BUDAPEST: Hungarian President Katalin Novak, a close ally of Prime Minister Viktor Orban, announced her resignation Saturday following outrage over a pardon granted to a man implicated in a child sexual abuse case.

Soon afterwards another Orban supporter, former justice minister Judit Varga, announced she was withdrawing from public life over the affair.

The announcements followed growing pressure from opposition politicians and protests outside the presidential palace Friday evening.

“I am resigning my post,” said 46-year-old Novak, acknowledging that she had made a mistake.

“I apologise to those who I hurt and all the victims who may have had the impression that I did not support them,” the former minister for family policy added.

“I am, I was and I will remain in favour of protecting children and families.”

Novak became the first woman to hold the essentially ceremonial role of president in March 2022.

The controversy was sparked by the pardon granted to a former deputy director of a children’s home. He had helped to cover up his boss’s sexual abuse of the children in their charge.

The decision was made last April during a visit by Pope Francis to Budapest.

Since the independent news site 444 revealed the decision last week, the country’s opposition has been calling for Novak’s resignation.

On Friday evening demonstrators gathered outside the presidential palace and three presidential advisers quit their posts.

Novak, who had been in Qatar to attend Hungary’s match against Kazakhstan at the World Water Polo Championships on Friday, swiftly returned to Budapest.

As soon as her plane had landed she emerged and announced her resignation.

“The pardon granted and the lack of explanation may have given rise to doubts about zero tolerance of paedophilia,” she said.

“But there can be no doubt on this subject”, she added, before offering her apologies.

Minutes after her announcement, another ally of Orban, Judit Varga, also announced her “withdrawal from public life”.

As justice minister, a post she quit in order to lead a European Parliament election bid, she had approved the pardon.

“I renounce my mandate as an MP and the head of the list for the European Parliament,” she said on Facebook.

“It was quick: first Novak, then Varga,” said Hungarian MEP Anna Donath, reacting to the news.

“But we know that no important decision can be taken in Hungary without Viktor Orban’s approval,” added Donath, a member of the small liberal Momentum party, on Facebook.

“He has to take responsibility and explain what happened… it’s his system”.

In an attempt to calm national anger, Orban had announced on Thursday that he wanted to revise Hungary’s constitution to exclude the possibility of pardoning paedophile criminals.

Novak, who has been temporarily replaced by the Speaker of Parliament Laszlo Kover, was named last year by Forbes magazine as the most influential woman in Hungarian public life.

Her departure leaves Hungary’s political landscape even more male-dominated. Since mid-2023 there have been no women in Viktor Orban’s 16-man cabinet.

LONDON: Britain’s King Charles III on Saturday expressed his “heartfelt thanks” to well-wishers, in his first statement since his shock announcement that he has cancer.

Buckingham Palace said Monday that Charles had begun treatment, but did not specify what type of cancer he has.

“I would like to express my most heartfelt thanks for the many messages of support and good wishes I have received in recent days,” the king wrote in a message to the public.

“As all those who have been affected by cancer will know, such kind thoughts are the greatest comfort and encouragement,” he added.

The note was published on the 75-year-old monarch’s website and the royal family’s official page on social media platform X.

Charles added that it is “equally heartening to hear how sharing my own diagnosis has helped promote public understanding and shine a light on the work of all those organisations which support cancer patients and their families across the UK and wider world.”

“My lifelong admiration for their tireless care and dedication is all the greater as a result of my own personal experience,” he concluded, signing the letter “Charles R.”

Britain’s National Health Service reported this week that the king’s diagnosis had sparked a surge in online searches for advice about the disease.

Charles has taken an indefinite break from public duties while he receives treatment and is currently staying at the royal country residence of Sandringham, in the east of England.

He is continuing some administrative duties and held his weekly audience with the prime minister via phone this week.

Charles is not thought to have prostate cancer, since after his recent hospital procedure for a benign prostate enlargement the palace said that “a separate issue of concern was noted”, adding subsequent tests had identified “a form of cancer

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said the condition was “caught early”.

On Thursday, Charles’s wife Queen Camilla said that her husband was doing “extremely well” under the circumstances.

Charles’s diagnosis comes just 17 months into his reign following the death of his 96-year-old mother, Queen Elizabeth II, on September 8, 2022.

He has generally enjoyed good health, barring injuries from polo and skiing.

Prince William, heir to the throne, has taken on most of the king’s duties alongside Charles’s sister Princess Anne and wife Camilla.

