World

Nicusor Dan Beats George Simion in Romana’s Presidential Election

Published

10 months ago

May 18, 2025

Nicusor Dan Beats George Simion in Romana’s Presidential Election

In a setback for Europe’s surging nationalist forces, Nicusor Dan, a centrist mayor and former mathematics professor, on Sunday won the presidential election in Romania, defeating a hard-right candidate who is aligned with President Trump and has opposed military aid to Ukraine.

With more than 98 percent of ballots counted, preliminary official results gave 54 percent of the vote in the presidential runoff to Mr. Dan, 55, the mayor of Romania’s capital, Bucharest. His opponent, George Simion, a nationalist and fervent admirer of Mr. Trump who had been widely seen as the front-runner, drew only 46 percent.

As he slipped behind Mr. Dan in early counting, Mr. Simion told supporters that “we are the clear winners of these elections.” He called for national protests should the final count show him as the loser, railing against what he said was an attempt “to steal the victory of the Romanian people.”

Mr. Dan’s victory will likely calm fears in Europe’s political mainstream that Romania, which borders Ukraine and plays a vital role in defending NATO’s eastern flank against Russia, might join Hungary and Slovakia in opposing help for Ukraine and in cozying up to Moscow.

But it will likely inflame Romania’s nationalist camp and its supporters abroad, including Vice President JD Vance, and stoke accusations that the system is rigged. Last year, a Romanian court ordered a last-minute cancellation of a presidential election that an ultranationalist appeared well positioned to win.

In the final days of the campaign, as opinion polls showed the race tightening, Mr. Simion laid the groundwork for a Romanian version of Mr. Trump’s “stop the steal” efforts in 2020. He insisted that only electoral fraud could prevent him from winning.

On Sunday, shortly before voting ended, Mr. Simion claimed that “many deceased people” had appeared on electoral lists, echoing the claims of Mr. Trump after he lost the 2020 election in the United States. Mr. Simion provided no evidence to support accusations that his victorious rival had benefited from fraud.

A mathematics prodigy in his youth who earned a Ph.D. in France before becoming a professor in Bucharest, Mr. Dan campaigned as a moderate conservative committed to both the European Union, which Romania joined in 2007, and to NATO, which it has been a member of since 2004.

Though supported, at least tacitly, by much of Romania’s political establishment, Mr. Dan ran as an independent and presented himself as an outsider untainted by close association with Romania’s two main political parties. Those parties have cycled in and out of power since the 1989 overthrow of communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu.

Mr. Dan began his public career campaigning against corruption and the destruction of old buildings by real estate developers tied to corrupt politicians. Both candidates were involved in rallies in the early 2000s to save Bucharest’s historic center.

But while Mr. Simion embraced nationalist politics, campaigning to “unite” Romania with the former Soviet republic of Moldova, which is largely Romanian-speaking, and bits of Ukraine inhabited by ethnic Romanians, Mr. Dan pursued a more moderate agenda.

Mr. Dan helped found the Save Romania Union, a liberal party, but split with it over the issue of same-sex marriage, which progressives in the party supported. When Romania, at the urging of right-wing activists, held a referendum in 2018 on changing the Constitution to prohibit same-sex unions, Mr. Dan urged his party to stay out of the issue. The referendum failed because of low turnout.

Leftists view him as a conservative and nationalists as a sellout to the European Union, but his victory on Sunday indicated that voters wanted a middle path between bitterly polarized political camps.

Campaigning this past week, he said voters had a choice “between a democratic, stable and respected Romania in Europe — and a dangerous path of isolation, populism and defiance of the rule of law.”

Andrada Lautaru contributed reporting from Bucharest.

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World

Investors brace for a bigger backlash from Middle East war

Published

3 hours ago

March 1, 2026

Press Room

Investors brace for a bigger backlash from Middle East war

From being just a fringe risk, conflict in the Middle East has become a top worry for investors unsettled by the prospect of a power struggle in Iran and a protracted regional war, with ramifications for everything from global trade to inflation.

World

Tel Aviv analyst shelters from 30 missile sirens in 48 hours, says Iran ‘won’t recover’

Published

4 hours ago

March 1, 2026

Press Room

Tel Aviv analyst shelters from 30 missile sirens in 48 hours, says Iran ‘won’t recover’

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The past 48 hours in Tel Aviv have been unlike anything seen before, a leading security analyst has said, as sirens blared amid missile threats following Operation Epic Fury and U.S.-Israeli strikes in Iran.

“We are facing a biblical event — nothing less,” Kobi Michael, a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies and the Misgav Institute, told Fox News Digital, speaking from his shelter in the city.

Like many Israelis, Michael said he had spent hours in reinforced rooms during the ongoing barrage, adding that he was “very experienced in this.”

“But this all requires time and determination, and I do hope that Trump will also have them both,” he said, speaking shortly after the president released a video message stating that the military operation would continue “until all of our objectives are achieved.”

Explosions from projectile interceptions by Israel’s Iron Dome missile defence system over Tel Aviv. (JACK GUEZ / AFP via Getty Images)

“Trump is the only one who can make the change — and that change will impact the entire region and the international order for years to come,” Michael added.

