Billionaire populist Andrej Babis' party wins Czech parliamentary election
Prague (AP): Populist Czech billionaire Andrej Babiš won a parliamentary election on Saturday in a a political comeback that put the country on a course away from supporting Ukraine and toward Hungary and Slovakia, which have taken a pro-Russian path.
With the votes from almost 98 per cent of polling station counted by the Statistics Office, Babiš's ANO (YES) movement captured 35 per cent of the vote followed by the pro-Western coalition of Prime Minister Petr Fiala with 23.0 per cent. The coalition defeated him in the 2021 election.
The two-day election filled 200 seats in the lower house of the Czech parliament. A group of mayors known as STAN, also a member of Fiala's government, had 11.1 per cent of the vote, with another ally of Fiala, the Pirates party, reaching 8.7 per cent.
The major anti-migrant force, the Freedom and Direct Democracy party, got 7.9 per cent while a right-wing group calling itself the Motorists received 6.8 per cent. The two are potential partners for Babiš if he wants to have a majority government.
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4 workers die after being buried under coal slurry in Jharkhand's Dhanbad
Dhanbad (Jharkhand) (PTI): At least four workers died after being buried under coal slurry in Jharkhand's Dhanbad district on Saturday, a police official said.
The incident took place at Moonidih coal washery in the command area of Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL).
"Bodies of all four workers were dug out of debris during a rescue operation," Putki police station in-charge Waqar Hussain told PTI.
The incident took place when coal slurry was being loaded into trucks by workers, during which a large chunk of slurry fell and trapped several workers underneath, officials said.
The deceased have been identified as Manik Bauri, Dinesh Bauri, Deepak Bauri, and Hemlal Gope.
Meanwhile, the family members of the deceased and local villagers placed the bodies in front of the washery gate and began a protest.
They demanded compensation, jobs for dependents and action against those responsible for the incident.
Police and administration officials are trying to pacify the protesters, an official said.
