltic Sea is closed

If NATO closes the Baltic Sea, Russia will lose around 830 billion kronor per year. But Sweden would also take an economic hit, reports DN.

The scenario was developed by the company Politea on behalf of the Swedish Armed Forces. According to Björn Fägersten, CEO and security analyst, such a measure would require some form of “extremely threatening military circumstance”.

– Russia could escalate. From hybrid attacks and nuclear threats right up to taking military action itself against some part of the Baltic Sea, he says.

Sweden would also suffer. According to the report, a blockade would be equivalent to the financial crisis of 2008, and Sweden’s GDP would shrink by just over 10 percent. 

Middle East crisis  Iran war
Report: Unknown attacks divided the Gulf states

The United Arab Emirates has had a greater role in the attacks on Iran than previously known, sources tell the Wall Street Journal. The Gulf state is said to have carried out about a dozen airstrikes from the early stages of the war until the ceasefire announced last month.

Among the targets were Iranian energy facilities.

All attacks were coordinated with the US and Israel, but are said to have concerned other countries in the region. Saudi Arabia is said to have criticized the UAE's attacks in talks with the US, and warned that energy facilities in the region could become a target for Iran.