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- Hungary advances rule of law under new prime minister, EU report says
- US Strikes Iranian Infrastructure as Tensions Escalate in Region
- Saskatchewan child care licence applicants report denial of applications
- Trump addresses election security claims and releases declassified documents
- Tribute paid to Olive Farrow, aged four, killed by car in Gotham
- Trump, Ryanair and tourism highlight plight of Western Sahara’s Sahrawi people
- EU may restrict Chinese imports to safeguard market stability, warns MEP
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Hunt for Tube hero who gave blind man his shoes after he lost one through the gap The hunt is on find an ‘absolute hero’
Hungary advances rule of law under new prime minister, EU report says
Key Development
Hungary has decided to join the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, enabling investigations into financial crimes affecting the EU budget.
Hungary has decided to join the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, enabling investigations into financial crimes affecting the EU budget.
Strategic Importance
Hungary’s decision to join the European Public Prosecutor’s Office signifies a crucial step towards enhancing financial accountability within the EU, impacting budgetary integrity.
Hungary’s decision to join the European Public Prosecutor’s Office signifies a crucial step towards enhancing financial accountability within the EU, impacting budgetary integrity.
Positive Trends
“We see some very positive trends […] in the early weeks of the new government’s mandate, a lot has already been done,” stated EU Justice Commissioner Michael McGrath.
“We see some very positive trends […] in the early weeks of the new government’s mandate, a lot has already been done,” stated EU Justice Commissioner Michael McGrath.
Rule of Law in Hungary shows ‘radical change’ under Magyar, EU says
Published on •Updated
Hungary has taken significant steps to restore the rule of law in the two months since Prime Minister Péter Magyar took office, the European Commission said in a report presented on Friday.
The new government has launched “intense reform efforts”, with several legislative changes already advanced, according to the report, which describes the progress made as “impressive” given the short time since the change of government.
“You have a very radical change compared with last year’s report. Things have moved very, very quickly in the right direction,” a senior EU official told EU News.
A key development was Hungary’s recent decision to join the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, which investigates and prosecutes financial crimes affecting the EU budget across member states.
The report also highlights progress in several areas, including anti-corruption measures, asset declarations and the work of the Integrity Authority.
Magyar has also dismantled the “Sovereignty Protection Office”, a body established under his predecessor, Viktor Orbán, which could access citizens’ personal data to investigate and sanction alleged foreign agents. The office had been targeted by an EU infringement procedure.
“We see some very positive trends […] in the early weeks of the new government’s mandate, a lot has already been done,” EU Justice Commissioner Michael McGrath said during a press conference presenting the report.
‘Things can’t change overnight’
Despite the reform push, the Commission said significant shortcomings remain in Hungary’s justice system.
“Things cannot completely change overnight,” a senior EU official told EU News, stressing that many recommendations made in previous years’ reports have yet to be addressed.
One example is the procedure for appointing the Prosecutor General, which remains a concern for the Commission because it could allow undue political interference in individual cases.
The Commission does not rank EU countries’ performance, but publishes dedicated chapters assessing each member state. For Hungary, the remaining concerns include the functioning of the judiciary, corruption risks and unresolved violations of EU law.
Civic space also continues to be classified as “obstructed” in the report. The complexity of registration procedures in Hungary remains a challenge for smaller organisations with limited resources.
The Rule of Law Report could become increasingly important in the coming years, as the European Commission seeks to strengthen the link between compliance with rule-of-law standards and the allocation of EU funds under the 2028-34 EU budget.
Countries that fail to meet these standards could see payments suspended, although Commissioner McGrath stressed that there would be no automatic mechanism triggered solely by the report’s findings.
October 12, 2024
6:18 am
‘Cheer up, you caught the bad guy,’ says killer Virginia McCullough as she is arrested for murdering her parents
A woman who murdered her parents “in cold blood” before hiding them in makeshift tombs for four years told officers to “cheer up, you caught the bad guy” as she was arrested in her home.
Virginia McCullough, 36, poisoned her father John McCullough, 70, with prescription medication and fatally stabbed her mother Lois McCullough, 71, shortly afterwards in 2019.
She ran up large debts on credit cards in her parents’ names and after their deaths, she continued to spend their pensions until she was finally caught in 2023.
In body-worn video footage released by police, a handcuffed – and eerily calm – McCullough told officers: “I did know that this would kind of come eventually.
“It’s proper that I serve my punishment.”
