After Romania's presidential election this weekend – in which the liberal mayor of Bucharest and pro-EU candidate, Nicusor Dan, won – the verdict appears to be that a close shave with a new form of internal chaos was avoided.
Presidential elections in Romania, as well as in its fellow Eastern European powerhouse, Poland, are hard to beat as case studies in the increasing dysfunction of the bloc.
In both countries, the political establishment that for more than 30 years has been loyal to the path of European integration has had to rely on independent candidates to hold back challenges from hard-right candidates.
Those candidates would have had significant implications beyond each country’s borders, rejecting, for example, any attempt to censure Israel or reduce its institutional ties.
The EU has been unable to reflect the clear desire of a majority of its member states to demonstrate a rejection of the killing and destruction in Gaza, with governments such as those of Hungary being exceptions.
For example, the Dutch government is currently pushing for a review of the EU's trade association agreement with Israel. In a letter, it said the Israelis are in violation of its Article Two of the agreement because of its breach of international humanitarian law.
The governments of Belgium, Finland, France, Portugal and Sweden have also signed up to join the early movers on this issue – Spain and Ireland. But the politics of Eastern Europe make actual movement on this issue almost impossible, especially if hard-right candidates are thriving, much less winning.
For now, however, a dramatic crisis in the EU has been averted.
Mr Dan, the Bucharest mayor, defeated hard-right populist George Simion, who carried the banner for a US-style uprising against the establishment, after the country’s top court annulled a previous round of voting last year over evidence of a Russian-backed interference campaign.
Mr Simion rejected the result, setting the stage for the domestic political crisis to continue to fester, perhaps even grow. In a Facebook post, Mr Simion said his own election victory was “clear" to all. "I won!!! I am the new President of Romania and I am giving back the power to the Romanians!"
Much has been made of how centrist leaders in Canada and Australia staged a comeback based on the return of US President Donald Trump. The pendulum is still swinging in other parts of the globe. This is specifically the case in central and Eastern Europe, where presidential elections have been caught up in a wider power struggle.
A victory for Mr Simion would no doubt have been cheered by the White House. He had pledged to appoint the court-deposed candidate Calin Georgescu as prime minister to shake things up.
In Poland, the presidency holds certain key cards, such as formalising laws and judicial appointments, which makes the ongoing presidential election a high-stakes battle. The coalition government led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk – an impeccable EU figure who served as president of the European Council during Mr Trump’s first term – has turned to the liberal Warsaw mayor, Rafal Trzaskowski, as its champion.
Mr Trzaskowski won a little more than 30 per cent of the first-round vote, with the more Conservative opposition candidate Karol Nawrocki coming in narrowly behind.
With Mr Tusk trailing in delivery on his coalition promises from last year, in part because the opposition controls the presidency, a win by his ally is key to his government's prospects over the coming years.
During Mr Nawrocki's visit to the White House at the start of this month, the US President reportedly took a different point of view. "President Trump said 'you will win'," Mr Nawrocki claimed to a private Polish broadcaster.
If true, it may be that the old enmity between either half of the “two Donalds” has endured over the years.
From everything that is known, the new administration in Washington prefers the new politics of Europe. Mr Trump has often said the EU treats the US very badly in trade and has hinted that he will continue the tariff war against the bloc.
There is a wider dimension of political values at play that is even harder for the European leadership to accommodate.
In a visit to Europe in February, US Vice President JD Vance sounded like an old-fashioned neoconservative when he beat up the Europeans over the cancelled Romanian elections.
The intellectual leader of Maga’s global politics, Mr Vance called out the Europeans for seizing on “flimsy evidence from an intelligence agency” to cancel an election it didn’t like. It gave him a critique of Europe failing to meet an American litmus test. “What I worry about is the threat from within. The retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental values,” he said.
Yet for the Europeans, it is the contest between politics as it has been practised since the end of the Cold War and the new American-style sovereigntist pursuit of national interests that remains in the balance after the weekend elections.
This means that when it comes to making decisions on, say, what to do about Israel, the opposing sides are ever more entrenched. The bloc that pushed so hard for two-state diplomacy from the era of the Oslo Accords is now unrecognisable. The reason for that lies in the fitful progress of the hard right in the unfolding electoral cycle.
Our Time Has Come
Alyssa Ayres, Oxford University Press
THE%20SPECS
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%20Ramez%20Gab%20Min%20El%20Akher
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECreator%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Ramez%20Galal%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Ramez%20Galal%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStreaming%20on%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EMBC%20Shahid%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2.5%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
THE%20STRANGERS'%20CASE
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Going grey? A stylist's advice
If you’re going to go grey, a great style, well-cared for hair (in a sleek, classy style, like a bob), and a young spirit and attitude go a long way, says Maria Dowling, founder of the Maria Dowling Salon in Dubai.
It’s easier to go grey from a lighter colour, so you may want to do that first. And this is the time to try a shorter style, she advises. Then a stylist can introduce highlights, start lightening up the roots, and let it fade out. Once it’s entirely grey, a purple shampoo will prevent yellowing.
