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PRESS REVIEW – Friday, April 10: Papers focus on Hungary’s opposition leader, Peter Magyar, as he confronts Prime Minister Viktor Orban in Sunday’s crucial election. Magyar is hoping to capitalise on a wave of discontent over Orban’s rule. In the US, First Lady Melania Trump has convened the press at the White House to deny any ties to Jeffrey Epstein – but was it a ruse to divert attention from Donald Trump’s chaotic war in Iran? And finally, a new study sheds light on a community of chimpanzees that waged a bloody civil war among themselves.

Hungarians head to the polls this Sunday in legislative elections shaping up to be a tightly contested race. The battle for the premiership pits incumbent strongman Viktor Orban against his younger ally-turned-rival, Peter Magyar. Polls this week suggest Magyar and his party have taken a narrow lead over Orban. Pro-government newspaper Magyar Nemzet has launched a vitriolic attack on the challenger, accusing him of crushing his party’s narrative and predicting heavy losses on Sunday. The paper has endorsed the prime minister, warning voters against handing power to what it calls a “Brussels puppet”, and urging them instead to back a leader who, it argues, has the “experience, ability, knowledge and courage” to navigate even the most severe crises. The election, it says, is a question of Hungary’s very survival. The Budapest Times focuses on Orban’s response, highlighting his insistence that “no election is decided until the people vote”. In an interview, he added that it was disrespectful to voters to suggest the outcome had already been settled.

French magazine Challenges turns its attention to Magyar’s rapid rise. It portrays the conservative MEP as a figure seemingly destined for leadership – even noting that his surname, “Magyar”, literally means Hungary. It also points to his modern campaign strategy and carefully managed image, contrasting his polished appearance with an ageing Orban. The Guardian offers a more personal perspective, recounting how Magyar once had a poster of Orbán on his bedroom wall – a symbol of a post-communist Hungary full of promise. Now, he stands at the centre of another potential political shift, seeking to unseat the man critics say has turned the country into a “petri dish of illiberalism”.

In the United States, First Lady Melania Trump made a rare and striking appearance at the White House on Thursday, publicly denying any connection to Jeffrey Epstein. She delivered a six-minute statement to reporters, saying she had no relationship with Epstein, was not his friend, and had no knowledge of his crimes. She added that she wanted to clear her “good name” after what she described as “fake images and statements” linking her to him.

The intervention has dominated the UK press, with The Times and The Belfast Telegraph reporting widespread shock at the unusually forceful denial. The New York Times focuses on the substance of her remarks, while The Guardian raises a broader question: whether the timing of the statement – and the media attention it generated – may have diverted focus from the fallout of Donald Trump’s war in Iran. It asks whether the move was coincidental, or something more calculated.

Finally, a new study sheds light on a remarkable – and violent – episode among chimpanzees. Reporting in Discover, researchers detail a 30-year study of the Ngogo chimpanzee community in Uganda. The findings document a brutal “civil war” that erupted after a once cohesive group split into rival factions. Over several years, both adult and infant chimpanzees were killed in sustained attacks, leaving one faction significantly weakened. While such intra-group conflict is rare, researchers warn that habitat loss and climate change could increase the likelihood of similar clashes in future – intensifying what is ultimately a Darwinian struggle for survival.

You can catch our press review every morning on FRANCE 24 at 7:20am and 9:20am (Paris time), from Monday to Friday.

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Article:

PRESS REVIEW – Friday, April 10: Papers focus on Hungary’s opposition leader, Peter Magyar, as he confronts Prime Minister Viktor Orban in Sunday’s crucial election. Magyar is hoping to capitalise on a wave of discontent over Orban’s rule. In the US, First Lady Melania Trump has convened the press at the White House to deny any ties to Jeffrey Epstein – but was it a ruse to divert attention from Donald Trump’s chaotic war in Iran? And finally, a new study sheds light on a community of chimpanzees that waged a bloody civil war among themselves.

Hungarians head to the polls this Sunday in legislative elections shaping up to be a tightly contested race. The battle for the premiership pits incumbent strongman Viktor Orban against his younger ally-turned-rival, Peter Magyar. Polls this week suggest Magyar and his party have taken a narrow lead over Orban. Pro-government newspaper Magyar Nemzet has launched a vitriolic attack on the challenger, accusing him of crushing his party’s narrative and predicting heavy losses on Sunday. The paper has endorsed the prime minister, warning voters against handing power to what it calls a “Brussels puppet”, and urging them instead to back a leader who, it argues, has the “experience, ability, knowledge and courage” to navigate even the most severe crises. The election, it says, is a question of Hungary’s very survival. The Budapest Times focuses on Orban’s response, highlighting his insistence that “no election is decided until the people vote”. In an interview, he added that it was disrespectful to voters to suggest the outcome had already been settled.

