Democratic Taiwan is two days from a pivotal election that is being watched from Beijing to Washington because the next president will determine the island’s future relations with an increasingly assertive China in a flashpoint region.

China views Taiwan as a renegade province and has never renounced the use of force to take it one day.

Vice President Lai Ching-te, the frontrunner candidate for the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), has portrayed himself as a defender of Taiwan’s democracy but has drawn ire from China in the past over comments about independence — a red line for Beijing.

China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said in a statement Thursday that if Lai “comes to power, he will further push for ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist activities (and create) turbulence in the Taiwan Strait”. 

“(He) would continue to follow the evil path of provoking ‘independence’ and… take Taiwan ever further away from peace and prosperity, and ever closer to war and decline,” it said.

“We sincerely hope that most Taiwan compatriots will see the extreme harm of the DPP’s ‘Taiwan independence’ line and the severe danger of Lai Ching-te in his instigation of cross-strait conflicts.”

Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu criticised China’s “repeated interference” in the election. 

“Taiwan’s upcoming elections are in the international spotlight & (China’s) repeated interference steals the focus. Frankly, Beijing should stop messing with other countries’ elections & hold their own,” Wu posted on social media platform X on Thursday. 

Lai, who had once called himself a “pragmatic worker for Taiwan’s independence”, has taken a softer line on the issue on the campaign trail.

He has chosen instead to echo current President Tsai Ing-wen’s stance that Taiwan is “already independent” and therefore does not need to formally declare it.

China cut off high-level communications with Tsai’s government over her defence of the island’s sovereignty. 

Lai said on Tuesday that “as long as there is parity and dignity, Taiwan’s door will always be open” for cooperation with China.

“But we cannot have illusions about peace. Accepting China’s ‘one-China’ principle is not true peace,” he said, referring to Beijing’s doctrine that Taiwan is a part of China.

– ‘Staunch ally’ – 

Lai’s opponent Hou Yu-ih of the Kuomintang (KMT) — which has long encouraged closer cooperation with Beijing — has run on maintaining peace across the Taiwan Strait, saying that Lai would be a danger to China relations.

Hou rejected the DPP’s allegation that he was “pro-China and a sell-out of Taiwan”.

“Taiwan is a democratic and free country,” he told foreign media on Thursday, stressing that he did not have “unrealistic ideas” about China’s intentions.

“No matter what China thinks… what the mainstream public opinion in Taiwan wants us to do is to maintain the status quo,” Hou said, adding that the issue of “reunification” will not be on the table if he is elected. 

Chinese President Xi Jinping said in a recent address that unifying Taiwan with China is an “inevitability”. 

Beijing has stepped up military pressure on the island in recent years, sending warplanes and naval vessels on manoeuvres around Taiwan. 

Tsai has boosted defence spending during her two terms in office, buying more weapons from top ally the United States.

Hou said he will “not only increase our purchases… but also strengthen Taiwan-US military cooperation” if elected. 

“We are happy to see the United States playing a positive role in maintaining stability in Taiwan Strait,” he said. 

“No matter what happens here, the United States will forever remain a staunch ally of ours.”

Washington said on Wednesday it plans to send an unofficial delegation to Taiwan after the election, a move sure to spike tensions with China but which Hou said on Thursday was “welcome”.

The post China calls Taiwan poll frontrunner a ‘severe danger’ days from crucial vote appeared first on Digital Journal.

The diplomat was set to meet Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Cairo, a day after talks with Palestinian Authority leader Mahmud Abbas, who “committed” to reforming the body to potentially reunite Gaza and the occupied West Bank under its leadership after the war, Blinken said.

The Middle East trip, his fourth aimed at preventing the conflict’s spread, coincided with a UN Security Council resolution on Wednesday demanding an “immediate” end to attacks in the Red Sea by Yemen’s Huthi rebels carried out in solidarity with Hamas.

It also comes as Israel was set to face accusations brought by South Africa at the UN’s top court on Thursday that it has committed “genocidal” acts in Gaza, charges both Israel and Blinken have dismissed as baseless.

Hamas’s press office said early Thursday that 62 people had been killed in strikes overnight, including around Gaza’s main southern city of Khan Yunis.

Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari said in his evening briefing the night before that forces were continuing “to act decisively above and below ground” in the area.

