International
Turkish president, Erdogan, triumphs in historic run-off election

Turkish president, Erdoğan, triumphs in historic run-off election
RECEP Tayyip Erdoğan has won Turkey’s run-off presidential election to seal another five-year term, according to official preliminary results that marked an end to a determined opposition effort to unseat the longtime leader.
Erdoğan received 53.41% of the votes, electoral chief Ahmet Yener said on Sunday evening, after 99.43% of the ballots had been counted.
His rival Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu received 46.59% according to the preliminary figures, Yener said.
Erdoğan – who claimed victory hours before the official announcement – can now remain in his seat for another five years and for a third time. The 69-year-old became prime minister in 2003. The parliament voted him as president in 2014.
“You gave us this mission. We will continue to build a Turkish century all together,” he told a massive crowd from the balcony of the presidential palace in Ankara. “All of Turkey has won. Democracy has won,” he said, urging the country to unite.
The crowd cheered and taunted his rival, chanting: “Bye bye, Kemal.”
During the evening, Erdoğan supporters lined the streets of cities in Turkey and beyond, waving flags and celebrating.
Since the introduction of a presidential system in 2018, he has more power than ever before, prompting fears his rule could become even more authoritarian.
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Kılıçdaroğlu, who stood against him at the head of a broad coalition of opposition parties, thanked his supporters before the results were announced, but did not formally concede.
“I am sad much bigger problems await our country,” he said.
He decried the problems in an election campaign that was criticized by observers as being unfair, given the government’s dominance of the media landscape.
Erdoğan controls almost the entire conventional media in Turkey. State broadcaster TRT did not broadcast a single interview with any opposition leader, for example.
Erdoğan refused to appear in any televised debate with Kılıçdaroğlu.
“The people’s will to replace an authoritarian regime has emerged despite all repressions in this election,” said Kılıçdaroğlu.
“Stand tall,” he added. “We will work for more democratic Turkey.”
His comments were echoed by Meral Akşener, the main opposition partner, who did concede.
Those who had hoped for change should not despair, she said. “We are here,” she said, adding she hoped Erdoğan would remember he is president of all of Turkey.
Sunday’s voting was marred by reports of attacks on election observers in Istanbul and the south-east of the country.
Istanbul lawmaker Ali Şeker, from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), told broadcaster Halk TV that he and two others were attacked by a large group of locals after they complained about irregularities.
Earlier, CHP parliamentary group leader Özgür Özel tweeted that election observers were beaten and their phones were broken.
Özel complained that there were not enough security forces present at the time.
There were several incidents in Istanbul, according to media reports. Halk TV reported that opposition election workers were attacked in the Gaziosmanpaşa and Ümraniye districts.
Not all incidents could be independently verified.
Even before the preliminary results were announced, congratulations flowed in from abroad.
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The leaders of Russia, France, Pakistan, Libya, and Afghanistan all sent messages of support to Erdoğan.
Later, European and U.S. leaders added their congratulations.
“I look forward to working with you again to deepen EU-Türkiye relations in the years to come,” the president of the European Council, Charles Michel, wrote to Erdoğan in a tweet.
“It is of strategic importance for both the EU and Türkiye to work on advancing this relationship, for the benefit of our people,” echoed European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
“Germany and Turkey are close partners and allies,” wrote German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. “Congratulations to President Erdoğan on his re-election. Now we want to push forward our common issues with fresh vigour.”
French President Emmanuel Macron listed the return of peace to Europe, the future of the Euro-Atlantic alliance and the Mediterranean as some of the “immense challenges” ahead.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky shared his congratulations to the Turkish president in both Ukrainian and Turkish on Twitter.
“I congratulate the President of Turkey @RTErdogan on the occasion of the victory in the presidential elections,” wrote Zelensky in a tweet.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg also offered congratulations to Erdoğan. In a tweet, Stoltenberg wrote, “Congratulations President @RTErdogan on your re-election. I look forward to continuing our work together & preparing for the #NATOSummit in July.”
U.S. President Joe Biden offered congratulations and said, “I look forward to continuing to work together as NATO Allies on bilateral issues and shared global challenges” in a tweet.
Many in Turkey had hoped for change, but were in the end outnumbered, with Erdoğan particularly popular among rural and more religious voters.
Ergün Sabancılar, a 67-year-old artisan, said just after casting his ballot: “I have hope. If not with this election, democracy will definitely come with future elections.”
The run-off, the first in modern Turkish history, was a test of strength for Erdoğan after he failed to get the absolute majority needed in the first round of the vote two weeks ago.
During the campaign, Erdoğan had promised to increase religious conservative policies such as restricting LGBT rights.
He said he would quickly reconstruct the quake-hit provinces while boosting investments in defence and infrastructure.
