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BUDAPEST, Hungary — Chinese leader Xi Jinping will spend most of his five-day tour in Europe this week in two small countries in the continent’s eastern half, a region that Beijing has used as a foothold for its expanding economic ambitions in Europe.

Following a stop in Paris on Monday to kick off his first European trip in five years, Xi will travel to Hungary and Serbia, two nations with autocratic leaders that are seen as China-friendly and close to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

As mainstream European leaders have pursued more protectionist policies to limit Beijing’s and Moscow’s reach on the continent, the governments of nationalist conservative leaders Viktor Orban of Hungary and Aleksandar Vucic of Serbia have courted economic ties with China, inviting major investments in infrastructure, manufacturing, energy and technology.

As the first European Union country to participate in Xi’s signature Belt and Road Initiative, Hungary has straddled a middle ground with its membership in the EU and NATO and an unusual openness to diplomatic and trade relationships with eastern autocracies.

Tamas Matura, a China expert and associate professor at Corvinus University in Budapest, said Hungary’s hosting of major Chinese investments and production sites — and its agnosticism on doing business with countries with spotty democratic and human rights records — has opened a crucial door to China within the EU.

‘Last true friend’ in EU

“The Hungarian government is the last true friend of China in the whole EU,” Matura said. “It is very important now to the Chinese to settle down in a country that is within the boundaries of the EU … and is friendly to the Chinese political system.”

One of the major benefits to China of establishing bases within the EU is avoiding costly tariffs. The European Commission, the bloc’s executive arm, is considering raising duties on the import of Chinese electric vehicles from its current 10% to protect the European auto manufacturing market — a mainstay for Germany, the 27-member bloc’s largest economy.

Yet in December, Hungary announced that one of the world’s largest EV manufacturers, China’s BYD, would open its first European EV production factory in the south of the country — an inroad that could upend the competitiveness of the continent’s auto industry.

That shift is visible in Budapest, where one car dealership has begun scaling down its supply of European vehicles and introducing models produced by BYD.

Mark Schiller, the strategy and marketing director for the family-owned Schiller Auto Group, said he thought European carmakers were “already behind” China in transitioning to EV production. His company recently stopped selling cars made by German carmaker Opel and switched to BYD.

“This was a huge shift,” Schiller said.

Another investment

Hungarian state television Monday appeared to confirm earlier reports that Xi and Orban would travel to the southern city of Pecs to announce another EV manufacturing investment there involving China’s Great Wall Motor.

In a news conference later, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto castigated journalists for reporting on the potential deal, saying that those who mention specific companies before agreements are finalized are “clearly acting against Hungary’s national interests.”

The report on Xi’s potential trip to Pecs was later removed from the state television’s website. Orban’s office didn’t respond to multiple requests for information on Xi’s schedule. 

In Serbia, to Hungary’s south, China runs mines and factories across the Balkan country, while billions more in infrastructure loans have funded roads, bridges and new facilities.

Hungary and Serbia have an agreement with Beijing to modernize the railway between the countries’ capitals of Budapest and Belgrade, part of a Belt and Road plan to connect with the Chinese-controlled port of Piraeus in Greece as an entry point for Chinese goods to Central and Eastern Europe.

The bulk of the project, which after numerous delays is expected to be completed in 2026, is financed through loans from Chinese banks — the kind of capital that Hungary and Serbia have been eager to utilize.

According to the AidData research lab at the College of William & Mary in Virginia, Chinese lenders have issued loans worth more than $22 billion to nine countries in Central and Eastern Europe between 2000 and 2021.

Of that sum, $9.4 billion has gone to Hungary and $5.7 billion to Serbia, dwarfing the totals of other regional countries.

Vucic has said he is “honored” that Xi — whom he often describes as a “friend” — is visiting Tuesday. He said before the visit that Serbia would seek further Chinese investment, particularly in advanced technologies.

But economic analyst Mijat Lakicevic said he didn’t expect any major new investment deals, because “everything that Serbia does with China has already been agreed.”