Earlier in the day, the army said that troops east of the city had found “tunnel shafts, tunnel routes, and numerous weapons and materials”, and killed “dozens of terrorists”. 

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said an Israeli strike on an ambulance in central Gaza killed four medics and two other passengers on Wednesday. 

The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the incident when contacted by AFP.

In Deir al-Balah, also in central Gaza, people wounded in a strike at a nearby school were brought to the Al-Aqsa hospital.

“There are injured people at the school since last night, no cars or ambulances are reaching it — nothing,” Ramadan Darwit told AFP at the hospital.

During a visit with troops in central Gaza, Israeli army chief Herzi Halevi called it a “complex battlefield”.

“The fighting is… below ground, it’s above ground, and (against) an enemy that prepared its defences over a very long period of time in a very organised way. There is a population here, many houses — a very, very complex battlefield,” he said.

– ‘Indescribable’ crisis –

The war in Gaza erupted when Hamas launched its unprecedented October 7 attack, which resulted in about 1,140 deaths in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

Militants also took around 250 hostages, 132 of whom Israel says remain in Gaza, including at least 25 believed to have been killed.

Israel has responded with a relentless military campaign that has killed at least 23,357 people, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry.

The war has triggered an acute humanitarian crisis,with an Israeli siege sparking shortages of food, water, fuel and medicine.

UN aid chief Martin Griffiths posted on the social media platform X that Gaza’s health sector “is being slowly choked off”. 

The World Health Organization called the humanitarian situation “indescribable”.

In the southern border town of Rafah, which has been overrun with displaced people fleeing fighting further north, former Gaza health ministry staffer Zaki Shaheen converted his shop into a makeshift clinic.

Shaheen said he had worked in emergency care “my whole life”.

“So we decided to open a medical department, and we got help from the health ministry,” he told AFP, noting the goal was to take pressure off of already-overburdened hospitals.

“We receive no less than 30 or 40 cases per day, morning to night. I’ll be sleeping, then someone comes in with an injury or a burn, so we treat them.”

The United Nations estimates 1.9 million Gazans have been displaced inside the territory, which had already endured years of blockade and poverty.

Blinken sketched out a possible post-war future for Gaza after meeting Abbas and Bahrain’s King Hamad on Wednesday.

Blinken told Abbas that Washington supported “tangible steps” towards the creation of a Palestinian state — a long-term goal that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hard-right government has opposed.

In Bahrain, Blinken said Abbas was “committed” to reforming the Palestinian Authority “so that it can effectively take responsibility for Gaza, so that Gaza and the West Bank can be reunited under a Palestinian leadership”.

– Huthis warned –

Fears, meanwhile, have soared of a widening conflict between Israel and Iran-backed armed groups, especially Lebanon’s Hezbollah, but also others in Syria, Iraq and Yemen.

Huthi rebels in Yemen who claim to be acting in support of Hamas have carried out numerous attacks on merchant ships in the Red Sea, a vital artery for international trade.

The United States has set up a multinational naval task force to protect shipping from the attacks, which Blinken on Wednesday said were “aided and abetted” by Iran and would bring “consequences”.

The same day, the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding “that the Huthis immediately cease all such attacks, which impede global commerce and undermine navigational rights and freedoms as well as regional peace and security”.

Just a day before, the rebels had “launched a complex” attack in the area, US Central Command said, adding that US and British forces had shot down 18 drones and three missiles, with no casualties or damage reported.

The post Israel strikes southern Gaza as Blinken heads to Egypt for talks appeared first on Digital Journal.

The head-to-head showdown in Iowa capital Des Moines came five days before the state’s pivotal opening vote in the primary season, considered crucial for winnowing the field and giving those left standing a springboard for the rest of the race.

Trump has a commanding lead despite the multiple legal challenges he faces, but has skipped the televised debates, concluding he has nothing to gain by taking prime-time hits from lower-polling rivals. 

With no other candidate qualifying and the contest’s most vocal Trump critic, Chris Christie, dropping out hours earlier, the pair were expected to go after the ex-president more directly than in previous debates.

But it quickly became clear that they were competing to be the absent former president’s closest runner-up in Iowa rather than looking to eat into his lead as they ducked repeat opportunities to criticize him.

DeSantis, Florida’s governor and a hardline conservative, set the tone early on by calling Haley a “mealy-mouthed politician who just tells you what she thinks you want to hear.”

