Monday Briefing

In today’s newsletter: Orbán concedes defeat after 16 years in power, ushering in a new era for Hungary’s relations with the EU, US and RussiaGood morning. The people of Hungary are waking up in an unfamiliar political landscape – one in which Viktor Orbán, who has served as prime minister since 2010, is stepping aside after defeat to Péter Magyar, whose Tisza party has won an election likely to reshape the country’s ties with the EU, the US and Russia.Less than three hours after polls closed on Sunday, Orbán conceded defeat after what he described as a “painful but unambiguous” result. Magyar, who has pledged to repair Hungary’s strained relationship with the EU, crack down on corruption and channel funds towards long-neglected public services, said Tisza voters had rewritten Hungarian history and that “truth prevailed over lies”.Middle East | Donald Trump has said the US will begin blockading the strait of Hormuz in an attempt to take control of the strategic waterway from Iran in the aftermath of failed peace negotiations.Carers | Thousands of unpaid carers will continue to be hit with hefty and potentially unfair benefit repayment demands, as a government initiative gets under way to fix welfare injustices that have drawn comparison to the Post Office scandalUK news | The Home Office is to announce the closure of 11 asylum hotels this week as part of its pledge to close all such facilities by the end of this parliament.Ireland | Police have cleared a blockade of central Dublin by farmers and hauliers who were protesting about fuel prices, signalling a possible end to six days of protests that have rocked Ireland.UK politics | Ministers are planning to reshape Britain’s relationship with the European Union, with new legislation that could result in the UK signing up to EU single market rules without a normal parliamentary vote. Continue reading...

In today’s newsletter: Off Duty revisits the conviction of Alexander Villa, raising troubling questions about how it was builtGood morning. On the evening of 29 December 2011, Clifton Lewis – an off-duty Chicago police officer working as a security guard at a minimart on the city’s west side – was shot dead during a robbery. The killing prompted a huge manhunt and an intensive investigation by the Chicago police department. Years later, prosecutors said they had their man, and in 2019 Alexander Villa was convicted of Lewis’s murder and sentenced to life in prison.But the case against Lewis has long been contested – and as the Guardian’s new investigative podcast series, Off Duty, explores, there are troubling questions about how that conviction was secured, from confessions that were later recanted to evidence that appears shaky or missing. And it revolves around a justice system that, once it settled on a suspect, seemed unwilling to reconsider.Iran | The global energy crisis caused by the war in Iran is equivalent to the combined force of the twin oil shocks of the 1970s and the fallout of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the head of the International Energy Agency has warned.UK news | Four ambulances belonging to the Jewish community ambulance service have been set on fire in Golders Green, with police saying they were treating the incident as an “antisemitic hate crime”.Technology | Palantir is to be granted access to a trove of highly sensitive UK financial regulation data, in a deal that has prompted fresh concerns about the US AI company’s deepening reach into the British state, the Guardian can reveal.UK news | An undercover police officer has admitted he was exposed as an infiltrator by his own blunder, which has been described by activists as worthy of Inspector Clouseau, the spycops public inquiry has heard.Business | Several porridge products in the UK have been recalled over a possible mice contamination at their manufacturing site. Continue reading...