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Published by Reuters By Jonathan Allen NEW YORK (Reuters) -A long overlooked co-defendant of the Central Park Five, a group of Black and Latino teenagers wrongly convicted of raping a white woman jogger in 1989 based on false confessions, was exonerated of a related conviction by a New York judge on Monday. Steven Lopez was 15 when he was first named in the indictment along with other Black and Latino teenagers for the night-time rape and attempted murder of Trisha Meili, an investment banker whose horrific injuries became the subject of sensationalist media coverage. Lopez later pleaded guilty to robbing a male jogger that same night in a deal with prosecutors that saw the charges alleging his involvement in the attack on Meili dropped, and was sentenced to between 1-1/2 and 4-1/2 years in a state prison. On Monday, Judge Ellen Biben of the New York State Supreme Court agreed to a motion by Manhattan’s chief prosecutor and a lawyer representing Lopez to vacate the plea entered by Lopez when he was 17 years old, ruling that it was involuntary, unconstitutional and based in part on false witness statements. “What happened to you was a profound injustice and an American injustice,” Eric Shapiro Lopez, a defense lawyer who was not yet born when his client was indicted, said in remarks to Lopez before the court. “They say justice delayed is justice denied and I’m sorry we’ve had to wait for 30 years.” Lopez, whose long beard is now graying, appeared to have tears in his eyes. Meili was beaten and left for dead. The attack was seized upon by local media as an emblem of soaring crime rates in New York City in the 1980s. News stories frequently referred to the boys arrested by the New York Police Department as animals. Decades before he would become president of the United States, Donald Trump, then a prominent real-estate developer, took out full-page advertisements in city newspapers calling for the boys to be executed. Later, the five boys convicted at trial were exonerated when the true attacker confessed and was linked to the crime by DNA evidence. The case became a watchword for judicial overreach, racial profiling by both law enforcement and news outlets and the malpractice of police officers forcing confessions from innocent people. Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Raymond Santana, Korey Wise and Yusef Salaam, now known as the Exonerated Five, spent years in prison. They brought a lawsuit against the city, which was settled for $41 million in 2014. Lopez was not part of that lawsuit, and his story has often been overlooked in coverage of the exoneration of his former co-defendants. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg told the court that there was no physical evidence linking Lopez to the attacks on either joggers, and that the witness statements naming him had been recanted. That, coupled with Lopez’s youth at the time, made the plea involuntary, Bragg told the court. “Mr. Lopez, we wish you peace and healing,” the judge said after dismissing the indictment. “Thank you,” Lopez replied, his only remarks in court. “It is so ordered,” the judge said, as Lopez rose to shake the chief prosecutor’s hand. (Reporting by Jonathan Allen in New York; Editing by Mark Heinrich and Cynthia Osterman) View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Ashton Kutcher admits the existence of ‘That ’90s Show’ is “insane” to him. The 44-year-old actor and his wife Mila Kunis are reprising their respective roles as Michael Kelso and Jackie Burkhart in the ‘That ’70s Show’ spin-off’, and he can’t quite get his around the fact the sitcom is returning. Speaking to ‘Entertainment Tonight’, Ashton said: “It’s just – it’s insane. The fact that that happened is insane.” “We shot it. It’s funny and it’s weird. It was super nostalgic and really odd. Going back into the basement – just going back into the set was weird. And then being around everyone, it’s just bizarre.” ‘That ’90s Show’ – which will also see the return of original cast members Wilmer Valderrama, Topher Grace, Laura Prepon, Debra Jo Rupp, Kurtwood Smith, and Tommy Chong – is due to hit Netflix sometime this year. Meanwhile, the ‘No Strings Attached’ star also gushed about reuniting with ‘The Office’ star B.J. Novak on ‘Vengeance’ after they collaborated in the 00s on the MTV hit reality show, ‘Punk’d’. Ashton said: “I worked with B.J., 20 years ago on ‘Punk’d’, and he reached out about doing this, and I read the screenplay and I thought it was one of the best screenplays I’d read in a really long time, and I was like, ‘Absolutely, I’ll do it,’ and the character was fun, and it seemed interesting and worthwhile.” Ashton – who has seven-year-old daughter Wyatt and five-year-old son Dmitri with Mila – loves that the movie celebrates the possibility for friendship between city and country folk in a time when “the country is becoming increasingly fractured.” He said: “Also, I liked the framing, as the country is becoming increasingly fractured, idealistically, it’s just kind of this beautiful moment where this person takes the time to listen and think. “And I think the movie could be the beginning of people thinking about listening to the other side, and what the other side has to say, and I think that’s an awesome opportunity to heal.” View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Sarah Paulson has boarded the horror ‘Dust’. The ‘Impeachment: American Crime Story’ actress is set to star in Searchlight Pictures’ upcoming Hulu Original flick, Deadline confirmed. The Will Joines and Karrie Crouse-helmed movie follows “a woman who is trapped by increasingly perilous dust storms and is haunted by her past encounters with a threatening presence and takes extraordinary measures to protect her family.” Principal photography will begin in the latter half of August. Searchlight Presidents David Greenbaum and Matthew Greenfield commented: “Sarah is an extraordinary artist and we are thrilled to be working with her again.” The 47-year-old star’s other upcoming gigs include starring in Bruce Norris’ film adaptation of his multi-award-winning play ‘Clybourne Park’. Meanwhile, Sarah previously admitted she shouldn’t have worn a fat suit for her portrayal of Linda Tripp in ‘Impeachment: American Crime Story’. The actress played the real-life civil servant who served a major role in exposing Bill Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky in 1998 in the third season of the FX true crime anthology television series. And she later reflected on the criticism she faced and how it’s important not to dismiss “fatphobia”, which is very “real”. Speaking last year, she said: “It’s very hard for me to talk about this without feeling like I’m making excuses. “I think fatphobia is real. I think to pretend otherwise causes further harm. “And it is a very important conversation to be had.” If she was asked to wear one again, she would decline. She continued: “I think the thing I think about the most is that I regret not thinking about it more fully. “And that is an important thing for me to think about and reflect on. I also know it’s a privileged place to be sitting and thinking about it and reflecting on it, having already gotten to do it, and having had an opportunity that someone else didn’t have. You can only learn what you learn when you learn it. “Should I have known? Abso-f*****-lutely. But I do now. And I wouldn’t make the same choice going forward.” However, the Emmy winner insisted it shouldn’t be “the entire responsibility” of the actor. View the full article