Hungarian incentives

Hungary, too, has created a favorable investment environment for China, providing generous tax breaks, subsidies and infrastructural assistance to Chinese companies, as well as helping them navigate Hungarian bureaucracy.

“They get the red carpets rolled out and they get everything tailor-made by the government. And that is a huge advantage,” said Matura, the China analyst.

Near Debrecen, Hungary’s second-largest city, construction is underway of a nearly 550-acre (222-hectare), 7.3 billion-euro ($7.9 billion) EV battery plant, Hungary’s largest-ever foreign direct investment.

Orban’s government hopes the factory, run by Chinese battery giant CATL, will make the country a global hub of lithium-ion battery manufacturing in an era where governments are increasingly seeking to limit greenhouse gas emissions by switching to electric cars.

Such investments are coming at a time when Hungary’s sluggish economy has been further hindered by record-setting inflation and the freezing of billions in EU funding that has been withheld over Orban’s track record on democracy standards and the rule of law.

With EU money at a standstill, Matura said, China has been willing to fill in the gaps in Hungary’s budget.

EU funds have almost stopped flowing into the Hungarian economy, “so now there is a desperate need in Hungary to turn towards other alternatives, other sources of financial capital,” he said.

Orban has been open about why he has prioritized Chinese investment: his belief that Western economies are declining, and that China is on the rise.

During a recent speech at the CPAC Hungary conservative conference, Orban outlined a vision of a “global economy that will be organized according to the principle of mutual benefit, free of ideology.”
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There are six months left in the U.S. presidential race between Democratic President Joe Biden and Republican candidate Donald Trump. VOA Correspondent Scott Stearns looks at what is ahead for the campaigns in the run-up to Election Day.]
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WASHINGTON — An American soldier has been arrested in Russia and accused of stealing, according to two U.S. officials. 

The soldier, who is not being identified, was stationed in South Korea and was in the process of returning home to the United States. Instead, officials said he traveled to Russia. 

The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel details. 

Cynthia Smith, Army spokesperson, confirmed that a soldier was detained Thursday in Vladivostok, a major military and commercial Pacific port, on charges of criminal misconduct. She said Russia notified the U.S. and the Army told the soldier’s family. 

“The U.S. Department of State is providing appropriate consular support to the soldier in Russia,” Smith said. 

It was unclear Monday if the soldier is considered absent without leave, or AWOL. 

The arrest comes less than a year after American soldier Travis King sprinted into North Korea across the heavily fortified border between the Koreas. North Korea later announced that it would expel King, who was returned to the U.S. He was eventually charged with desertion. 

Russia is known to be holding a number of Americans in its jails, including corporate security executive Paul Whelan and The Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich. The U.S. government has designated both as wrongfully detained and has been trying to negotiate for their release. 

Others detained include Travis Leake, a musician who had been living in Russia for years and was arrested last year on drug-related charges; Marc Fogel, a teacher in Moscow, who was sentenced to 14 years in prison, also on drug charges; and dual nationals Alsu Kurmasheva and Ksenia Khavana. 

The soldier’s arrest in Russia was first reported by NBC News. 
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Academic institutions in Israel say they are making plans to welcome students who want to leave U.S. universities as campus protests against Israel’s war in Gaza cause many American Jewish students to say they feel unsafe. Linda Gradstein reports for VOA from Jerusalem. VOA footage by Ricki Rosen.
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New York — Columbia University is canceling its large university-wide commencement ceremony amid ongoing pro-Palestinian protests but will hold smaller school-based ceremonies this week and next, the university announced Monday.

“Based on feedback from our students, we have decided to focus attention on our Class Days and school-level graduation ceremonies, where students are honored individually alongside their peers, and to forego the university-wide ceremony that is scheduled for May 15,” Columbia officials said in a statement.

The protests stem from the conflict that started Oct. 7 when Hamas militants attacked southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking roughly 250 hostages. Vowing to destroy Hamas, Israel launched an offensive in Gaza that has killed more than 34,500 Palestinians, about two-thirds of them women and children, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory. Israeli strikes have devastated the enclave and displaced most of its inhabitants.