French magazine Challenges turns its attention to Magyar’s rapid rise. It portrays the conservative MEP as a figure seemingly destined for leadership – even noting that his surname, “Magyar”, literally means Hungary. It also points to his modern campaign strategy and carefully managed image, contrasting his polished appearance with an ageing Orban. The Guardian offers a more personal perspective, recounting how Magyar once had a poster of Orbán on his bedroom wall – a symbol of a post-communist Hungary full of promise. Now, he stands at the centre of another potential political shift, seeking to unseat the man critics say has turned the country into a “petri dish of illiberalism”.

In the United States, First Lady Melania Trump made a rare and striking appearance at the White House on Thursday, publicly denying any connection to Jeffrey Epstein. She delivered a six-minute statement to reporters, saying she had no relationship with Epstein, was not his friend, and had no knowledge of his crimes. She added that she wanted to clear her “good name” after what she described as “fake images and statements” linking her to him.

The intervention has dominated the UK press, with The Times and The Belfast Telegraph reporting widespread shock at the unusually forceful denial. The New York Times focuses on the substance of her remarks, while The Guardian raises a broader question: whether the timing of the statement – and the media attention it generated – may have diverted focus from the fallout of Donald Trump’s war in Iran. It asks whether the move was coincidental, or something more calculated.

Finally, a new study sheds light on a remarkable – and violent – episode among chimpanzees. Reporting in Discover, researchers detail a 30-year study of the Ngogo chimpanzee community in Uganda. The findings document a brutal “civil war” that erupted after a once cohesive group split into rival factions. Over several years, both adult and infant chimpanzees were killed in sustained attacks, leaving one faction significantly weakened. While such intra-group conflict is rare, researchers warn that habitat loss and climate change could increase the likelihood of similar clashes in future – intensifying what is ultimately a Darwinian struggle for survival.

You can catch our press review every morning on FRANCE 24 at 7:20am and 9:20am (Paris time), from Monday to Friday.

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Israel and Lebanon will hold talks in Washington next week, a State Department official said Thursday, amid mounting international concerns that Israel’s bombing campaign could shatter an already fragile US-Iran ceasefire.

Israel’s heaviest strikes on Lebanon since Hezbollah entered the Middle East war in early March killed hundreds on Wednesday, rattling the uneasy truce between Washington and Tehran less than 48 hours after it came into force.

“We can confirm that the Department will host a meeting next week to discuss ongoing ceasefire negotiations with Israel and Lebanon,” the US official said.

The announcement came as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered his ministers to seek direct talks with Lebanon focused on disarming Iran-backed Hezbollah.

But a Lebanese government official told AFP that Beirut required a truce before entering any negotiations with Israel.

Neither Israel nor Lebanon have publicly confirmed the US talks for next week, and Israel’s latest strikes drew sharp rebuke from Iranian and Pakistani officials ahead of talks in Islamabad that are expected to focus on a key US demand: reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

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Hezbollah said it was engaged in close quarters combat against Israeli forces on the ground in southern Lebanon on Thursday, a day after Lebanese authorities said Israeli strikes killed at least 303 people and wounded 1,150.

Israel’s army Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir visited ground troops inside Lebanon on Thursday, telling them Hezbollah had suffered a “heavy blow” from the strikes a day earlier.

In a sign that the violence could continue, Israel’s military on Thursday issued a new evacuation order for Beirut’s southern suburbs and said it was striking Hezbollah launch sites in Lebanon.

‘They’re wrong’

Israel’s refusal to halt operations in Lebanon has cast a shadow over expected peace talks in Pakistan.

The two-week truce was agreed to allow negotiations between US and Iranian officials aimed at ending a conflict that has already killed thousands and plunged the global economy into turmoil.

Iranian officials said Israel’s strikes had rendered the Pakistan talks “meaningless” and that Lebanon was an “inseparable part of the ceasefire.”

Tehran’s ambassador to Pakistan meanwhile deleted a social media post saying an Iranian delegation would arrive in the country on Thursday, and an official at the Iranian embassy in Islamabad told AFP the post was removed “because of some issues,” refusing to say whether the delegation was still expected.

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Still, Vice President JD Vance is due to lead the US delegation on Saturday, joined by special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.

Fresh fractures in the mediation process emerged when Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif posted a sharp criticism of Israel’s strikes on Lebanon Thursday evening.

“Israel is evil and a curse for humanity – while peace talks are underway in Islamabad, genocide is being committed in Lebanon,” he wrote on X, adding that he hoped “people who created this cancerous state on Palestinian land” would “burn in hell.”

