The far-right Alternative for Germany shrugged off a string of scandals to make solid gains and take second place in Sunday's EU election, according to first exit polls, a result that, if conmfirmed, would underscore the party's resilience ahead of next year's federal election. The forecast comes as Germany's party landscape undergoes its biggest upheaval in decades, with new populist parties vying to take space vacated by the shrinking mainstream parties that have dominated since reunification in 1990. The AfD won a record 16.5% of the vote on Sunday, according to an exit poll published by state broadcaster ARD - less than the 22% it was polling in February, but still 5.5 percentage points more than in the last EU election in 2019 and more than all three parties in Chancellor Olaf Scholz's coalition.
Since the early days of Paris's bid for the 2024 Olympics, the city has been receiving advice from a prestigious counsel: Nobel peace prize winner and social business guru Mohammed Yunus. Yunus pioneered microcredit in his native Bangladesh from the 1970s, helping lift millions out of poverty by providing traders with small loans to help them start businesses.His role in Paris as an advisor and ambassador for socially responsible business is a departure from his usual work – and is all the more
NEW YORK (AP) — “Bad Boys: Ride or Die,” the fourth installment in the Will Smith-Martin Lawrence action comedy series, opened with an estimated $56 million in theaters over the weekend, handing Hollywood a much-needed summer hit and Smith his biggest success since he slapped Chris Rock at the Academy Awards. Expectations were all over the map for “Ride or Die” given the dismal moviegoing market thus far this summer and Smith’s less certain box-office clout. In the end, though, the Sony Pictures release came in very close to, or slightly above, its tracking forecast.