Emmanuel Macron: 'It's a Great Honour and a Great Responsibility' – BBC News

The president-elect Emmanuel Macron acknowledges the anger of many voters and vows to protect the weakest members of society.

'France Has Chosen Continuity' - Le Pen - BBC News

Defeated National Front leader Marine Le Pen told supporters that the country had chosen the "continuity candidate" in centrist Emmanuel Macron and wished her rival well.

James O'Brien vs Theresa May's Factless Brexit U-turn

L'Union européenne plébiscite Macron

LE FIGARO: De façon inhabituelle, les grandes capitales ont pris position pour le candidat d'En marche !.

L'Europe vote Emmanuel Macron. De Berlin à Madrid, d'Athènes à Rome, en passant par Bruxelles, les Européens ont pris position pour le candidat d'En marche!. «Je me réjouirai si Emmanuel Macron l'emporte, avoue franchement la chancelière Angela Merkel dans une interview au quotidien Berliner Zeitung. Sa campagne très pro-européenne est un signal en faveur d'une bonne relation entre la France et l'Allemagne.» Plus indirectement, le premier ministre espagnol Mariano Rajoy appelle les Français à voter pour soutenir le projet européen. L'Italien Paolo Gentiloni parle lui d'un espoir et choix «décisif» pour l'Union. Quant au président de la Commission européenne, Jean-Claude Juncker, il avait félicité le candidat d'En marche! dès le soir du premier tour. «Ce n'est pas une élection classique, explique son porte-parole Margaritis Schinas. Il y a d'un côté un candidat pour l'Europe, de l'autre l'option nucléaire. Dans ces cas-là, nous prenons position.» (+ vidéo) » | Par Isabelle Ory | vendredi 5 mai 2017

Will People Power Force Change in Venezuela? - Inside Story

Neonationaler Zeitgeist: Europa braucht eine Leitkultur

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Quer durch Europa beschwören Politiker die nationale Selbstbesinnung. Statt Unterschiede zu betonen, sollte lieber herausgestellt werden, was die Europäer bereits verbindet. Denn in vielem sind wir uns schon lange nah.

Wer sind wir? Was sind wir? Wer gehört dazu, wer nicht? Wie muss man sein, um dazuzugehören? Fragen, die derzeit viele Nationen beschäftigen.

Im französischen Wahlkampf (ab Sonntagabend werden die Resultate die halbe Welt beschäftigen) ging es nicht nur um Wirtschaftsreformen und die Mitgliedschaft in EU und Euro, sondern letztlich auch um sehr unterschiedliche Interpretationen des Französischseins. In Großbritannien rücken die bevorstehenden Brexit-Verhandlungen und die beginnenden Kampagnen für die Unterhauswahlen die englische Identität in den Mittelpunkt. In Polen ist eine nationalkonservative Regierung am Werk, in Ungarn beschwört Premier Viktor Orbán die angeblich uralten Traditionen des Magyarentums. Selbst in Deutschland ist erneut ein Streit darüber entbrannt, ob wir eine "Leitkultur" brauchen und was das eigentlich ist. » | Eine Kolumne von Henrik Müller | Sonntag, 7. Mai 2017

In Beijing Ballroom, Kushner Family Flogs $500,000 'Investor Visa' to Wealthy Chinese

THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD: BEIJING - The Kushner family came to the United States as refugees, worked hard and made it big - and if you invest in Kushner properties, so can you.

That was the message delivered Saturday by White House senior adviser Jared Kushner's sister to a ballroom full of wealthy Chinese investors, renewing questions about the Kushner family's business ties to China. Jared Kushner is married to Donald Trump's daughter, Ivanka.

Over several hours of slide shows and presentations, representatives from the Kushner family business urged Chinese citizens gathered at the Ritz-Carlton hotel to consider investing hundreds of thousands of dollars in a New Jersey real estate project to secure what's known as an investor visa.

But President Donald Trump's vow to crack down on immigration, as well as criticism from members of Congress, has led to questions about the future of a program known here as the "golden visa". » | Emily Rauhala | Sunday, May 7, 2017

What Is At Stake in the French Election?

May. 06, 2017 - 3:42 - James Kirchick provides insight

Will Marine Le Pen Overcome Macron to Triumph in the French Elections?

As France's two oldest parties crash out of the first round of elections, SBS Dateline examines the working class town of Denain, whose residents could signal the nation's choice between the centre and far-right.

France Presidential Election: What are Macron's and Le Pen's CVs?

Iran Presidential Hopefuls Face-off in Second Election Debate

French Presidential Candidates Make Last Push for Votes

French presidential candidates make last push for votes. It's the final day of campaigning for French presidential candidates Marine Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron. Voters are set to head to the polls on Sunday. Macron is still the favourite in the polls, but his rival remains confident that victory is within her reach. Al Jazeera’s Jonah Hull reports from Paris.

Islamophobia in the USA - Al Jazeera World

"Islamophobia in USA" is an investigation by Aljazeera Arabic correspondent Abdullah Elshamy into who and what's behind the rise of anti-Islamic feeling in the US – what they think, how they operate and where their funding comes from. The 11th September attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001 was a watershed moment in America's relationship with the Arab world. Amid the grief and US military response that followed, American fear of the threat of international terrorism grew.

George W Bush's so-called 'crusade' against what he labelled the 'axis of evil' fueled suspicion of the Middle East as a whole and as US military action increased and led to the invasion of Iraq in 2003, this fear turned into one of Arabs generally and Muslims in particular.