The diagnosis has left William, 41, shouldering a heavy royal burden as his wife Catherine continues to recover from a recent abdominal operation.

William also thanked the public for their “kind messages” this week.

Charles’s estranged younger son Prince Harry flew back to Britain to see the King on Tuesday, adding to this week’s drama.

The pair had a 45-minute meeting at Charles’s Clarence House residence in London before Harry flew back to his home in the United States.

LAHORE, Pakistan: The results of Pakistan’s elections were delayed Friday a day after the vote that was marred by sporadic violence, a mobile phone service shutdown and the sidelining of former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his party.

Early results indicated that Jailed former premier Imran Khan’s party-backed independent candidates seemed to have sprung a surprise as the results of the started trickling in on Friday following unusual delays, leading to allegations of rigging.

Votes are being counted in Pakistan after Thursday’s general election which was marred by allegations of rigging, sporadic violence and a countrywide mobile phone shutdown.

Local media reported victories by independents backed by his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party after the imprisoned Khan was disqualified from contesting the vote because of criminal convictions he contends were politically motivated.

PTI candidates ran as independents after the Supreme Court and Election Commission said they couldn’t use the party symbol — a cricket bat. In Pakistan, parties use symbols to help illiterate voters find them on the ballots. PTI couldn’t hold rallies or open campaign offices, and its online events were blocked, steps it contended were unfair.

The chief election commissioner had previously said the results would be communicated to the oversight body by the early hours of Friday and released to the public after that. But that hasn’t happened. The Interior Ministry attributed the delay to a “lack of connectivity” resulting from security precautions.

Many Pakistani news channels reported that PTI-backed independents were giving the other big parties, led by three-time former premier Nawaz Sharif and political dynasty scion Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, a run for their money by striding ahead in dozens of constituencies.

Senator Mushahid Hussain, a member of Sharif’s party, called the media tallies “probably the biggest election upset in Pakistan’s political history” in the last 50 years. Withheld results were a recipe for disaster, he said on X, formerly known as Twitter.

There are 266 seats up for grabs in the National Assembly, with a further 70 reserved for women and minorities. If no party wins an outright majority, the one with the biggest share of the seats can form a coalition government.

There were no results from the Election Commission about the National Assembly vote and no information about the count appeared on its website more than 15 hours after polls closed. A commission spokesman was not available for comment at midmorning Friday.

Sharif struck a confident and defiant note on polling day, brushing off suggestions his Pakistan Muslim League party might not win an outright majority in the parliament. But the mood outside his headquarters was different by nightfall, with sparse crowds and no festivities.

He returned to the country last October after four years of self-imposed exile abroad to avoid serving prison sentences. Within weeks of his return, his convictions were overturned, leaving him free to seek a fourth term in office.

The polling ended at 5 pm on Thursday but the first official result was announced 10 hours later at 3 am on Friday, irking many about the delay and giving fuel to the rumour mills to indulge speculation of foul play to manipulate the outcome.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) so far officially uploaded only four results of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) assembly, which all were won by the PTI-backed independents. The commission has not uploaded even a single result of the National Assembly (NA) or other provinces.

However, private media channels showed that PTI-backed candidates were in the lead.

According to the Express Tribune newspaper, PTI-Independents have won six NA seats, followed by the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) with four and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) with three.

However, BBC Urdu in its results showed that PTI-Independent and PML-N won four seats each and PPP three.

Dawn newspaper put PML-N in the lead with four wins, followed by PTI-Ind with three and PPP 2 seats.

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has acknowledged a “huge” voter turnout in favour of its arch-rival PTI, however, it remains hopeful that its supremo Nawaz Sharif will get a record fourth term as the country’s prime minister.

Sharif was the favourite to win the election as he was being backed by the powerful Army.

So far among the major winners, former prime minister and PML-N president Shehbaz Sharif has won the NA 123 seat from Lahore with 63,953 votes, according to initial results.

Similarly, Balochistan National Party leader Akhtar Mengal won the election for National Assembly constituency NA-261 Surab-cum-Kalat-cum-Mastung by securing 3,404 votes.

The partial results reported by various TV channels showed that PTI-backed candidates were ahead of other parties on several seats

The excruciating delay in announcing the results pushed parties to the edge, with allegations of fraud being hurled along with demands for early results.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Maryam Aurangzeb said that the results are changing as they come in, stressing that preliminary results cannot be relied upon to say who’s winning from a said constituency.

“We were in the lead [when] suddenly the results stopped coming in,” she said while calling on the ECP to announce the results as soon as possible.