“Donald Trump is running to pursue his issues. Nikki Haley is running to pursue her donors’ issues. I’m running to pursue your issues and your family’s issues and to turn this country around,” he said, dusting off a favorite campaign line.

Haley, a former South Carolina governor, hit out at DeSantis’s runaway campaign spending and repeatedly directed viewers to a website dedicated to enumerating all of her opponent’s “lies.”

“Every time he lies… don’t turn this into a drinking game because you will be over-served by the end of the night,” she said.

The pair spent much of the debate on alternating monologues rehearsing prepared opposition research, aggressively trading barbs on their records and policies running their states.

– Broken promises –

DeSantis is seeking to regain ground lost to Haley and his path to the nomination depends on a strong showing in Iowa. 

Haley is looking to outperform expectations in the Midwestern state and ride into a one-on-one match-up with Trump in her preferred battleground of New Hampshire.

But much of the campaign has been overshadowed by the legal woes facing Trump, who has sought to use the precincts of courthouses across the country to dominate TV coverage and rally support.

The tycoon’s character came up early on but Haley stuck to the script, repeating a rote campaign remark that he was “the right president at the right time” but that “his way is not my way.”

She briefly criticized Trump over his bogus claims that the 2020 election was stolen and for defending the 2021 assault on the US Capitol, but obfuscated when asked if she thought he viewed the Constitution differently from her.   

DeSantis was tougher on Trump and hit out at what he characterized as the front-runner’s poor record on curbing public disorder, broken promises on border security and failure to attack Washington corruption.

But he quickly pivoted back each time to standard campaign lines attacking Haley.

The Iraq veteran, who has promised to have drug smugglers shot dead at the southern border, focused on his opponent’s record on controlling immigration, taxation, education and for being soft on abortion.

Haley accused the more isolationist DeSantis of flip-flopping on aid to war-torn Ukraine, called him out repeatedly over his “demeaning” tone and attacked him over a feud with Disney that cost Florida 2,000 jobs.

Trump, who often arranges “counterprogramming” to draw attention away from the debates, was taking part in a Fox News town hall event elsewhere in Des Moines, his first live appearance on the network in two years.

He said DeSantis would be “working in a pizza shop or perhaps a law firm” without Trump’s help with his career. 

He sought to assuage fears that he will abandon the rule of law if he is returned to the White House, assuring viewers he was “not going to be a dictator.” 

“I’m going to manage like we did,” he added. “We were so successful, that the country was coming together.”

The post White House hopefuls flub chance to hit Trump in pre-Iowa debate appeared first on Digital Journal.

The Civil Nuclear Roadmap includes exploring the construction of a major new power station, £300 million ($382 million) of investment to produce an advanced uranium fuel and “smarter regulation”. 

Taken together, the measures would quadruple UK nuclear power by 2050 to 24 gigawatts, enough to provide a quarter of the UK’s electricity needs.

“Nuclear is the perfect antidote to the energy challenges facing Britain — it’s green, cheaper in the long-term and will ensure the UK’s energy security,” said Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

“This is the right long-term decision and is the next step in our commitment to nuclear power, which puts us on course to achieve net zero by 2050 in a measured and sustainable way,” he added.

The government says it is committed to the 2050 net zero target but has come under fire after announcing last summer it will issue “hundreds” of new oil and gas licences in the North Sea.

It is also grappling with a cost-of-living crisis partly caused by the spike in oil and gas prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Energy minister Claire Coutinho said the plans would mean the UK would “never again be held to ransom over energy by tyrants like Vladimir Putin”.

The government said the proposals represented “the biggest expansion of nuclear power for 70 years”, adding it would “reduce electricity bills, support thousands of jobs and improve UK energy security”.  

– Construction –

The most eye-catching proposal is the possible construction of another power station as big as Sizewell in east England, construction on which is due to begin this year, and Hinkley in west England, which is currently under construction.

Both power stations will be capable of powering six million homes each.  

The UK currently has nine operational nuclear reactors on five sites but many are nearing the end of their operating lives. 

Six reactors on three sites have been shut down since 2021 and will be dismantled.

However, operator EDF announced in March that it was extending the life of two British power plants — Heysham 1 and Hartlepool. 

The UK intends to build up to eight new reactors by 2050.

