Iranian Leader, Saying Nation 'stable And Safe,' Meets Pope 

To judge from the editorial pages and Capitol Hill currents that both shape and reflect Washington’s perceptions of the world, the doomsayers sounding alarms over the risk of direct military conflict between the U. S. and Russia over Ukraine have been proved wrong. Despite many Russian warnings and much nuclear saber-rattling, the United States has managed to supply advanced artillery systems, tanks, fighter aircraft, and extended-range missiles to Ukraine without an existential contest—or even significant Russian retaliation. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] For Washington’s hawkish chorus, the benefits of providing increasingly greater lethality to Ukraine outweigh the dangers of provoking a direct Russian attack on the West.

An online petition calling for South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol to be impeached has experienced delays and disruptions following a flood of signatures. People attempting to access the website on Monday experienced four hour delays and some received an error message showing that at least 30,000 people were attempting to use the website at the same time, according to Reuters.

SEOUL, South Korea — For the first time, North Korean officials have been seen wearing lapel pins with the image of leader Kim Jong Un, another sign the North is boosting his personality cult to the level bestowed on his late dictator father and grandfather. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] North Koreans are required to wear pins over their hearts which for decades bore images of either the country’s founder, Kim Il Sung, or his son Kim Jong Il, or both.

PARIS — French voters face a decisive choice on July 7 in the runoff of snap parliamentary elections that could see the country’s first far-right government since the World War II Nazi occupation — or no majority emerging at all. Official results suggest Marine Le Pen’s anti-immigration, nationalist party National Rally stands a good chance of winning a majority in the lower house of parliament for the first time, but the outcome remains uncertain amid the complex voting system and political tactics. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] What happened? In Sunday’s first round, the National Rally and its allies arrived ahead with around one-third of the votes.

More than one billion people around the world have already voted in 2024—and there are many elections still to go in this history-making year. Polls for national office have been—or will be—held in more than 60 countries (as well as the European Union), home to nearly half the people on earth. [Click here for a previous version of this story that outlines 2024 elections by population and includes a “freedom and fairness score” for each country.] [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] And so far, a tsunami of change is sweeping ballot boxes worldwide. But the tides are turning in different directions: elections in Europe have seen far-right parties make serious gains; meanwhile, South Korea’s main liberal opposition to the ruling conservative government earned a landslide victory in parliamentary elections, and Senegal’s delayed presidential vote was hailed by observers as a win for democracy after it elevated a relative outsider and anti-corruption candidate, bringing a surprise end to the decades-long domination of the country’s ruling coalition. What’s clear is that people don’t want things to stay the same.

PARIS — France’s high-stakes legislative elections propelled the far-right National Rally to a strong but not decisive lead in the first-round vote Sunday, polling agencies’ projected, dealing another slap to centrist President Emmanuel Macron after his risky decision to call voters back to the polls for the second time in three weeks. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] French polling agencies indicated that Macron’s grouping of centrist parties could finish a distant third in the first-round ballot.