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Thousands of political opposition protesters take to the streets Saturday in Budapest, Hungary.
Thousands of political opposition protesters take to the streets Saturday in Budapest, Hungary.

Hungarian rally protests ‘Stop Soros’ bill

BUDAPEST, Hungary — Tens of thousands of protesters rallied in Hungary for the second-consecutive Saturday, this time against the media policies and campaign against civic groups pursued by Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government.

Opposition parties from across the political spectrum participated in Saturday’s rally. Organizers said there were more than 100,000 people in attendance, comparable to the turnout for the largest pro-Orban event held before Hungary’s April 8 election.

Orban won a fourth term and his Fidesz party secured a supermajority in parliament, where its lawmakers. They have promised to quickly approve the “Stop Soros” bill meant to greatly limit the work of nongovernmental groups aiding refugees and asylum seekers.

Most of the groups receive funding from George Soros’ Open Society Foundations. Orban, who based his re-election campaign nearly exclusively on his anti-migration policies argues that the nongovernmental organizations he deems are “working against Hungary’s interests” have no right to try to influence political decisions.

India advances child-rape death penalty

NEW DELHI — India’s government on Saturday approved the death penalty for people convicted of raping children under 12, responding to widespread anger over the recent rape and killing of a young girl.

An order was approved by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Cabinet and was being sent to the president for his approval, the Press Trust of India news agency reported.

It will require the approval of Parliament within six months to become law. But in the meantime, suspects can be prosecuted under the order.

The move follows the recent rape and killing of an 8-year-old girl in India’s Jammu-Kashmir state, the reported rape of a girl by a ruling-party lawmaker in Uttar Pradesh state and several other rape cases involving girls.

Many protesters expressed particular anger at India’s ruling Hindu nationalist party for initially siding with the accused in the Kashmir case. The young victim was a Muslim and the accused are Hindus.

Burma evicts family of testifying officer

NAYPYITAW, Burma — Burma police on Saturday evicted the family of a police officer who had testified a day earlier that he and others were ordered to entrap two Reuters news agency reporters facing charges that could get them up to 14 years in prison, the officer’s wife said.

The reporters, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, have been detained since Dec. 12 on charges of violating the colonial-era Official Secrets Act. The two helped cover the crisis in Burma’s Rakhine state, where a brutal counterinsurgency operation last year drove about 700,000 Rohingya Muslims to neighboring Bangladesh.

Police Capt. Moe Yan Naing told a court Friday that his superior had arranged for two policemen to meet the reporters at a restaurant and hand over documents described as “important secret papers” in order to entrap them.

On Saturday, the police captain’s wife, Daw Tuu, said she and her daughter were ordered to move out of their police housing unit in the capital, Naypyitaw.

The defendants’ lawyers have asked the court to drop the case against the pair, saying prosecutors failed to present enough evidence, but the judge denied the motion.

Venezuelan 1st to visit new Cuba leader

HAVANA — Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel met with his Venezuelan counterpart Saturday in his first official act as the country’s leader.

Nicolas Maduro is the first leader to visit Diaz-Canel since he was selected last week to replace Cuba’s outgoing president, Raul Castro.

The Cuban government on Wednesday selected the 58-year-old Diaz-Canel to succeed Castro in a transition aimed at ensuring the continuity of the country’s single-party system. The 86-year-old Castro will remain head of the Communist Party, but it is not clear how much power he will wield.

Castro did not attend the welcome ceremony for the Venezuelan president at the Palace of the Revolution, sources said. Cuban first lady Lis Cuesta was in attendance, along with Maduro’s wife, Cilia Flores.

Cuba had no first lady during the nearly six decades that the Castro family was in power. Castro was a widower when he took office 12 years ago, and his older brother Fidel carefully guarded his private life.

A Section on 04/22/2018

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