The government said on Sunday it will invest up to £300 million into producing the HALEU fuel required for new high-tech reactors, and which currently is only commercially produced in Russia.  

“The UK will lead the way from its North West production hub to provide the world with this form of uranium fuel, with the first plant aiming to be operational early in the next decade,” said the government. 

Regulators will also be allowed to assess projects while designs are finalised in a loosening of rules aimed at speeding along construction plans. 

The post UK unveils plans for ‘biggest nuclear power expansion in 70 years’ appeared first on Digital Journal.

A bustling, vibrant democracy of 23 million, Taiwan is separated by a narrow 180-kilometre (110-mile) strait from communist-ruled China, which claims it as part of its territory.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control, and the threat Beijing poses has dominated the race to the polls.

Frontrunner and Vice President Lai Ching-te of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) — which positions itself as the defender of the island’s sovereignty — has called for voters to “choose the right path” to keep Taiwan’s democracy strong.

His main opponent, former police chief and mayor Hou Yu-ih says Lai is a danger for cross-strait relations, and touts his Kuomintang (KMT) as the only party able to maintain peace with China.

And rousing anti-establishment sentiments is the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), which has emerged as an unexpected political force with leader Ko Wen-je presenting himself as a path out of the two-party deadlock.

Taiwan’s freewheeling political discourse has ranged from stagnating wages to social housing programmes, but China remains top-of-mind for voters.

The island moved from an autocracy under the nationalists who fled China in 1949 following the Communist Party’s takeover to a democracy in the 1990s, and has never looked back.

“We just want to maintain our way of life and principles,” said 65-year-old Chen at a recent DPP rally in southern Taiwan. 

– Sabre-rattling –

For decades, tensions with China have made Taiwan a potential military flashpoint of global concern.

Washington has spent billions arming the island, crucially located on a maritime gateway connecting the South China Sea and Pacific Ocean.

As China’s military prowess and ambitions have grown, so have its manoeuvres around Taiwan.

Chinese warplanes, reconnaissance drones and naval vessels are detected near-daily, and Beijing recently staged massive wargames simulating a blockade and sending missiles to its surrounding waters.

“All these threats certainly reflect Beijing’s desire to move towards ‘reunification’,” Francoise Mengin, a China expert at Sciences Po in Paris, told AFP.

But with high-level communications cut off by Beijing, there are also fears of “accidental conflict”, she said.

China issued a fresh threat on Thursday, saying an election win by Lai would pose a “severe danger” to cross-strait ties.

Victory for the frontrunner would be an unprecedented third consecutive term for a party in the democratic era.

It would also “determine the cross-strait dynamics in the next four years, which will in turn affect the stability of Taiwan Strait and… the region,” said Ivy Kwek of International Crisis Group. 

“Rising tensions… could potentially lead to direct conflict between the two major powers –- US and China.”

US President Joe Biden told Xi in a meeting last year to “respect” Taiwan’s democratic processes, while the Chinese leader called on Washington to “stop arming” Taipei. 

– Chip powerhouse –

Taiwan is also home to a powerhouse semiconductor industry, producing 90 percent of the world’s most advanced microchips — tiny silicon wafers needed to power everything from coffee machines to cellphones to missile launch pads. 

This makes it a critical cog in the global economy, particularly as the United States and China have clashed over technology exports surrounding semiconductors.

Any conflict would have “huge ramifications on the world’s economy,” Kwek said. 

A blockade of the island would turn the key Taiwan Strait into a chokehold, affecting the transport of 50 percent of the world’s containers and costing the global economy at least $2 trillion, according to Rhodium Group. 

China’s growing show of military force has also hardened Taiwan’s people against Xi’s rhetoric that both sides of the strait are part of “one family”.

Today, less than three percent of the population say they feel Chinese — an evolution in identity from 1992 when about a quarter said they were Chinese.

Sarah Liu of the University of Edinburgh said the whole world has an interest in preserving the island as “one of the strongest democracies in Asia”. 

“The world has recognised the importance of preventing an authoritarian regime to grow drastically as it has implications for the world’s safety and democracy,” she said.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 sent a frisson of fear across the world, while China’s clampdown on Hong Kong has further alarmed the Taiwanese public. 

“It’s best… to just maintain the status quo for everyone’s peace,” said KMT supporter Huang Shi-Chang, 67. 