Published by Reuters KHIMKI, Russia (Reuters) -The defence team of U.S. basketball player Brittney Griner, detained in Russia on drug charges, argued in court on Tuesday that she had used medical cannabis to assuage pain from injuries, like many other elite international athletes. Griner, a Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) star who has played in Russia during the league’s offseason, was detained at a Moscow airport on Feb. 17 with vape cartridges containing hashish oil in her luggage. Medical marijuana is illegal in Russia. She faces a possible jail sentence of up to 10 years in a case that has highlighted the fraught relations between Russia and the United States at a time of heightened tension over Moscow’s military intervention in Ukraine. A narcology expert summoned by the defence argued that medical cannabis was widely used to treat athletes where it was legal, and often had fewer side effects than other painkillers. “With the prescription in place, Brittney may have used it for medical but not recreational purposes,” said lawyer Maria Blagovolina, partner at Rybalkin, Gortsunyan, Dyakin and Partners law firm. Wearing round-rimmed glasses and a black and grey sweatshirt with “Black Lives For Peace” on the back, Griner listened to the proceedings via a translator. Before taking a seat in the defendant’s cage, she held up a lined sheet of paper with pictures of her two best friends, a teammate and her wife Cherelle wearing her #42 Phoenix Mercury jersey, her WNBA team. The two-time Olympic champion, who has appealed to U.S. President Joe Biden to secure her release, has pled guilty but denied she intended to break Russian law. Griner — known as “BG” to basketball fans — will appear in court again on Wednesday, where she could be called upon to testify. A further hearing in the case is scheduled for Aug. 2, Griner’s defence team said. U.S. officials and prominent athletes argue the 31-year-old has been wrongly detained and have called for her to be released immediately. The Russian authorities dismiss the U.S. criticism, with the Kremlin saying the case has nothing to do with politics. (Reporting by Reuters; editing by Guy Faulconbridge and Mark Trevelyan) View the full article

