CROATIA: Thousands of people joined protest marches today against the surging far right following a spate of incidents that have fuelled both ethnic and political tensions in the European Union country.

Gatherings with the slogan “United against fascism” were held in four major cities, including the capital Zagreb. The crowd chanted “we are all anti-fascists!” as they pledged to counter the far right.

HONDURAS: Voting began today to elect a new president only days after US President Donald Trump intervened by endorsing right-wing candidate Nasry “Tito” Asfura and announced that he would pardon ex-president Juan Orlando Hernandez, who is serving a 45-year sentence in a US prison for drug trafficking.

Voters will elect a new Congress, as well as hundreds of local officials.

SWITZERLAND: Voters decisively rejected today a call to require women to do national service in the military, civil protection teams or other forms, as all men must do already.

Official results showed that more than half of Switzerland’s cantons rejected the “citizen service initiative” by wide margins. That meant it was defeated, because proposals need a majority of both voters and cantons to pass.

RUSSIA: Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov accused Europe on Saturday of undermining previous attempts to secure a peace with Ukraine in 2014.

Mr Lavrov said: “The last time the same thing happened was in April 2022, when the Istanbul agreements were derailed upon orders from [then British prime minister] Boris Johnson, with Europe offering no resistance at all — and even welcoming it,” the Tass news agency reported.