The University of Southern California earlier canceled its main graduation ceremony while allowing other commencement activities to continue.
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London — Scottish political veteran John Swinney on Monday was named head of the pro-independence SNP party, leaving him poised to become Scotland’s leader.

Swinney, 60, said on X, formerly Twitter, he was “deeply honored to have been elected as leader of the SNP” after Humza Yousaf resigned last week after little more than a year as Scottish leader and head of the Scottish National Party (SNP).

The SNP confirmed Swinney’s election after nominations for the post closed at 12 noon (1100 GMT) without any other challengers emerging.

Humza stepped down last Monday as he faced a confidence vote in the Scottish parliament that he was set to lose having ditched his junior coalition partners, the Scottish Green Party, in a row over climate policy.

Swinney is likely to become the next first minister, head of the devolved Scottish government, but will still need enough votes in the Scottish parliament to be elected first minister.

Launching his bid last week, Swinney said he was running “to unite the SNP and unite Scotland for independence”, despite polls showing stalled support for a split from the UK.

“I want to build on the work of the SNP government to create a modern, diverse, dynamic Scotland that will ensure opportunity for all of our citizens,” Swinney told supporters in Edinburgh.

Swinney inherits a difficult political legacy with former SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon embroiled in a party funding scandal and a challenging domestic policy landscape.

With the SNP heading a minority government in the 129-seat Scottish parliament, he will need the support of another party to form a governing coalition or pass pieces of legislation.
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BERLIN — Germany said Monday it recalled its ambassador to Russia for a week of consultations in Berlin following an alleged hacker attack on Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s party.

Germany last week accused Russian military agents of hacking into the top echelons of Scholz’s Social Democrats’ party and other sensitive government and industrial targets. Berlin has joined NATO and fellow European countries in warning that Russia’s cyberespionage would have consequences.

The Foreign Office in Berlin said Monday that the government is taking the latest incident “seriously” and that Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock had decided to call back German Ambassador Alexander Lambsdorff. He would return to Moscow after a week, it said.

“The German government takes this event very seriously as behavior against our liberal democracy and the institutions that support it,” Foreign Office spokeswoman Kathrin Deschauer said.

Baerbock said last week that Russian military cyber operators were behind the hacking of emails of the Social Democrats, the leading party in the governing coalition. Officials said the hackers had exploited Microsoft Outlook.

The German Interior Ministry said in a statement last week that the hacking campaign began as early as March 2022, a month after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, with emails at the Social Democrat party headquarters accessed beginning that December. It said German companies, including in the defense and aerospace sectors, as well as targets related to the war in Ukraine were the focus of the hacking attacks.

Officials said the attacks persisted for months.

Relations between Russia and Germany have been tense since Russia’s attack on Ukraine. Germany has been providing military support to Ukraine in the ongoing war.
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Brussels — EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said Monday she will press for “fair” competition with China in talks with its President Xi Jinping, who is in Paris on a state visit.

“We have to act to make sure that competition is fair and not distorted,” she said in remarks issued hours before a face-to-face Paris meeting between her, Xi and French President Emmanuel Macron.  

She added that, previously with Xi, “I have made clear that the current imbalances in market access are not sustainable and need to be addressed.”

Von der Leyen’s European Commission, the European Union’s authority on trade issues, has opened a slew of competition probes targeting China in recent months.

Beijing has reacted furiously to the most recent investigation, into suspected inequitable access to China’s medical devices market, calling it a sign of EU “protectionism.”

China is also angry at an EU probe into Chinese wind turbine suppliers for the European market. Other Brussels investigations have focused on Chinese subsidies for solar panels, electric vehicles (EVs) and trains.

Von der Leyen reiterated the EU’s position that it “should derisk its relations, but not decouple from China” — meaning reducing the dependence on Chinese suppliers but not going as far as the United States in penalizing or blocking trade streams in key sectors.