She said she had slipped something into her father’s drink then put his body under a bed on the ground floor, and put her mother’s body in an upstairs wardrobe.
McCullough, having been arrested on suspicion of double murder, told an officer: “Cheer up, at least you’ve caught the bad guy.”
She added: “I know I don’t seem 100% evil.”
At the police station, she told officers where a kitchen knife was, which she described as a “murder weapon”, and a hammer which she said “will still have blood on it”.
McCullough, of Pump Hill, Chelmsford, Essex, was sentenced to life imprisonment on Friday with a minimum term of 36 years at Chelmsford Crown Court, after she admitted to their murders between 17 and 20 June 2019 at an earlier hearing at the same court.
Chelmsford Crown Court heard how she hid their bodies in makeshift tombs at the family home in Great Baddow in Essex, then told persistent lies to cover her tracks.
The court heard she cancelled family arrangements and frequently told doctors and relatives her parents were unwell, on holiday or away on lengthy trips.
But concerns over Mr and Mrs McCullough’s welfare were raised in September 2023 by a GP at their registered practice, and Essex County Council’s safeguarding team referred these to police.
The GP had not seen the couple for some time and said Mr McCullough had failed to collect medication and attend scheduled appointments. It was found McCullough had frequently cancelled appointments, using a range of excuses to explain her father’s absence.
Police said a missing persons investigation was initially launched and McCullough lied to officers, claiming her parents were travelling and would be returning in October.
It became a murder investigation, and when officers forced entry to the house in Pump Hill on September 15 2023, McCullough confessed that her parents’ bodies were in the house and that she had killed them.
Nicola Rice, a specialist prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “McCullough callously and viciously killed both of her parents before concealing their bodies in makeshift tombs within their home address.
“She spent the next four years manipulating and lying to family members, medical staff, financial institutions, and the police, spending her parents’ money and accruing large debts in their name.”
She added: “This was a truly disturbing case, which has left behind it a trail of devastation, and I can only hope that the sentence passed today will help those who loved and cared for Lois and John begin to heal.”
To downplay the genocide, the israelis claim there’s only 20,000 people left in north Gaza, says
@MahaGaza
: the real number exceeds 400,000
Man of the right wing Nigel Farage taking more second jobs and freebie helicopter rides
Gosh he’ll soon be a true blue Tory at this rate
Or far far worse
The cost-of-living crisis is far from over, yet the government’s 50% increase to the bus fare cap is a political choice, adding hundreds to annual costs.
To address hardship & the climate crisis, the government must keep the £2 cap & make public transport accessible for all.
G20 waters down support for Ukraine amid pressure for peace talks
The Tech Titan Who Led His Company From a 68-Square-Foot Jail Cell
November 23, 2024
8:25 am
Defense alliance NATO chief Mark Rutte has met US President-elect Donald Trump to discuss global security issues, according to a NATO spokesperson.
The meeting took place in Palm Beach, Florida.
During his first term as US president, 2017-2020, Trump pushed for European NATO countries to spend more on defense and described the alliance’s cost-sharing as unfair to the US.
Rutte took over as NATO chief from Norwegian Jens Stoltenberg in November.
Before taking office in January, Trump has nominated Pete Hegseth for the post of defense secretary, which has raised eyebrows among many allies.
Hegseth, 44, has served as an infantry captain in Iraq and Afghanistan, but has no senior military or government officer experience.
November 23, 2024
8:25 am
November 23, 2024
8:17 am
Multiple missiles were fired in an airstrike towards a densely populated part of Lebanon’s capital early on Saturday.
The huge airstrike targeted Beirut’s Basta neighbourhood, and no prior warnings were given by the Israeli military. The largely residential area was struck last month.
At least one violent explosion was heard across the city, Reuters witnesses said, and plumes of smoke could be seen. Scenes of massive destruction at the site were shared online, including a massive crater in the ground.
“Beirut, the capital, woke up to a horrific massacre, as the Israeli enemy’s air force completely destroyed an eight-story residential building with five missiles on Al-Mamoun Street in Basta,” the state-run National News Agency reported.
The health ministry put the initial death toll at four, with 23 wounded. The number is expected to climb in the coming hours as search and rescue efforts continue.
It came after a long day of Israeli airstrikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs, which have been non-stop since last week.
The cross-border fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group escalated into a full-blown war in mid-September.
Israel has bombed southern Lebanon, Beirut’s southern suburbs and the eastern Beqaa region, and has sent ground troops across the border. Hezbollah has continued to fire rockets deeper into Israel.
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