INTERNACIONAL
People form a human chain around Slovakia’s public broadcaster that government wants to take over
BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AP) — Protesters in Slovakia formed a human chain around the country’s public television and radio building Wednesday in anger over a takeover plan by the government whose populist, pro-Russia prime minister recently labeled several private media outlets his enemies.
The takeover plan was drafted by Culture Minister Martina Šimkovičová, who represents an ultra-nationalist member party of the coalition government and has worked for an internet television outlet known for spreading disinformation.
THOUSANDS TAKE TO STREETS IN SLOVAKIA IN NATIONWIDE ANTI-GOVERNMENT PROTESTS
The plan has been condemned by President Zuzana Čaputová, opposition parties, local journalists, international media organizations, the European Commission and others who warn that the government would be taking full control of public broadcasting. Slovak journalists have called the plan an attack on all free media.
People take part in a protest organized by the Slovakian opposition parties in Bratislava, Wednesday, March 27, 2024. People in Bratislava have formed a human chain around the building of Slovakia’s public radio and television to protest a plan by the government of populist Prime Minister Robert Fico to take over the broadcasters. The plan has been condemned by President Zuzana Čaputová, opposition parties, local journalists, international media organizations, the European Commission and others have warned the changes would give the government full control of public broadcasting. (Pavol Zachar/TASR via AP)
Wednesday’s was the latest protest against the policies of Prime Minister Robert Fico, known for his tirades against journalists. His critics worry Slovakia under him will abandon its pro-Western course and follow the direction of Hungary under Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
Šimkovičová has said taking over public media is needed because she believes the current broadcaster is biased, giving space only to mainstream views and censoring the rest. The broadcaster has denied that.
According to her plan, the current public radio and television known as RTVS would be replaced by a new organization. A new seven-member council with members nominated by the government and parliament would select the broadcaster’s director and have the right to fire the director without giving cause.
The current broadcaster’s director was elected by parliament, and his term in office will end in 2027.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
The hundreds of protesters unveiled a banner reading «HANDS OFF RTVS!» and chanted to local journalists, «We’re by your side.» Thousands of people rallied in a similar protest earlier this month.
Fico returned to power for the fourth time last year after his leftist party Smer (Direction) won the parliamentary election on a pro-Russian, anti-American platform.
INTERNACIONAL
Trump’s threats against Canada boost Trudeau’s Liberal Party in the polls as new tariffs set to begin
OTTAWA, Canada — As new tariffs came into effect on Tuesday, analysts say that if Canada’s Liberal Party holds onto power, the party can thank President Donald Trump in part for such a reversal of political fortune.
Since Trump’s inauguration, Canada’s official opposition Conservative Party – once leading the governing Liberals by a wide margin – has seen their popularity in public-opinion polls gradually decline.
An Ipsos poll released last week found that, for the first time since the Liberals won the last federal election in 2021, they’re ahead of the Conservatives by two points, with 38% popularity compared to the Conservatives at 36%. Six weeks earlier, the Conservatives were leading the Liberals by 26 points. A general election is expected to be called as early as this spring by Trudeau’s successor, who will be announced on Sunday.
Darrell Bricker, CEO of Ipsos Global Public Affairs, told Fox News Digital that he has never seen a party experience such a rapid and dramatic drop during his four-decade career in polling.
WHO IS PIERRE POILIEVRE? CANADA’S CONSERVATIVE LEADER SEEKING TO BECOME NEXT PRIME MINISTER AFTER TRUDEAU EXIT
Canada Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre holds a news conference in a hotel ballroom in Ottawa on Dec. 1, 2024. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press via AP)
He believes the Conservatives’ decline is attributable to two factors.
Justin Trudeau, whose personal popularity has plummeted since he became Canada’s 23rd prime minister in 2015, will step down as head of the Canadian government and Liberal Party on March 9; «And the threat from Trump to use economic force on Canada to bend us to his knee and possibly absorb us as a 51st state,» explained Bricker, about the president’s planned tariffs against Canada and his repeated references regarding annexation.
Throughout February, Nanos Research found the gap narrowing between the Liberals and Conservatives, who the month before were poised to form a «super-majority» government with as many as 240 members of Parliament (MPs) in an expanded 343-seat House of Commons that takes effect after the next general election.
