N E W SMONDAY, MAY 8, 2017

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“France is sending... an incredible message of hope tothe world,” veteran centrist Francois Bayrou, an ally ofMacron, told France 2 television. “Anyone who bet onthis has probably made a fortune.”

Le Pen, 48, had portrayed the ballot as a contestbetween Macron and the “globalists” - in favor of opentrade, immigration and shared sovereignty - and her“patriotic” vision of strong borders and national identi-ties. In a short statement, Le Pen said she had calledMacron to wish him “success” in tackling the “huge chal-lenges” he faced and announced that she would lead theFN into June’s parliamentary elections.

Macron will now face huge challenges as he attemptsto enact his domestic agenda of cutting state spending,easing labor laws, boosting education in deprived areasand extending new protections to the self-employed. Thephilosophy and literature lover is inexperienced, has nopolitical party and must try to fashion a working parlia-mentary majority after legislative elections next month.

His En Marche movement - “neither of the left, norright” - has vowed to field candidates in all 577 con-stituencies, with half of them women and half of themnewcomers to politics. “In order for us to act, we willneed a majority in the National Assembly,” the secretarygeneral of En Marche, Richard Ferrand, told the TF1channel, adding that only “half of the journey” had beencompleted. Many analysts are sceptical about Macron’sability to win a majority with En Marche candidatesalone, meaning he might have to form a coalition of law-makers committed to his agenda.

Furthermore, his economic agenda, particularly plansto weaken labor regulations to fight stubbornly highunemployment, are likely to face fierce resistance fromtrade unions and his leftist opponents. He also inherits acountry which is still in a state of emergency following astring of Islamist-inspired attacks since 2015 that havekilled more than 230 people.

The vote yesterday followed one of the most unpre-dictable election campaigns in modern history markedby scandal, repeated surprises and a last-minute hackingattack on Macron. Hundreds of thousands of emails anddocuments stolen from his campaign were dumpedonline on Friday and then spread by anti-secrecy groupWikiLeaks, leading the candidate to call it an attempt at“democratic destabilization”.

France’s election authority said publishing the docu-ments could be a criminal offence, a warning flouted byMacron’s opponents and far-right activists online. It wasthe latest twist in an election that has consistentlywrong-footed observers as angry voters chose to ejectestablishment figures, including one-time favoriteFrancois Fillon, a rightwing ex-prime minister. UnpopularPresident Francois Hollande was the first to bow to therebellious mood in December as he declared he wouldbe the first sitting president not to seek re-election inthe French republic, founded in 1958.

In the first round of the presidential election on April23, Macron topped the vote with 24.01 percent, followedby Le Pen on 21.30 percent, in a crowded field of 11 can-didates. The results revealed Macron was favored amongwealthier, better educated citizens in cities, while Le Pendrew support in the countryside as well as poverty-hitareas in the south and rustbelt northeast. — AFP

Macron elected French president...

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MPs Waleed Al-Tabtabaei and Mohammad Al-Mutairhave filed another grilling, which will be debated on thesame day. The lawmaker said the outcome of thedebate will decide whether the non-cooperationmotion will be filed or not. Last week, a number ofopposition MPs said the motion will be filed. Muwaizriwarned that if the government violates the constitution

while dealing with the grilling, a new grilling will befiled against the prime minister.

MP Safa Al-Hashem said yesterday the financialand economic affairs committee discussed yesterdaywith State Minister for Economic Affairs Hind Al-Sabeeh the appointment of a new board of directorsfor Kuwait Air ways Co. Hashem cr i t ic ized theappointment because half of the members belong toa religious group.

MP Hayef says government delaying...

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Well-informed sources stressed that deporteesincluded a number of US and British citizens, in addition

to seven PhD holders. The sources also noted that 9,574expats were deported because they were medicallyunfit, including 13 infected with HIV and a considerablenumber infected with hepatitis C. — Al-Qabas

20,000 expatriates deported in 2016

PARIS: Supporters of French presidential election candidate for the En Marche! Movement Emmanuel Macroncelebrate in front of the Pyramid at the Louvre Museum yesterday following the announcement of the resultsof the second round of the French presidential election. — AFP

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But they could fast-track the process by buying into the1,476-unit complex in Jersey City, scheduled to breakground in early 2018.

The investment drive, hosted by Chinese government-approved immigration agency QWOS, has sought to high-light the project’s connections to the “famous” clan, raisingconcern over potential conflicts of interest. Yesterday,Meyer was introduced in Chinese to investors as a repre-sentative of “a famed celebrity investment family”. QWOSrepresentatives courting potential investors on-site point-edly dropped the name of Trump’s daughter Ivanka, who isJared Kushner’s wife and a popular icon on the mainland.

Attendees were reassured by an American lawyer thatdespite his tough talk on immigration, Trump himself wasa key decision-maker for EB-5 policy and was unlikely tomake any changes to it in the near future - making it a safepath to US residency. But acting sooner was better thanlater since investment thresholds were likely to rise comeautumn and regulations tighten, he warned.

The housing complex, known as “One Journal Square”,will include recreational facilities, child playrooms and apet hospital, according to the QWOS website. EB-5 invest-ment from China will account for around 15 percent of its

total $976.4 million cost. The Chinese company’s advertise-ments for the Journal Square development described theproject as “Kushner 1”, with punchy subtitles declaring thatit has “government support” and is “founded by celebritydevelopers,” without elaborating. Bi Ting, a 34-year-oldwoman who attended the Shanghai event, said having thename of the US president’s son-in-law associated with itwas “a bonus for the project”.

Yesterday’s presentations emphasized the complex’ssimilarity to a Trump-branded luxury development a ten-minute drive away. Those apartments were also developedby Kushner Companies, and about a quarter of the fund-ing - around $50 million - was obtained via EB-5 invest-ment, according to a report last year by Bloomberg News.Most investors were Chinese and were brought in byQWOS, the company said.

Around a dozen clients had signed on for the new proj-ect after a Beijing event headed by Meyer the day before,QWOS representatives told AFP. There, Nicole KushnerMeyer told investors that the project “means a lot to meand my entire family”, and mentioned her brother’s formerrole as chief executive of Kushner Companies, the New YorkTimes reported. Photos of the meeting showed promotion-al posters bearing the slogan: “Government supports it;Celebrity property developer builds it”. — Agencies

Trump son-in-law’s sis woos China ‘golden...