TOP NEWS

Political situation in Hungary
Former Shell boss gets role in Hungarian opposition

Former Shell boss Istvan Kapitany will be responsible for economic issues in Hungarian opposition leader Peter Magyar's team ahead of the April election, Reuters reports. How to get the sluggish Hungarian economy going is one of the key issues ahead of the election.

In a statement, Kapitany says that he wants to make small local companies more competitive, instead of investing in "megafactories" that have been the line under Prime Minister Victor Orbán.

Magyar's opposition party Tisza has an advantage in most polls against Orbán's right-wing populist Fidesz, which has been in power since 2010.

Political situation in Portugal
Left-wing candidate wins first round of election in Portugal

António José Seguro, former leader of the social democratic Socialist Party, wins the first round of the presidential election in Portugal, Reuters reports.

In second place came far-right candidate André Ventura, a former sports commentator and leader of the Chega party. Ventura has previously said he wants to become prime minister, but is now seeking the more ceremonial post of president.

Seguro and Ventura are set to face off in a second round on February 8.

With all votes counted, Seguro received 31 percent of the vote, and Ventura 23.5 percent.

Political situation in Guatemala
State of emergency in Guatemala after police killing

Guatemala's President Bernardo Arévalo de León has declared a state of emergency for 30 days to combat criminal gangs in the country, several media outlets report.

The origin is the weekend's hostage crisis, where prisoners in three different prisons took prison guards hostage. According to CNN Español, the prisoners, who are mostly members of various drug cartels, rebelled against being transferred to prisons with a lower security rating. On Sunday, several hundred police officers stormed the prisons.

In addition, at least eight police officers have been killed in the country. The president says it is revenge for the police regaining control of the prisons.

The state of emergency means that anyone can be arrested without a warrant. It also bans demonstrations and other public gatherings.

The crisis in the Tory Party
Crisis in the Tories – another member of parliament defect

Another member of parliament has left the Conservative Tories for the far-right party Reform UK. This time it is the opposition's foreign policy spokesman Andrew Rosindell, reports The Independent.

Rosindell says that the reason he is changing parties is the Tories' position on the Chagos Islands, which Britain recently handed over to Mauritius.

He also says in a statement that the Tories are "irrevocably bound to the mistakes of previous governments and unwilling to take meaningful responsibility for the bad decisions they have made".

The news comes just days after Robert Jenrick made the same party switch.