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NATO ally endorses China's Ukraine peace plan as Beijing applauds 'model' of European diplomacy

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NATO ally endorses China's Ukraine peace plan as Beijing applauds 'model' of European diplomacy

The visit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Hungarian President Viktor Orban ended with glowing praise from both parties as Xi labeled his counterpart a “model” for diplomatic relations with Europe, while Orban endorsed Beijing’s Ukraine peace plan.

“Today, Europe is on the side of war,” Orbán said Thursday during a joint press conference. 

“The only exception is Hungary, which calls for an immediate ceasefire and peace negotiations and supports all international efforts that point towards peace. . . . We also support the Chinese peace initiative presented by Xi Jinping,” he added.

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto added that Hungary will “look at our co-operation with China as a huge chance and a huge opportunity.” 

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China has sought to reset its standing with Europe as it faces greater opposition and a worsening reputation throughout the bloc. Winning a kind word from Hungary, which is not only an EU member but a NATO member as well, would seem the kind of PR boost Beijing has wanted. 

Supporters of China hold Chinese flags in Buda Castle close to the route of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s motorcade prior to the Chinese President’s meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on May 9, 2024, in Budapest, Hungary. The Chinese President pays a three-day official visit to Budapest from the evening of May 8, 2024.  (Attila Kisbenedek/AFP via Getty Images)

Xi’s five-day stint in Hungary — just one of three visits Xi is making in Europe — ended with a proclamation of China and Hungary’s “all-weather comprehensive strategic partnership for the new era,” which officials claim will serve “more than mere semantic importance,” according to the Financial Times.  

The “all-weather” designation indicates that Xi considers Budapest now a member of “those countries that do most to support China’s efforts to counter U.S. power and which are increasingly rewarded with investment, trade and diplomatic support,” the FT reported.  

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The two nations agreed to 17 deals that loop Hungary into China’s ongoing Belt and Road Initiative and involve investment in nuclear energy, supply chain improvements, green development and boosts to the finance and trade of Hungary, which will in return export agricultural products, technology and media services. 

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban jointly meet the press after their talks in Budapest, Hungary, May 9, 2024.  (Xie Huanchi/Xinhua via Getty Images)

Xi also lauded the deals as helping to bring cooperation between Beijing and Central and Eastern Europe to “a wider scope, a broader field and a higher level.” 

“China attaches importance to the China-EU comprehensive strategic partnership and considers Europe an important pole in the multipolar world,” Xi said of the agreements. “China supports Hungary in playing a greater role in the EU and promoting the new and greater development of China-EU relations.”

Chinese President Xi Jinping (L2) talks with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban (R) prior to their official talks in Carmelita Monastery, the prime minister’s headquarters, at Buda Castle quarter in Budapest, Hungary on May 9, 2024.  (Vivien Cher Benko/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

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The South China Morning Post noted that the “all-weather” partnership places Hungary in the company of such Chinese allies as Belarus, Pakistan and Venezuela. 

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The Chinese Foreign Ministry last year posted a 12-point peace plan, which included a number of points that many agreed with, such as urging against the use of nuclear weapons, protecting civilians and POWs, facilitating grain exports and promoting reconstruction.

However, the plan also called for the end of unilateral sanctions and “maximum pressure,” insisting that only sanctions authorized by the U.N. Security Council should go into effect. 

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“Relevant countries should stop abusing unilateral sanctions and ‘long-arm jurisdiction’ against other countries, so as to do their share in de-escalating the Ukraine crisis and create conditions for developing countries to grow their economies and better the lives of their people,” the plan said.                

Foreign Policy last year published an op-ed by Jo Inge Bekkevold, a senior China fellow at the Norwegian Institute for Defense Studies, criticizing China’s peace plan as having “ulterior motives.”

For example, China would seek to “position itself in the reconstruction of postwar Ukraine…. [it] explicitly states that it stands ready to provide assistance and play a role in post-conflict reconstruction,” though Bekkevold admits that “no other country is possibly better equipped than China to assist in rebuilding Ukraine.” 

“Welcoming Chinese assistance, expertise and investments must be a tempting proposition for Ukraine,” Bekkevold wrote. “Seen from Beijing, contributing to the reconstruction of Ukraine would strengthen China’s overall engagement with Europe.”

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‘Predators’: Amnesty slams Netanyahu Putin, Trump, as human rights decline

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‘Predators’: Amnesty slams Netanyahu Putin, Trump, as human rights decline

London, United Kingdom – Israel, Russia and the United States are leading the destruction of global human rights, Amnesty International has said, describing the three countries’ leaders as “voracious predators” intent upon economic and political domination.

“A global environment where primitive ferocity could flourish has been long in the making,” Agnes Callamard, the head of the global rights group, wrote in an annual report on the state of the world’s human rights that was released on Tuesday.

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In 2025, “sharp U-turns were taken away from the international order that had been imagined out of the ashes of the Holocaust and the utter destruction of world wars, and constructed slowly and painfully, albeit insufficiently, over these past 80 years,” she said.

In a news conference on Monday in London, Callamard said that most governments tend to appease the “predators” rather than confront them.

“Some even thought to imitate the bullies and the looters,” she said.

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Spain, however, which is an outlier in Europe for its criticism of Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and US-Israeli attacks on Iran, “is standing above the double standard that is destroying the international system”, Callamard said.

She argued that Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, US President Donald Trump and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, who in 2022 sent his forces into neighbouring Ukraine, have had an “absolutely dramatic” impact on the world.

Their conduct is “emboldening all of those that are tempted by similar behaviours,” said Callamard. “It is allowing for the multiplication of copycats around the world, and therefore what we are confronting now is much more aggressive and ferocious than what we had to confront three or four years ago.”

