Gains for green candidates in France's municipal elections have been hailed as a breakthrough moment for the country’s ecological movement and an indictment of President Emmanuel Macron.
Green candidates won in the major cities of Marseilles, Lyon, Strasbourg and Bordeaux in municipal elections postponed by the outbreak of Covid-19.
The green party was the principal beneficiary of an alliance with the country’s faltering Socialist Party, which has not recovered from the sudden rise of Mr Macron’s La Republique En Marche! party on the French political scene in 2016.
In the socialist stronghold of Lille, the environmental candidate Stephane Baly came close to unseating stalwart Martine Aubry.
Elsewhere, upsets were caused in Saint-Denis, where a socialist ended decades of communist administration.
And in Goussainville, a commune on the outskirts of Paris, Abdelaziz Hamida, a candidate under police surveillance for years over to links to a radical Islamist group was elected mayor. Mr Hamida won the second round of the municipal election against left-wing candidate Alain Louis with 38 per cent of the vote.
According to the French press, Mr Hamida, now mayor of the town of 30,000, had ties to the Tabligh movement, a group investigated over the departure of several young French citizens to Syria and Iraq in 2014 and 2015 during the height of ISIS’s control in the region.
Mr Macron’s centrist political movement was left with a bloody nose in Sunday’s poll with many of its local candidates unable to replicate the success the party had seen on the national stage.
The coronavirus pandemic loomed large over the election and was blamed as the cause of record low turnout. Only 40 per cent of voters cast ballots as scenes at polling stations were characterised by people wearing masks and maintaining distance.
Organisers also wore gloves and masks and in some places were kept apart from voters by plastic screens.
The French government has said it was happy that the vote had taken place safety and coronavirus measures set in place had been effective.
However, Mr Macron has expressed concern at the low turnout in the elections, which are seen as a key indicator in the lead-up to presidential elections in 2022.
In Paris, socialist Mayor Anne Hidalgo was re-elected with the assistance of the coalition of Europe Ecology-The Greens, France’s green party. Projections showed she had largely seen off her closest rival, conservative Rachida Dati.
Mr Macron hopes an coming cabinet reshuffle will reinvigorate his party’s fortunes. Despite a bounce in Mr Macron’s own personal popularity, the French government has been criticised over its handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The French president may remove his increasingly popular prime minister, Edouard Philippe, in the reshuffle. Mr Philippe won a considerable victory in his home town of La Havre, where he ran for mayor.
If he continues as the head of government, Mr Philippe may appoint someone else as mayor while he remains in Paris.
The anti-immigration, far-right National Rally, usually buoyed by low voter turnout in French elections, won a symbolic victory in the southern city of Perpignan, making Louis Aliot the first member of the party to run a city of more than 100,000 inhabitants since 1995.
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- Technology expert in robotics and automation: Dh20,000 to Dh40,000
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- Field supervisor: Dh9,000 to Dh12,000
- Field operator: Dh5,000 to Dh7,000
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COMPANY PROFILE
Company name: Letstango.com
Started: June 2013
Founder: Alex Tchablakian
Based: Dubai
Industry: e-commerce
Initial investment: Dh10 million
Investors: Self-funded
Total customers: 300,000 unique customers every month
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
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Evacuations to France hit by controversy
- Over 500 Gazans have been evacuated to France since November 2023
- Evacuations were paused after a student already in France posted anti-Semitic content and was subsequently expelled to Qatar
- The Foreign Ministry launched a review to determine how authorities failed to detect the posts before her entry
- Artists and researchers fall under a programme called Pause that began in 2017
- It has benefited more than 700 people from 44 countries, including Syria, Turkey, Iran, and Sudan
- Since the start of the Gaza war, it has also included 45 Gazan beneficiaries
- Unlike students, they are allowed to bring their families to France
The White Lotus: Season three
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Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
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How to turn your property into a holiday home
- Ensure decoration and styling – and portal photography – quality is high to achieve maximum rates.
- Research equivalent Airbnb homes in your location to ensure competitiveness.
- Post on all relevant platforms to reach the widest audience; whether you let personally or via an agency know your potential guest profile – aiming for the wrong demographic may leave your property empty.
- Factor in costs when working out if holiday letting is beneficial. The annual DCTM fee runs from Dh370 for a one-bedroom flat to Dh1,200. Tourism tax is Dh10-15 per bedroom, per night.
- Check your management company has a physical office, a valid DTCM licence and is licencing your property and paying tourism taxes. For transparency, regularly view your booking calendar.
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RESULT
Manchester City 5 Swansea City 0
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The five pillars of Islam
COMPANY PROFILE
Company name: SimpliFi
Started: August 2021
Founder: Ali Sattar
Based: UAE
Industry: Finance, technology
Investors: 4DX, Rally Cap, Raed, Global Founders, Sukna and individuals
Guide to intelligent investing
Investing success often hinges on discipline and perspective. As markets fluctuate, remember these guiding principles:
- Stay invested: Time in the market, not timing the market, is critical to long-term gains.
- Rational thinking: Breathe and avoid emotional decision-making; let logic and planning guide your actions.
- Strategic patience: Understand why you’re investing and allow time for your strategies to unfold.
List of officials:
Referees: Chris Broad, David Boon, Jeff Crowe, Andy Pycroft, Ranjan Madugalle and Richie Richardson.
Umpires: Aleem Dar, Kumara Dharmasena, Marais Erasmus, Chris Gaffaney, Ian Gould, Richard Illingworth, Richard Kettleborough, Nigel Llong, Bruce Oxenford, Ruchira Palliyaguruge, Sundaram Ravi, Paul Reiffel, Rod Tucker, Michael Gough, Joel Wilson and Paul Wilson.
