REYKJAVIK: Fatigued by years of austerity and swayed by promises of debt relief, Icelandic voters dumped the Social Democrats from power yesterday, returning a centre-right government that ruled over its stunning financial collapse just five years ago.
Once a European financial hub, this windswept north Atlantic island of glaciers, geysers and volcanoes has been limping along for years, still crippled from a crash that brought it to its knees in just a matter of days.
“We are offering a different road, a road to growth, protecting social security, better welfare and job creation,” Independence Party leader Bjarni Benediktsson, the favourite to become the next prime minister after his party took first place in the vote, told Reuters as the results were coming in.
Cameron sees Boris as PM material
LONDON: British Prime Minister David Cameron admitted that one of his biggest party rivals, London Mayor Boris Johnson, could well be a future premier, in an interview published yesterday.
Johnson’s second term in charge of Britain’s capital city runs into 2016 — and the next general election must take place by May 2015 at the latest.
Asked whether Johnson could combine being London mayor with a return to parliament as a lawmaker, Cameron told The Sunday Times newspaper: “Boris can do anything, that’s the moral of the story of Boris.”
Cameron insisted he did not feel threatened by Johnson’s ambition or popularity, which was fulled during the London 2012 Olympics.
“Boris is one of the greatest assets the Conservative Party has.... I love Boris,” Cameron said.
Bosnia court orders detention of Budimir
SARAJEVO: A Bosnian court yesterday ordered that the president of the country’s autonomous Muslim-Croat federation and four other officials be detained for a month after prosecutors said they took bribes to arrange pardons for convicts.
Federation President Zivko Budimir was arrested on Friday along with 19 others in the most high-profile anti-corruption drive in Bosnia since independence more than two decades ago.
In handing out the month-long detentions, the court said it believed that both Budimir and his co-accused aide Petar Barisic might try to flee the country because they held Croatian passports, a court spokeswoman said.
Maduro vows alliance with Cuba
HAVANA: Cuba and Venezuela signed cooperation accords for 51 projects as Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, on his first trip to the island since his election, pledged to maintain the close alliance forged by his late predecessor, Hugo Chavez.
Maduro said they would jointly spend $2bn this year on “social development,” but it was not clear if he was discussing the 51 projects, few details of which were disclosed, or other works.
His visit appeared aimed in part at allaying Cuban worries about post-Chavez relations with the oil-rich South American nation that is Cuba’s biggest ally and benefactor.
Agencies
