London, July 6 (IANS) New UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has appointed his cabinet, making Angela Rayner the Deputy Prime Minister and Rachel Reeves the country’s first female Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Starmer’s cabinet included a record 11 women in the team of 25.

Meanwhile, Yvette Cooper was appointed Home Secretary, David Lammy was named Foreign Secretary and John Healey was appointed Defence Secretary.

Other appointments include Shabana Mahmood as Justice Secretary, Wes Streeting as Health Secretary, Bridget Phillipson as Education Secretary, and Ed Miliband as Energy Secretary.

In his first speech as Prime Minister at Downing Street on Friday, Starmer pledged to get the country’s “struggling” healthcare system back on track, secure British borders, and attend to the need for schools and affordable homes.

“Our country has voted decisively for change and a return of politics to public service,” he said.

However, “changing a country is not like flicking a switch”, said Starmer, noting that the world has become “more volatile”.

He said the work for change will begin immediately but will time.

The new Prime Minister highlighted his focus on things that “working-class families like mine can build their lives around”.

“If I asked you now whether you believed that Britain will be better for your children, I know too many of you will say no — and so my government will fight until you believe again,” he said.

–IANS

sha/

Tehran, July 6 (IANS) Voting for Iran’s presidential runoff came to an end at midnight Friday after 16 straight hours, said Spokesman of Iran’s Election Headquarters Mohsen Eslami.

He made the remarks in a live interview with Iran’s state-run IRIB TV, stressing that although the polling stations’ doors were closed, those responsible had to let all the voters who had come before the end of the voting process and were waiting for their turns cast their ballots, Xinhua news agency reported.

The counting process would start at the stations immediately after the voting ended, Eslami added.

In an address to reporters in the Iranian capital Tehran earlier in the day, Iran’s Interim President Mohammad Mokhber said the results would be announced by Saturday morning.

The voting began at 8:00 a.m. Friday local time at nearly 59,000 polling stations across the country and abroad, with two candidates, former health minister Masoud Pezeshkian and Saeed Jalili, the former chief negotiator in the nuclear talks between Tehran and world powers, vying for the top position at the country’s executive branch.

Pezeshkian and Jalili secured over 42 per cent and 38 per cent of the votes, respectively, in the first round on June 28.

The voting was initially scheduled to end at 6:00 p.m. local time but was extended three times, with each extension lasting for two hours.

The candidate with the highest number of votes at the end of the runoff will be the next Iranian president.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei cast his ballot at a polling station in Tehran immediately after the voting began and made a brief speech.

“Today is a good day; the day of our beloved people’s presence, participation, and becoming active in the election, which is an important political affair of the country,” said Khamenei.

Field estimates showed that the turnout in the runoff surpassed the figure in the first round, which stood at 40 per cent, according to the semi-official Mehr news agency.

Over 61 million people were eligible to vote in the election, according to Iranian authorities. More than 24 million participated in the first round.

Iran’s 14th presidential election, initially set for 2025, was rescheduled following the unexpected death of President Ebrahim Raisi and his entourage in a helicopter crash on May 19.

–IANS

int/sha

Jerusalem, July 6 (IANS) Chief of Israel’s Mossad spy agency David Barnea has returned from the Qatari capital Doha following an initial meeting with mediators, and a team will be dispatched next week to continue the negotiations, Israeli Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has announced.

“It should be emphasized that there are still gaps between the sides,” the Israeli PMO said in a statement on Friday evening.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved the dispatch of a delegation for negotiations on a ceasefire deal with Hamas in Gaza and the release of hostages, Xinhua news agency reported, citing a senior Israeli official.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that an official familiar with the hostage talks said that Mossad officials had told mediators that they are “optimistic” the Israeli cabinet will accept the ceasefire proposal currently under discussion.

According to Israel’s Channel 12 survey revealed on Friday, when asked what is most important at this moment, 67 per cent of the people interviewed said returning the hostages from Gaza, compared to 26 per cent who said continuing the war in Gaza and 7 per cent who said they didn’t know.

The recent development marks a renewed effort to negotiate an end to the nearly nine-month-long conflict, which, according to the Gaza-based health authorities, has resulted in the deaths of more than 38,000 Palestinians in the enclave.

–IANS

int/sha

New York, July 5 (IANS) A pickup truck crashed into a park in Lower Manhattan in New York City, killing three people and injuring seven others, according to local authorities.

The truck hit 10 people attending parties at Corlears Hook Park in celebration of the US Independence Day, Xinhua news agency reported.

Preliminary investigation showed the driver was under the influence of alcohol and the incident didn’t appear to be terror-related, said New York City Mayor Eric Adams.

The driver has been taken into custody though his identity is yet to be disclosed.

–IANS

int/arm

Moscow, July 5 (IANS) Infuriating his fellow European Union leaders, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban made a surprise visit to Russia on Friday and held talks with President Vladimir Putin.

His trip to Moscow came after he visited Kiev earlier this week and urged Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky to mull a ceasefire and begin peace talks with Russia.

As speculation about his intended visit to Russia swirled and drew flak, Orban, in a veiled jibe on social media, observed: “You cannot make peace from a comfortable armchair in Brussels. We cannot sit back and wait for the war to miraculously end.”

Hungary may well soon become the only country in Europe that is maintaining a dialogue with both Kiev and Moscow, Orban said as Putin welcomed him, RFT reported.

As per Russian officials, Putin told the Hungarian leader that he had presented his vision of how the conflict can be resolved in a keynote speech at the Foreign Ministry last month and is prepared to discuss its nuances. His proposal envisaged an immediate suspension of hostilities after Ukraine renounced its bid to join NATO and ordered its troops to pull back from all territories claimed by Russia. A comprehensive discussion of a new security architecture in Europe could follow after this, he suggested.

The closed-door talks between the two leaders lasted for some time and were followed by a joint press meet.

The Russian President said that judging by Orban’s account of his Kiev visit, Ukraine intends to fight with Russia to the end, adding that peace would require an end of martial law and an election in Ukraine, which the country’s current leadership would definitely lose.

He stressed that Russia wants a full resolution of the conflict, not its freezing, which would allow Kiev to rearm and rebuild its military again.

Noting Russia’s relations with the EU are at their lowest level in decades, Putin said that as Hungary holds the rotating presidency of the bloc, he and Orban discussed this aspect of tensions between Russia and the West.

Orban, on his part, said he wanted to hear directly from Putin how Russia perceives various peace initiatives, calling it an important step, even though the frank discussion confirmed that there was a major rift between the conflicting sides.

He declined to reveal the content of his discussions with Zelensky, but said he conveyed to Putin his impressions from his Kiev visit.

Orban’s visit, though surprising, was not the first by a US ally following the beginning of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022 as then-Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett visited Moscow in March that year and Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer in April. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres visited Moscow in April.

The visit sparked fury from EU leaders, despite his clarification that he is not representing the EU.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen accused Orban of “appeasement” and Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, who is slated to become the EU’s next foreign policy and security chief, joined the chorus of criticism, accusing him of trying to “sow confusion”.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that Orban had informed NATO about his intention to visit Moscow before going there and will have an opportunity to discuss it at the upcoming summit of NATO leaders in Washington next week.

–IANS

vd