She also claimed PML-N’s Senior Vice President Maryam Nawaz’s victory on the PP-159 seat for the Punjab assembly.

The ECP said in a statement that Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja “contacted the Chief Secretaries, DROs (district returning officer) and Provincial Election Commissioners and has issued strict instructions to ensure immediate declaration of results.”

“The heat of the electoral process has passed; it is time to allow the country to heal…The political leadership — Mian Nawaz Sharif, Asif Ali Zardari, Imran Khan, Maulana Fazlur Rehman and others — must rise above petty politics and work together to confront the immense challenges our country is facing; they need to recognise that history is not kind to selfish politicians,” he urged.

Earlier, the Returning Officers allegedly stopped issuing results to the media following an ‘apparent victory’ of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf in most seats in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) provinces.

The cellphone and internet services suspended before elections were gradually restored during the night.

In total 266 National Assembly seats were up for grabs in Thursday’s election out of 336, but polling was postponed on at least one seat after a candidate was killed in a gun attack in Bajaur.

Another 60 seats are reserved for women and 10 for minorities and are allotted to the winning parties based on proportional representation.

A party must win 133 seats out of 265 being contested to form the next government.

Another 593 seats of the four provincial assemblies, out of a total 749, were also open for contest but the ECP delayed polls on at least three seats, two in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and one in Punjab, after two candidates died and one was killed.

NEW DELHI: India signed a multi-billion dollar deal to extend LNG imports from Qatar till 2048 at rates that are lower than current prices on Tuesday, sources said.

The country will supply 7.5 MMTPA (million metric tons per annum) of LNG to India for the next twenty years.

The deal is an extension of an existing agreement supplying around 7.5 MMTPA of LNG from Qatar to India until 2028.

Petronet, in a press note, said LNG supplies will be made on a delivered (DES) basis from 2028 to 2048. Similar to the earlier 1999 agreement, GAIL (India) Limited (60%), Indian Oil Corporation Limited (30%), and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (10%) will off-take the LNG volumes after regasification, primarily from Dahej Terminal of PLL, on a substantially back-to-back basis.

“The existing long-term agreement between Petronet LNG and Qatar Energy currently accounts for around 35% of India’s LNG imports and is of national importance. The renewal of this agreement is a step towards achieving the vision of the Honorable Prime Minister of India to make India a gas-based economy and increase the share of natural gas in India’s primary energy basket to 15% by 2030,” said Akshay Kumar Singh, MD and CEO of Petronet LNG Limited.

Meanwhile, GAIL said it will off-take about 4.5 MMTPA of LNG from Petronet.

“According to the government, the agreement will provide energy security, ensure a stable and reliable supply of clean energy, and help India in its stride towards greater economic development,” Singh added.

He further added that the long-term LNG purchase agreement with Qatar Energy will strengthen the existing relationship between the two companies.

The deal will ensure the energy security of India and assure continued supplies of regasified LNG to major consuming sectors like fertilizers, CGD, refineries, petrochemicals, power, and other industries. India aims to increase the share of natural gas in the country’s energy basket from 6% to 15% by 2030.

NEW YORK: Even as Catholic dogma continues to repudiate same-sex marriage and gender transition, one of the most prominent religious orders in the United States — the Jesuits — is strengthening a unique outreach program for LGBTQ+ Catholics.

The initiative — fittingly called Outreach — was founded two years ago by the Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit who is one of the country’s most prominent advocates for greater LGBTQ+ inclusion in the Catholic Church.

Outreach, a ministry of the Jesuit magazine America, sponsored conferences in New York City in 2022 and 2023, and last year launched a multifaceted website with news, essays and information about Catholic LGBTQ+ resources and events.

On Tuesday, there was another milestone for Outreach — the appointment of journalist and author Michael O’Loughlin as its first executive director.

O’Loughlin, a former staff writer at online newspaper Crux, has been the national correspondent at America. He is the author of a book recounting the varied ways that Catholics in the US responded to the AIDS crisis of the 1980s and ‘90s — “Hidden Mercy: AIDS, Catholics, and the Untold Stories of Compassion in the Face of Fear.”

O’Loughlin told The Associated Press he’s excited by his new job, viewing it as a chance to expand the range of Outreach’s programs and the national scope of its community.

“It’s an opportunity to highlight the ways LGBT people can be Catholic and active in parishes, ministries and charities,” he said. “There’s a lot of fear about to being too public about it. … I want them to realize they’re not alone.”

