Paris / AFP The surprise winner of the first round of France’s rightwing presidential primary, conservative ex-premier Francois Fillon, was the runaway favourite on Monday to win the contest expected to decide France’s next leader. Fillon, an admirer of Margaret Thatcher who has pledged deep economic reforms, pulled off a stunning upset on Sunday, surging from behind to knock his …

  Kiev / AFP Ukraine on Monday marked the third anniversary of the start of its pro-EU revolution with President Petro Poroshenko’s firm rejection of “the Russian world”. The so-called Euromaidan protests lasted three months and culminated in a bloodbath that claimed the lives of more than 100 largely unarmed people and about 20 anti-riot police. Poroshenko has declared November 21 …

  Edirne / AFP Turkish authorities on Monday blocked a delegation of national and European Parliament lawmakers from visiting the leader of Turkey’s main pro-Kurdish party who has been held in jail for almost three weeks. The delegation of a dozen members of the Party of European Socialists (PES) sought to make a visit to the head of the Peoples’ …