Defenders of gay rights are concerned anti-gay movements will sprout elsewhere

International news via Reuters:

The foreign ministries of Canada, Australia, Brazil and a host of European countries issued a statement on Saturday celebrating LGBT rights to coincide with Pride Day.

The United States, which has moved rapidly to dismantle civil rights protections since the election of President Donald Trump, was not among its signatories.

The statement, whose backers also include Spain, Belgium, Colombia, Ireland and other nations, said the countries “are speaking and acting as one to champion the rights of LGBTQI people,” using the abbreviation for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex people.

“At a time when hate speech and hate crimes are on the rise, and in view of efforts to strip LGBTQI people of their rights, we reject all forms of violence, criminalization, stigmatization or discrimination, which constitute human rights violations,” the statement said.

It was not immediately clear why the United States was absent. Canadian, Australian, Brazilian, Irish and U.S. officials did not immediately return messages seeking comment on the Pride Day statement and Washington’s absence from it.

The U.S., once a champion of gay rights abroad, has reversed course under Trump, whose administration has rapidly dismantled longstanding civil rights protections for LGBT people and expelled transgender servicemembers from the military.

Defenders of gay rights are concerned that the backsliding will embolden anti-gay movements elsewhere, especially in Africa, where it could worsen an already difficult situation for LGBT people.

Trump’s right-wing allies have tapped in to anti-LGBT sentiment to shore up their political support. 

In Hungary on Saturday, tens of thousands of protesters flouted a law passed in March by Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government that allows for the ban of Pride marches. The demonstrators swarmed Budapest with rainbow-colored flags in one of the biggest shows of opposition to the Hungarian leader.

Reporting by Raphael Satter and Ryan Jones; Editing by Humeyra Pamuk and William Mallard

The visa will allow Tuvalu residents to live, work and study in Australia

International news via Reuters:

More than one-third of the people in the tiny Pacific nation of Tuvalu, which scientists predict will be submerged by rising seas, have applied for a landmark climate visa to migrate to Australia, according to official figures.

Tuvalu’s ambassador to the United Nations, Tapugao Falefou, told Reuters on Sunday he was “startled by the huge number of people vying for this opportunity”, and the small community was interested to learn who the first lot of climate migrants would be.

Tuvalu, one of the countries at greatest risk from climate change, which experts say is boosting sea levels, has a population of 11,000 on its nine atolls scattered across the Pacific between Australia and Hawaii.

Since applications for Australia’s visa lottery opened this month, 1,124 people have registered, with family members bringing the total seeking the visa to 4,052 under the bilateral climate and security treaty.

Applications close on July 18, with an annual cap of 280 visas designed to ensure migration to Australia does not cause brain drain from Tuvalu, officials said when the treaty was announced in 2023.

The visa will allow Tuvalu residents to live, work and study in Australia, accessing health benefits and education on the same basis as Australian citizens.

“Moving to Australia under the Falepili Union treaty will in some way provide additional remittance to families staying back,” Falefou said.

By 2050, NASA scientists project daily tides will submerge half the main atoll of Funafuti, home to 60% of Tuvalu’s residents, where villagers cling to a strip of land as narrow as 20 metres (65 feet). That forecast assumes a 1-metre rise in sea levels, while the worst case, double that, would put 90% of Funafuti under water.

Tuvalu, whose mean elevation is just 2 metres (6 feet 7 inches), has experienced a sea-level rise of 15 cm (6 inches) over the past three decades, one and a half times the global average. It has built 7 hectares (17 acres) of artificial land, and is planning more, which it hopes will stay above the tides until 2100.

Reporting by Kirsty Needham in Sydney; Editing by William Mallard

Orban’s opponents see the move as part of a wider crackdown on democratic freedoms

International news via Reuters:

Tens of thousands of protesters marched through Hungary’s capital on Saturday as a banned LGBTQ+ rights rally swelled into a mass anti-government demonstration, in one of the biggest shows of opposition to Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

Crowds filled a square near Budapest’s city hall in sweltering heat before setting off across one of the main bridges over the Danube, waving rainbow flags, some draped in capes and some carrying signs mocking Orban.

“This is about much more, not just about homosexuality … This is the last moment to stand up for our rights,” Eszter Rein Bodi, one of the marchers, said.

“None of us are free until everyone is free,” one sign read.

