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http://ift.tt/2t8lNsv A voter casts his ballot in the first round of the French legislative elections at a polling station in Noumea in the French overseas territory of New Caledonia on June 11, 2017. French voters went to the polls for the first round of parliamentary elections with President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist party hoping to secure a clear majority. Fred Payet / AFP French voters went back to the polls on Sunday for the first round of parliamentary elections that are tipped to give President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist party a commanding majority. Polling stations opened across France at 8:00 am (0600 GMT) and voting will continue in the largest cities until 8:00 pm (1800 GMT) with exit polls released immediately afterwards. Macron has enjoyed a smooth start in the five weeks since he beat far-right candidate Marine Le Pen to become France’s youngest-ever president, naming a cabinet that crosses left-right lines and making a big impression at international summits. ...

http://ift.tt/2t8lNsv A voter casts his ballot in the first round of the French legislative elections at a polling station in Noumea in the French overseas territory of New Caledonia on June 11, 2017. French voters went to the polls for the first round of parliamentary elections with President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist party hoping to secure a clear majority. Fred Payet / AFP French voters went back to the polls on Sunday for the first round of parliamentary elections that are tipped to give President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist party a commanding majority. Polling stations opened across France at 8:00 am (0600 GMT) and voting will continue in the largest cities until 8:00 pm (1800 GMT) with exit polls released immediately afterwards. Macron has enjoyed a smooth start in the five weeks since he beat far-right candidate Marine Le Pen to become France’s youngest-ever president, naming a cabinet that crosses left-right lines and making a big impression at international summits. ...

http://ift.tt/2t8lNsv A voter casts his ballot in the first round of the French legislative elections at a polling station in Noumea in the French overseas territory of New Caledonia on June 11, 2017. French voters went to the polls for the first round of parliamentary elections with President Emmanuel Macron's centrist party hoping to secure a clear majority. Fred Payet / AFP French voters went back to the polls on Sunday for the first round of parliamentary elections that are tipped to give President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist party a commanding majority. Polling stations opened across France at 8:00 am (0600 GMT) and voting will continue in the largest cities until 8:00 pm (1800 GMT) with exit polls released immediately afterwards. Macron has enjoyed a smooth start in the five weeks since he beat far-right candidate Marine Le Pen to become France’s youngest-ever president, naming a cabinet that crosses left-right lines and making a big impression at international summits. ...

http://ift.tt/2reZBwC A man drops his vote into a ballot box at a polling station in Thimi, on the outskirts of Kathmandu, on May 14, 2017. Voting began in Nepal on May 14 in its first local elections in two decades, a landmark moment in the country's fraught transition to democracy. PHOTO: Prakash MATHEMA / AFP Voting began Sunday in Nepal’s first local elections for two decades, a landmark moment in the country’s fraught transition to democracy. Polls opened in three provinces at 7:00 am (0115 GMT), with nearly 50,000 candidates vying for the position of mayor, deputy mayor, ward chairman and ward member in 283 local municipalities. With nearly 70 percent of the population aged under 35, many are electing their local representatives for the first time. The local representatives were last elected in 1997 and their five-year terms expired at the height of the brutal Maoist insurgency. The ten-year war ended in 2006 and the country began a rocky transition from a Hindu ...

http://ift.tt/2qz07sa Nigeria’s Ambassador/Permanent Representative to the UN, Prof. Tijjani Bande, presided over the 193-member body. Nigeria was on Thursday appointed as the Acting President to preside over the 81st Plenary Meeting of UN General Assembly at the UN headquarters. The Correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Nigeria’s Ambassador/Permanent Representative to the UN, Prof. Tijjani Bande, presided over the 193-member body. NAN reports that Bande’s presidency at the Plenary Meeting happened just nine days after he presented his credentials to the UN Secretary-General António Guterres. Nigeria was appointed one of the 21 Vice Presidents of the General Assembly on June 13, 2016 at the 71st session of the General Assembly. NAN reports that Bande presided over the General Assembly following the absence of the President of the Assembly, Peter Thomson, who was on an official travel to the Central African Republic. NAN also reports that the oppor...