«That’s completely out the window now,» said Nik Nanos, founder and chief data scientist of the Canadian polling firm, who also believes Trudeau’s imminent departure and Trump’s rhetoric against Canada have contributed to the Liberals’ bump in the polls.
The president «has effectively changed the ballot question from: Is it time for a change? – which was bad news for the Liberals – to who can best deal with Donald Trump, the new existential threat to the Canadian economy?» offered Nanos.
Mark Carney, the former governor of the Bank of Canada, officially announced his bid for the federal Liberal Party leadership in Edmonton, Canada, on Jan. 16, 2025. (Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
He explained that Canadian Conservative Official Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre and his party played a part in the Liberals’ boost by «showing they were a little out of touch» in focusing on the Liberal government’s tax on carbon emissions and vowing to remove it while Canadians became increasingly concerned about Trump’s threats.
«In hindsight, when the Conservatives had a 27-point advantage in our polling, it didn’t have anything to do with Pierre Poilievre being strong or liked, or the Conservatives being brilliant strategists,» said Nanos. «It all had to do with dislike of Justin Trudeau and people wanting change and the Conservatives being the agent of change.»
According to the Ipsos poll, 86% percent of 1,000 respondents said that they want a general election «immediately» to have a federal government «with a strong mandate» to deal with Trump’s tariff threat.
Bricker said the Liberals’ lead in the polls, particularly in Canada’s most populous provinces of Ontario and Quebec, over the Conservatives could even widen should Mark Carney, the former governor of the central banks of England and Canada and the frontrunner in the Liberal leadership race, succeed Trudeau as prime minister.
INFLUENTIAL LEADER OF CANADA’S ONTARIO PROVINCE SEEKS TRUMP, MUSK MEETING: US ‘NEEDS US LIKE WE NEED THEM’
President Donald Trump signs an executive order in the Oval Office on Feb. 25, 2025. (Pool)
Veteran Canadian pollster Angus Reid said the latest polling by his company found that 51% said Carney and the Liberals were best suited to improve relations with the U.S., including on tariffs, compared to 35% who chose the Conservatives under Poilievre, who is seen by many Canadians as holding a «Trump-light agenda.»
From south of the border, the president has «eroded Conservative support because it completely changed the political dynamic in Canada, completely changed what could be considered the most important ballot question that was all about getting rid of some of the baggage from the Trudeau era,» explained Reid, founder and chair of the Angus Reid Institute.
«Now it’s one of defending the sovereignty and economy of the country.»
Another Angus Reid poll found that with Carney as Liberal leader, his party is virtually tied at 44% with the Conservatives, at 45% on voting intention. In Quebec, a Carney-led Liberal Party enjoys 31% support compared to the Conservatives at 22%.
Guests display a giant Canadian flag before a flag-raising ceremony on Feb. 15, 2025, in Toronto. (Yu Ruidong/China News Service/VCG via AP)
Reid said the annexation and tariffs issue especially resonates with Quebecers more than any other region in Canada.
Carney’s further challenge for Poilievre is that the former «on paper, looks like a Conservative,» said Nanos.
«The guy worked in the banking sector and the private sector, like Goldman Sachs, and chaired, until recently, large enterprises like Bloomberg and Brookfield [Asset Management]. He walks and talks like a Conservative.»
Carney, an Oxford-educated economist who has never held elected office, is expected to call a snap election should he be chosen as Trudeau’s successor.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
If the polling numbers continue to rise in favor of the Liberals, they could not only win the national vote in such a contest but form a majority government, added Reid.
Currently, the Liberals have 153 MPs in the 338-seat House of Commons, which constitutes a minority government.
INTERNACIONAL
«Estamos abandonados por todo el mundo»: entrevista al pediatra palestino que operó, salvo vidas y lo perdió todo
¿Gaza convertida en la Costa Azul?
INTERNACIONAL
Uruguay deja de reconocer a Edmundo González como presidente electo en Venezuela
Qué había dicho Lacalle Pou sobre Edmundo González Urrutia
-
POLITICA2 días ago
Nueva encuesta y sorpresa en la Ciudad: lidera un radical K y está tercero un abogado de famosos
-
POLITICA3 días ago
Javier Milei y sus medidas, EN VIVO: en un Congreso repleto de faltazos, el Presidente habla en cadena nacional para abrir la sesiones ordinarias
-
POLITICA2 días ago
Video: Manes denunció que Santiago Caputo lo amenazó y que le pegaron en el Congreso