Politics

“I'm in the middle of this whole thing, and even I find it hard to explain what happened,” Mr. Toth said. “People cheer for him as if they were cheering for the Hungarian national football team.” Politics, however, destroyed Azahriah's chances of representing her country in Europe's musical equivalent of the World Cup, the Eurovision Song Contest. Authorities, alarmed by Eurovision's reputation as Europe's biggest gay event, in 2020 ended Hungary's participation in the annual competition. “It would have been amazing if I could have won Eurovision as a straight white guy,” Azahriah said. David Sajo, entertainment editor for Telex, a popular Hungarian online media outlet, said he was not a big fan, but praised Azahriah for broadening Hungarian musical horizons through his mix of Afrobeat,...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made fresh complaints on Sunday about the Biden administration's supply of munitions for the war in Gaza as his defense minister arrived in Washington to meet with senior US officials.Some Israeli media had described Defense Minister Yoav Gallant's visit, although planned in advance, as a "reconciliation" trip aimed at easing recent tensions with the country's most important ally. Netanyahu's government and the Biden administration are increasingly at odds over Israel's conduct in Gaza, and last week Netanyahu lashed out at the United States for withholding munitions.But on Sunday morning, Netanyahu redoubled his efforts. In a speech broadcast in Hebrew before the weekly Cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, Netanyahu said he appreciated the Biden admini...

K-pop juggernaut BTS is one step closer to a reunion. The first member of the boy band to enlist in South Korea's army, Jin, 31, was discharged Wednesday morning, BTS' label said. Over the next year, his bandmates are expected to complete their military service, which is required of nearly all South Korean men. BTS shocked their own army – as the seven-member group's fervent following is collectively known – in June 2022 when they said they would take time off to enlist. Jin, the group's oldest member, whose birth name is Kim Seok-jin, began his 18-month stint in the army that December. His enlistment came after a long public debate over whether BTS should get an exemption from the draft, as Olympic medalists and some classical musicians do. However, the group was given some leeway. M...

Now, due to the lack of electricity and higher costs in the markets, Abdul Aziz has to buy food every day, depending on what is available and what he can afford. But the party isn't the only thing he'll miss this year, he said. “There are family visits and gatherings, money is given to children, new clothes are bought for everyone, sweets are baked, Eid prayers are said,” he said. “None of this is feasible this year. Everyone is sad and has lost someone or something." Aya Ali Adwan, 26, had become engaged before the war began. Her wedding, set for February, was postponed, another celebration interrupted by the conflict. Originally from northern Gaza, she and her family were forced to flee eight times during the war. They are now sheltering in a cramped tent in Deir al Balah, where th...

The center of Skopje, capital of North Macedonia, a Balkan country born just 33 years ago as an independent state, is flooded with history. A statue of Alexander the Great looms over the central square. One of his fathers, Philip II of Macedon, stands on a large pedestal above a nearby square. The city is also dotted with bronze, stone and plaster tributes to generations of other heroes from what the country sees as its glorious and very long history. The problem, however, is that most of the history exposed is claimed by other countries. Modern-day North Macedonia, born out of the breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s, has no real connection to Alexander the Great, who lived 2,000 years ago down the road in what is now Greece, and many of the other historical figures honored with Statues...

Thai lawmakers voted to pass a marriage equality bill on Tuesday, a move that puts the country on track to become the first in Southeast Asia to legalize same-sex marriage. Thailand's Senate passed the bill on Tuesday afternoon, nearly three months after it passed the House of Representatives. The legislation would come into force after being considered by a Senate committee and the Constitutional Court and receiving royal assent from the king, a formality widely expected to be granted. The bill's passage highlights Thailand's status as a relative haven for gay couples in Asia. Only Taiwan and Nepal have legalized same-sex marriage. Last year, just as India neared the finish line, the Supreme Court sent the decision back to Parliament. In some Asian countries, gay sex is a criminal off...

While the measures expand the scope of the U.S. sanctions program, the Biden administration has so far refrained from imposing sanctions on Chinese or European banks it believes are helping Russia. The new measures do not prevent banks from facilitating transactions related to Russia's energy exports, which the Biden administration has allowed to continue out of fear that restricting them could stoke inflation. Announcing the sanctions, Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen said in a statement that “Russia's war economy is deeply isolated from the international financial system, leaving the Kremlin's military desperate for access to the outside world.” At the heart of the measures is an expansion of “secondary” sanctions that give the United States the power to blacklist any bank in the wor...

Christophe Deloire, whose nonpartisan organization to protect journalists saved dissidents from prison and championed a diversity of viewpoints in the profession around the world, died Saturday in Paris. He was 53 years old. The cause would be complications due to brain cancer, according to Reporters Without Borders, the media group of which he has been general secretary for 12 years. Deloire, who was himself a journalist and author, lobbied publicly and worked behind the scenes to promote a free press in countries that muzzled journalists. He helped negotiate freedom for those who had been threatened with arrest, imprisoned or held hostage. In 2023, Reporters Without Borders, known by its French initials RSF, coordinated the clandestine escape of Marina Ovsyannikova, a former Rus...

Israeli troops have overrun much of Gaza since their ground invasion began in late October. But they managed to save only seven living hostages in three separate military operations, with around 120 prisoners remaining in Gaza. Several proposed rescue missions did not go ahead for fear that hostages or law enforcement would die in the process, according to two Israeli defense officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive operation. In December, Israeli special forces attempted to rescue a hostage from Hamas captivity, according to the two defense officials. Sahar Baruch, an Israeli hostage, was killed during the firefight and two Israeli officers were seriously injured. According to one of the defense officials, Israeli intelligence first learned that Ms. Arga...

In the footage, edited to blur the soldiers' faces and remove gory images, the hostages are then seen leaving the building and climbing through tree-lined terrain as gunfire erupts around them. “Hamas members shot at them,” said al-Tahrawi, the shop owner. Other militants joined the fight, according to Admiral Hagari, "running through the streets with RPGs," an acronym for rocket-propelled grenades. "There was a lot of fire around us," he said. As Ms. Argamani was approaching the beach in one vehicle, the other truck used for the rescue broke down, according to Israeli officials, who requested anonymity to discuss a clandestine operation. To provide cover for the stalled truck, officials said, the Air Force began bombing the nearby area, effectively creating a fire shield. “Suddenly I h...