Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon agreed yesterday to hold early elections, possibly as soon as February, kicking off a political campaign certain to freeze all moves to restart Mideast peace talks. After meeting with Sharon yesterday morning, Labor Party leader Amir Peretz said the two men had discussed holding the ballot between late February and the end of March, instead of next November as scheduled.
Sharon spokesman Asaf Shariv said the prime minister wanted to hold elections as soon as possible.
Sharon plans to meet with other parliamentary faction leaders to discuss possible elections dates before Monday, when Israel's parliament is scheduled to holds a preliminary vote on whether to dissolve the government, Shariv said.
The Israeli election campaign, combined with Palestinian parliamentary elections scheduled for January, would postpone efforts to build on the momentum from Israel's recent pullout from the Gaza Strip to spark new peace moves after five years of Israel-Palestinian violence.
Peretz, head of the second-largest party in Sharon's coalition, told a news conference that Sharon had agreed to choose an election date by Monday.
"I'm letting him choose a date in that period between the end of February and the end of March and whatever date he chooses is acceptable to me. The earlier the better," Peretz said.
The call for early elections gained momentum when Peretz was elected Labor leader last week on a platform that included pulling out of the government and forcing an early poll.
Peretz defeated Labor head Shimon Peres, who led the party into a coalition to support the Gaza pullout, which sparked a rebellion within Sharon's hardline Likud faction, threatening to bring down the government before the withdrawal. Peretz's victory left Sharon with little choice but abandon his efforts to keep his government together.
Australians were downloading virtual private networks (VPNs) in droves, while one of the world’s largest porn distributors said it was blocking users from its platforms as the country yesterday rolled out sweeping online age restriction. Australia in December became the first country to impose a nationwide ban on teenagers using social media. A separate law now requires artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbot services to keep certain content — including pornography, extreme violence and self-harm and eating disorder material — from minors or face fines of up to A$49.5 million (US$34.6 million). The country also joined Britain, France and dozens of US states requiring
Hungarian authorities temporarily detained seven Ukrainian citizens and seized two armored cars carrying tens of millions of euros in cash across Hungary on suspicion of money laundering, officials said on Friday. The Ukrainians were released on Friday, following their detention on Thursday, but Hungarian officials held onto the cash, prompting Ukraine to accuse Hungary’s Russia-friendly government of illegally seizing the money. “We will not tolerate this state banditism,” Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said. The seven detained Ukrainians were employees of the Ukrainian state-owned Oschadbank, who were traveling in the two armored cars that were carrying the money between Austria and
Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani on Friday after dissolving the Kosovar parliament said a snap election should be held as soon as possible to avoid another prolonged political crisis in the Balkan country at a time of global turmoil. Osmani said it is important for Kosovo to wrap up the upcoming election process and form functional institutions for political stability as the war rages in the Middle East. “Precisely because the geopolitical situation is that complex, it is important to finish this electoral process which is coming up,” she said. “It is very hard now to imagine what will happen next.” Kosovo, which declared
MORE BANS: Australia last year required sites to remove accounts held by under-16s, with a few countries pushing for similar action at an EU level and India considering its own ban Indonesia on Friday said it would ban social media access for children under 16, citing threats from online pornography, cyberbullying, online fraud and Internet addiction. “Accounts belonging to children under 16 on high-risk platforms will start to be deactivated, beginning with YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live and Roblox,” Indonesian Minister of Communications and Digital Meutya Hafid said. “The government is stepping in so that parents no longer have to fight alone against the giants of the algorithm. Implementation will begin on March 28, 2026,” she said. The social media ban would be introduced in stages “until all platforms fulfill their
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