Lame duck fear as Macron hails win
PHILIPPINE and US troops have begun annual joint exercises that are smaller in scale than in years past, focusing on disaster response and counter- terrorism while excluding territorial defence operations. The changes were instructed by President Rodrigo Duterte who has said he wants to chart a foreign policy less oriented toward Washington while expanding security ties with China and Russia.
He has taken a softer stance than his predecessor on the territorial disputes with China in the South China Sea. Opening rites for the “Balikatan” or “Shoulder- to- Shoulder” exercises were led on Monday by Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana and U. S. Ambassador Sung Kim.
Officials say 5400 personnel will be involved in the drills, or about half of 11,000 troops who took part last year. AN environmental watchdog has accused Vietnamese government and military officials of taking pay- offs to ignore vast smuggling of lucrative lumber from neighbouring Cambodia.
Millions of dollars in bribes have been paid by Vietnamese timber traders to Vietnamese and Cambodian officials, the report issued Monday by the UK- based Environmental Investigation Agency alleges.
It says the Vietnamese officials are paid for granting import quotas and Cambodians are paid to open up logging areas and smuggling routes. The logging itself in Cambodia is often illegal, taking place in protected areas.
Cambodia has banned the export of logs and since early 2016 has closed its border with Vietnam to timber as well. However, Vietnam has official quotas for such imports. THE president- elect of France, Emmanuel Macron, faces an immediate challenge to his authority, with no guarantee he can form a majority in the new National Assembly.
The 39- year- old political newcomer won a resounding victory in the presidential election on Sunday night, trouncing his hard- right rival Marine Le Pen by 66.06 per cent to 33.94 per cent.
This was despite his party En Marche! ( Onwards!) never previously standing a candidate in even a local council election.
But Mr Macron, who until now had no party machine behind him, faces the daunting task of trying to get En Marche! candidates elected when the 577- member National Assembly goes to the polls on June 11 and 18.
He is unlikely to be able to form a majority, meaning he may be forced into a coalition which might force the centre- leftist to amend the policies on which he campaigned to victory on Sunday.
Former Republican president Nicolas Sarkozy is already working behind the scenes to build a right- wing government in opposition to Mr Mac- ron, meaning he could be rendered lame- duck just as his term is starting.
His defeat of Ms Le Pen led to jubilant scenes at a rally outside the Louvre gallery in central Paris, where thousands of mainly young supporters danced to pop music, waved the tricolour flag and sang the French national anthem as they waited for Mr Macron to appear, which he did at 10.37pm, soon joined by his wife, Brigitte Trogneux, her three children and their extended families.
The pro- EU Mr Macron chose Beethoven’s Ode to Joy as the music to which he walked out to greet his supporters – the anthem of the European Union.
“I will defend Europe; it is our civilisation which is at stake,’’ he said.
“I will work to rebuild ties between Europe and its citizens.”
He also reached out to those French voters who supported Ms Le Pen and her anti- EU, anti- immigration stance, saying “I will do everything to make sure you never have reason again to vote for extremes.”
He said he had heard the “anger, anxiety and doubts’’ they had expressed.
But the night was one for hope and optimism, at least in the hours after the results were called, and as flagwaving supporters thronged the Paris streets and the metro, Mr Macron declared: “Everyone said it was impossible. But they didn’t know France!”
Police had a heavy security operation in place and supporters attending the rally at the Louvre went through five security checks before they could make it inside.
Ms Le Pen held a sombre gathering at a restaurant in a park, where she thanked her supporters.
Across France, the mood was more of relief than wild celebrations – voter turnout for the final round was the lowest in more than 40 years, with 12 million registered voters abstaining and another 4.2 million tainting their vote, making it invalid.
Mr Macron’s victory reaffirmed France’s commitment to the European Union by heading off Ms Le Pen’s promise of a “Frexit’’ referendum.
His victory sent the euro to a sixmonth high, while in Brussels and across the continent, pro- European Union leaders celebrated his win.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel tweeted it was a “victory for a strong and united Europe’’ while European Commissioner Jean- Claude Juncker said he was happy France had chosen a “European future.’’
The election turned politics on its head – no mainstream party candidate made it to the second round for the first time the 1950s – and the 32 per cent vote for Le Pen was a high water- mark for the hard Right in France.
Mr Macron is France’s youngest leader since Napoleon Bonaparte in 1804 and its least experienced.
He will be sworn in before May 14, when the incumbent, Francois Hollande, leaves office.