Latest news with #campaign
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Poland Presidential Exit Polls Show Conservative Historian in Lead
With the vote still too close to call, a projection indicates the Trump-backed candidate is winning.
Khaleej Times
20 hours ago
- General
- Khaleej Times
South Korea presidential candidates rally ahead of June 3 vote
South Korea's leading candidates held major campaign events Sunday, two days out from a snap election triggered by the former president's removal after his disastrous declaration of martial law. The June 3 election is set to cap months of political turmoil sparked by Yoon Suk Yeol's brief suspension of civilian rule in December, for which he was impeached and removed from office. All major polls have put liberal Lee Jae-myung well ahead in the presidential race, with the latest Gallup survey showing 49 per cent of respondents viewed him as the best candidate. Kim Moon-soo, from the conservative People Power Party (PPP) — Yoon's former party — trailed Lee on 35 per cent. The 60-year-old Lee began his rally in his hometown of Andong, 240 km southeast of Seoul, telling his supporters he would seek to weaken the concentration of development in the capital region and boost areas away from Seoul. "We should not simply seek a regional equal development strategy but rather provide more incentives for non-Seoul regions to support them more," said Lee, wearing a bulletproof vest. Lee has been campaigning with additional security measures, including bulletproof shields set up on the podium. He was stabbed in the neck in January 2024 in Busan by a man pretending to be a supporter, who later confessed that his intention was to kill Lee to prevent him from becoming president. At his rally in the conservative stronghold of Daegu, Lee said he would seek to improve ties with nuclear-armed North Korea through dialogue —hinting at a departure from the hawkish stance taken by impeached former president Yoon. "Isn't real national strength about achieving peace through communication and finding a path to mutual prosperity, rather than pursuing confrontation?" he said. "Competent national security means building peace in which there is no need to fight." Relations between the two Koreas are at one of their lowest points in years, partly due to Yoon's hardline policies towards the North, which has bolstered ties with Moscow, including sending weapons and soldiers to help it fight Kyiv. The conservative People Power Party candidate Kim Moon-soo kicked off a rally on Sunday in Suwon by commenting on rival Lee's security measures. "Look, I'm not wearing a bulletproof vest, right? But Lee is now even using bulletproof shields, feeling the vest isn't enough," he said. "With such bulletproof measures, Lee is poised to impose his own dictatorship and we must stop it," Kim added. While most polls conducted before the blackout placed Kim a distant second, he expressed confidence in winning. "I believe a major turnaround is currently taking place," he said. South Korea has entered a so-called "dark campaign period" during which the results of public opinion polls are barred from being disclosed, although pollsters are still conducting surveys. Nearly 35 per cent of voters have already cast their ballots — taking advantage of two days of early voting earlier last week, according to the National Election Commission. The winner of the June 3 election will take office the following day on a single five-year term, with no transition period. Front-runner Lee's likely victory could prove a "a watershed moment in South Korean politics, ending six months of turbulence for democracy since former president Yoon's errant declaration of martial law", said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul. Lee "has proved to be a political survivor, after legal scandals, questionable opposition tactics and even threats to his life," he added.
BBC News
a day ago
- Health
- BBC News
The influencer whose tweet led to a ban on disposable vapes
There are not many times when a single social media post can trigger a snowball effect which leads to a significant change in the social media influencer Laura Young's actions did exactly that when she started noticing a litter problem while walking her dog in Dundee.'Less waste Laura' - as she calls herself online - said she was "sick of litter picking" disposable vapes and wanted to campaign against years on and her campaign has led to a UK-wide ban now coming into force. Laura realised her message had struck a chord when a TikTok video she created was viewed 10.5 million led to a prominent newspaper campaign and then calls from government officials requesting meetings with told BBC Scotland News: "If you look up disposable vapes, (mine) is the first (tweet) that comes up."Within five weeks it had made the headlines and of course everyone was showing where these vapes were." The year after Laura first raised the issue, the Scottish government commissioned an urgent report into the impact of single use vapes on the environment and on young revealed that 2.7 million vapes had been littered on Scotland's streets in a single year - about 10%t of the total report also found that 22% of all under-18s - about 78,000 people - were using vapes. But it was the environmental impact which concerned Laura the said: "They begin to fall apart. They get broken, they get damaged and the metal can pop tyres so it's a really big problem." In the same year that Laura first launched her campaign, it emerged that a fire which destroyed a recycling facility in Aberdeen had "most likely" been caused by a discarded devices contain lithium-ion batteries which, when damaged, can spontaneously blaze took just 10 seconds to take hold and the entire facility has had to be Scottish ban was first proposed in February 2024 and was due to be introduced last UK and Welsh governments then confirmed they would follow suit and the Scottish ban was delayed by two months to bring them all into line. Retailers have been increasingly providing recycling bins in shops so the devices can be disposed of Laura says she's probably collected thousands of littered vapes over the last few adds: "It's was fantastic to know that throughout the campaign we were really building up momentum. We had lots of councils support a ban, we had the Scottish government putting out reports and then, of course, we had the commitment to a says she's incredibly proud of what's been achieved but adds that the campaigning has also raised the issue of other disposable technologies and how damaging that is for the not sure what campaign she might start next but admits that she's received a very long list of suggestions from family and friends.
