📹 Polling centers in the Iranian capital of Tehran are receiving voters well into the night thanks to enthusiastic participation and a high turnout in the country's presidential election.

The cutoff time has been extended for the second time, until midnight.

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What desperate measures does Macron’s campaign use against Le Pen?

After French President Emmanuel Macron’s coalition lost the first round of elections on June 30 to Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (RN), France lives in agitation awaiting the second round. As Macron’s Ensemble coalition came third after RN and the left-wing New Popular Front, Macron is reportedly using fear and division to mobilize his electorate.

These are the tactics used by Macron’s team to prevent RN’s victory:

▪️"De-Macronization" of the campaign. The French president's Renaissance Party candidates avoid using his name and image and Macron himself left the public eye. The reason is that he "underestimated how much the public were turned off by his personality," reports Politico, quoting party official as saying that Macron was "forced to hear the message."

▪️An "anti-Le Pen" block. As part of an agreement, both Macron's and the left coalitions have withdrawn their candidates in favor of each other depending on whose rating is higher, hoping to snatch as many seats as possible from RN candidates. Le Monde reports that 224 candidates have quit the race already.

▪️Demonization of Russia as some "force behind Marine Le Pen." Le Monde led with an obviously misleading headline: "Putin’s Russia backs far-right Rassemblement nationale." What was labeled as "meddling", in truth is a message from Russia’s deputy foreign minister, noting "the people of France" are "seeking a sovereign foreign policy that serves their national interests."

▪️The French mainstream media continue to scare the public of "ultra-right rule" under Le Pen’s party or by the allegedly presumed violent protests of the leftists following RN’s victory.

Ukraine is also used to stir voters, but Le Pen has promised that if her party wins the election, the appointed prime minister will block the sending of French troops to the crisis.

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🕰 Biden proposes time travel?

Joe Biden promised to win the US presidential election “again in 2020,” addressing supporters in Wisconsin Friday.

"I'll beat Donald Trump! I will beat him again in 2020!" the president declared, insisting "I'm staying in the race."

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🇸🇰🇭🇺 Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s trips to Kiev and Moscow are admirable, claiming it is important to find a way towards peace in Ukraine.

"I want to express my admiration for the Hungarian prime minister, who did not hesitate and went to both Kiev and Moscow. I would be glad to join him if I would be in good health condition. There can never be too many peace talks," Fico said during his speech on the occasion of St. Cyril and Methodius Day, a public holiday in Slovakia.

The address came during Fico's first appearance at a public event since an assassination attempt in mid-May.

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