“We have been very clear-eyed about our relationship with China, which is one of the most complex, but also one of the most important,” the commission president said.

“Over the last year, I have met with President Xi twice and we have spent some time discussing the EU-China relations from trade to climate, from global affairs to digital issues,” she said.

Von der Leyen stressed the problem of Chinese overcapacity and the way that was leading to Chinese goods entering the European Union at prices too low for EU firms to compete with.

“China is currently manufacturing, with massive subsidies, more than it is selling due to its own weak domestic demand. This is leading to an oversupply of Chinese subsidized goods, such as EVs and steel, that is leading to unfair trade,” she said.

“Europe cannot accept such market distorting practices that could lead to de-industrialization in Europe.”

Von der Leyen said she would “encourage the Chinese government to address these overcapacities in the short-term,” adding that the EU will work with other wealthy and emerging economies that were “increasingly affected by China’s market distortions.”
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Mexico City — Thieves killed two Australians and an American on a surfing trip to Mexico to steal their truck, particularly because they wanted the tires, authorities said Sunday.

Baja California state prosecutors released grisly details of the slayings but have not yet officially confirmed the identity of the bodies. They said family members of the victims are viewing the bodies to see if they can be identified by sight.

The corpses were decomposing after the thieves dumped them into a remote, 15-meter deep well. If relatives can’t identify them, further tests will be conducted. The well also contained a fourth cadaver that had been there much longer.

“The probability that it’s them is very high,” said chief state prosecutor Maria Elena Andrade Ramirez, noting the corpses still appeared to be identifiable by sight.

The three men went missing last weekend during a camping and surfing trip, posting idyllic photos on social media of waves and isolated beaches along a stretch of coast south of the city of Ensenada.

But Andrade Ramirez described the moments of terror that ended the trip for brothers Jake and Callum Robinson from Australia and American Jack Carter Rhoad.

She said the killers drove by and saw the foreigners’ pickup truck and tents, and wanted to steal their tires.

“Surely, they resisted,” she said of the victims, and the thieves shot them to death.

The thieves then went to what she called “a site that is extremely hard to get to” and dumped their bodies into a well they apparently were familiar with. She said investigators were not ruling out the possibility the same suspects also dumped the first, earlier body in the well as part of their thefts.

“They may have been looking for trucks in this area,” Andrade Ramirez said.

The site where the bodies were discovered near the township of Santo Tomas was near the remote seaside area where the missing men’s tents and truck were found Thursday along the coast. From their last photo posts, the trip looked perfect. But even experienced local expats are questioning whether it is safe to camp along the largely deserted coast anymore.

The moderator of the local Talk Baja internet forum, who has lived in the area for almost two decades, wrote in an editorial Saturday that “the reality is, the dangers of traveling to and camping in remote areas are outweighing the benefits anymore.”

Baja California prosecutors had said they were questioning three people in the case. On Friday, the office said the three had been arrested on charges of a crime equivalent to kidnapping, but that was before the bodies were found. It was unclear if they might face more charges.

At least one of the suspects was believed to have directly participated in the killings.

Last week, the missing Australians’ mother, Debra Robinson, posted on a local community Facebook page an appeal for help in finding her sons. Robinson said Callum and Jake had not been heard from since April 27. They had booked accommodations in the nearby city of Rosarito.

Robinson said one of her sons, Callum, was diabetic. She also mentioned that the American who was with them was named Jack Carter Rhoad, but the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City did not immediately confirm that. The U.S. State Department said it was aware of reports of a U.S. citizen missing in Baja but gave no further details.

In 2015, two Australian surfers, Adam Coleman and Dean Lucas, were killed in western Sinaloa state, across the Gulf of California — also known as the Sea of Cortez — from the Baja peninsula. Authorities said they were victims of highway bandits. Three suspects were arrested in that case.
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Albuquerque, New Mexico — It was a frigid winter morning when authorities found a Native American man dead on a remote gravel road in western New Mexico. He was lying on his side, with only one sock on, his clothes gone and his shoes tossed in the snow.

