- Sri Lanka seeks to match success in W.Indies T20s
- Sinner reaches Shanghai final, will end year number one
- China-EU EV tariff talks in Brussels end with 'major differences': Beijing
- Sabalenka downs Gauff in three sets to reach Wuhan final
- Israel warns south Lebanon residents to 'not return'
- Sinner tames Machac to reach Shanghai Masters final
- Buried Nazi past haunts Athens on liberation anniversary
- Harris to release medical report confirming fitness for presidency: campaign
- Nobel prize a timely reminder, Hiroshima locals say
- Hezbollah fires at Israel as wars rage on Yom Kippur
- Analysts warn more detail needed on new China economic measures
- China tees up fresh spending to boost ailing economy
- China says will issue special bonds to boost ailing economy
- China offers $325 bn in fiscal stimulus for ailing economy
- Dodgers drop Padres 2-0 to advance in MLB playoffs
- Alexei Navalny wrote he knew he would die in prison in new memoir
- Last-minute legal ruling allows betting on US election
- Despite hurricanes, Floridians refuse to leave 'paradise'
- Israel observes Yom Kippur amid firestorm over Lebanon strikes
- Trump demonizes migrants in dark, misleading speech
- X says 'alert' to manipulation efforts after pro-Russia bots report
- US, European markets rise before Boeing unveils sweeping job cuts
- Small Quebec company dominates one part of NHL hockey: jerseys
- Comoros shock Tunisia, Salah, Mbeumo strike in AFCON qualifiers
- Boeing to cut 10% of workforce as it sees big Q3 loss
- Germany win in Nations League as 10-man Dutch rescue point
- Undav brace sends Germany to victory against Bosnia
- Israel says fired at 'threat' near UN position in Lebanon
- Want to film in Paris? No sexism allowed
- Ecuador's last mountain iceman dies at 80
- Milton leaves at least 16 dead, millions without power in Florida
- Senegal set to announce breakaway development agenda: PM
- UN says 2 peacekeepers wounded in south Lebanon explosions
- Injury-hit Australia thrash 'embarrassing' Pakistan at Women's T20 World Cup
- Internal TikTok documents show prioritization of traffic over well-being
- Israel says fired at 'immediate threat' near UN position in Lebanon
- New US coach Pochettino hails Pulisic but worries over workload
- Brazil orders closure of 2,000 betting sites
- UK govt urged to raise pro-democracy tycoon's case with China
- Sculptor Lalanne's animal creations sell for $59 mn
- From Tesla to Trump: Behind Musk's giant leap into politics
- US, European markets rise as investors weigh rates, earnings
- In Colombia, children trade plastic waste for school supplies
- Supercharged hurricanes trigger 'perfect storm' for disinformation
- JPMorgan Chase profits top estimates, bank sees 'resilient' US economy
- Djokovic proves staying power as he progresses to Shanghai semi-finals
- Sheffield Utd boss Wilder 'numb' after Baldock death
- Little progress at key meet ahead of COP29 climate summit
- Fans immerse themselves in Marina Abramovic's first China exhibition
- Israel says conducting review after UN peacekeepers wounded in Lebanon
Millions join EU vote finale as far right eyes gains
Tens of millions of voters from Vilnius to Madrid were casting ballots Sunday on the final day of elections for the EU's parliament, with far-right parties eyeing gains at a pivotal time for the bloc.
Twenty-one of the bloc's 27 countries, including heavy hitters France and Germany, were voting on the election's biggest day to help shape the European Union's direction over the next five years.
"In the current world situation, where everyone is trying to isolate each other, it's important to keep standing up for peace and democracy," said one voter in Berlin, Tanja Reith, 52.
The election comes as the continent is confronted with Russia's war in Ukraine, global trade tensions marked by US-China rivalry, a climate emergency and a West that may soon have to adapt to a new Donald Trump presidency.
"Right now we are living in a scenario of uncertainty," Jaime Bajo, a sports centre operator, said as he cast his vote in Madrid.
"I can understand that people feel fear and vote with a hard mindset," said the 40-year-old, who predicted a "rise of extremist forces" in Europe.
More than 360 million people were eligible to vote in the four-day election, although turnout in EU polls is historically low.
The bloc's next parliament will help decide who runs the powerful European Commission, with German conservative Ursula von der Leyen -- who cast her vote in her home country -- vying for a second term.
- France and Germany in focus -
While centrist parties are predicted to keep most of the legislature's 720 seats, polls suggest they will be weakened by a stronger far right pushing the bloc towards ultraconservatism.
Preliminary results are expected late Sunday.
European voters, hammered by a high cost of living and some fearing immigrants to be the source of social ills, are increasingly persuaded by populist messaging.
France will be the EU's high-profile battleground for competing ideologies.
With voting intentions above 30 percent, Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally (RN) is predicted to handily beat President Emmanuel Macron's liberal Renaissance party, polling around half that.
A smiling Le Pen voted in her northern French town of Henin-Beaumont, pausing to wave and accept flowers from supporters but making no comment to media.
In the French city of Lyon, 83-year-old voter Albert Coulaudon said Macron was getting "mixed up" in too many international issues such as the war in Ukraine.
"That scares me," he told AFP.
But in southern Toulouse, Martine Dorian, 76, said: "If tomorrow Europe disappears, there will be no France left either."
In Germany, the election could also deal a blow to Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who voted accompanied by his wife and stopped to pose for a picture with a young couple and a baby.
Leading the polls in Europe's biggest economy are the opposition centre-right Christian Democrats, with a projected 30 percent of votes.
The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), on 14 percent, was seen either neck-and-neck or ahead of all three parties in Scholz's ruling coalition: the SPD, the Greens and the liberal FDP.
In Italy, holding its second day of voting, the far-right ruling Brothers of Italy party of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was expected to come out on top.
Meloni is being courted both by von der Leyen -- who needs her backing for a second mandate -- as well as Le Pen and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who are eyeing the formation of a far-right parliament supergroup.
Unlike Le Pen, however, Meloni aligns with the EU consensus on maintaining military and financial assistance to Ukraine.
- War worries -
In EU countries closest to Russia, the spectre of Russia's threat loomed large.
"I want security, especially for the Baltic states. And greater support for Ukraine to end the war," said Ieva Sterlinge, a 34-year-old doctor.
Likewise in Romania's capital Bucharest, psychologist Teodora Maia said she cast her vote "on "the theme of war, which worries us all, and ecology".
In Paty, a village outside Budapest, Hungarian voter Ferenc Hamori struck a different tone.
The 54-year-old said he wanted more EU leaders like Orban, who maintains close relations with President Vladimir Putin -- even though he expected Orban to remain "outnumbered in Brussels".
Outside his polling station, Orban framed the vote as a "pro-peace or pro-war election".
The Hungarian leader -- whose government takes on the rotating EU presidency from July -- has stoked fears of the Ukraine war expanding to one between the West and Russia, blaming Brussels and NATO.
But there has been some backlash at home, where Orban faces a challenge from former government insider Peter Magyar, who staged mass rallies in the vote run-up.
The main far-right grouping, the European Conservatives and Reformists, in which Meloni's Brothers of Italy party sits, was projected to win 76 seats.
The smaller Identity and Democracy grouping that includes Le Pen's RN was predicted to get 67.
burs-ec/rmb/yad
F.Schneider--AMWN