France’s Macron and Le Pen head to April 24 election runoff
French leader Emmanuel Macron and his strongest challenger Marine Le Pen qualified on Sunday for a presidential election runoff on April 24, pitting a pro-European economic liberal against a far-right nationalist.
With projections putting Macron in first place ahead of Le Pen after Sunday’s first round voting, other major candidates admitted defeat. Except for another far-right candidate, Eric Zemmour, they all urged voters to back the incumbent in two weeks’ time in order to block the far-right.
Ifop pollsters predicted a tight runoff, with 51 per cent for Macron and 49 per cent for Le Pen. In 2017, he won with 66.1 per cent of the votes.
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Ukraine braces for ‘important battles’ as Pope urges Easter ceasefire
Ukraine is preparing for “important battles” against Moscow’s forces in the east of the country, the president said, as Pope Francis on Sunday called for an Easter truce to end the war.
Evacuations continued from Kramatorsk, in eastern Ukraine, where a missile strike on Friday killed 52 people at a railway station, while a strategic airport in the city of Dnipro was badly damaged in fresh shelling Sunday.
President Volodymyr Zelensky again condemned atrocities against civilians, and after speaking with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said they agreed “that all perpetrators of war crimes must be identified and punished”.
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General who ran Syria ‘brutality’ operation to lead Russia troops in Ukraine
Russia has appointed a new commander for its operations in Ukraine as it refocuses its war effort in the east, having failed to secure territory around the capital, Kyiv.
General Alexander Dvornikov, commander of the Southern Military District, will now lead Russian troops on the ground, according to Western security officials and diplomats with knowledge of the change. The Kremlin has not announced the appointment.
General Dvornikov, 60, has held several senior positions in the Russian military, including army commander of the Far Eastern Military District.
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Golf: Woods to play British Open, unsure about US Open and PGA Championship
Tiger Woods completed what amounted to a ceremonial walk around Augusta National on Sunday before announcing that he would play the British Open at St. Andrews in July.
Woods, however, did not confirm his participation in the next two majors, the May 19-22 PGA Championship and the June 16-19 US Open, saying he needed to see how his body held up before making a decision.
“I won’t be playing a full schedule ever again … but I am looking forward to St. Andrews,” he told Sky Sports of the July 14-17 championship at the home of golf.
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Football: Man City and Liverpool share the spoils in four-goal thriller
“Today, nobody will be champion” opined Pep Guardiola before kick-off and he was proved right. But the status quo is rarely preserved in such sensational style.
Manchester City and Liverpool traded goals and blows in a game of blistering brilliance that left the title race with Guardiola still a solitary point ahead of Jurgen Klopp. But as Liverpool’s run of 10 successive wins ended, the difference is their destiny is now out of their hands after an epic that suggested the Premier League’s top two are the outstanding pair of sides in world football.
In a match of intensity and quality, played at relentless speed by two teams with plenty of ambition, some individuals illuminated the Etihad Stadium.
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