He repeated some of these promises on Sunday, saying that he would bring inflation down to 10% in a new “economic leap forward.”
The vote came amid Turkey’s worst economic crisis in two decades and after February’s devastating earthquakes in the country’s east.
Analysts pointed to election gifts in the run-up to the vote, saying these too had an impact on Sunday’s result.
“The government spent money like there was no tomorrow.
“People are much better off as a result than they were last year,” analyst Salim Cevik told dpa.
Cevik also criticised the opposition, saying the broad coalition had not nominated its lead candidate soon enough in the process. (dpa/NAN)
International
US strikes in Yemen kill 31 as Trump vows to end Huthi attacks

US strikes in Yemen kill 31 as Trump vows to end Huthi attacks
The first US strikes against Yemen’s Huthis since Donald Trump took office killed 31 people, the rebels said Sunday, with the US president warning “hell will rain down upon” the Iran-backed group if it did not stop attacking shipping.
The Huthis, who have attacked Israel and Red Sea shipping throughout the Gaza war, said children were among those killed.
An AFP photographer in the rebel-held capital Sanaa heard explosions and saw plumes of smoke rising.
Attacks on Sanaa, as well as on areas in Saada, Al-Bayda and Radaa, killed at least 31 people and wounded 101, “most of whom were children and women”, Huthi health ministry spokesperson Anis Al-Asbahi said.
Footage on Huthi media showed children and a woman among those being treated in a hospital emergency room, including a dazed girl with blackened legs wrapped in bandages.
Trump, in a post on social media, vowed to “use overwhelming lethal force” to end the Huthi attacks, which the rebels say are in solidarity with Palestinians amid the Gaza war.
“To all Huthi terrorists, YOUR TIME IS UP, AND YOUR ATTACKS MUST STOP, STARTING TODAY. IF THEY DON’T, HELL WILL RAIN DOWN UPON YOU LIKE NOTHING YOU HAVE EVER SEEN BEFORE!” he said.
Trump also issued a stern warning to the group’s main backer.
“To Iran: Support for the Houthi terrorists must end IMMEDIATELY!” he said.
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“Do NOT threaten the American People, their President… or Worldwide shipping lanes. If you do, BEWARE, because America will hold you fully accountable and, we won’t be nice about it!”
The Huthis vowed the strikes “will not pass without response”, while Iran’s top diplomat Abbas Araghchi condemned the deaths and said Washington had “no authority” to dictate Tehran’s foreign policy.
The Huthi Ansarullah website slammed what it called Washington’s “criminal brutality”.
US Central Command, which posted videos of fighter jets taking off and a bomb demolishing a compound, said “precision strikes” were launched to “defend American interests, deter enemies, and restore freedom of navigation”.
- ‘Escalation with escalation’ –
“Our Yemeni armed forces are fully prepared to confront escalation with escalation,” the Huthi political bureau said.
The rebels, who have controlled much of Yemen for more than a decade, are part of the “axis of resistance” of pro-Iran groups staunchly opposed to Israel and the United States.
They have launched scores of drone and missile attacks on ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said the Huthis had “attacked US warships 174 times and commercial vessels 145 times since 2023”.
The campaign put a major strain on the vital route, which normally carries about 12 percent of world shipping traffic, forcing many companies to take a costly detour around southern Africa.
The Palestinian group Hamas, which has praised the Huthi support, lashed out at the US strikes, branding them “a stark violation of international law and an assault on the country’s sovereignty and stability”.
Iran “strongly condemned the brutal air strikes” in a statement, denouncing them as a “gross violation of the principles of the UN Charter”.
The head of the country’s Revolutionary Guards, Hossein Salami, said: “Iran will not wage war, but if anyone threatens, it will give appropriate, decisive and conclusive responses.
- ‘Political dialogue’ –
The United States has launched several rounds of strikes on Huthi targets.
After halting their attacks when a ceasefire took effect in Gaza in January, the Huthis announced on Tuesday that they would resume them until Israel lifted its blockade of aid to the devastated Palestinian territory.
Trump’s statement did not reference the dispute over Israel, but focused on previous Huthi attacks on merchant shipping.
Earlier this month, the Trump administration reclassified the Huthis as a “foreign terrorist organisation”, banning any US interaction with it.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also spoke to his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov. Moscow is close to Tehran.
“Continued Huthi attacks on US military and commercial shipping vessels in the Red Sea will not be tolerated,” Rubio told Lavrov, according to the State Department.
Russia’s foreign ministry said that “Lavrov stressed the need for an immediate cessation of the use of force and the importance for all sides to engage in political dialogue… (to) prevent further bloodshed”.
The Huthis captured Sanaa in 2014 and were poised to overrun most of the rest of the country before a Saudi-led coalition intervened.
The war devastated the already impoverished nation.
