Top political leaders of the world

Former general and head of the Gerindra Party Prabowo Subianto walks with his deputy Edhy Prabowo as they arrive at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta, Indonesia, October 21, 2019 in this picture taken by Antara Foto. Antara Foto/Wahyu Putro A/ via REUTERS JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesian opposition leader Prabowo Subianto said on Monday he had been asked by President Joko Widodo to join the cabinet to help in the area of defense, and the former general said he had accepted the invitation. “Today we were formally asked and we are able to help,” Prabowo, who was Widodo’s challenger in April’s bitterly fought election, told reporters after meeting Widodo at the presidential palace. He did not confirm his position in the cabinet, but media reports have suggested Prabowo would serve as defense minister. Reporting by Agustinus Beo Da Costa and Maikel Jefriando; Writing by Gayatri Suroyo; Editing by Ed Davies and Alex Richardson Our Standards: The … [Read more...] about Indonesian opposition leader Prabowo Subianto to join cabinet

BRATISLAVA (Reuters) - Slovak police have charged former president Andrej Kiska with tax fraud, stirring up the political scene ahead of an election due in February. FILE PHOTO: Slovakian President Andrej Kiska listens during a news conference in Riga, Latvia December 18, 2018. REUTERS/Ints Kalnins Police suspect Kiska, who is now an opposition leader, of wrongdoing in campaign financing before he became president in 2014. He could face up to 12 years in prison if the case is brought to court and he is found guilty. “The fraud is connected with entering tax receipts for the presidential election campaign into the books of (Kiska’s) company although these activities were not part of the company’s business,” police said on Friday. Kiska denies any wrongdoing. He paid for the presidential campaign through his firm KTAG. The firm claimed a tax return worth 146,000 euros ($165,580) that was not approved by the tax authority which later imposed tens of … [Read more...] about Slovak police charge ex-president and opposition leader Kiska with tax fraud

The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has lashed out at Germany for blocking several rallies on its soil in the run-up to a referendum in Turkey, likening its stance to Nazi practices. “Your practices are not different from the Nazi practices of the past,” he said of Germany at a women’s rally in Istanbul before the referendum on changes to the constitution that would bolster his powers as president. “I thought it’s been a long time since Germany left [Nazi practices]. We are mistaken,” he added. Last week federal authorities in two German states withdrew permission for political rallies targeted at Turkish residents in Germany amid growing public outrage over Ankara’s arrest of a Turkish-German journalist. Authorities in Cologne, in North-Rhine Westphalia, and Gaggenau, in Baden-Württemberg, cited security concerns for the cancellations. An appearance at a Cologne hotel by Turkey’s minister for the economy, Nihat … [Read more...] about Erdoğan accuses Germany of ‘Nazi practices’ over blocked political rallies

For Brussels and Berlin, it may as well have been Moros, the Greek god of impending doom, a driver of mortals to their deadly fate, who had been elected as the prime minister of Greece in January 2015. Alexis Tsipras was the radical leftwing firebrand with the open-necked shirt, whose Syriza government posed a threat to the European order through its demands to rewrite the rules underpinning the single currency, and willingness to take Greece and the EU to the brink to achieve that goal. The open-necked shirt was still there at a summit of EU leaders last week but rather than being spat out as a profanity by irate German bean-counters, Tsipras’s name was being circulated, perhaps a tad unconvincingly, as an outside contender for a top EU job. The 44-year-old has been on quite a journey. Unfortunately for him, he doesn’t seem to have taken the Greek people with him this time. The thumping win for Kyriakos Mitsotakis’s New Democracy party with 39.8% of the vote, giving … [Read more...] about Alexis Tsipras: leader won respect abroad but lost support at home

Ed Miliband needs to stop practicing “Hampstead Heath” politics geared towards the north London metropolitan elite if he is to win next year’s general election, according to one of the most high-profile Labour politicians. Rochdale MP, Simon Danczuk, who this weekend fuelled rumours of the first Labour-Ukip defection after being photographed having a pint with the Ukip leader Nigel Farage, suggested Miliband must “radically” change his approach in order to win outright in May. Complaining that his leader had a “35% strategy” aimed at scraping by with just enough of the vote to become the senior party in a ruling coalition, Danzcuk said Miliband should listen to working-class MPs such as himself rather than ignoring them in favour of what he described as sycophants who cut their teeth as special advisers. In an interview with the Guardian, Danczuk saidMiliband needed to surround himself with “real people”. Danczuk proposed “a … [Read more...] about Ed Miliband must cease ‘Hampstead Heath’ politics to win election – MP