- India's one-horned rhino numbers charging ahead, govt says
- Rescuers comb muddy riverbanks after Japan floods kill seven
- Asian stocks boosted by US rate cut, China stimulus hope
- Sri Lanka's new leader says no magic solution to crisis
- Israel warns Lebanese as wave of strikes hits Hezbollah
- New Socceroos coach Popovic confident he can rescue World Cup campaign
- 'Put Austrians first': On a pub crawl with far-right voters
- Trial begins in Italy student murder case that opened eyes to femicide
- Family of murdered Sri Lanka editor seek justice from new president
- Austria's far right woos anti-vaxxers with fund for vaccine 'victims'
- Long wait for justice in India's backlogged courts
- Rohingya refugees detail worsening violence in Myanmar
- Rescuers comb muddy riverbanks after Japan floods kill six
- Sri Lankan leftist leader sworn in after landslide election win
- Indonesia, NZ deny Papua rebel claim 'bribe' paid for pilot release
- Swearing, shoeys and swift legs: Singapore GP talking points
- South Korea warns of 'decisive' action against trash balloons
- Football Australia names Tony Popovic as Socceroos coach
- Japan quake, flood victim attempts fresh start with wife's memory
- Japan quake, flood victim attemps fresh start with wife's memory
- Asian markets extend gains as focus turns to US inflation
- Six dead after floods in central Japan: media
- Australian golf prodigy suffers career-threatening eye injury
- Gaza hospital a symbol of the ruin of war
- October 7: how Israel's deadliest day unfolded
- Bibles, sneakers, silver coins: Trump's merch for sale
- Met Opera opens season with tech-heavy 'Grounded'
- Colombia's Inirida flower: from 'weed' to emblem for UN meeting
- Colombia rebel group imposes control in restive coca zone
- Rams fight back to upset 49ers, Cowboys lose again
- Sri Lankan leftist leader to take office after landslide election win
- 300-kilo WWI bomb removed in Belgrade
- Zelensky in US to explain war plan to Biden, Harris, Trump
- 'Atrocious' Sudan war pushing refugees further afield: UNHCR chief
- 'Convergence' growing on global plastics treaty: UN environment chief
- MLB White Sox fall to Padres to match one-season loss mark
- All-Australian Ripper squad captures LIV Golf team crown
- Barnier promises compromise from France's embattled new govt
- Zelensky arrives in US to explain war plan to Biden
- Barca rout Villarreal but Ter Stegen hurt, Atletico draw at Rayo
- Darnold shines for Vikings, Steelers and Eagles win
- Atletico held to draw at Rayo Vallecano
- Marseille stun Lyon with 95th-minute winner after early red card
- Gabbia ends AC Milan's derby pain with late winner against Inter
- Surging Ko claims LPGA Queen City crown in spectacular style
- 'Impossible': Alcaraz shoots down Federer comparisons after Laver Cup win
- Scholz's party beats far-right AfD in east German state vote
- Verstappen says 'silly' swearing row could hasten F1 exit
- Calls for Israel and Hezbollah to step back from the abyss
- Israel and Hezbollah urged to avoid 'catastrophe'
Macron attacks Le Pen as lead slips in French polls
President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday launched a bitter attack against far-right leader Marine Le Pen after warning supporters to take nothing for granted in an increasingly tight French election.
Macron is due to address a rally for the first time in his re-election campaign in Paris on Saturday as the clock ticks to the first round of France's presidential polls on April 10.
The president, who was late entering the campaign as he was sidetracked by Russia's war against Ukraine, for the first time attended a meeting at the headquarters of his Republic on the Move (LREM) party late Wednesday.
"The president-candidate called for a collective mobilisation, based on the idea that nothing is won yet," a source, who took part in the meeting, told AFP.
His attendance, which had not been announced by his team, came after a series of polls showed that Le Pen, the president's main election rival, is catching up on Macron, who has long been the overwhelming favourite to win.
The latest Elabe poll published Wednesday showed Le Pen winning 47.5 percent of the vote in a second-round run-off against Macron, who was projected to garner 52.5 percent, a smaller margin than in the same poll last week.
With a margin of error of up to 3.1 points, those figures suggest Le Pen could theoretically emerge as the winner in the second round.
- 'Le Pen can win' -
Analysts say Le Pen has been helped by focusing on basic issues like dwindling purchasing power and also by seeming more moderate in comparison to her fellow far-right candidate, the ex-pundit Eric Zemmour.
"Of course Marine Le Pen can win," Macron's former prime minister Edouard Philippe said in an interview with the Le Parisien daily posted online Thursday.
Philippe, who has founded his own party but is generally seen as an ally of Macron, added that "if she wins, believe me, things will be seriously different for the country... Her programme is dangerous."
The ex-premier, a heavyweight seen as playing a part in the next government or even as a successor to Macron in 2027, said that the president was "by far" the best candidate standing.
On a campaign visit to the southwestern town of Fouras, Macron insisted that there was no difference between Le Pen and Zemmour. They were both "extreme right," he said.
There is a "duo on the far right and I'm fighting it", Macron said, lamenting the crumbling of the traditional "republican front" against the extremes.
"People have normalised it, looked away, they're saying 'they've got nicer'... so we shouldn't be surprised" to see a strong Le Pen, he added.
Macron's re-election had been seen by many observers as almost a foregone conclusion, as polls suggested Le Pen would again be his rival in the run-off, a repeat of the vote five years ago.
But he formally entered the election campaign only at the last minute, citing his diplomatic efforts to halt Russia's war in Ukraine as the reason for the delay.
Recent days have seen the government on the defensive over liberal use of public money on expensive management consultants such as US-based giant McKinsey.
C.Kovalenko--BTB