Published by Reuters GENEVA (Reuters) -The rapidly spreading monkeypox outbreak can be stopped, an official from the World Health Organization said on Tuesday. “We do at this moment still believe that this outbreak of monkeypox can be stopped with the right strategies in the right groups but time is going by and we all need to pull together to make that happen,” Rosamund Lewis, WHO Technical Lead on Monkeypox, told reporters. The outbreak represents a global health emergency, the WHO’s highest level of alert, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Saturday. The WHO label – a “public health emergency of international concern” – is designed to trigger a coordinated international response and could unlock funding to collaborate on sharing vaccines and treatments. “WHO is still working towards determining a global coordination mechanism. At the moment, it’s something that’s still in discussion,” Lewis said. First identified in monkeys, the virus is transmitted chiefly through close contact with an infected person. Until this year, the viral disease has rarely spread outside Africa where it is endemic. But reports of a handful of cases in Britain in early May signalled that the outbreak had moved into Europe. This year, there have been more than 16,000 confirmed cases of monkeypox in more than 75 countries. Lewis said the real number was probably higher. Five deaths, all of which occurred in Africa, have been reported. (Writing by Paul Carrel, editing by Kirsti Knolle, Robert Birsel) View the full article

Published by Raw Story By Matthew Chapman On Monday, The New York Times reported that a Trump-backed candidate in Washington State who is trying to beat a Republican incumbent who voted to impeach the former president, now finds himself under attack by even farther-right activists trying to claim they are the real standard-bearers of the MAGA movement. Joe Kent, a veteran trying to dethrone Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-WA), has espoused conspiracy theories about the 2020 election and January 6, and has even appeared on white nationalist podcasts. But according to the report, none of this has convinced some of Trump… Read More View the full article

h.t. @mikesington Published by AlterNet By Brandon Gage Controversial podcaster Joe Rogan issued a powerful defense of marriage equality and admonished the Republican Party’s assaults on civil liberties during Saturday’s edition of The Joe Rogan Experience. Silhouetted in a haze of smoke, Rogan and his guest, comedian Andrew Schulz, lamented the right-wing’s cultural crusades. “It’s not just abortion rights, now they’re going after gay marriage too, which is so strange to me, that people like [United States Senator] Marco Rubio [R-Florida] was saying that it was like a silly thing to argue about, to be concerned about. And then some… Read More View the full article

Published by Radar Online Mega Nicolle Wallace is such a ratings powerhouse at MSNBC that her name is at the top of the list of people to replace Rachel Maddow. “If Nicolle can score over a million viewers in the afternoon can you imagine what she would get in primetime?” a top MSNBC insider tells Radar. Mega Wallace has turned her sleepy 4 PM timeslot into a monster hit, beating Joy Reid’s show in primetime and even topping Chris Hayes in the key advertiser 25-54 age demographic. “With Rachel (Maddow) out of the way, Nicolle has become the new boss of MSNBC. It isn’t clear if she wants to replace Rachel in primetime or continue to dominate in the late afternoon. But what is clear is that it is her decision to make. Nicolle is the new Queen of MSNBC,” our insider added. We’re told the bosses at MSNBC love Wallace so much that they offered her the 9 PM gig, but she turned it down — making way for Maddox’s replacement Alex Wagner. That doesn’t mean she won’t take over an earlier evening timeslot in the future. “She passed,” sources tell RadarOnline.com, pointing out that Wallace wants to be present in her children’s lives. “She has kids at school and wants to be home,” they add. “Make no mistake, they offered it NW first.” The insider also said, “Her 4-6 PM schedule is perfect. She’s home to have dinner with kids and put them to bed.” Mega As RadarOnline.com exclusively reported, Wagner is set to take over Maddox’s TV spot in August — and Rachel signed off on the switch. “Several big names that were suggested were rejected by Rachel. She was insisting that a ‘fresh-faced’ woman take over her primetime slot rather than bring in a higher profiled name who presents the past, not the future,” sources told us earlier this month. “Katie Couric and former MSNBC host Keith Olbermann were both names Maddow couldn’t get behind.” Mega “Representation matters to Rachel. Growing up she never saw an openly gay woman on TV. This is personal to Rachel, and she wasn’t going to let an old white man replace her,” a friend explained. “Alex Wagner isn’t gay, but she also isn’t white. Rachel likes her and let’s be honest, it is Rachel’s team who is producing Wagner’s new show. So basically, Rachel is the boss.” View the full article