O’Loughlin says his current outlook evolved as he traveled to scores of places around the US to promote his book, talking to groups of LGBTQ+ Catholics, and their families and friends, about how to make the church more welcoming to them.

Those conversations made O’Loughlin increasingly comfortable publicly identifying as a gay Catholic after years of wondering whether he should remain in the church. Its doctrine still condemns any sexual relations between gay or lesbian partners as “intrinsically disordered.”

The latest expansion of Outreach occurs amid a time of division within the global Catholic Church as it grapples with LGBTQ+ issues.

Pope Francis, a Jesuit who has met with Martin and sent letters of support to Outreach, has made clear he favors a more welcoming approach to LGBTQ+ people. At his direction, the Vatican recently gave priests greater leeway to bless same-sex couples and asserted that transgender people, in some circumstances, can be baptized.

However, there has been some resistance to the pope’s approach. Many conservative bishops in Africa, Europe and elsewhere said they would not implement the new policy regarding blessings. In the U.S., some bishops have issued directives effectively ordering diocesan personnel not to recognize transgender people’s gender identity.

Amid those conflicting developments, Martin and other Jesuit leaders are proud of Outreach’s accomplishments and optimistic about its future.

“Pope Francis has been very encouraging, allowing himself to be interviewed by Outreach and sending personal greetings to our conference last year,” Martin added. “Perhaps the most surprising support has been from several bishops who have written for our website, as well as some top-notch Catholic theologians who see the need for serious theological reflection on LGBTQ topics.”

Martin will remain engaged in Outreach’s oversight, holding the title of founder.

The Rev. Brian Paulson, president of the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States, evoked both Jesus and the pope when asked why his order had embraced the mission of Outreach.

“Pope Francis has repeatedly called leaders in the Catholic church to emulate the way Jesus spent his ministry on the peripheries, accompanying those who had experienced exclusion,” Paulson said email. “I think the work of Outreach is a response to this invitation.”

Paulson also said he was impressed by Martin’s “grace and patience” in responding to the often harsh criticism directed at him by some conservative Catholics.

There was ample evidence of Outreach’s stature at its conference last June at a branch of Fordham University in New York City. The event was preceded by a handwritten letter of support sent to Martin by Pope Francis, extending “prayers and good wishes” to the participants.

“It’s a special grace for LGBTQ Catholics to know that the pope is praying for them,” Martin said.

Another welcoming letter came from Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York.

“It is the sacred duty of the Church and Her ministers to reach out to those on the periphery,” he wrote to the conference attendees.

The keynote speakers included Fordham’s president, Tania Tetlow, and the closing Mass was celebrated by Archbishop John Wester of Santa Fe, New Mexico.

LONDON: The UK’s Opposition Labour Party has claimed Infosys was effectively granted “VIP access” after a media report alleged the software services major was promised help to grow in Britain due to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s familial connection with co-founder Narayana Murthy.

based on a freedom of information (FOI) request said Trade Minister Lord Dominic Johnson discussed the UK operations of Infosys during a meeting at the company’s offices in Bengaluru during a visit last April.

A readout of the meeting reportedly said Lord Johnson “made clear that he was keen to see a bigger Infosys presence in the UK and would be happy to do what he could to facilitate that.”

“After the Tories handed billions in taxpayers’ cash to cronies for duff PPE (personal protective equipment), the public will wonder why an outfit so personally close to Rishi Sunak appears to have been granted this VIP access. There are serious questions to answer,” Labour’s shadow minister Jonathan Ashworth told the newspaper.

Sunak’s wife, Akshata Murty, has a 0.91 percent stake valued at around GBP 500 million in the IT business co-founded by her father and received millions in dividends in the past financial year.

A “steering brief” for the meeting is reported to have said that it “would be good to reassure them on the prospects for the UK economy and remind them of the support that we can provide through DBT [Department for Business and Trade].”

Lord Johnson is said to have outlined to the Infosys executives, whose names were redacted in the FOI documents, the advantages for the multinational as a result of the UK’s high-potential individual visa scheme.

“The investment minister regularly meets businesses and international investors, including a range of Indian businesses, to champion the UK as an investment destination and secure commitments worth billions of pounds. That engagement drives investment across the UK, creating thousands of high-quality jobs and boosting the UK economy,” said a DBT spokesperson.

Infosys has been approached for a reaction over these latest claims, coming in the wake of some opposition murmurings around Infosys seeking visa benefits to accrue from the proposed India-UK free trade agreement (FTA).