“Get professional help – there’s no other way to go around it,” she says. “And don’t just let it grow out because that looks really bad. Put effort into it: properly condition, straighten, get regular trims, make sure it’s glossy.”
The%20Killer
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Napoleon
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3A%20Ridley%20Scott%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStars%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3A%20Joaquin%20Phoenix%2C%20Vanessa%20Kirby%2C%20Tahar%20Rahim%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3A%202%2F5%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
AL%20BOOM
%3Cp%20style%3D%22text-align%3Ajustify%3B%22%3E%26nbsp%3B%26nbsp%3B%26nbsp%3BDirector%3AAssad%20Al%20Waslati%26nbsp%3B%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%20style%3D%22text-align%3Ajustify%3B%22%3E%0DStarring%3A%20Omar%20Al%20Mulla%2C%20Badr%20Hakami%20and%20Rehab%20Al%20Attar%0D%3Cbr%3E%0D%3Cbr%3EStreaming%20on%3A%20ADtv%0D%3Cbr%3E%0D%3Cbr%3ERating%3A%203.5%2F5%0D%3Cbr%3E%0D%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The specs: 2018 Chevrolet Trailblazer
Price, base / as tested Dh99,000 / Dh132,000
Engine 3.6L V6
Transmission: Six-speed automatic
Power 275hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque 350Nm @ 3,700rpm
Fuel economy combined 12.2L / 100km
THE SPECS
Engine: 3.5-litre supercharged V6
Power: 416hp at 7,000rpm
Torque: 410Nm at 3,500rpm
Transmission: 6-speed manual
Fuel consumption: 10.2 l/100km
Price: Dh375,000
On sale: now
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
Super%20Mario%20Bros%20Wonder
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Indoor cricket in a nutshell
Indoor Cricket World Cup – Sep 16-20, Insportz, Dubai
16 Indoor cricket matches are 16 overs per side
8 There are eight players per team
9 There have been nine Indoor Cricket World Cups for men. Australia have won every one.
5 Five runs are deducted from the score when a wickets falls
4 Batsmen bat in pairs, facing four overs per partnership
Scoring In indoor cricket, runs are scored by way of both physical and bonus runs. Physical runs are scored by both batsmen completing a run from one crease to the other. Bonus runs are scored when the ball hits a net in different zones, but only when at least one physical run is score.
Zones
A Front net, behind the striker and wicketkeeper: 0 runs
B Side nets, between the striker and halfway down the pitch: 1 run
C Side nets between halfway and the bowlers end: 2 runs
D Back net: 4 runs on the bounce, 6 runs on the full
Cryopreservation: A timeline
- Keyhole surgery under general anaesthetic
- Ovarian tissue surgically removed
- Tissue processed in a high-tech facility
- Tissue re-implanted at a time of the patient’s choosing
- Full hormone production regained within 4-6 months
'Joker'
Directed by: Todd Phillips
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix
Rating: Five out of five stars
Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
Lexus LX700h specs
Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor
Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 790Nm from 2,000-3,600rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 11.7L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh590,000
The Specs:
The Specs:
Engine: 2.9-litre, V6 twin-turbo
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Power: 444bhp
Torque: 600Nm
Price: AED 356,580 incl VAT
On sale: now.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
THE BIO
BIO:
Born in RAK on December 9, 1983
Lives in Abu Dhabi with her family
She graduated from Emirates University in 2007 with a BA in architectural engineering
Her motto in life is her grandmother’s saying “That who created you will not have you get lost”
Her ambition is to spread UAE’s culture of love and acceptance through serving coffee, the country’s traditional coffee in particular.
TRAP
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Saleka Shyamalan, Ariel Donaghue
Director: M Night Shyamalan
Rating: 3/5
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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United States
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China
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3.
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UAE
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4.
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Japan
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5
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Norway
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6.
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Canada
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Singapore
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Australia
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Saudi Arabia
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South Korea
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European arms
Known EU weapons transfers to Ukraine since the war began: Germany 1,000 anti-tank weapons and 500 Stinger surface-to-air missiles. Luxembourg 100 NLAW anti-tank weapons, jeeps and 15 military tents as well as air transport capacity. Belgium 2,000 machine guns, 3,800 tons of fuel. Netherlands 200 Stinger missiles. Poland 100 mortars, 8 drones, Javelin anti-tank weapons, Grot assault rifles, munitions. Slovakia 12,000 pieces of artillery ammunition, 10 million litres of fuel, 2.4 million litres of aviation fuel and 2 Bozena de-mining systems. Estonia Javelin anti-tank weapons. Latvia Stinger surface to air missiles. Czech Republic machine guns, assault rifles, other light weapons and ammunition worth $8.57 million.
The%20specs
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What is a Ponzi scheme?
A fraudulent investment operation where the scammer provides fake reports and generates returns for old investors through money paid by new investors, rather than through ligitimate business activities.