“Let the Chinese Communist Party live their life, and we live ours.”

The post ‘Our way of life’: Taiwan to vote in election dominated by China appeared first on Digital Journal.

Violence erupted in the capital Port Moresby on Wednesday evening after a group of soldiers, police officers and prison guards launched protests against the government.

Angry crowds torched buildings and ransacked shops during a night of turmoil that soon spread 300 kilometres (186 miles) north to the city of Lae. 

By Thursday afternoon, police commissioner David Manning confirmed that at least 15 people had died in the country’s two largest cities. 

Prime Minister James Marape on Thursday apologised to the country, saying the bursts of “lawlessness” would “not be tolerated”. 

“I want to speak today, speak to the people and speak to the country,” he said at a press conference. 

“This is your country as much as it’s my country. Breaking the law does not achieve certain outcomes.” 

Marape said the worst of the riots had subsided by Thursday morning, but conceded “it’s still tense out there” in parts of Port Moresby. 

AFPTV footage showed looters in the capital dashing into stores through smashed glass windows, stuffing stolen goods into cardboard boxes, shopping trolleys and plastic buckets. 

One man was seen lugging an entire chest freezer away on his shoulders.  

Buildings and cars were set alight, AFPTV footage showed, stirring up thick plumes of black smoke that hung over the worst-hit parts of the city. 

Earlier, a smaller crowd gathered outside the prime minister’s office in Port Moresby, tearing a security gate off its rails and torching a parked police car.

Beijing has lodged a complaint with Papua New Guinea’s government, following reports that rioters targeted Chinese-owned businesses. 

Port Moresby resident Jerry Mathew, 30, said “many shops” had come under threat.

“Some parts of the city are safe, but other major centres are not,” he told AFP as the riots raged Wednesday evening. 

– ‘End this strife’ –

National Capital District governor Powes Parkop said the unrest represented an “unprecedented level of strife” in Port Moresby, while local newspaper the Post Courier called it the city’s “darkest day”. 

“What is most important is that we must end this strife,” Parkop told a local radio station Wednesday evening. 

“Nobody will be a winner in this type of civil unrest.”

Security forces staged a protest inside Papua New Guinea’s parliament after noticing their pay had been docked without explanation.  

Although the government swiftly promised to fix what it described as a payroll “glitch”, it was not enough to stop disgruntled civilians from joining the fray. 

The burst of violence highlights the often volatile nature of life in Papua New Guinea, a country plagued by poverty and high levels of crime.

Perched less than 200 kilometres (125 miles) from Australia’s northernmost border, Papua New Guinea is the largest and most populous state in Melanesia. 

Although it is blessed with vast deposits of gas, gold, and minerals, human rights groups estimate that almost 40 percent of its nine million citizens still live below the poverty line. 

Australia recently inked a security deal with Papua New Guinea, promising to help its stretched police force combat arms trafficking, drug smuggling and tribal violence.

“We continue to urge calm at this difficult time,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters on Thursday.

The post Papua New Guinea vows crackdown after 15 killed in riots appeared first on Digital Journal.

The chain-smoking artist has been hailed for modernising the monarchy in her half-century as queen. 

She acceded to the throne at the age of 31 on January 14, 1972, on the death of her father, Frederik IX.

Exactly 52 years to the day, she will pass the baton to her eldest son, Crown Prince Frederik, after citing her age and health issues in her shock New Year’s Eve abdication announcement.

“Queen Margrethe is a very good storyteller and she controls her own story,” Cecilie Nielsen, royal expert at public broadcaster DR, told AFP.

“In deciding to abdicate, she also gets to pick the exact moment to step down.”

The queen said major back surgery she underwent in February 2023 “gave cause to thoughts” about stepping down.

She will remain known as Queen Margrethe after her abdication.

When she became queen, she took the name Margrethe II in recognition of Margrethe I, who ruled Denmark from 1375 to 1412 but never formally held the title of queen.

At the time, only 45 percent of Danes were in favour of the monarchy, most believing it had no place in a modern democracy.

But the cultured Margrethe has managed to stay away from scandal and modernise the institution, allowing her two sons to marry commoners and slimming down the monarchy.

The Danish royal family is now among the most popular in the world, enjoying the support of more than 80 percent of Danes.

