LONDON: A man was killed after a tree fell on a caravan in England after record winds brought by Storm Goretti, as 100,000 homes in France were still without power on Saturday.
Some 15 people have died in weather-related accidents this week across Europe as gale-force winds and storms caused travel mayhem, shut schools, and cut power to hundreds of thousands in freezing temperatures.
The storm barrelled through southwestern Cornwall and parts of Wales overnight Thursday to Friday, with gusts of up to 160 kilometers per hour (100 miles per hour) downing trees and leaving tens of thousands of homes without power.
A man was found dead in the town of Helston in Cornwall on Friday after a tree fell onto a caravan, UK police said.
“Tragically, a man aged in his 50s was located deceased within the caravan,” Devon and Cornwall police said in a statement.
Most of the UK remains under a weather warning for snow and ice on Saturday, the Met Office national weather agency said, warning that black ice could cause “disruption” in Scotland and northern England.
Heavy snowfall followed by the storm meant that some 250 schools in Scotland were closed for the much of the first week back after the Christmas break.
Around 28,000 homes were still without power at the start of the weekend in southwestern England and the Midlands, according to the network operator National Grid.
Storm Goretti also plowed through other parts of northern Europe, with nearly 100,000 homes in France still without power on Saturday morning.
Meanwhile long-distance rail traffic slowly resumed on Saturday in northern Germany, after being completely suspended on Friday due to another storm named Elli, rail operator Deutsche Bahn said.
In the far north of the country, the port city of Hamburg, heavily affected by a large amount of snow, remains particularly impacted by the disruptions, it added.
A number of rail services will still not be restored on Saturday, notably those linking Hamburg to Copenhagen, Amsterdam and Hanover.
Services from Hamburg to the western Ruhr region or to Berlin are expected to be restored over the course of Saturday, it said.
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New UK death after storms, 100,000 French homes without power
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New UK death after storms, 100,000 French homes without power
- Some 15 people have died in weather-related accidents this week across Europe
- Most of the UK remains under a weather warning for snow and ice on Saturday
Moderate candidate wins emphatically over a populist in Portugal’s presidential runoff
LISBON: Center-left Socialist candidate António José Seguro recorded a thumping victory over hard-right populist André Ventura in Portugal’s runoff presidential election Sunday, according to official results with 99 percent of votes counted.
Seguro won a five-year term in Lisbon’s riverside “pink palace” with 66.7 percent of votes, compared with 33.3 percent for Ventura.
The ballot was an opportunity to test the depth of support for Ventura’s brash style, which has struck a chord with voters and helped make his Chega (Enough) party the second-biggest in the Portuguese parliament, as well as gauge the public appetite for Europe’s increasing shift to the right in recent years.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen congratulated Seguro and said on social media that “Portugal’s voice for our shared European values remains strong.”
Seguro, a longstanding Socialist politician, positioned himself as a moderate candidate who will cooperate with Portugal’s center-right minority government, repudiating Ventura’s anti-establishment and anti-immigrant tirades.
He won the backing of other mainstream politicians on the left and right who want to halt the rising populist tide.
In Portugal, the president is largely a figurehead with no executive power. Traditionally, the head of state stands above the political fray, mediating disputes and defusing tensions.
However, the president is an influential voice and possesses some powerful tools, being able to veto legislation from parliament, although the veto can be overturned. The head of state also possesses what in Portuguese political jargon is called an “atomic bomb,” the power to dissolve parliament and call early elections.
In May, Portugal held its third general election in three years in the country’s worst bout of political instability for decades, and steadying the ship is a key challenge for the next president.
Ventura, an eloquent and theatrical politician, rejected political accommodation in favor of a more combative stance.
Ventura said he will keep working to bring about a political “transformation” in Portugal.
“I tried to show there’s a different way … that we needed a different kind of president,” he told reporters.
Making it through to the runoff was already a milestone for Ventura and his party, which have recalibrated Portuguese politics.
One of Ventura’s main targets has been what he calls excessive immigration, as foreign workers have become more conspicuous in Portugal in recent years.
“Portugal is ours,” he said.
During the campaign, Ventura put up billboards across the country saying, “This isn’t Bangladesh” and “Immigrants shouldn’t be allowed to live on welfare.”
Although he founded his party less than seven years ago, its surge in public support made it the second-largest party in Portugal’s parliament in the May 18 general election.
Seguro will next month replace center-right President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who has served the constitutional limit of two five-year terms.
Seguro won a five-year term in Lisbon’s riverside “pink palace” with 66.7 percent of votes, compared with 33.3 percent for Ventura.
The ballot was an opportunity to test the depth of support for Ventura’s brash style, which has struck a chord with voters and helped make his Chega (Enough) party the second-biggest in the Portuguese parliament, as well as gauge the public appetite for Europe’s increasing shift to the right in recent years.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen congratulated Seguro and said on social media that “Portugal’s voice for our shared European values remains strong.”
Seguro, a longstanding Socialist politician, positioned himself as a moderate candidate who will cooperate with Portugal’s center-right minority government, repudiating Ventura’s anti-establishment and anti-immigrant tirades.
He won the backing of other mainstream politicians on the left and right who want to halt the rising populist tide.
In Portugal, the president is largely a figurehead with no executive power. Traditionally, the head of state stands above the political fray, mediating disputes and defusing tensions.
However, the president is an influential voice and possesses some powerful tools, being able to veto legislation from parliament, although the veto can be overturned. The head of state also possesses what in Portuguese political jargon is called an “atomic bomb,” the power to dissolve parliament and call early elections.
In May, Portugal held its third general election in three years in the country’s worst bout of political instability for decades, and steadying the ship is a key challenge for the next president.
Ventura, an eloquent and theatrical politician, rejected political accommodation in favor of a more combative stance.
Ventura said he will keep working to bring about a political “transformation” in Portugal.
“I tried to show there’s a different way … that we needed a different kind of president,” he told reporters.
Making it through to the runoff was already a milestone for Ventura and his party, which have recalibrated Portuguese politics.
One of Ventura’s main targets has been what he calls excessive immigration, as foreign workers have become more conspicuous in Portugal in recent years.
“Portugal is ours,” he said.
During the campaign, Ventura put up billboards across the country saying, “This isn’t Bangladesh” and “Immigrants shouldn’t be allowed to live on welfare.”
Although he founded his party less than seven years ago, its surge in public support made it the second-largest party in Portugal’s parliament in the May 18 general election.
Seguro will next month replace center-right President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who has served the constitutional limit of two five-year terms.
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