With the rise of ISIL and the way the mainstream American media reports on it, fear of Islam further increased, tending to demonise Muslims and portray them and their faith as dangerous and violent.

Donald Trump is a textbook fascist and we will see whether or not that translates into fascist policies.

Hank Johnson, Democratic Congressman of Georgia.

Elshamy's investigation uncovers a network of Islamophobic writers, campaigners, funders and politicians who combined to bring about the conditions in which Donald Trump would be elected President in November 2016.

As the Campaign Comes to a Close, Le Pen and Macron Keep an Eye on Abstention

The Bitter End: Presidential Campaign Closes in France

The Dark Side of France - People & Power

Last month more than seven and a half million French voters propelled the National Front's Marine Le Pen through to the final, second round of this year's presidential election on May 7.

Though recent opinion polls have consistently been against her getting past the centrist Emmanuel Macron to the Élysée Palace, the very fact that an openly xenophobic, anti-immigrant and anti-European Union politician is on the final ballot speaks to a great and troubling fracture in French society.

So how and why have so many people been persuaded to back her?

Though she has now, temporarily, stepped down as leader of her party, her affiliations are in no doubt.

The conundrum remains: how has someone who for years has been so identified with far-right chauvinism and exclusion managed to give her party an acceptable face and get within touching distance of the presidency?

French producers Charles Emptaz and Claire Billet, who usually spend their professional lives covering foreign stories far from home, were as puzzled by these questions as we were, so several weeks ago we sent them behind-the-scenes on the campaign trail to investigate.

Brad Pitt Mocks His Parents Speaking in Tongues; Talks Frustration With Christianity's 'Don'ts'

CHRISTIAN POST: Actor Brad Pitt, who has identified as an atheist despite his Baptist upbringing, opened up in a recent interview about how his parents moved toward the charismatic tradition, and about some of his frustrations with Christianity.

"We grew up First Baptist, which is the cleaner, stricter, by-the-book Christianity. Then, when I was in high school, my folks jumped to a more charismatic movement, which got into speaking in tongues and raising your hands and some goofy-a** [expletive]," Pitt told GQ magazine in an interview released on Wednesday.

When asked whether he witnessed the speaking of tongues himself, the actor replied:

"Yeah, come on. I'm not even an actor yet, but I know ... I mean the people, I know they believe it. I know they're releasing something. God, we're complicated. We're complicated creatures."

Pitt has left Christianity and is now an atheist, The Telegraph reported in 2015 in a separate interview with Pitt, where the actor said that since an early age, he was instilled "with all the Christian guilt about what you can and cannot, should and shouldn't do.” » | Stoyan Zeimov, Christian Post Reporter | Saturday, May 5, 2017

Radikale Koranverteilaktion «Lies!» : Gefährlich und unerwünscht

NEUE ZÜRCHER ZEITUNG – KOMMENTAR: Der Zürcher Sicherheitsdirektor und Regierungsrat Mario Fehr will die umstrittene Koranverteilaktion «Lies!» verbieten. Das ist konsequent.

Das radikal-salafistische «Lies!»-Projekt lässt sich nicht mit Scientology oder evangelikalen Bibelaktionen vergleichen. Zwar treten auch sie regelmässig mit Standaktionen in grösseren Schweizer Städten in Erscheinung. Sie mögen mit problematischen Haltungen für Verärgerung sorgen, sie weisen im Gegensatz zu «Lies!» jedoch keinen kriminellen Hintergrund auf und machen keine Propaganda für terroristische Organisationen. » | von Fabian Baumgartner | Samstag, 5. Mai 2017

Hofer: Le Pen "ne peut pas gagner"

LE FIGARO: La cheffe de l'extrême droite française Marine Le Pen "ne peut pas gagner" dimanche la présidentielle, estime l'ancien candidat d'extrême droite à la présidentielle autrichienne Norbert Hofer, instruit par sa propre défaite au second tour en décembre.

Bien que considérant Emmanuel Macron comme une "personnalité peu fiable, qui ne donne pas beaucoup confiance", "je crois que Le Pen ne peut pas gagner", a déclaré M. Hofer à la chaîne privée autrichienne Servus TV.

"Si je devais parier aujourd'hui, je dirais que l'élection se soldera par 41 à 59 (%)", a ajouté ce représentant du Parti de la liberté d'Autriche (FPÖ), une formation alliée au parti Front national de Marine Le Pen.

Loin d'être une défaite, ce serait "le meilleur résultat de l'histoire" du FN à ce jour, a-t-il toutefois insisté, relevant: "Ceux qui ont perdu, ce sont les socialistes". » | Par Le Figaro.fr avec AFP | samedi 5 mai 2017

Jean-Claude Juncker Says English Is 'Losing Importance' after Brexit as UK 'Abandons' Europe

THE TELEGRAPH: Jean-Claude Juncker has accused Britain of "abandoning" the EU and joked that the English language is "losing its importance in Europe" because of Brexit.

Donald Tusk, the President of the European Council, on Thursday warned Theresa May and Mr Juncker that Brexit negotiations could become "impossible" if they become "emotional".

However despite the call for calm Mr Juncker, the President of the European Commission, told a conference in the Italian city of Florence that Brexit is a "tragedy". (+ video) » | Steven Swinford, Deputy Political Editor | Friday, , May 5, 2017