Margrethe is Europe’s only reigning queen, although four countries — Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden — have crown princesses.

– Resentful husband –

Nicknamed “Daisy” by her family and subjects, she repeatedly insisted over the years that she would never step down.

“I will stay on the throne until I drop,” she had said.

Aged 82, she rode a rollercoaster at Copenhagen’s famed Tivoli amusement park, her hat fastened securely on her head.

But life has not always been smooth sailing for Margrethe. 

Her French-born husband, Prince Consort Henrik, was known for his flamboyant style and frequent outbursts of anger. He repeatedly expressed disappointment that his title was never changed to king when his wife became queen in 1972.

In 2002, he made headlines when he fled to his chateau in southern France, complaining he did not receive enough respect in Denmark. He later said he did not want to be buried next to his wife because he was never made her equal in life.

Henrik died in February 2018, five months after being diagnosed with dementia.

Margrethe displayed the same steeliness in her recent very public quarrel with her youngest son, Prince Joachim, after she stripped his four children of their princely titles in 2022 to slim down the monarchy.

– Uniting force –

The queen was born in Copenhagen on April 16, 1940, just one week after Nazi Germany invaded her country.

The eldest of three sisters, Denmark’s law of succession then barred women from inheriting the throne.

It was changed in 1953 following a referendum, under pressure from successive Danish governments mindful of a need to modernise society.

“She has managed to be a queen who has united the Danish nation in a time of large changes: globalisation, the appearance of the multicultural state, economic crises in the 1970s, 1980s and again in 2008 to 2015, and the pandemic,” historian Lars Hovebakke Sorensen told AFP.

– Queen of arts –

With sparkling blue eyes and a broad smile, Margrethe is known for her relaxed and playful side, as well as for her involvement in Denmark’s cultural scene.

A painter as well as a costume and set designer, she has worked with the Royal Danish Ballet and Royal Danish Theatre on numerous occasions.

She was recently nominated for Denmark’s equivalent of an Oscar for her work on the Netflix film “Ehrengard”, in both the set design and costume categories.

She studied at Cambridge and the Sorbonne in Paris, and is fluent in English, French, German and Swedish.

She has also translated plays, including Simone de Beauvoir’s “All Men Are Mortal” with her husband, under a pseudonym.

But it is primarily her paintings and drawings that have caught the public’s eye.

She has illustrated several books, including a Danish 2002 edition of J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings”, and her paintings have been exhibited in museums and galleries in Denmark and abroad.

The post Denmark’s Margrethe II, queen of hearts and the arts appeared first on Digital Journal.

Passionate about the environment, the 55-year-old has discreetly imposed himself in the shadow of his hugely popular mother, Queen Margrethe II, who announced her plans to abdicate in a televised New Year’s Eve address after 52 years on the throne.

Enjoying the support of more than 80 percent of Danes according to a recent poll, the prince will become King Frederik X upon his mother’s abdication on Sunday.

“When the time comes, I will guide the ship,” he said in a speech celebrating his chain-smoking mother’s half-century on the throne in 2022.

“I will follow you, as you followed your father” in leading the thousand-year-old institution, Prince Frederik added.

But this measured assurance is a far cry from his younger self.

“He was not strictly speaking a rebel, but as a child and young man, he was very uncomfortable with the media attention and the knowledge that he was going to be king,” said Gitte Redder, an expert on the Danish royal family.

He only “gained confidence in his mid-20s,” she told AFP.

– Lonely and tormented –

A lonely and tormented teenager, Frederik resented his parents for neglecting him as they fulfilled their royal obligations.

He sought solace in fast cars and fast living, and was considered a spoiled party prince in the early 1990s.

But that view began to change after he graduated from Aarhus University in 1995, the first Danish royal to complete a university education.

His time at college included a stint at Harvard in the United States, where he was enrolled under the pseudonym Frederik Henriksen.

The fake surname was a nod to his father, French diplomat Henri de Monpezat who became Prince Consort Henrik when he married Margrethe.

But Frederik — who in addition to Danish speaks English, French and German — really began to mature into his role during his time training in the three branches of Denmark’s military. 

The prince served in the navy’s Frogmen Corps — where he was nicknamed “Pingo” (Penguin) — one of only four of the 300 recruits to pass all of the tests in 1995.

In 2000, he took part in a four-month, 3,500-kilometre (2,175-mile) ski expedition across Greenland.