The Israeli Prime Minister’s office called the remarks “outrageous,” saying: “This is not a statement that can be tolerated from any government, especially not from one that claims to be a neutral arbiter for peace.”

Pakistan does not formally recognise Israel — a fact that could complicate its mediatory role — and has insisted the ceasefire includes Lebanon, which Israel disputes.

Fearing the truce may be in jeopardy, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz — echoing worries in other capitals — warned that the destruction in Lebanon could cause “the peace process as a whole to fail.”

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“Let’s be really clear about it, they’re wrong,” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer told ITV News when asked about Israel’s insistence that Lebanon was not covered by the ceasefire.

Netanyahu, who insists Lebanon is not covered by the ceasefire, said his message was clear: “Anyone who acts against Israeli civilians, we will strike them. We will continue to hit Hezbollah wherever necessary.”

Trump told NBC News that Israel was “scaling back” strikes in Lebanon and that Netanyahu had assured him its attacks would become more “low-key.”

‘Poor job’

If the Pakistan talks go ahead, a key point of contention remains the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil as well as vast quantities of natural gas and fertiliser pass in peacetime.

Trump on Thursday accused Iran of doing a “very poor job” of allowing oil through the strait and of breaching the terms of their ceasefire agreement.

In a barrage of social media posts that sparked fresh fears for the shaky truce, he also warned Tehran against imposing a toll on ships passing through the crucial waterway.

“Iran is doing a very poor job, dishonourable some would say, of allowing Oil to go through the Strait of Hormuz,” Trump said on Truth Social. “That is not the agreement we have!”

MarineTraffic data showed that the Gabon-flagged MSG passed through the strait on Thursday, the first non-Iranian oil tanker to do so since the ceasefire was announced.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)

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Epstein survivors accused Melania Trump of ‘shifting the burden’ after surprise statement

Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog.

Melania Trump has been accused of “shifting the burden” onto sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s survivors after her extraordinary statement at the White House.

In a joint statement released to the media, a group of survivors said the first lady had moved to “protect those in power”.

They accused her of “shifting the burden onto survivors under politicized conditions to protect those with power”.

The statement read:

double quotation markSurvivors of Jeffrey Epstein have already shown extraordinary courage by coming forward, filing reports, and giving testimony.

Asking more of them now is a deflection of responsibility, not justice.

It added:

double quotation markIt also diverts attention from [former attorney general] Pam Bondi, who must answer for withheld files and the exposure of survivors’ identities.

Those failures continue to put lives at risk while shielding enablers. Survivors have done their part. Now it’s time for those in power to do theirs.

The first lady told reporters on Thursday that she “never had a relationship” with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell.

It was unclear which specific accusations spurred the first lady to respond publicly. She delivered her scripted remarks at a podium in the same room Donald Trump used to address the nation on the war in Iran last week.

“I [have] never been friends with Epstein,” Trump said in her statement. “I am not Epstein’s victim. Epstein did not introduce me to Donald Trump.”

The first lady went on to say that she and the president were invited to the same parties as Epstein “from time to time” as “overlapping in social circles is common in New York City and Palm Beach”. But she specifically denied that her emails to Maxwell were anything more than “casual correspondence”.

Read the full story here:

In other developments:

  • The push from House Democrats to pass a war powers resolution by unanimous consent failed yesterday, after the pro forma speaker, Republican Chris Smith, did not recognize Democrats. It was always a tall order, given that pushback from even a single member would require Democrats to pursue a formal vote on the resolution.

  • While it’s largely a symbolic move, Democrats in both chambers have vowed to hold votes again when Congress returns from recess next week. On the steps of the US Capitol, lower chamber Democrats appeared confident that when Congress returns from recess next week, they will have at least a couple of House GOP members who are willing to buck their party and pass the resolution.

  • Donald Trump told NBC News that he is “very optimistic” a peace deal with Iran was within reach as a diplomatic delegation led by his vice-president JD Vance prepared to head to Pakistan for high-stakes talks aimed at ending the war this weekend. Iran’s leaders “talk much differently when you’re at a meeting than they do to the press. They’re much more reasonable,” the president said, in line with his administration’s narrative that there’s a disconnect between what Tehran says publicly and privately.

Key events

Donald Trump will be in Washington for much of the day.

He’ll be in closed door policy meetings until he leaves for Charlottesville, Virginia, where he’s due to attend a meeting and roundtable dinner with Make America Great Again Inc, the pro-Trump super pac at 6:30pm ET. That’s not open to the media, but we’ll let you know if anything changes and we hear from the president.

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