Free Republic

<p>Vienna (AFP) - Austrian far-right hopes of winning a presidential runoff remained on hold Sunday as the candidates were neck-and-neck in a battle closely watched by the EU, which is struggling to contain a surge of anti-immigrant parties.</p> <p>A win would see Norbert Hofer of the Freedom Party (FPOe) become the European Union's first far-right head of state.</p>

Initial results showed the presidential election run-off was neck and neck Independent candidate Alexander Van der Bellen has 'emerged as winner' Norbert Hofer, from the Freedom Party, is said to have conceded defeat Hofer used a pre-election event to deliver an anti-Muslim message to voters Austria's Far-Right presidential candidate Norbert Hofer has conceded defeat in his election bid to become the EU's first anti-immigrant leader. The EU had been on tenterhooks this morning as Austria waited to see whether Hofer had won an election run-off against Independent candidate Alexander Van der Bellen. Projected results last night had put both...

Mr Hofer led narrowly after Sunday's election but postal votes gave Mr Van der Bellen victory by 50.3% to 49.7%. Mr Van der Bellen campaigned on a pro-EU platform, backed by the Green Party. Mr Hofer, of the Freedom Party, tapped into anti-EU sentiment and fears about rising numbers of asylum seekers. He conceded victory on his Facebook page. Mr Hofer said it was a sad day and that he would have gladly served as president.

Austria could elect the European Union's first far-right head of state on Sunday, with support for Freedom Party candidate Norbert Hofer buoyed by a migration crisis that has heightened fears about employment and security. Opinion polls suggest the presidential run-off between Hofer and former Greens leader Alexander van der Bellen will be close. A far-right victory would resonate across the 28-member EU, where migration driven by conflict and poverty in the Middle East and elsewhere has become a major political issue. Support for groups like the eurosceptic, anti-immigration Freedom Party (FPO) has been rising in various countries, whether they have...

Austrians have headed to the polle to elect a new president in run-of elections. Early results by one polling institute gave far-right candidate Norbert Hofer a marginal lead at almost 51 percent. Norbert Hofer was projected to become Austria's first far-right president with 50.9 per cent of the votes, according to pollsters of the ARGE Wahlen group say. His lead over Green Party rival Alexander van der Bellen remains too narrow to call a definite winner. Former Green party chief van der Bellen was projected to gain 49.1 per cent of the ballots. ARGE said they were fairly certain that...

According to the interior ministry's final count of votes cast at polling-stations (in German), Mr Hofer took 51.9% to 48.1% for Mr Van der Bellen. But ORF public TV's projection (in German), which is usually considered reliable, has both men on 50%.

One month ago, pro-European voices in Austria, and all of Europe, were suddenly muted when in the first round of the Austrian presidential election, Norbert Hofer head of Austria Freedom Party (FPO), described as a "Euroskeptic, right-wing, anti-immigrant party" crushed his opposition buoyed by a migration crisis that has heightened fears about employment and security across the continent, and gathered a whopping 35% of the vote leaving the other five legacy candidates far behind.

Samantha Power will take over at as ambassador to the United Nations following Susan Rice’s promotion to national security adviser. Here are Power’s five most embarrassing comments. 1. Power called for global apology tour Power wrote that U.S. foreign policy “needs not tweaking but overhauling,” in a 2003 New Republic article. Power recommended that United States officials should apologize to the world for its past failures in order to enhance credibility with foreign countries. “A country has to look back before it can move forward,” Power wrote. “Instituting a doctrine of the mea culpa would enhance our credibility

he World Jewish Congress is in turmoil, two decades after the billionaire Edgar M. Bronfman Sr. rescued it from crushing debts and propelled it to remarkable successes. With just a few dozen employees and an $8 million annual operating budget, the congress, a nonprofit organization, brought to light the Nazi past of Kurt Waldheim, the former United Nations chief, and forced Swiss banks to pay more than $1 billion to settle Holocaust-related claims. Now the organization that criticized those banks for their lack of transparency and accountability finds itself under attack on similar accusations - and from within the Jewish...

A suspected war criminal who allegedly played a key role in the slaughter of 40,000 civilians in Sri Lanka has landed a cushy job at the United Nations -- with full diplomatic immunity. snip. Silva also stands accused of mowing down a group of separatist political leaders who agreed to surrender and were waving white flags when they were shot.

Kurt Waldheim is dead. It says so in the New York Times, and doubtless in all the other official records-from his death certificate to his extensive resume. His papers were always in order, his career well documented: law degree, University of Vienna; a string of diplomatic posts culminating in his appointment as Austria's foreign minister; secretary-general of the United Nations; president of Austria. There was no need to go into detail and mention his service in the Balkans as an intelligence officer with the Wehrmacht's infamous 714th Infantry Division. Together with its Croatian accomplices, the 714th conducted a murderous campaign...

1918 KURT WALDHEIM 2007 Former leader of U.N., Austria hid ties to Nazis By Jonathan Kandell NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE June 15, 2007 Kurt Waldheim, the former U.N. secretary-general and president of Austria whose hidden ties to Nazi organizations and war crimes were exposed late in his career, died yesterday at his home in Vienna. He was 88. Although it was never proved that Waldheim himself committed atrocities during World War II, he was a lieutenant in army intelligence attached to German military units that executed thousands of Yugoslav partisans and civilians and deported thousands of Greek Jews to...

So the old rogue is dead. That is all I could say when I heard yesterday that Kurt Waldheim had reached the end of his days at 88. I spent months, years, investigating his dark past in what we now call Bosnia, when he - let us not be coy about this - was part of the Bosnien-Kampfgruppen of Wehrmacht Army Group E of General Löhr, fighting "terroristen" (yes, indeed, the Nazis called them terrorists, just as they talked about the "RAF Terroristenfliegen") in the Balkans. Waldheim had been secretary general of the UN, had lectured UN officers in Lebanon...

VIENNA (Reuters) - Austrian-born film star-turned- politician Arnold Schwarzenegger (news - web sites) joined a big gathering of heads of state Saturday at the funeral of Austrian president Thomas Klestil, who died this week two days before completing his term. The California governor attended a requiem mass for Klestil in Vienna's St Stephen's Cathedral along with Russian President Vladimir Putin (news - web sites), Spain's Crown Prince Felipe, former Czech president Vaclav Havel and other foreign dignitaries. Klestil, son of a Vienna tram driver who became a career diplomat, helped restore the presidency's image after a controversy dating back to...

KURT Waldheim, the former United Nations secretary general accused of committing Nazi atrocities, has received a $4.1 million golden handshake from the world body. The money has been paid secretly over the past 20 years, despite Mr Waldheim being linked to war crimes. The former UN secretary general has been banned from setting foot on United States soil since 1987, when he was found to have "assisted or participated" in Nazi deportations and the executions of Jews and soldiers in the Balkans during World War II. But now it has been revealed that the UN gives the 83-year-old ex-Wehrmacht intelligence...