Category World News

Tens of thousands of Hungarians have taken part in a demonstration in Budapest demanding Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s resignation over his inaction towards repeated child-abuse scandals in the country.

Since returning to power in 2010, Orban has promised to prioritise the protection of children in Hungary, but multiple high-profile child abuse scandals have rocked his government in recent years.

Saturday’s protests, led by opposition party TISZA’s leader Peter Magyar, came after new allegations regarding a juvenile detention centre in the country’s capital Budapest surfaced in September. Security camera footage from the centre showed the director of the Szolo Street juvenile detention centre kicking a boy in the head.

Earlier this week, four staff members were taken into custody, and the government announced that it would place all such child facilities under direct police supervision.

On Saturday, thousands of protesters walked through Budapest’s frosty streets behind a banner reading “Protect the children!” and called on the government to take more action against the perpetrators. Some people also carried soft toys and torches in solidarity with victims of physical abuse in a case dating back several years.

On Friday, Magyar also released a previously unpublished official report from 2021, which found that more than a fifth of children in state-run care institutions have been abused.

“We should be outraged at what is being done with the most vulnerable children,” Zsuzsa Szalay, a 73-year-old pensioner who took part in Saturday’s protest, told the AFP news agency.

Orban’s government has insisted that action was being taken against suspected child abuse.

The prime minister, who faces what could be the toughest challenge to his 15-year rule in an election likely to be held in April, has also condemned the abuse in an interview with news outlet Mandiner, and called it unacceptable and criminal. He added that “[even] young criminals should not be treated this way”.

But protesters on Saturday said Orban’s response was inadequate.

“Normally, a government would be toppled after a case like this,” 16-year-old David Kozak told AFP.

Last year, the country’s president, Katalin Novak, also bowed down to public pressure and resigned after pardoning the deputy director of a state-run children’s school who was convicted of covering up sexual abuse by its director.

At least six Bangladeshi peacekeepers were killed in a “terrorist” attack on a United Nations base in Abyei, a disputed region between Sudan and South Sudan, the Bangladesh army said.

The attack on Saturday also injured another eight people, the army stated.

“The situation in the area is still unstable and clashes with terrorists are ongoing,” the army said in a statement, adding that the authorities were working to provide medical treatment and rescue operations for those injured.

There was no immediate comment from the UN mission.

The attack comes just a month after the United Nations Security Council voted to renew a UN Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA), the peacekeeping mission in the oil-rich disputed region between Sudan and South Sudan, for another year.

Bangladesh is one of the largest contributors to UN peacekeeping missions, and its troops have long been deployed in Abyei, a volatile region disputed between Sudan and South Sudan.

UNISFA’s peacekeeping mission was first deployed in 2011.

The 4,000 police and soldiers of UNISFA are tasked with protecting civilians in the region plagued by frequent armed clashes.

The Abyei region is split between two different groups with different loyalties.

The Ngok Dinka tribe have strong ethnic, cultural and linguistic ties to the Dinka of South Sudan, while the Misseriya are a nomadic Arab tribe with links to Sudan.

Abyei’s future was a critical feature of the 2005 peace deal that was signed between the Sudanese government and rebels that ended the civil war then and led the way to South Sudan’s independence.

However, unrest in the disputed area with South Sudan also continues at a time when Sudan is devastated by a more recent civil war that erupted in April 2023, when two generals started fighting over control of the country.

The United States and the United Nations have warned that violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo could escalate into a regional conflict.

Hundreds of people were killed as Rwandan-backed M23 rebels seized another city, just over a week after the US brokered a peace deal.

How dangerous is the situation?

Presenter: Adrian Finighan

Guests:

Gatete Nyiringabo – Political commentator and governance and advocacy consultant

Kambale Musavuli – Analyst at the Center for Research on the Congo-Kinshasa

Mohamed Salah set up a goal in Liverpool’s 2-0 win against Brighton as he returned to action after an explosive outburst cast doubt over his future at the Premier League champions.

