MEXICO
Lopez Obrador takes lead
Presidential contender Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has stretched his lead over rivals ahead of a July 1 election, a new voter survey by polling firm Mitofsky showed late on Thursday. Lopez Obrador, a former Mexico City mayor, garnered 29.5 percent support in the poll conducted from Friday to Sunday last week, up from 27.1 percent in a previous Mitofsky survey last month. Running second was former National Action Party chairman Ricardo Anaya, who heads a right-left alliance, although his support slipped 1.1 percentage points to 21.2 percent. In third place was Jose Antonio Meade of the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, who slipped by 1.6 percentage points to 16.4 percent, the poll showed.
RUSSIA
Weapon named after bird
The winners of an online contest to name three of the county’s recently announced advanced weapons honor a renowned medieval warrior, a seabird and the mythical Greek god of the sea. The weapons are among an array of fearsome new armaments announced by President Vladimir Putin on March 1. He invited people to take part in a Ministry of Defence contest to name them. The ministry on Thursday said that “Poseidon” received the most votes for the name of an underwater nuclear drone. A nuclear-powered cruise missile is to be called “Burevestnik,” which is Russian for petrel. A high-powered laser weapon system was named “Peresvet,” after a Russian warrior monk who died in the 1380 Battle of Kulikovo. Some of the names suggested in the contest showed distinctly mordant humor, including “Sanction” and “Thaw.”
UNITED KINGDOM
Wedding invitations sent
Kensington Palace on Thursday said that invitations for the wedding between Prince Harry and his fiancee, Meghan Markle, have been dispatched. About 600 people have been invited to the May 19 nuptials at noon at St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle. All 600 have also been invited to a lunchtime reception given by Queen Elizabeth II at St George’s Hall. Harry and Markle are also to celebrate with about 200 guests at a private evening reception given by Prince Charles at Frogmore House, a royal mansion near Windsor Castle. The palace declined to comment on who is on the list. The invitations, which are beveled and gilded along the edges, feature Charles’ three-feather badge embossed in gold. They feature italic writing on thick white card and are issued under the name of Charles, father of the groom. The invitations revealed the dress code for wedding guests: Uniform, morning coat or lounge suit for men, or day dress with a hat for ladies. The stationery was made by Barnard & Westwood, which has held the Royal Warrant for printing and bookbinding since 1985.
UNITED STATES
Tillerson laments Washington
Fired Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is lamenting the “mean-spirited” nature of Washington, as he bids good-bye to the US diplomatic corps. In a brief final farewell address to Department of State employees on Thursday, Tillerson urged them to protect their personal integrity and to strive to respect one another. “This can be a very mean-spirited town,” he said to laughter from a crowd of several hundred people gathered in the main lobby of the building. “But you don’t have to choose to participate in that.” Tillerson had been the subject of months of negative reports and speculation before President Donald Trump abruptly fired him last week.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
UNREST: The authorities in Turkey arrested 13 Turkish journalists in five days, deported a BBC correspondent and on Thursday arrested a reporter from Sweden Waving flags and chanting slogans, many hundreds of thousands of anti-government demonstrators on Saturday rallied in Istanbul, Turkey, in defence of democracy after the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu which sparked Turkey’s worst street unrest in more than a decade. Under a cloudless blue sky, vast crowds gathered in Maltepe on the Asian side of Turkey’s biggest city on the eve of the Eid al-Fitr celebration which started yesterday, marking the end of Ramadan. Ozgur Ozel, chairman of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), which organized the rally, said there were 2.2 million people in the crowd, but
The US government has banned US government personnel in China, as well as family members and contractors with security clearances, from any romantic or sexual relationships with Chinese citizens, The Associated Press (AP) has learned. Four people with direct knowledge of the matter told the AP about the policy, which was put into effect by departing US ambassador Nicholas Burns in January shortly before he left China. The people would speak only on condition of anonymity to discuss details of a confidential directive. Although some US agencies already had strict rules on such relationships, a blanket “nonfraternization” policy, as it is known, has
OPTIONS: Asked if one potential avenue to a third term was having J.D. Vance run for the top job and then pass the baton to him, Trump said: ‘That’s one,’ among others US President Donald Trump on Sunday that “I’m not joking” about trying to serve a third term, the clearest indication he is considering ways to breach a constitutional barrier against continuing to lead the country after his second term ends at the beginning of 2029. “There are methods which you could do it,” Trump said in a telephone interview with NBC News from Mar-a-Lago, his private club. He elaborated later to reporters on Air Force One from Florida to Washington that “I have had more people ask me to have a third term, which in a way is a fourth term
RSS