Orban’s government has gradually curtailed the rights of the LGBTQ+ community in the past decade, and lawmakers passed a law in March that allows for the ban of Pride marches, citing the need to protect children. 

Orban’s opponents see the move as part of a wider crackdown on democratic freedoms ahead of a national election next year when the veteran prime minister – whose party has dominated Hungary’s political scene for 15 years – will face a strong opposition challenger.

Small groups of far-right counter-protesters attempted to disrupt the peaceful march, but police separated them and diverted the route of the march to avoid any clashes.

Orban and his government, who promote a Christian-conservative agenda and have championed family values, have defended the restrictions saying that the need to protect children supersedes all other rights.

Orban posted a photo with his grandchildren on the morning of the march, with the caption: “This is what I am proud of.” Several of his supporters followed suit.

Marchers included students, families and people from the countryside who said they had never attended a rally before. The Erzsebet bridge, built to carry six lanes of traffic, was engulfed with people.

Local media sites including 444.hu and Magyar Hang estimated the crowd at 100,000, though Reuters could not confirm that figure. 

“The message is clear, they have no power over us,” Budapest mayor Gergely Karacsony told the rally. He thanked police for securing the march.

March organisers said participants had arrived from 30 different countries, including 70 members of the European Parliament.

More than 30 embassies have expressed support for the march and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called on Hungarian authorities to let the parade go ahead.

‘LEGAL CONSEQUENCES’

Budapest’s mayor had tried to circumvent the law by organising Pride as a municipal event, which he said does not need a permit. Police however banned the event, arguing that it fell under the scope of the child protection law.

Orban provided some clues on Friday about what participants can expect when he warned of “legal consequences” for organising and attending the march. 

Earlier this week Justice Minister Bence Tuzson warned in a letter sent to some foreign embassies in Budapest that organising a prohibited event is punishable by one year in jail, while attending counts as a misdemeanour.

The law that allows for the ban of Pride lets police impose fines and use facial recognition cameras to identify people who attend.

Orban’s attacks on Pride initially increased his support, political analyst Gabor Torok wrote on Facebook on Saturday. But opinion shifted after the police ban and the legal debates surrounding the march, he said.

Orban’s dominance and ability to set the political agenda had faced increasing challenges from centre-right opposition leader Peter Magyar’s Tisza party, which had a 15-point lead over Orban’s Fidesz in a poll this month.

Tisza, which has been avoiding taking a strong position on gay rights issues, did not specify in response to Reuters questions whether it believed the Pride march was lawful, but said those attending deserved the state’s protection.

Reporting by Anita Komuves; Additional reporting by Krisztina Fenyo and Krisztina Than; Editing by Peter Graff and Andrew Heavens

Russian Culture Minister Olga Lyubimova arrived in North Korea on Saturday

International news via Reuters:

Russian Culture Minister Olga Lyubimova arrived in North Korea on Saturday with a 125-strong delegation of performers and praised cultural cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang for achieving “unprecedented heights”.

Lyubimova, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said a series of concerts and lectures would take place in the North Korean capital in the coming days. Among those in the delegation were performers from the Pyatnitsky Choir and the Gzhel dance troupe.

Lyubimova said that thanks to agreements clinched between Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korea leader Kim Jong Un “cooperation in the cultural sphere between our countries has reached unprecedented heights”.

Since Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Moscow and Pyongyang have drawn closer together, with the two leaders signing a treaty, including a mutual defence pact.

After months of silence, North Korea and Russia have disclosed the deployment of North Korean troops and the role they played in Moscow’s offensive to evict Ukrainian troops from the Kursk region.

Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Sandra Maler

Ukrainian forces have for months defended the city against fierce assaults

International news via Reuters:

Ukraine’s top commander said on Saturday that his forces faced a new onslaught against a key city on the eastern front of its war against Russia, while Moscow said it was making progress in another sector farther southwest.

After their initial failed advance on the capital Kyiv in the first weeks after the February 2022 invasion, Russian troops have focused on capturing all of Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine. The city of Kostiantynivka has been a major target.

Ukrainian forces have for months defended the city against fierce assaults, with the regional governor urging remaining residents this week to evacuate as infrastructure breaks down.

Top Ukrainian commander Oleksander Syrskyi, writing on Telegram on Saturday,  said the area around Kostiantynivka was gripped by heavy fighting.

“The enemy is surging towards Kostiantynivka, but apart from sustaining numerous losses, has achieved nothing,” Syrskyi said.

