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Hungarian PM Viktor Orban concedes defeat in European electoral earthquake

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By Justin Spike and Sam McNeil, Associated Press Hungarian voters ousted long-serving Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Sunday after 16 years in power. The result is seen as a rejection of the authoritarian policies and global right-wing movement that Mr Orban embodied, in favour of a pro-European challenger in a bombshell election result with global repercussions. Election victor Peter Magyar, a former loyalist of Mr Orban who campaigned against corruption and on everyday issues such as health care and public transport, has pledged to rebuild Hungary’s relationships with the European Union and Nato — ties that frayed under Mr Orban. European leaders quickly congratulated Mr Magyar. It is not yet clear whether Mr Magyar’s Tisza party will have the two-thirds majority in parliament to govern without a coalition. With 77% of the vote counted, it had more than 53% support to 38% for Mr Orban’s governing Fidesz party. It is a stunning blow for Mr Orban, a close ally of both US President...
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Russia, Ukraine accuse each other of violating Orthodox Easter ceasefire

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Russia and Ukraine on Saturday accused each other of violating ​a brief ceasefire in their four-year-old war hours into the truce put in place to mark Orthodox Easter. Governors of two Russian ‌border regions said Ukrainian drones had attacked targets in the Kursk and Belgorod regions, injuring five people. The General Staff of Ukraine’s military said Russian forces had violated the terms of the 32-hour truce 469 times, including assault actions, shelling and drone strikes. The ceasefire, announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday, went into effect at 4 ​p.m. Moscow time (1300 GMT). His Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said he would abide by it. Reuters could not independently verify reports of military ​activity. The ceasefire was put in place as U.S.-led negotiations to reach a settlement have been halted amid the ⁠war in the Middle East. U.S. and Iranian negotiators were meeting in Pakistan on Saturday to try to end their six-week-old war. According t...
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Mali backs Morocco’s plan for disputed Western Sahara, ending support for the Sahrawi Republic

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BY BABA AHMED AP Mali on Friday backed Morocco’s plan to offer autonomy to Western Sahara but establish sovereignty over the disputed region, endorsing a plan to end a decades-long conflict between the Moroccan government and the indigenous Sahrawi people. The Malian transitional government said Friday it was withdrawing its recognition of the pro-independence Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic as part of its backing for the Moroccan plan, which has growing support from African allies, the Trump administration in the U.S. and most  European Union  members. In a statement released by the Malian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the government said “the Republic of Mali supports the autonomy plan proposed by Morocco as the only serious and credible basis for resolving this dispute and considers that genuine autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty is the most realistic solution.” Western Sahara is a phosphate-rich stretch of coastal desert the size of Colorado that was under Spanish rul...
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Fighting between Sahel-based jihadist rivals spills into Niger

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By Robbie Corey-Boulet Reuters The West African affiliates of al Qaeda and Islamic State have clashed in Niger for the first time, according to a ‌statement from one of the groups, a development that analysts said signals an ‌intensification of their years-long rivalry. Al Qaeda-linked Jama’at Nusrat al‑Islam wal‑Muslimin (JNIM) and Islamic State in the Sahel Province (ISSP) engaged in ​their first skirmishes in 2019 and have since clashed hundreds of times, resulting in more than 2,100 deaths, according to Armed Conflict Location & Event Data (ACLED), a conflict monitoring group. That fighting had unfolded exclusively in Mali and Burkina Faso until last week when ISSP fighters attacked a JNIM position in ‌the Tillaberi region of western Niger. In ⁠a statement dated Monday, ISSP said it had killed 35 JNIM operatives and seized weapons and motorbikes. It said the attack came on April ⁠2 in response to a JNIM attack on a village in Tillaberi. Human Rights Watch has previously ac...
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Protests over high fuel costs clog Dublin, other Irish cities

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By Conor Humphries and Padraic Halpin Reuters Protesters calling for further government help to lower the cost of fuel clogged up busy thoroughfares and motorways ‌with parked lorries and tractors across Ireland on Wednesday, disrupting commuters and public transport ‌for a second successive day. Convoys of vehicles began converging on Dublin’s city centre and other towns and cities on ​Tuesday, with protesters, including hauliers and farmers, complaining that a 250 million euro package to temporarily cut taxes on petrol and diesel did not go far enough to cushion the knock-on cost of the Middle East conflict. “With the price we’re paying for fuel, I’m probably two months away from my ‌business folding,” said Christopher Duffy, ⁠46, an agricultural contractor who was part of a group blocking Dublin’s main thoroughfare of O’Connell Street that is calling for the price of diesel ⁠to be capped at a lower rate. “It’s not a lot to ask for really… We’re just backed into a corner.” Minis...
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North Korea fires multiple ballistic missiles towards East Sea

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By Kang Jin-kyu AFP North Korea fired multiple short-range ballistic missiles on Wednesday, South Korea’s military said, hours after reporting an “unidentified projectile” launched from the North’s capital area the previous day. South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has sought to repair ties with North Korea since taking office last year, criticising his predecessor for allegedly sending drones to scatter propaganda over Pyongyang. The launches follow Seoul’s expression of regret on Monday over civilian drone incursions into the North in January, with President Lee calling it “irresponsible” and noting that government officials had been involved in the operation. They are seen as North Korea’s latest rebuff of South Korea’s peace overtures, according to analysts. Seoul’s military said early Wednesday it had detected “an unidentified projectile” launched from the Pyongyang area a day earlier. About an hour later, the military said it also detected “multiple unidentified ballistic m...
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NASA launches humans to moon for first time in half-century

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By Joey Roulette and Steve Gorman Reuters Four astronauts blasted off from Florida on Wednesday on NASA’s Artemis II mission, a high-stakes voyage around the moon that marks the United ​States’ boldest step yet toward returning humans to the lunar surface later this decade in a race with China. NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, topped with its Orion crew capsule,  roared to ‌life  just before sunset at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, carrying its debut crew – three U.S. astronauts and a Canadian astronaut – into Earth orbit. The 32-story-tall space vehicle thundered into clear skies trailing a towering column of thick, white vapor. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said the launch was an opening act for subsequent missions that would include construction of a moon base to support the “enduring presence we’re trying to create on the surface.” If the mission proceeds as planned,  the crew  consisting of ​NASA astronauts Reid Wis...
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