‘Authoritarian practices have intensified worldwide’

Amnesty’s review of the state of the world’s human rights makes for grim reading, documenting attacks on fundamental civil liberties in most nations.

“Authoritarian practices have intensified worldwide”, the report reads, before running through abuses alleged in countries from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe in 400 pages.

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Israel’s genocide in Gaza, Russia’s “crimes against humanity” in Ukraine, and the US-Israeli war on Iran were noted as examples of conflict in which international laws have been ignored.

In a section on repression, the United Kingdom is blamed for cracking down on the Palestine solidarity movement and Palestine Action, the direct-action group that targets sites associated with the Israeli military and is currently fighting a legal battle against its UK proscription as a “terrorist” organisation.

Afghanistan’s Taliban was responsible for further gender-based discrimination in 2025, the report noted, citing measures excluding women from education and work, while Nepalese authorities were said to have failed to investigate instances of gender-based violence against Dalit women.

Amnesty’s report comes as multiple conflicts rage across the world.

The US-Israeli assault on Iran has killed more than 3,000 people, while Israeli attacks in Lebanon have killed nearly 2,400. In Gaza, the confirmed number of people killed in Israeli attacks since October 2023 has surpassed 72,500 as the decimated territory is continually threatened by Israeli bombardment. In Ukraine, more than 15,000 have been killed since Russia’s full-scale invasion began more than four years ago.

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Conflicts in the Middle East are a “product of the descent into lawlessness, made possible by a vision of the world in which war-making and the killings of civilians are normalised”, said Callamard.

“No effective steps have been taken against Israel for its repeated, constant violation of basic standards of humanity.”

However, there is some room for optimism, Amnesty said.

It listed moments of “resistance” such as Gen Z-led protests; the growing number of states joining South Africa’s case against Israel’s genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ); the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) crimes against humanity charges against former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte; the Council of Europe’s special tribunal for the crime of aggression against Ukraine; and the ICC’s arrest warrant against two Taliban leaders for “gender-based persecution”.

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Patrick Muldoon, ‘Days of Our Lives’ and ‘Melrose Place’ Actor, Dies at 57

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Patrick Muldoon, ‘Days of Our Lives’ and ‘Melrose Place’ Actor, Dies at 57

Patrick Muldoon, an actor who starred in “Days of Our Lives” and “Melrose Place,” died on Sunday, his manager confirmed to Variety. He was 57.

From 1992 to 1995, Muldoon originated the role of Austin Reed on the daytime soap opera “Days of Our Lives.” He returned to the soap to reprise the role from 2011 to 2012.

He also had a recurring role as Jeffrey Hunter in the teen television series “Saved by the Bell” in 1991. Muldoon also starred on the primetime soap opera “Melrose Place” from 1995 to 1996, playing the villain Richard Hart.

In 1997, Muldoon played the role of Zander Barcalow in the film “Starship Troopers,” directed by Paul Verhoeven.

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Muldoon was also an active producer, working on a slew of movies including “The Tribes of Palos Verdes,” “Arkansas,” “Marlowe,” “The Card Counter,” “The Dreadful” and “Riff Raff” through his Storyboard Productions. He was set to produce the upcoming feature “Kockroach,” starring Chris Hemsworth. Just two days ago, Muldoon posted on Instagram: “So excited to be a part of this amazing project KOCKROACH directed by Matt Ross starring Chris Hemsworth, Taron Edgerton, Zazzie Beetz and Alec Baldwin.” The production is currently filming in Australia.

His latest acting role was in “Dirty Hands,” a new crime thriller with Denise Richards and Michael Beach. The film is slated to be released later this month.

Muldoon is survived by his partner, Miriam Rothbart; parents Deanna and Patrick Muldoon, Sr.; sister and brother-in-law Shana and Ahmet Zappa, niece Halo and nephew Arrow Zappa.

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Massive 7.5-magnitude earthquake hits off Japanese coast, tsunami alert issued

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Massive 7.5-magnitude earthquake hits off Japanese coast, tsunami alert issued

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A strong earthquake took place off the northern coast of Japan Monday afternoon, prompting the Japan Meteorological Agency to put out a tsunami alert in the area.

The quake, registering a preliminary magnitude of 7.5, occurred off the coast of Sanriku in northern Japan at around 4:53 p.m. local time, at a depth of about 6 miles below the sea surface, the agency said.

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A television screen shows a news report on Japan Meteorological Agency’s tsunami warning, saying it expected tsunami waves of up to 3 meters (9.84 feet) to reach large coastal areas in northern Japan after an earthquake struck off the northeastern coast of Japan, in Tokyo, Japan April 20, 2026 (REUTERS/Issei Kato)

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A tsunami of around 2.6 feet was identified at the Kuji port in the Iwate prefecture while a tsunami of 1.3 feet was recorded at a different port in the prefecture, the agency indicated.

The Iwate prefecture put out non-binding evacuation advisories for those living in 11 towns.

A tsunami of as high as 10 feet could strike the region, the agency indicated.

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A policeman picks his way through the debris looking for bodies in Rikuzentakata, Iwate prefecture, on March 22, 2011, after the devastating March 11 earthquake and tsunami.  (TORU YAMANAKA/AFP via Getty Images)

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A powerful 9.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami in 2011 wreaked havoc in Japan, leaving over 22,000 dead and compelling nearly 500,000 people to flee their homes, most of them because of tsunami damage.

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 In this satellite view, the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power plant after a massive earthquake and subsequent tsunami on March 14, 2011 in Futaba, Japan. (DigitalGlobe via Getty Images via Getty Images)

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Around 160,000 fled their residences due to radiation from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant — around 26,000 have not come back because they resettled somewhere else, their hometowns are still off-limits, or they harbor concerns regarding radiation.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report

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