“The aggressor is trying to break through our defences and advance along three operating sectors.”

A spokesman for Ukrainian forces in the east, Viktor Trehubov, told the Ukrinform news agency that Kostiantynivka and the city of Pokrovsk to the west were “the main arena of battles and the Kremlin’s strategic ambitions”.

Syrskyi also said that Ukrainian forces had withstood in the past week a powerful attack near the village of Yablunivka in northeastern Sumy region, where Russian forces have been trying to establish a buffer zone inside the Ukrainian border.

Russia’s Defence Ministry, in a report earlier in the day, said Moscow’s forces had seized the village of Chervona Zirka — further southwest, near the administrative border of Dnipropetrovsk region.

Russia’s slow advance through eastern Ukraine, with Moscow claiming a string of villages day after day, has resulted in destruction of major cities and infrastructure.

Moscow has insisted that progress towards a settlement of the 40-month-old war depends on Ukraine recognising Moscow’s control over four Ukrainian regions — Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.

Russian forces control about one-fifth of Ukraine’s territory, though they do not fully hold any of the four regions.

Moscow has said in recent weeks that its troops have made advances in areas adjacent to Dnipropetrovsk region, which lies next to both Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions. Ukrainian officials have denied those reports.

Reporting by Ron Popeski and Oleksander Kozhukhar; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama

The prime minister now controls a slim majority coalition

International news via Reuters:

Thousands of protesters rallied in the Thai capital Bangkok on Saturday to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, piling pressure on a government at risk of collapse over a border dispute with neighbouring Cambodia.

In the largest such rally since the ruling Pheu Thai party came to power in 2023, crowds braved heavy monsoon rain to demonstrate against Paetongtarn, 38, who is also battling to revive a faltering economy and keep a fragile coalition together ahead of a potential no confidence vote next month.

“She should step aside because she is the problem,” Parnthep Pourpongpan, a protest leader, said.

The latest dispute started with a skirmish between Thailand and Cambodia over a disputed patch of border territory in May. Thai nationalist groups called for Paetongtarn to go after she appeared to criticize a Thai army commander and kowtow to Cambodia’s former leader, Hun Sen, in a leaked phone call with him.

Public criticism of the army is a red line in a country where the military has significant clout. Paetongtarn apologised for her comments after the call. 

Parnthep, the protest leader, said many Thai people felt the prime minister and her influential father, Thaksin Shinawatra, were being manipulated by Hun Sen, a former ally of the family who has turned against them.

‘UNG ING, GET OUT’

Blocking the busy intersection at Victory Monument, a war memorial, crowds including many elderly people waved flags bearing Thailand’s national tricolor.

“Ung Ing, get out,” the crowd occasionally chanted in unison, calling the premier by a nickname.

Thapanawat Aramroong, 73, said Paetongtarn’s comments about the army commander and seeming eagerness to please Hun Sen were unacceptable.

The demonstration was organised by the United Force of the Land, a coalition of largely nationalist activists who have rallied against other Shinawatra-backed governments over the last two decades.

In a statement read aloud before the crowds, the group said “the executive branch” and parliament were not working “in the interest of democracy and constitutional monarchy”.

Remaining coalition partners should quit immediately, they said.

While past protests against the Shinawatras did not directly cause the downfall of those governments, they built up pressure that led to judicial interventions and military coups in 2006 and 2014.

Protester Somkhuan Yimyai, 68, said he did not want the military to end up staging a coup and that previous military takeovers had not “provided solutions for the nation in terms of solving corruption or the government’s administration of the country.”

ECONOMIC TURMOIL

The political turmoil in Thailand threatens to further damage the country’s struggling economic recovery.

The prime minister now controls a slim majority coalition following the exit of former partner Bhumjaithai Party last week. Protesters on Saturday called for other coalition partners to quit.

Paetongtarn also faces judicial scrutiny after a group of senators petitioned the Constitutional Court and a national anti-graft body with a wide remit to investigate her conduct over the leaked phone call.

Decisions from either bodies could lead to her removal.

Hun Sen also launched an unprecedented public attack on Paetongtarn and  her family, calling for a change of government, in an hours-long televised speech on Friday, which the Thai foreign ministry described as “extraordinary” while insisting that Thailand prefers to use diplomacy.

Reporting by Panu Wongcha-um; Additional reporting by Napat Wesshasartar; Editing by Sam Holmes and Poppy McPherson