– Complementing the queen –

His daredevil side has landed him in hospital after sledging and scooter accidents, but his popularity has soared, boosted by the Royal Run, annual fun runs across Denmark that he began in 2018.

“He is a sportsman, he attends concerts and football matches, which makes him even more accessible than his mother,” royal expert Redder said.

“I don’t want to lock myself in a fortress. I want to be myself, a human being,” he once said, insisting he would stick to that even after taking the throne.

He met his wife Mary Donaldson, an Australian lawyer, in a Sydney bar during the 2000 Olympic Games.

They have tried to give their four children as normal an upbringing as possible, sending them mainly to state schools.

Their eldest, Prince Christian, who recently turned 18, was the first Danish royal to go to daycare.

The couple have gradually taken on many royal duties in recent years as the queen entered her eighties, “but very slowly and depending on the queen’s health”, said historian Sebastian Olden-Jorgensen.

The couple are “modern, woke, lovers of pop music, modern art and sports,” he added.

They “do not represent a potential revolution compared to the queen”, but a careful transition adapting to the times, he said.

Among other things, Frederik has championed Denmark’s drive to find solutions to the climate crisis.

He has said that he sees himself complementing his mother, a polymath who is an accomplished writer and artist.

“You paint, I exercise. You dig for buried objects from the past, I buried my head in order not to be recognised during my time in the armed forces. You are a master of words. I am sometimes at a loss for them,” he joked during the queen’s jubilee celebrations.

The post Frederik, from party prince to respected king of Denmark appeared first on Digital Journal.

The glamorous 51-year-old is credited with helping modernise the Danish monarchy over the years, and is one of its most popular members. 

Queen Margrethe II shocked Danes when she announced her plans to abdicate after 52 years on the throne in her annual New Year’s Eve speech, citing her age — 83 — and health issues.

The future queen, born Mary Donaldson, brought a breath of fresh air to the monarchy and dazzled Danes when she married into the royal family.

“Some people think my husband is a bit in my shadow because I’m very much in the spotlight and I have a lot of engagements,” she said in a 2017 authorised biography of Prince Frederik.

“But he’ll never be in my shadow, and I’ll never be in his shadow, because he reflects light on me,” she said.

Born in Hobart, Tasmania on February 5, 1972, Mary was working as an advertising executive in Australia when she met the then 34-year-old Frederik while out with friends at Sydney’s Slip Inn bar during the summer Olympics in 2000.

She only discovered later that he was the crown prince of Denmark and his group of friends was made up of other European royals — including his younger brother Prince Joachim and cousin Prince Nikolaos of Greece and Denmark.

“The first time we met, we shook hands,” she said in an interview several years ago.

“I didn’t know he was the prince of Denmark. Half an hour later, someone came up to me and said, ‘Do you know who these people are?'”

Frederik meanwhile told daily Kristeligt Dagblad that meeting Mary was “not only a rush of love, but also the feeling of having met my soulmate.”

After a discreet long-distance relationship and numerous under-the-radar visits, the couple became officially engaged in October 2003 and married on May 14, 2004 in Copenhagen Cathedral. 

They are now parents to four children: Prince Christian, 18, who will one day succeed his father as king, Princess Isabella, 16, and twins Prince Vincent and Princess Josephine, 13. 

– Modern and trendsetter –

Mary made a splash in Denmark from the start, impressing Danes with her ability to learn the Danish language quickly.

She also won over her mother-in-law immediately.

“I have to say that the first time (Frederik) allowed me to meet her, I hoped it would last,” Queen Margrethe recalled in a 2015 interview.

A poll published by Danish television TV2 in December declared Mary Denmark’s third-most popular royal, behind the immensely popular queen and Frederik.

“For the almost 20 years that she has been a member of the royal family, the crown princess has widened and perfected her role as spokesperson and PR official for the royal family, Denmark, and her chosen causes,” the daily Berlingske wrote recently.

She is often compared to Britain’s Princess Catherine for her sense of style and long dark locks, regularly making the fashion pages of Danish and international magazines.

She is also known for her work to fight bullying, domestic violence and social isolation, as well as promoting mental health and women’s rights.

Mary and Frederik are considered a modern couple, who love pop music, modern art and sports, according to historian Sebastian Olden-Jorgensen.