As of Sunday, Tel Aviv remained under a state of emergency following Iranian missile attacks that caused casualties and widespread damage.

According to The Associated Press, Iranian missile and drone strikes have killed approximately 11 Israeli civilians and wounded dozens more in retaliation for the U.S.-Israel strikes on Iran.

Shrapnel from missile impacts damaged at least 40 buildings in Tel Aviv, and authorities reported at least one death in the area from falling debris.

The Philippine Embassy in Israel confirmed the death of a Filipino national after a missile strike hit Tel Aviv on Saturday.

TOMAHAWKS, B-2 STEALTH BOMBERS AND ATTACK DRONES POUND OVER 1,000 IRANIAN TARGETS IN 24-HOUR BLITZ

People take shelter as Iran launched missiles and drones towards Israel following the US-Israeli attacks. ( Mostafa Alkharouf/Anadolu via Getty Images)

“We enter our shelter once the siren is heard and stay there until the Home Front Command announces that we can leave,” Michael said.

“Usually, it is about 20 to 30 minutes — unless there are further sirens during our stay. Since yesterday morning, it has happened around 30 times.”

Israel’s President Isaac Herzog also visited an impact site in Tel Aviv Sunday, delivering a message of resilience.

“The people of Israel and the people of Iran can live in peace. The region can live in peace. But what undermines peace time and again is terror instigated by this Iranian regime,” Herzog said.

EXILED IRANIAN CROWN PRINCE SAYS US STRIKES MARK ‘BEGINNING OF THE VERY END’ FOR REGIME

Israeli emergency service officer walks past building debris at the scene of a Iranian missile attack. (Ahmad GHARABLI / AFP via Getty Images)

Following the reported killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and roughly 40 senior Iranian officials, Iran formed a provisional leadership council.

Iran named Ayatollah Alireza Arafi, President Masoud Pezeshkian and Judiciary Chief Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje’i to lead roles.

“The Supreme Leader did not complete the necessary groundwork regarding his own succession,” Michael added.

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“Pezeshkian will face very troubling challenges due to their heavy losses, severe disruptions to control and command systems, and the massive bombing and attacks across Iran, including Tehran,” he said.

“Even if this regime doesn’t collapse, it will never be able to reconstitute itself, recover or return to its previous position,” Michael added.

Emma Bussey is a breaking news writer for Fox News Digital. Before joining Fox, she worked at The Telegraph with the U.S. overnight team, across desks including foreign, politics, news, sport and culture.

World

Israel FM says Europe too divided, slams Spanish PM

Published

5 hours ago

March 1, 2026

Press Room

Israel FM says Europe too divided, slams Spanish PM

Israeli minister Gideon Sa’ar said Europe “does not have unified position” on what role it should play in Iran as European ministers sought to establish a joint approach Sunday.

As Israel and the United States conducted a joint military strike on Iran, leading to the killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Europe was kept on the sidelines.

EU member states did not participate in the operation and, in some cases, they were not informed prior as it is customary among strategic allies.

Asked whether Israel sought to keep Europe on the margins, Sa’ar said internal divisions within EU member states had kept them out of critical exchanges of operational details, unlike the United States, which the minister described as his country’s greatest ally.

“In Europe, you have all kinds of approaches,” he told Euronews. “You have countries like the Czech Republic which is strongly supporting this operation and then you have Spain, which is standing with all the tyrants of the world.”

On Saturday, Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez was among the most critical voices in Europe, suggesting the US-Israeli strikes on Iran risk plunging the region into total war.

“We reject the unilateral military action of the United States and Israel, which represents an escalation and contributes to a more uncertain and hostile international order,” Sánchez said Saturday. The Spanish PM reiterated that message on Sunday.

“We urge for de-escalation and call to respect international law in all conflicts,” Sánchez added. “You can be against a heinous regime, like the Iranian regime, while also rejecting a military intervention that is unjustified, dangerous and outside of international law.”

Sa’aar said Israel considers the operation “fully justified” citing the right to self-defense from a regime that “has called for the destruction of Israel” and lashed at the Spanish prime minister for sending an “anti-Israeli, anti-American message.”

“Read the statement, they are standing with Iran!” he added.

When asked if any of his European counterparts had manifested an interest in joining the military operation or provide support on the ground, Sa’ar said he held multiple exchanges with European ministers over the weekend and suggested that “if others want to join, they will know have to convey the message.”

On Sunday, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen appeared to back regime change in Iran in line with Israel and the US, saying that the “risk of further escalation is real. This is why a credible transition in Iran is urgently needed” in comments on Sunday.

Sa’ar told Euronews said the strategic strikes and the elimination of Khamenei alongside top regime commanders could “create the conditions to weaken the regime enough to allow the Iranians to take their future into their own hands”.

“The future leadership of Iran should be determined by the Iranian people through free elections. Our only requirement is that whoever comes to power in Iran must not pursue the destruction of Israel,” he said.

Watch the full interview on Euronews from 8pm CET