Pro-reform Mitsotakis wins second term in Greek election that sees surge by small far-right parties
Greece's center-right leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis is to be sworn in as prime minister on Monday, hours after easily winning a second term with a record-high margin over the leftwing opposition in an election that also ushered new far-right parties into Parliament. With 99.67% of the vote counted, Mitsotakis' New Democracy party had 40.55% of the vote — more than twice the main opposition Syriza's 17.84%. It was the largest margin of victory in half a century, and slightly expanded ND's 20-percentage-point lead in previous election five weeks before. Held under a new electoral law that boosts the first party, Sunday's vote gives ND a comfortable majority of 158 seats in the 300-member Parliament, with Syriza getting 48. Center-left PASOK elected 32 lawmakers and the Stalinist-rooted Communist Party 20. The remaining 42 seats will be shared between three far-right parties — including one endorsed by a jailed former leader of the defunct, Nazi-inspired Golden Dawn party — and one representing the far-left. Voter turnout was just under 53%, compared to just over 61% in the May vote. Mitsotakis, 55, campaigned on a platform of securing economic growth and political stability as Greece gradually recovers from a nearly decade-long financial crisis. Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou is set to formally hand him the mandate to form a government on Monday, after which he will be sworn in and announce his new Cabinet. His main rival, 48-year-old Alexis Tsipras, served as prime minister from 2015 to 2019 during some of the most turbulent years of Greece’s financial crisis. Despite Syriza's dismal performance, Tsipras has shown no inclination to resign, and there have been no open calls from within his party for him to do so. After Sunday's result, Tsipras said Syriza would move on to focus on next year's European parliamentary elections. Mitsotakis, a Harvard graduate, comes from one of Greece’s most prominent political families. His late father, Constantine Mitsotakis, served as prime minister in the 1990s, his sister served as foreign minister and his nephew is the current mayor of Athens. The younger Mitsotakis has vowed to rebrand Greece as a pro-business and fiscally responsible eurozone member. The strategy, so far, has worked. New Democracy won in all but one of the country's 59 electoral regions, capturing traditional Socialist and leftwing strongholds, some for the first time. Despite scandals that hit the Mitsotakis government late in its term, including revelations of wiretapping targeting senior politicians and journalists and a deadly Feb. 28 train crash that exposed poor safety measures in public transport, voters appeared happy to return to power a prime minister who delivered economic growth and lowered unemployment. Read More Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide
1970-01-01 08:00
India's Infosys signs $454-million deal with Danske Bank
BENGALURU (Reuters) -Infosys, India's No.2 IT services provider, signed a $454-million contract with Denmark's Danske Bank on Monday, at a
1970-01-01 08:00
Primark Owner AB Foods Raises Guidance as Consumers Swallow Price Rises
Associated British Foods Plc raised its outlook for the full year as consumers battling a cost-of-living crisis manage
1970-01-01 08:00
Extreme floods are happening way more often than federal data would suggest, analysis shows
A critical federal analysis of extreme rainfall is vastly underestimating the chances of flood events, with grave implications for everything from new roads and bridges to the rising cost of flood insurance, according to a new analysis.
1970-01-01 08:00
Twitter hacker who took over Musk, Obama, Biden accounts in 2020 gets prison sentence
A British hacker behind the 2020 takeover of the Twitter accounts of Elon Musk, Barack Obama, Joe Biden, and several other personalities as part of a Bitcoin scam has been sentenced to five years in prison. The hacker, 24-year-old Joseph O’Connor from Liverpool, took over nearly 130 accounts in July 2020, and pleaded guilty to charges of hacking these profiles last month. He was extradited from Spain on 26 April to face charges and now the US Attorney’s Office in the southern district of New York has sentenced him to five years for cyber crimes. In May, the hacker pled to four counts of computer hacking, wire fraud, and cyberstalking, according to Tech Crunch. The US justice department accused Mr O’Connor of participating in the exploitation of social media accounts, as well as online extortion and cyberstalking. The hacker, known as PlugwalkJoe online, has also been ordered to pay nearly $800,000 to the victims of his crimes. He had participated in the exploitation of social media accounts, as well as online extortion, using social engineering tricks to get access to Twitter accounts. New York’s Department of Financial Services investigated and found that the hackers had called Twitter employees, claiming to be the IT department. Another hacker Graham Ivan Clark – known as Kirk – reportedly used this access to hijack and reassign Twitter accounts. Using stolen accounts, hackers sent out tweets asking followers to send bitcoin to an account, promising to double their money. Mr O’Connor also pled guilty of using a cyber intrusion technique called a “SIM swap attack” to steal cryptocurrency from a Manhattan-based company and then to launder the proceeds of the scheme. In this mode of cyber attack, hackers gain control of a victim’s mobile phone number by linking that number to a SIM card controlled by the threat actors. This leads to the victim’s calls and messages being routed to a malicious unauthorised device controlled by the hackers, who then use control of the victim’s mobile phone number to obtain unauthorised access to accounts held by the victim registered to their mobile phone numbers. Twitter said it improved the social media platform’s cybersecurity controls following the cyberattack. In addition to the prison term, Mr O’Connor has been sentenced to three years of supervised release and further ordered to pay about $794,000 in forfeiture. Read More How bad is bitcoin for the environment really? Crypto experts discuss bitcoin price predictions What is Solana? The crypto rising 200-times faster than bitcoin Hacker reveals secret ‘Elon Mode’ in Tesla cars for full self-driving Hackers strike Iranian government, releasing presidential documents China calls hacking report 'far-fetched' and accuses the US of targeting the cybersecurity industry
1970-01-01 08:00
Factbox-PwC Australia scandal latest of many around the globe for the firm
By Lewis Jackson SYDNEY PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Australia is under fire after a former partner leaked confidential government tax
1970-01-01 08:00
Aston Martin Steps Up EV Push With Lucid Deal: The London Rush
The M&A wave has rippled through to the automotive industry, with luxury carmaker Aston Martin striking an EV
1970-01-01 08:00
RTÉ director general resigns over Tubridy payments
It comes as presenter Ryan Tubridy was paid €345,000 more than had been published in earnings reports.
1970-01-01 08:00
Pakistan Moves Closer to Vital IMF Deal With Last-Ditch Steps
Pakistan’s race to restart a stalled International Monetary Fund loan program took a positive turn as the country
1970-01-01 08:00
Ruble Hits Weakest in 15 Months After Wagner Challenges Putin
The ruble weakened as much as 3% against dollar on Monday, the most this year, after a mutiny
1970-01-01 08:00
Why did Sean Hayes shout at 'GMA' host Eva Pilgrim? 'Will & Grace' star promotes his debut novel 'Time Out'
'Will & Grace' star Sean Hayes talked about his YA novel 'Time Out' and his award-winning Broadway play 'Good Night, Oscar'
1970-01-01 08:00
Coi Leray hailed for paying homage to female rappers with BET Awards outfit: 'Doing this shows character'
Rapper Coi Leray stunned in an outfit with a message after previous beef with another female rapper
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