There were trails of blood on both sides of his body and it appeared he had been struck in the head.

Investigators retraced the man’s steps, gathering security camera footage that showed him walking near a convenience store miles away in Gallup, an economic hub in an otherwise rural area bordered on one side by the Navajo Nation and Zuni Pueblo on the other.

Court records said the footage and cell phone records showed the victim — a Navajo man identified only as John Doe — was “on a collision course” with the man who would ultimately be accused of killing him.

A grand jury has indicted a man from Zuni Pueblo on a charge of second-degree murder in the Jan. 18 death, and prosecutors say more charges are likely as he is the prime suspect in a series of crimes targeting Native American men in Gallup, Zuni and Albuquerque. Investigators found several wallets, cell phones and clothing belonging to other men when searching his vehicle and two residences.

As people gathered around the nation on Sunday to spotlight the troubling number of disappearances and killings in Indian Country, authorities say the New Mexico case represents the kind of work the U.S. Department of Justice had aspired to when establishing its Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons outreach program last summer.

Special teams of assistant U.S. attorneys and coordinators have been tasked with focusing on MMIP cases. Their goal: Improve communication and coordination across federal, tribal, state and local jurisdictions in hopes of bridging the gaps that have made solving violent crimes in Indian Country a generational challenge.

Some of the new federal prosecutors were participating in MMIP Awareness Day events. From the Arizona state capitol to a cultural center in Albuquerque and the Qualla Boundary in North Carolina, marches, symposiums, art exhibitions and candlelight vigils were planned for May 5, which is the birthday of Hanna Harris, who was only 21 when she was killed on the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation in Montana in 2013.

It was an emotional day in Albuquerque, where family members and advocates participated in a prayer walk. They chanted: “What do we want? Answers! What do we want? Justice!” There were tears and long embraces as they shared their stories and frustrations. They talked about feeling forgotten and the lack of resources in Native communities.

Geraldine Toya of Jemez Pueblo marched with other family members to bring awareness to the death of her daughter Shawna Toya in 2021. She said she and her husband are artists who make pottery and never dreamed they would end up being investigators in an effort to determine what happened to their daughter.

“Our journey has been rough, but you know what, we’re going to make this journey successful for all of our people that are here in this same thing that we’re struggling through right now,” she said, vowing to support other families through their heartbreak as they seek justice.

Alex Uballez, the U.S. attorney for the District of New Mexico, told The Associated Press on Friday that the outreach program is starting to pay dividends.

“Providing those bridges between those agencies is critical to seeing the patterns that affect all of our communities,” Uballez said. “None of our borders that we have drawn prevents the spillover of impacts on communities — across tribal communities, across states, across the nation, across international borders.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney Eliot Neal oversees MMIP cases for a region spanning New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Utah and Nevada.

Having law enforcement agencies and attorneys talking to each other can help head off other crimes that are often precursors to deadly violence. The other pieces of the puzzle are building relationships with Native American communities and making the justice system more accessible to the public, Neal said.

Part of Neal’s work includes reviewing old cases: time-consuming work that can involve tracking down witnesses and resubmitting evidence for testing.

“We’re trying to flip that script a little bit and give those cases the time and attention they deserve,” he said, adding that communicating with family members about the process is a critical component for the MMIP attorneys and coordinators.

The DOJ over the past year also has awarded $268 million in grants to tribal justice systems for handling child abuse cases, combating domestic and sexual violence and bolstering victim services.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Bree Black Horse was dressed in red as she was sworn in Thursday during a ceremony in Yakima, Washington. The color is synonymous with raising awareness about the disproportionate number of Indigenous people who have been victims of violence.

She prosecutes MMIP cases in a five-state region across California and the Pacific Northwest to Montana. Her caseload is in the double digits, and she’s working with advocacy groups to identify more unresolved cases and open lines of communication with law enforcement.

