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DAILY NEWS IN ENGLISH

Polandʼs first openly gay mayor creates new party ʼSpringʼ Polandʼsfirst openly gay politician founded a new progressive partyon Sunday ahead of European and Polish elections this year. Robert Biedron, who named the party "Wiosna" ("Spring"), said he wanted to challenge Polandʼs divisive politics and win seats from Polandʼs ruling rightwing Law and Justice (PiS) party at European elections in May. "There is no room for hate, we have reached the limit," he said in front of thousands of supporters in the capital Warsaw. "We need a spring that will renew this gloomy landscape," he added. Read more: Poland, Italy forge populist alliance ahead of European Parliament elections Biedron said Wiosna was based on three pillars: the individual, the community and a state that can be trusted.

German police arrest pair after shots fired near US airbase Two men in a van caused a major disturbance on Sunday night in the western German city of Wiesbaden. Officials were alerted after a resident of the cityʼs Delkenheim district reported that several shots had been fired from a white van in the direction of an airfield belonging to the US Armyʼs Lucius D. Clay military base. The report prompted a large-scale police operation involving vehicles from Wiesbaden and the surrounding area. A police helicopter was also drafted in. The van was tracked down to a local business park, where two men were arrested at a unit they had rented. According to police, the 20-year-old passenger, whose 26-year-old work colleague had been driving, had fired the shots from a blank alarm pistol which was found in the vehicle itself.

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Venezuelaʼs Maduro rejects ultimatum from EU countries to call elections The move clears the way for seven EU countries to recognize his rival Juan Guaido as president

Venezuelaʼs embattled leader Nicolas Maduro has rejected an ultimatum from European countries to call elections. Venezuelaʼs embattled president Nicolas Maduro has rejected a call from European countries to hold snap elections despite huge domestic protests and international pressure. In an interview with Spanish TV network Sexta, he said he would not "cave in to pressure" by those urging him to step down. "Why does the European Union have to tell a country in the world that has already had elections that it has to repeat its presidential elections, because they were not won by their right-wing allies," Maduro said. Several EU countries, including Germany, France, Britain and Spain had been urging Maduro to call for new elections before midnight on Sunday. "They are trying to corner us with ultimatums to force us into an extreme situation of confrontation," Maduro said. But Maduro did say he supported plans for a meeting of Latin American and EU states in a "Contact Group" meeting in Montevideo next Thursday as it could lead to a "dialogue

among Venezuelans to resolve our issues." Portugal, the Netherlands and Belgium have saidthey will recognize opposition leader Juan Guaido as presidentif Maduro failed to announce a second vote by midnight on Sunday. Franceʼs European affairs minister, Nathalie Loiseau, told LCI television on Sunday that "if by tonight [President] Maduro does not commit to organizing presidential elections, then France will consider Juan Guaido as legitimate to organize them in his place and we will consider him as the interim president until legitimate elections in Venezuela [take place]." "The ultimatum ends tonight," she told French media later on Sunday. Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said Vienna would "acknowledge and support Juan Guaido as president ad interim of Venezuela" if Maduro failed to call new elections. The Austrian leader also said he had a "very good phone call with President" Guaido in an English-language tweet.

El Salvador: Nayib Bukele wins presidential election Former mayor Nayib Bukele on Sunday won El Salvadorʼs presidential election, the Supreme Electoral Court said. The Supreme Electoral Court said Bukele had nearly 54 percent of the votes, with nearly 90 percent of ballots counted.His biggest challenger, Carlos Callejas of the Nationalist Republican Alliance, was far behind in second with less than 32 percent, while even farther back were former Foreign Minister Hugo Martinez of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front and a minor party candidate. "Today we won the first round and we made history," Bukele, said in a victory speech to cheering supporters. "We’ve turned the page on power." Bukele, a 37-year-oldformer mayor of San Salvador, is the conservative Grand Alliance for National Unity (GANA) party candidate, and his win will end almost 30 years of a two-party system.

Israel builds new barrier along Gaza Strip border Israel on Sunday said it had started to build a new barrier along its border with the Gaza Strip, according to the Defense Ministry. The ministry said in a statement that the above-ground barrier — 65 kilometers long and six meters high — would work in conjunction with an underground wall also under construction, to neutralize the possibility of cross-border tunnels built by Hamas militants.

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