They have tried to give their four children as normal an upbringing as possible, sending them mainly to state schools.

Their first-born, 18-year-old Prince Christian, was the first Danish royal to attend daycare.

They “do not represent a potential revolution compared to the queen”, but a careful transition adapting to the times, Olden-Jorgensen said.

The post The Aussie set to become Queen of Denmark appeared first on Digital Journal.

The autocratic premier’s power is at its zenith in the world’s eighth-most populous nation, with the opposition neutralised by mass arrests and the ruling Awami League bent to her will.

With such commanding control, analysts said Hasina — who will be 81 if she serves a full term — will be able to anoint her replacement. 

But the question of who will eventually step into her shoes is a highly taboo one in the corridors of power.

AFP asked more than half a dozen leaders of the Awami League about the party’s plans for when she leaves office, but all refused to speak on the record due to the sensitivity of the topic. 

“She does not like speaking about this succession issue,” one mid-ranking party leader, who works in the league’s international wing, told AFP. 

Hasina is the daughter of Bangladesh’s founding leader and an emblem of the country’s entrenched tradition of dynastic politics.

Pierre Prakash of the International Crisis Group told AFP that Hasina was unlikely to find a suitable successor from outside her family. 

Hasina has helmed the political party co-founded by her father since 1981, and Prakash said her “iron grip on the party’s decision-making has held back the rise of capable younger leaders”.

Observers believe her eventual replacement will be one of three close family members.

– The son –

Sajeeb Wazed Joy is Hasina’s eldest son and has served as an important aide to her government despite living outside the country. 

The 52-year-old spearheaded an expansion of internet services in Bangladesh and until November served as a digital adviser to his mother, acting as an unofficial government spokesman on social media. 

He is also closely connected with two prominent think-tanks linked to the Awami League and his face is displayed on campaign posters alongside his mother’s. 

But according to a senior Awami League lawmaker close to Hasina, Joy does not want to pursue a political career and prefers to stay in the United States with his American family.

Joy briefly visited Bangladesh last November but did not participate in the most recent election campaign. 

Back in 2016, he even upbraided party officials for making him a formal party member without his permission, the lawmaker told AFP. 

– The sister –

Hasina’s father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Bangladesh’s founding leader, was assassinated in 1975 during a military coup by disgruntled army officers who also murdered her mother, three brothers and other family members.

The future premier and her younger sister Sheikh Rehana, now 68, were both abroad at the time and have shared a close bond ever since escaping the attack.

Hasina paid tribute to her sister just days before last week’s election in a speech recounting how Rehana looked after her two children while she was establishing her political career in the 1980s. 

Rehana has regularly accompanied Hasina on the campaign trail and to meetings abroad with foreign leaders, and the pair were seen celebrating together after Sunday’s vote. 

Her “experience and influence within the power corridors of Dhaka” make her a credible successor, Avinash Paliwal of the School of Oriental and African Studies in London told AFP.

– The daughter –

Saima Wazed, 51, is the second of Hasina’s two children and was relatively unknown until last year. 

In November, she was nominated to be the Southeast Asia regional head of the World Health Organization, despite criticism over her lack of public health experience.

Medical journal The Lancet said Wazed’s candidature had “raised questions over transparency and nepotism”, charges she rejected. 

Wazed has also been a regular member of her mother’s retinue in high-profile diplomatic tours but lacks experience in local politics.     

Paliwal said Saima nonetheless benefitted from having a clean slate in Bangladeshi politics while her relative youth “could have a powerful appeal among young Bangladeshis”. 

– The future –

Prakash of the International Crisis Group said none of the three were ultimately compelling candidates to succeed Hasina, and their elevation could cause the political machine she has spent a lifetime maintaining to fracture. 

“Analysts doubt any of them would have the power base or experience to maintain party unity in the way that Hasina has done so effectively,” he added.

His scepticism was shared by Bangladeshi voters asked by AFP whether Hasina’s possible heirs could match her formidable political legacy.

“Joy does not know the soil and sons of the country,” university graduate Ahmed Yousuf, 25, told AFP.

“Rehana is the daughter of our founding leader but she lacks experience and skills. Same goes for Saima. Can they wield power the way Hasina has done?”

The post After Hasina, who? The heirs to Bangladesh’s ‘iron grip’ PM appeared first on Digital Journal.