US strikes in Yemen kill 31 as Trump vows to end Huthi attacks
International
South African ambassador ‘no longer welcome’ in US, Rubio says

South African ambassador ‘no longer welcome’ in US, Rubio says
The US is expelling South Africa’s ambassador to Washington, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio saying he is “no longer welcome in our great country”.
In a post on X, Rubio accused Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool of hating America and President Donald Trump and described him as a “race-baiting politician”.
The decision was “regrettable”, the office for South Africa’s president said on Saturday, adding that it remained committed to building a mutually beneficial relationship with America.
The rare move by the US marks the latest development in rising tensions between the two countries.
In his post on Friday, Rubio linked to an article from the right-wing outlet Breitbart that quoted some of Rasool’s recent remarks made during an online lecture about the Trump administration.
“What Donald Trump is launching is an assault on incumbency, those who are in power, by mobilising a supremacism against the incumbency, at home… and abroad,” Rasool said at the event.
He added that the Maga movement was a response “to very clear data that shows great demographic shifts in the USA in which the voting electorate… is projected to become 48 percent white”.
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In response, Rubio called Rasool “PERSONA NON GRATA,” referencing the Latin phrase for “unwelcome person”.
The post from Rubio came as he departed Canada from a meeting with foreign ministers.
Ties between the US and South Africa have been deteriorating since Trump took office.
The US president signed an executive order last month that freezes assistance to South Africa. The order references “egregious actions” by South Africa and cites “unjust racial discrimination” against white Afrikaners – those who descended from Dutch settlers.
The South African government has repeatedly denied this.
The order also references a new law, the Expropriation Act, that the order claims targets Afrikaners by allowing the government to take away private land.
“As long as South Africa continues to support bad actors on the world stage and allows violent attacks on innocent disfavored minority farmers, the United States will stop aid and assistance to the country,” according to a statement from the White House.
The government in South Africa denies its law is related to race, the Associated Press reported.
A fact sheet from the White House states the country “blatantly discriminates against ethnic minority descendants of settler groups”.
While lower-ranking diplomats are sometimes expelled, it’s highly unusual in the US for it to happen to a more senior official like a foreign ambassador, the Associated Press reported, noting neither the US nor Russia took such actions against one another even amid tensions during the Cold War.
Rasool previously served as the country’s ambassador to the US from 2010 to 2015 before being tapped again for the post in 2025.
He was born and grew up in Cape Town. When he was nine, he and his family were forcibly removed from an apartment that was declared only for white people. As he grew older, he became more interested in politics and said the eviction was a significant moment in his upbringing that guided his future.
South African ambassador ‘no longer welcome’ in US, Rubio says
BBC
International
US court to Trump: Return workers fired across agencies

US court to Trump: Return workers fired across agencies
A federal judge in San Francisco has ordered President Donald Trump’s administration to rehire thousands of workers involved in mass firings across multiple agencies.
U.S. District Judge William Alsup said that the terminations were directed by the Office of Personnel Management and its acting director, Charles Ezell, who lacked the authority to do so.
The administration immediately filed an appeal of the injunction with the Ninth Circuit Court. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt earlier Thursday cast the ruling as an attempt to encroach on executive power to hire and fire employees. “The Trump Administration will immediately fight back against this absurd and unconstitutional order,” she said in a statement.
Alsup’s order tells the departments of Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Defense, Energy, the Interior and the Treasury to immediately offer job reinstatement to employees terminated on or about Feb. 13 and 14. He also directed the departments to report back within seven days with a list of probationary employees and an explanation of how the agencies complied with his order as to each person.
The temporary restraining order came in a lawsuit filed by a coalition of labor unions and organizations as the Republican administration moves to reduce the federal workforce.
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“These mass-firings of federal workers were not just an attack on government agencies and their ability to function, they were also a direct assault on public lands, wildlife, and the rule of law,” said Erik Molvar, executive director of Western Watersheds Project, one of the plaintiffs.
Alsup expressed frustration with what he called the government’s attempt to sidestep laws and regulations governing a reduction in its workforce — which it is allowed to do — by firing probationary workers who lack protections and cannot appeal.
He was appalled that employees were told they were being fired for poor performance despite receiving glowing evaluations just months earlier.
“It is sad, a sad day, when our government would fire some good employee and say it was based on performance when they know good and well that’s a lie,” he said. “That should not have been done in our country.”
Lawyers for the government maintain the mass firings were lawful because individual agencies reviewed and determined whether employees on probation were fit for continued employment.
But Alsup, who was appointed by President Bill Clinton, a Democrat, has found that difficult to believe. He planned to hold an evidentiary hearing Thursday, but Ezell, the OPM acting director, did not appear to testify in court or even sit for a deposition, and the government retracted his written testimony.
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