An enrolled member of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma and a lawyer for more than a decade, Black Horse said having 10 assistant U.S. attorneys and coordinators focusing solely on MMIP cases is unprecedented.

“This is an issue that has touched not only my community but my friends and my family,” she said. “I see this as a way to help make sure that our future generations, our young people don’t experience these same kinds of disparities and this same kind of trauma.”

In New Mexico, Uballez acknowledged the federal government moves slowly and credited tribal communities with raising their voices, consistently showing up to protest and putting pressure on politicians to improve public safety in tribal communities.

Still, he and Neal said it will take a paradigm shift to undo the public perception that nothing is being done.

The man charged in the New Mexico case, Labar Tsethlikai, appeared in court Wednesday and pleaded not guilty while standing shackled next to his public defender. A victim advocate from Uballez’s office was there, too, sitting with victims’ family members.

Tsethlikai’s attorney argued that evidence had yet to be presented tying her client to the alleged crimes spelled out in court documents. Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew McGinley argued that no conditions of release would keep the community safe, pointing to cell phone data and DNA evidence allegedly showing Tsethlikai had preyed on people who were homeless or in need of alcohol so he could satisfy his sexual desires.

Tsethlikai will remain in custody pending trial as authorities continue to investigate. Court documents list at least 10 other victims along with five newly identified potential victims. McGinley said prosecutors wanted to focus on a few of the cases “to get him off the street” and prevent more violence.
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New York — “The Fall Guy,” the Ryan Gosling-led, action-comedy ode to stunt performers, opened below expectations with $28.5 million, according to studio estimates Sunday, providing a lukewarm start to a summer movie season that’s very much to be determined for Hollywood.

The Universal Pictures release opened on a weekend that Marvel has regularly dominated with $100 million-plus launches. (In 2023, that was “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” with a $118 million debut.) But last year’s strikes jumbled this year’s movie calendar; “Deadpool & Wolverine,” originally slated to open this weekend, is now debuting in July.

So in place of a superhero kickoff, the summer launch went to a movie about the stunt performers who anonymously sacrifice their bodies for the kind of action sequences blockbusters are built on. Going into the weekend, forecasts had the film opening $30 million to $40 million.

“The Fall Guy,” directed by former stuntman and “Deadpool 2” helmer David Leitch, rode into the weekend with the momentum of glowing reviews and the buzz of a SXSW premiere. But it will need sustained interest to merit its $130 million production budget. It added $25.4 million in overseas markets.

Working in its favor for a long run: strong audience scores (an “A-” CinemaScore) and good reviews (83% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes). Jim Orr, distribution chief for Universal, believes things line up well for “The Fall Guy” in the coming weeks.

“We had a very solid opening,” said Orr. “We’re looking forward to a very long, very robust, very successful run throughout the domestic box office for literally weeks if not months to come.”

But the modest start for “The Fall Guy” hints at larger concerns for the film industry. Superhero films haven’t been quite the box-office behemoth they once were, leading studios to search for fresher alternatives. “The Fall Guy” seemed to check all the boxes, with extravagant action sequences, one of the hottest stars in the business, a director with a track-record for crowd pleasers and very good reviews.

But instead, the opening for “The Fall Guy,” loosely based on the 1980s TV series, only emphasized that the movie business is likely to struggle to rekindle the fervor of last year’s “Barbenheimer” summer. “The Fall Guy” stars one from each: Gosling, in his first post-Ken role, and Emily Blunt, of “Oppenheimer.” Both were Oscar nominated.

“It’s going to be a very interesting, nontraditional summer this year,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for Comscore.

In part because of last year’s work stoppages, there are fewer big movies hitting theaters. Expectations are that the total summer box office will be closer to $3 billion than the $4 billion that’s historically been generated.

“The summer season is just getting started, so let’s give ‘The Fall Guy’ a chance to build that momentum over time. It’s a different type of summer kickoff film,” said Dergarabedian. “There’s always huge expectations placed on any film that kicks off the summer movie season, but this isn’t your typical summer movie season.”

