Good morning. We’re masking Hungary’s thirst for Russian oil, Prince Charles’s go to to Canada and the return of Spain’s former king.
Hungary resists an oil embargo
Prime Minister Viktor Orban says the E.U.’s proposed embargo on Russian oil would devastate his nation’s economic system.
In half, it’s a monetary consideration: Hungary has made big earnings from low cost oil. Keeping the pipelines open ensures that power costs keep low, a promise Orban made to his voters.
But the dividends from taking Russian gas additionally assist assist Orban’s intolerant agenda and fund the insurance policies which have made Hungary a world beacon for right-wing teams.
Economy: Analysts anticipate Russia to endure deep and lasting financial injury, regardless of President Vladimir Putin’s insistence that it’s weathering sanctions. The U.S. has a long-term purpose of crippling Russia’s oil business, officers say.
Germany: Gerhard Schröder — a former chancellor, Putin ally and well-paid lobbyist for Russian power — might be stripped of 400,000 euros’ value of privileges that go along with his former workplace.
Atrocities: A Times investigation discovered conclusive proof that Russian forces rounded up and executed Ukrainian males in Bucha, instantly implicating them in a probable conflict crime. And within the first conflict crimes trial for the reason that invasion, a Russian soldier apologized to the widow of a person he killed.
State of the conflict:
In different developments:
Prince Charles wraps up his Canada go to
As he ended a three-day tour of Canada, the inheritor to the British throne — and Canada’s future head of state — confronted the nation’s legacy of discrimination towards Indigenous individuals.
Prince Charles and his spouse, Camilla, visited the Yellowknives Dene First Nation, which says the Crown has infringed upon a century-old treaty.
They additionally met with survivors of Canada’s now-defunct, and notoriously abusive, residential faculty system for Indigenous kids, for which Dene individuals maintain the Crown partly accountable. Prince Charles stated he was “deeply moved” by the go to.
History: This is a time of stress over the monarchy’s function in Britain’s former abroad dominions. In February, Barbados formally turned a republic. And separate excursions of the Caribbean this 12 months by Prince Edward, Charles’s brother, and Prince William, a son of the long run king, drew protests in opposition to the monarchy and its historic function within the slave commerce.
Polls: Queen Elizabeth II is standard, however fewer and fewer Canadians need to swear allegiance to a different British monarch — particularly whether it is Charles.
Politics: The British police ended their investigation into events at Downing Street that violated Covid guidelines, lifting a cloud over Prime Minister Boris Johnson. He is not going to face additional fines.
Disgraced ex-king returns to Spain
Juan Carlos, the previous Spanish monarch, is again in Spain for the primary time since leaving the nation practically two years in the past amid fraud investigations.
His transient return from Abu Dhabi, the place he now lives, comes after prosecutors in Spain and Switzerland dropped fraud instances, notably over whether or not he had obtained about $100 million in kickbacks in reference to a high-speed rail contract in Saudi Arabia.
Updated
May 20, 2022, 1:24 a.m. ET
The inquiries have considerably tainted his status and that of the monarchy. One of his daughters was fined for company fraud, and her husband was sentenced to jail. On Wednesday, the royal family pressured in an announcement that the capital of the United Arab Emirates was now Juan Carlos’s residence “in a permanent and stable fashion.”
Details: The former king deliberate to satisfy his spouse, Queen Sofía, and different members of his household on the royal palace on the outskirts of Madrid, and to attend a weekend crusing regatta.
History: Juan Carlos, 84, got here to the throne in 1975, two days after the loss of life of the dictator Francisco Franco. He was a key determine in Spain’s transition to democracy, however his lavish way of life, extramarital affairs and enterprise dealings got here underneath a harsh highlight throughout a monetary disaster a decade in the past.
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World News
Romania is “rewilding” its wolves and bison, a progressive strategy to conservation. Tourists can go on “safaris” and observe the animals’ reintroduction to the Transylvanian Alps.
Russia-Ukraine War: Key Developments
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U.S. assist. The Senate overwhelmingly accepted a $40 billion assist bundle for Ukraine, bringing the full American funding within the conflict to $54 billion in simply over two months. The measure is the newest proof of the bipartisan assist on Capitol Hill for serving to Ukraine combat Russia.
In Mariupol. Hundreds extra Ukrainian fighters that had been in a metal plant in Mariupol surrendered to Russia. Ukrainian officers have stated the fighters might be exchanged for Russian prisoners of conflict, however they’ve offered no particulars in regards to the settlement.
ARTS AND IDEAS
A centuries-old ruling, nonetheless in play
In the 1600s, an English jurist, Lord Matthew Hale, wrote that ladies had been contractually obligated to their husbands. He argued that giving them legally enforceable rights over their very own our bodies posed a menace to males’s rights and freedom.
Hale’s ruling and his authorized philosophy nonetheless loom giant, Amanda Taub writes in The Interpreter, our sister publication. “We no longer hold witch trials, for instance,” she writes. “But his views on rape, marriage and abortion, enshrined in legal opinions, became part of Britain’s legal system, and then those of its colonies.”
Just two weeks in the past, a leaked draft opinion that will overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark abortion case within the U.S., cited Hale eight occasions. Last Wednesday, the Delhi High Court, in a cut up verdict, refused to criminalize spousal rape in India, upholding a authorized exception that Hale had codified in a Seventeenth-century treatise.
Both instances present that colonial-era misogyny can persist, Amanda writes, even within the face of obvious progress. Hale’s authorized logic, which treats the household as a personal sphere with the husband as sovereign, has turn out to be a defend for male violence, together with home abuse and spousal rape. That has grave political implications for ladies’s rights, and for legal guidelines that govern their well being.
PLAY, WATCH, EAT, LISTEN
What to Cook
These candy plantain fries are concurrently crisp, tender and caramelized.
What to Watch
“A New Old Play,” an absurdist epic of Twentieth-century China, is each a film and a play, each tragedy and farce.
What to Listen to
Porridge Radio, an English indie-rock band, is releasing its emotional third album immediately: “Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder to the Sky.”
Now Time to Play
Here’s immediately’s Mini Crossword, and a clue: Do or die (4 letters).
And listed here are immediately’s Wordle and the Spelling Bee.
You can discover all our puzzles right here.
That’s it for immediately’s briefing. Thanks for becoming a member of me. — Amelia
P.S. On task, Times reporters usually introduce themselves with totally different variations of the identical line: Hello, I’m a journalist. Can we discuss?
The newest episode of “The Daily” is on immigration alongside the U.S.-Mexico border.
You can attain Amelia and the crew at briefing@nytimes.com.