The Independent
2 days ago
- Business
- The Independent
Trump shrugs off claims about Musk's drug use - but the White House is ‘happy to see him go'
President Donald Trump brushed off allegations of Elon Musk 's alleged drug use on the campaign trail, but the White House is 'happy to have him go,' according to reports. As he was contributing millions to Trump's re-election bid, the world's richest person was allegedly using ketamine, ecstasy, psychedelic mushrooms and Adderall, and traveled with a daily medication box that held about 20 pills, sources told the New York Times. The sources were unable to confirm whether his drug use continued as he led the Department of Government Efficiency. Upon Musk's departure from his role at DOGE, the president downplayed the explosive report on Friday, saying he was 'not troubled by anything with Elon.' Asked if he was aware of Musk's drug habits, Trump told reporters: 'No, I wasn't. I think he's fantastic. I think Elon is a fantastic guy.' The president was then pressed on whether he was troubled by the report. He replied: 'I'm not troubled by anything with Elon. I think he's fantastic. Did a great job. And, you know, DOGE continues. And by the time it's finished, we'll have numbers that'll knock your socks off. It's gonna be uh, he did a fantastic job. And he didn't need it. He didn't need to do it.' Some White House officials, however, are 'happy' to see Musk exit the administration, according to Maggie Haberman, a CNN political analyst and New York Times reporter. The journalist pointed to "consternation" over his massive social media presence and controversial headlines stemming from his efforts at the cost-cutting agency. One such questionable claim was the 'savings' DOGE found in Social Security payments after allegedly discovering that many dead people were still receiving benefits. That claim has now been debunked. Asked whether the White House believed the alleged 'savings' that DOGE touted, Haberman said Musk was 'a source of consternation' for some Trump advisers because he 'would make statements about fraud and waste that he was finding in the Social Security network, that there were examples of tons of people who were dead receiving benefits. But then he would not produce that information.' She continued: 'Those headlines were problematic for Trump, politically, in their minds. They are happy… to have him go because, look, there are things [Musk] did that some of them are happy with. A bunch of them in Trump's world came around to Musk. Many others, however, were not so happy.' Haberman then turned to his large social media presence. For example, Musk, who owns X, got into a public spat with Trump's trade adviser Peter Navarro over tariffs last month. 'Mostly, he was a source of tension, and he commanded this social media presence where he could intimidate any of them as well. And so I think, you know, they are happy to see this chapter end,' she said. Trump suggested that Musk, whose 130 days as a special government employee came to an end this week, isn't putting the White House in the rearview mirror entirely. "Elon's really not leaving. He's going to be back and forth, I think, I have a feeling,' the president said Friday. Referring to DOGE, he continued: 'It's his baby, and I think he's going to be doing a lot of things." Vice President JD Vance added: 'Elon will continue to be an important adviser for both me and the president.' Asked about the Times' report on Friday, Musk took aim at the publication: 'Is that the same publication that got a Pulitzer Prize for false reporting on the Russiagate?' said Musk, referring to the paper's coverage of Russian interference in the 2016 election. 'That New York Times? Let's move on,' Musk said.