Published by Raw Story By Sarah K. Burris Pennslyvania Republican Rep. Glenn Thompson’s son got married on Friday and his father was there with support. Yet, when given the opportunity to codify the right for his son to be married, he voted it down. Gawker was the first to reveal the nuptials but NBC News explained that Rep. Thompson’s son confirmed he “married the love of [his] life” on Friday evening and that his “father was there.” They noted that they wouldn’t publish the son’s name for his own privacy. Thompson’s congressional office also confirmed the nuptuals were shared with Rep. Thompson. “Congressman and M… Read More View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Mel C says the Spice Girls is a big dysfunctional family. The singer, 48, feels their parents, friends and siblings are part of the group and it adds to up a chaotic “bond”. She told The People: “We’re one big dysfunctional family. No matter what anyone says. “Our relationship extends beyond the five of us because our parents are friends and our siblings are friend. “The Spice Girls isn’t just a girl band. There’s a huge Spice family. And what’s lovely is, everybody has their own lives and careers and responsibilities, but we’re always there for one another. “We might not get the chance to see each other as much as we’d like, but we still have that sisterly bond. That will never ever go away.” She added about her daughter Scarlet, 13, and the children of her bandmates Mel B, Victoria Beckham, Emma Bunton and Geri Halliwell being friends: “A lot of our children are the same-ish age now, so they’re all friends too – it’s amazing. I hope they end up as close as we are.” Her daughter’s father is Mel C’s ex-partner Thomas Starr and she now splits her time between London, Liverpool and Los Angeles with music executive Joe Marshall, her boyfriend of seven years. Mel, born Melanie Chisholm, added she is aiming to have a turn on Broadway, saying: “That’s definitely a bucket list thing for me – I wouldn’t know what the perfect role for me would be as of yet. “I mean, Chicago is a classic, so imagine being able to play Roxie Hart on Broadway. But who knows? I’m open to ideas. Bring on New York!” She added she and Mel B have been “manifesting” the day they can announce the Spice Girls are officially getting back together, with Victoria. Mel said: “You’ve got to manifest these things. I’ve taken a leaf out of Mel B’s book – she always believed we were finally going to do it.” After nine UK No1 singles, 100 million record sales worldwide and a box office record-breaking movie, the band split so they could focus on solo material, before calling it quits as a band in 2000. They reunited for a tour in 2007, performed at the closing ceremony of the Olympics in 2012 and toured again without Victoria in 2019. View the full article

Published by AFP Adele is set to begin her string of Las Vegas dates in November 2022 New York (AFP) – Adele delighted fans Monday by detailing the dates for her rescheduled shows in Las Vegas, after postponing them earlier this year the day before she was due to start. The residency entitled “Weekends With Adele” at the Colosseum at Caesar’s Palace will feature eight extra shows in addition to the 24 rescheduled dates, and is slated to run from November 18, 2022 through March 25, 2023. “Words can’t explain how ecstatic I am to finally be able to announce these rescheduled shows. I truly was heartbroken to have to cancel them,” the Grammy Award-winning superstar said on her website. “But after what feels like an eternity of figuring out logistics for the show that I really want to deliver, and knowing it can happen, I’m more excited than ever!” In a tearful video in January the artist had pushed back the sold-out show saying it wasn’t ready, blaming “delivery delays and Covid.” “Now I know for some of you it was a horrible decision on my part, and I will always be sorry for that, but I promise you it was the right one,” the 34-year-old said in her statement Monday. “To be with you in such an intimate space every week has been what I’ve most been looking forward to and I’m going to give you the absolute best of me. Thank you for your patience, I love you.” Last fall the British performer released her first record in six years — “30” — a cathartic, big-ballad album that lays bare the emotional torture of navigating divorce. The album’s first single “Easy On Me” reigned over the US and British singles charts for weeks, proving the enduring strength of Adele’s prowess as a hitmaker with broad appeal. View the full article

Published by Chicago Tribune With the upheaval caused by the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade came aftershocks of worry about what could come next. Could, as Justice Clarence Thomas suggested in his concurring opinion, same-sex marriage get lined up in the court’s crosshairs as a future target? Contraception? Interracial marriage? The court’s conservative 6-3 majority has much of America hand-wringing about long accepted rights now vulnerable to being diminished or even entirely struck down. This legitimate concern could be alleviated if those rights were shielded from judicial constitutional interpretation. Con… Read More View the full article