In a surprise, No. 2 at the box office went to the Walt Disney Co. rerelease of “Star Wars: The Phantom Menace.” The first episode to George Lucas’ little-loved prequels collected $8.1 million over the weekend, 25 years after “Phantom Menace” grossed $1 billion.

Last week’s top film, the Zendaya tennis drama “Challengers,” slid to third place with $7.6 million in its second week. That was a sold hold for the Amazon MGM release, directed by Luca Guadagnino, dipping 49% from its first weekend.

The Sony Screen Gems supernatural horror film “Tarot” also opened nationwide. It debuted with $6.5 million, a decent enough start for a low-budget release but another example of horror not quite performing this year as it has the last few years.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.

1. “The Fall Guy,” $28.5 million.

2. “Star Wars: The Phantom Menace,” $8.1 million.

3. “Challengers,” $7.6 million.

4. “Tarot,” $6.5 million.

5. “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire,” $4.5 million.

6. “Civil War,” $3.6 million.

7. “Unsung Hero,” $3 million.

8. “Kung Fu Panda 4,” $2.4 million.

9. “Abigail,” $2.3 million.

10. “Ghostbuster: Frozen Empire,” $1.8 million.
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DEBRECEN, Hungary — A rising challenger to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban held what he called the largest countryside political demonstration in the country’s recent history Sunday, the latest stop on his campaign tour that has mobilized thousands across Hungary’s rural heartland.

Some 10,000 people gathered in Debrecen, Hungary’s second-largest city, in support of Peter Magyar, a political newcomer who in less than three months has shot to prominence on pledges to bring an end to problems like official corruption and a declining quality of life in the Central European country.

Supporters endured a brief but unexpected rain shower ahead of the afternoon demonstration, turning the city’s central square into a sea of umbrellas. They waved Hungarian flags bearing the names of towns and villages across the country from which they had come.

“Today, the vast majority of the Hungarian people are tired of the ruling elite, of the hatred, apathy, propaganda and artificial divides,” Magyar told the crowd. “Hungarians today want cooperation, love, unity and peace.”

Magyar, a former insider within Hungary’s ruling Fidesz party, has since February denounced the nationalist Orban as running an entrenched “mafia state,” and declared war on what he calls a propaganda machine run by the government.

His party, TISZA (Respect and Freedom), has announced it will run 12 candidates in the June 9 European Union elections, with Magyar appearing first on the party list. TISZA has also announced it will run four candidates in local council elections in the capital Budapest.

His appearance Sunday in Debrecen, a stronghold of Orbán’s ruling Fidesz party, reflected the focus his fledgling campaign has placed on the Hungarian countryside, where Orban is popular.

The Mother’s Day event was the latest stop on a tour of the country where Magyar has appeared in dozens of cities, towns and villages, often drawing thousands of supporters — numbers that few Orban opponents have ever been able to mobilize in rural areas.

Addressing the crowd, he said that “government propaganda” had tried to discredit his movement as “just a downtown Budapest media hack,” and criticized Hungary’s traditional opposition parties as having abandoned rural Hungarians.

“We’ve heard for 14 years from the opposition that it’s impossible in these circumstances to defeat Orban, that it’s not worth traveling to the countryside, that young people aren’t interested in politics, that you can’t break down the walls of propaganda,” he said. “But look around! What’s the truth?”

Katalin Nagy, who traveled several hours to the rally, said she finds Magyar credible “because he comes from the inside.”

“He’s aware of the things that are really causing problems in this country, and I think he can provide solutions to problems so that we can come out of the hole that this country is currently in,” she said.

Recent polls show that Magyar’s party may have become the largest opposition force in little more than a month before the election. Pollster Median this week measured TISZA at 25% among certain voters, with Orban’s Fidesz well ahead at 45%.

Governing party politicians have dismissed Magyar, who describes himself as a moderate conservative, as a leftist in disguise, and suggested that foreign interests lie behind his rise.

Orban and has party have ruled Hungary with a constitutional majority since 2010.
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