The Independent
2 days ago
- Business
- The Independent
Robert Jenrick's TfL stunt reminds us how simple politics can be
Many people have been resistant to Robert Jenrick 's ambition. Rishi Sunak, his former ally, failed to restore him to the cabinet. Conservative Party members failed to elect him leader last year, preferring the more authentic and distinctive Kemi Badenoch. The look on his face as he congratulated his opponent on her victory in that election was a warning and a promise. I will not rest until I have reversed this result, it said. And he has been running ever since, as Keir Starmer joked at Prime Minister's Questions after Jenrick completed the London marathon in 4 hours 40 minutes. His video on Thursday, in which he intercepted fare-dodgers on the London Underground – 'Do you want to go back and pay like everybody else?' – was the high point of his campaign so far. It was an instant classic of the art of the political stunt: simple, effective and watched by millions. Personally, I thought he overdid the 'country is going to the dogs' element. I think London is the best city in the world and the Tube network is great but it does annoy me to see people take advantage of lax enforcement, tailgating or pushing through the barriers to travel without paying. He struck a chord. He identified himself and his party with the message: the law-abiding majority shouldn't pay for a rule-breaking minority. None of the attempts by his political opponents to counter his stunt were successful. He was a hypocrite, it was claimed, hounding the poor and desperate when he was forced four years ago to repay £122 in expenses for a car journey between his constituency and London because he took the train and claimed for both. That didn't work because IPSA, the independent body that runs MPs' expenses, accepted that it was a mistake; and Jenrick did, in effect, 'go back and pay like everybody else'. The more feeble criticism was that Jenrick didn't have permission to film in the Underground station – not that it should matter, but in fact Transport for London appears to require permission only for 'filming any commercial or promotional content on the TfL network'. The rules don't specify whether 'promotional' includes promoting the career of a restless politician. Jenrick's opponents would be better employed asking why his stunt was so successful. Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, should be kicking himself for not having thought of it himself. Jenrick is good at this stuff. A previous social media video he made on the Chagos deal was a well-executed documentary that went into some detail about the history of the islands. Not strictly his subject as shadow justice secretary, but again an effective communication that made life a bit harder for the Labour government – which has still been unable to justify the treaty in terms that the median voter can understand. Labour is generally bad at this stuff. Ten years ago this month, in the closing days of the 2015 election campaign, Ed Miliband unveiled Labour's pledges carved on a tablet of stone in a Hastings car park. My description of it is still quoted on Wikipedia: 'The most absurd, ugly, embarrassing, childish, silly, patronising, idiotic, insane, ridiculous gimmick I have ever seen.' The Conservatives have had their misfires too. No one can really explain why William Hague's ride on a water slide at Flambards theme park in Cornwall didn't work, but it didn't, so the baseball cap with 'Hague' written on it became a symbol of his inauthenticity. George Osborne tells the story of when he tried to dramatise a policy to get rid of red tape by lighting a bonfire of actual regulations on the beach outside the Tories' annual conference – only to be prevented by the local council's rules banning fires on the beach. Boris Johnson, on the other hand, was a walking perma-stunt who managed to turn glitches into gold, as when he was stuck on a zip wire holding two union jacks. Like conservative populists the world over – the word 'populist' means 'more popular than liberals think they should be' – Johnson could drive a 'Get Brexit Done' digger through a wall of polystyrene bricks and not look ridiculous. Donald Trump could do something as simple as frying chips in McDonald's and serving drive-through customers, or driving a rubbish truck, and dominate a whole news cycle. And Javier Milei of Argentina had his chainsaw. In Britain, though, Jenrick's only rival is Ed Davey, whose low-content election campaign, featuring him bungee-jumping or falling into water, was highly efficient in converting votes into parliamentary seats. Most of the Tory former cabinet ministers that I speak to expect Jenrick to succeed in his campaign to depose Badenoch eventually, and they think that Jenrick will do a deal with Nigel Farage. They may be right about the first part, although I think they are wrong about the second part: I cannot see what is in it for Farage. A political party cannot survive by stunts alone, but it might help the Tories a bit, at the margins, to have an unconventional communicator such as Jenrick in charge. Such is the depth of the party's crisis that it might even be worth the ridicule that will be attracted by changing leader yet again.