Published by AlterNet By Alex Henderson In December 2021, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor used the word “stench” to describe the extreme politicization of the Court by far-right Republicans — and she isn’t alone in that view. Polls, in recent months, have shown the Court’s reputation suffering more and more. David Litt, a former speechwriter for President Barack Obama, discusses that soiled reputation in an article published by The Atlantic on July 24 — laying out some reasons why most Americans, according to polls, now hold the High Court in such low regard. One of them is the Court’s ruling in Dobbs v…. Read More View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Billy Porter “always intended” to direct a representational movie. The 52-year-old actor – who is openly gay – is making his directorial debut with new rom-com ‘Anything’s Possible’ about a transsexual teen and explained that it has been “magical” to be able to helm a project about queer representation. He said: “It’s magical. It has always been my intention. I have been mentored by people who’ve made space for me, and it has always been my goal to be able to do that and pay it forward. The whole thing feels redemptive. All of it. I was told my queerness would be my liability, and it was for a really long time, and now it ain’t. Now, I get to do what I want to do because I chose myself, I chose my own authenticity, and I chose to be truthful and honest, no matter what and no matter where the chips would fall. I hope that, in setting myself free, others will be set free too..” The former ‘Pose’ star went on to explain that he has learned to “trust his instincts” and although there is “a lot of bull****” around move–making, he still “loves” the process of directing a movie. He told Collider: “What I learned is that I know a lot more than I thought I knew, and I need to trust my instincts, at all times, because my instincts are right. That doesn’t mean that I’m not open to collaboration. I love the directing process. I have to figure out how to navigate all the other bullshit that’s around it. There’s a lot of bullshit around the process of movie-making. There just is a lot. That’s just the nature of the beast. So, I feel like I’ve gained some skills and craft in navigating that.” ‘Anything’s Possible’ is available to stream on Prime Video. View the full article

Published by New York Daily News Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg took a personal tone in his criticism of Republicans opposed to codifying federal protections for same-sex marriage Sunday, saying marriages like his deserve to be safeguarded. The secretary, who is openly gay, recounted meeting with House Republicans on unrelated matters last Tuesday, the day they voted on the bill. “I don’t understand how such a majority of House Republicans voted no on (my) marriage … hours after I was in a room with a lot of them talking about transportation policy,” Buttigieg told CNN’s “State of the Union.” He said he had been “hav… Read More View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Jonathan Van Ness has fixed his “broken heart” with a new dog. The 35-year-old reality star – who has been married to journalist Mark Peacock since 2020 – was “devastated” when he had to rehome his pup Pablo but took to Instagram to reveal that he and his husband now have a new canine companion called Rose. Alongside a picture of himself cuddling the new dog, he wrote: “Pupdate for y’all. Meet Mark and my newest addition Rose! My heart has been heavy since as you maybe or maybe not have guessed we had to rehome our Pablo earlier this year. We love him so much but with his temperament and my traveling and being around so many people made Pablo miserable. Luckily we have great friends who have taken Pablo and he is so so happy and thriving. But then there was my broken heart. I was so determined to make Pablo safe and happy at our home but I had to do what was best for him. But, I was literally devastated.” (sic) The ‘Queer Eye’ star went on to add that he called the local rescue centre on the off-chance that they would have a suitable dog for him and was delighted to find out that they did, before urging his 5.7 million followers to help the Safe in Austin shelter in any way they could He added: “I called @safeinaustinrescue and asked Jamie if she had any pups who needed a home and she said yes [heart emoji] Remember Safe in Austin isn’t an adoption shelter, but rather a therapeutic shelter for animals and therapy place for people. Who also currently need donations and volunteers with an influx of abandoned pups.”(sic) View the full article

Published by AlterNet By Brandon Gage United States Representative Matt Gaetz unleashed a sexist rant against supporters of abortion rights during a speech at Turning Point Action’s Student Action Summit in Tampa, Florida on Saturday. The event was sponsored by Turning Point USA, a right-wing nonprofit organization founded by conservative provocateur Charlie Kirk, where Gaetz’s stage entrance was dramatized with ominous music, pyrotechnics, and dry ice fog. “Have you watched these pro-abortion, pro-murder rallies? The people are just disgusting. Like, why is it that the women with the least likelihood of getting pr… Read More View the full article