The briefing paper for the April 2023 meeting reportedly notes that one of the objectives was to “reassure that the FTA will further create new opportunities and investor-friendly policies to support business growth.”

This is the latest opposition attack faced by Sunak’s wife over her business interests after Labour raised questions over Akshata Murty’s decision to liquidate an investment venture named Catamaran Ventures.

The 43-year-old Indian businesswoman and daughter of Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy had incorporated the venture in 2013 with her husband as one of the directors before he resigned in 2015. It had emerged in a financial statement last year that she had decided to wind down her firm as a going concern.

The personal finances of Sunak and his wife have previously also been under scrutiny when it was revealed that Murty had legal non-domicile tax status, which meant she did not have to pay UK tax on her Indian income.

However, after an opposition furor over this issue, she had relinquished her non-dom tax status and said she would pay all her taxes in the UK to prevent the issue from becoming a distraction for her husband’s political career.

LONDON: Britain’s King Charles III has been diagnosed with cancer and has begun treatment, Buckingham Palace said Monday. Less than 18 months into his reign, the 75-year-old monarch will suspend public engagements but will continue with state business, and won’t be handing over his constitutional roles as head of state.

The palace didn’t disclose what form of cancer the king has, but said it’s not related to his recent treatment for a benign prostate condition.

The palace said “a separate issue of concern was noted” during Charles’ treatment for an enlarged prostate last month, when he spent three nights in a London hospital.

“Diagnostic tests have identified a form of cancer,” it said in a statement.

“His Majesty has today commenced a schedule of regular treatments, during which time he has been advised by doctors to postpone public-facing duties,” the palace said. “Throughout this period, His Majesty will continue to undertake State business and official paperwork as usual.”

The king is being treated as an outpatient, the palace said.

It said Charles, who has generally enjoyed good health, “remains wholly positive about his treatment and looks forward to returning to full public duty as soon as possible.”

The palace added that the king “has chosen to share his diagnosis to prevent speculation and in the hope it may assist public understanding for all those around the world who are affected by cancer.”

Charles became king in September 2022 when his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, died at the age of 96 after 70 years on the throne.

News of the king’s diagnosis comes as his daughter-in-law Kate, Princess of Wales, recovers from abdominal surgery that saw her hospitalized for about two weeks.

Kate is still taking a break from royal duties as she recovers. Her husband, Prince William, who is heir to the throne, also took time off to help look after the couple’s three children, but is due to preside over an investiture ceremony at Windsor Castle and a charity dinner on Wednesday.

Charles took the throne intending to preside over a slimmed-down monarchy with fewer senior royals carrying out ceremonial public duties. But with Charles and Kate both temporarily sidelined, Prince Harry self-exiled to California and Prince Andrew largely banished from view because of his friendship with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, the royal “Firm” risks becoming severely overstretched.

The king personally called both William and Harry — as well as his siblings Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward — to share news of his health.

Harry, who quit royal duties in 2020, has spoken to his father about the diagnosis and “will be traveling to U.K. to see His Majesty in the coming days,” said the office of Harry and his wife, Meghan.

U.K. political leaders sent messages of support. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak tweeted: “Wishing His Majesty a full and speedy recovery. I have no doubt he’ll be back to full strength in no time and I know the whole country will be wishing him well.”

U.S. President Joe Biden, traveling in Las Vegas on Monday, said he had just learned about Charles’s diagnosis and said he hopes to speak with him, “God willing.”

“I’m concerned about him,” Biden told reporters.

The president later posted on X, formerly known as Twitter: “Navigating a cancer diagnosis, treatment, and survivorship takes hope and absolute courage. Jill and I join the people of the United Kingdom in praying that His Majesty experiences a swift and full recovery.”

Charles departed from royal tradition with his openness about his prostate condition. For centuries Britain’s royal family remained tight-lipped about health matters.

When U.K. monarchs had real power, news of illness was withheld for fear it might weaken their authority. The habit of secrecy lingered after royals became constitutional figureheads.

The British public wasn’t told that Charles’ grandfather, King George VI, had lung cancer before his death in February 1952 at the age of 56, and some historians have claimed that the king himself wasn’t told he was terminally ill.

In the final years of Elizabeth’s life. the public was told only that the queen was suffering from “mobility issues.” The cause of her death was listed on the death certificate simply as “old age.”

Pat Price, founder of the Catch Up With Cancer campaign, said millions shared the “collective concern” for the king’s health.

“The king’s openness about his battle with cancer is a powerful reminder that one in two of us may face cancer at some point in our lives,” Price said.