The Egypt forward, the subject of intense scrutiny in the build-up to the game at Anfield, came off the substitutes’ bench to huge cheers in the 26th minute on Saturday, replacing injured defender Joe Gomez.

The home team, whose title defence has collapsed after a shocking run of results, were leading 1-0 at the time, with France forward Hugo Ekitike on the scoresheet after just 46 seconds.

Brighton squandered a number of opportunities to level, and Ekitike scored again with half an hour to go to give Liverpool breathing space.

Salah accused Liverpool of throwing him “under the bus” after he was left on the bench for last week’s 3-3 draw at Leeds – the third match in a row that he had been named among the replacements.

He also said that he had no relationship with manager Arne Slot.

Salah was omitted from the midweek Champions League trip to Inter Milan, which Liverpool won 1-0, posting a picture on social media of himself alone in the gym.

Slot said at Friday’s pre-match news conference that he would speak to the forward later in the day, adding, “I have no reasons [in] not wanting him to stay.”

Salah not made to wait long for substitute role to delight of Liverpool faithful

There was feverish speculation in the build-up to Saturday’s match about what role Salah would play, with the winger named on the bench.

Liverpool, who had won just two of 10 Premier League matches before the Brighton game, made a lightning start, taking the lead in the first minute when Joe Gomez set up Ekitike, who thumped the ball past Bart Verbruggen.

Salah entered the fray about 20 minutes before half-time when Gomez was withdrawn.

Brighton’s Diego Gomez squandered a good chance to level early in the second half, striking the ball against the outside of a post, and Brajan Gruda also went close as the home crowd chanted Salah’s name.

Liverpool doubled their lead in the 60th minute when Ekitike scored his second, nodding home Salah’s corner.

Salah himself went close in stoppage time after he was set up by Federico Chiesa, but he blazed over.

The win lifts Slot’s men to sixth in the table ahead of the later kickoffs on Saturday, easing the pressure on the beleaguered manager.

Salah departure from Liverpool for AFCON or for good?

Salah, who signed a new two-year contract at Liverpool in April, is about to depart for the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).

The length of his absence depends on how far Egypt go in the competition in Morocco, with the final taking place on January 18.

The forward, who has been linked with a move to the lucrative Saudi Pro League, had invited his family to the Brighton game as speculation swirled over his future.

“I will be in Anfield to say goodbye to the fans and go to the Africa Cup,” he told reporters last week. “I don’t know what is going to happen when I am there.”

Salah, third in Liverpool’s all-time scoring charts with 250 goals, has won two Premier League titles and one Champions League crown during his spell on Merseyside.

The Israeli military has said it struck a “key” Hamas member in the area of Gaza City, without elaborating on who they may be.

In a post on Telegram, the army alleged that the member had been operating to re-establish Hamas’s capabilities, which have been severely depleted by more than two years of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.

There was no immediate comment from the Palestinian group.

The Wafa news agency reported that an Israeli drone hit a vehicle at the Nabulsi junction in the west of Gaza City, resulting in casualties.

The agency did not report on specific numbers, and it was not clear if the attack was the one that allegedly killed the Hamas member.

Since the ceasefire started in October, Israel has continued to attack Gaza daily – reaching nearly 800 times – in a clear breach of the agreement, according to authorities in Gaza.

Belarus has freed 123 prisoners, including Nobel Peace Prize winner Ales Bialiatski and leading opposition figure Maria Kalesnikava, in exchange for sanctions relief from the United States.

John Coale, the US special envoy for Belarus, announced the lifting of sanctions on potash on Saturday after two days talks of with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko in Minsk.

Belarus is a leading global producer of potash, a key component in fertilisers,

The prisoner release was by far the biggest by Lukashenko since Trump’s administration opened talks this year with close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Western governments had previously shunned him because of his crushing of dissent and backing for Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Separately, Ukraine’s prisoner of war coordination centre said it had received 114 prisoners released by Belarus, including Ukrainian citizens accused of working for Ukrainian intelligence and Belarusian political prisoners.

The centre’s statement said the released captives would receive medical attention, adding that the Belarusian citizens who so wished would subsequently be transported to Poland or Lithuania.