Published by Reuters By Natalie Grover, John Revill and Jennifer Rigby (Reuters) -The rapidly spreading monkeypox outbreak represents a global health emergency, the World Health Organization’s highest level of alert, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Saturday. The WHO label – a “public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC)” – is designed to trigger a coordinated international response and could unlock funding to collaborate on sharing vaccines and treatments. Members of an expert committee that met on Thursday to discuss the potential recommendation were split on the decision, with nine members against and six in favour of the declaration, prompting Tedros himself to break the deadlock, he told reporters. “Although I am declaring a public health emergency of international concern, for the moment this is an outbreak that is concentrated among men who have sex with men, especially those with multiple sexual partners,” Tedros told a media briefing in Geneva. “Stigma and discrimination can be as dangerous as any virus,” he added. He said the risk of monkeypox – which spreads via close contact and tends to cause flu-like symptoms and pus-filled skin lesions – was moderate globally, except in the Europe, where the WHO has deemed the risk as high. Previously, Tedros has typically endorsed expert committee recommendations, but the two sources told Reuters earlier on Saturday said he had likely decided to back the highest alert level due to concerns about escalating case rates and a short supply of vaccines and treatments. So far this year, there have been more than 16,000 cases of monkeypox in more than 75 countries, and five deaths in Africa. The viral disease has been spreading chiefly in men who have sex with men in the recent outbreak, outside Africa where it is endemic. Health experts welcomed the WHO’s decision to issue the PHEIC declaration, which until now had only been applied to the coronavirus pandemic and ongoing efforts to eradicate polio. “The right result is clear – not declaring an emergency at this point would be a historic missed opportunity,” said Lawrence Gostin, a professor at Georgetown Law in Washington, D.C., calling the decision politically brave. The decision should help contain the spread of the viral disease, said Josie Golding, head of epidemics and epidemiology at the Wellcome Trust. “We cannot afford to keep waiting for diseases to escalate before we intervene,” she said. JUNE MEETING The WHO and national governments have been facing intense pressure from scientists and public health experts to take more action on monkeypox. Cases of the viral disease have ballooned since the committee first met at the end of June, when there were only about 3,000 cases. At the time, the expert group agreed to reconsider their position on the emergency declaration if the outbreak escalated. One of the key issues driving a reassessment was whether cases would spread to other groups, particularly children or others who have been vulnerable to the virus in past outbreaks in endemic countries. On Friday, the United States identified its first two monkeypox cases in children. WHO officials said on Saturday they were exploring the possibility of the virus spreading via new modes of transmission. (Reporting by Jennifer Rigby and Natalie Grover in London and John Revill in ZurichEditing by Helen Popper) View the full article

Published by DPA Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban (C), Zsolt Nemeth, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Assembly and Laszlo Tokes, President of the Hungarian National Council of Transylvania (EMNT), attend the 31st Balvanyos Summer Free University and Student Camp in Tusnadfurdo. Prime Minister's Press Office/Benko Vivien Cher/dpa Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban used an annual forum in Romania to lash out at Western allies, whom he claimed are trying to impose foreign values on his country, and criticize EU and US strategy on Ukraine. “The strength, the performance, the prestige and the capacity to act of Western civilization are on the wane,” the right-wing and Moscow-friendly politician told thousands of supporters in the Romanian resort town of Baile Tusnad on Saturday. Orban described himself as a defender of Hungary’s cultural and political identity from bureaucrats in “Brussels.” In a familiar refrain, he peddled the conspiracy theory that the Hungarian-US billionaire philanthropist and investor George Soros was actually the one setting European policy. Soros, a Holocaust survivor and pro-democracy champion, is frequently cast as a far-left bogeyman by Orban. The vilification of Soros has been widely denounced as anti-Semitic. “They should live as they want, but they should also let us live as we want,” Orban demanded, alluding to an EU infringement case over a Hungarian law restricting restricting access to information on LGBTQ issues. Orban also touched on the war in Ukraine, criticizing the West for ignoring Russia’s security concerns before Moscow invaded. “With US president (Donald) Trump and German chancellor (Angela) Merkel, this war would never have happened,” he said, apparently guided by the assessment that these politicians – like him – would have stood for more Russia-friendly policies. View the full article