George Soros has accused the Hungarian president Viktor Orbán of building a “mafia state”, as he warned the fate of the Central European University he founded still hangs in the balance. The Hungarian-born financier and philanthropist said he was confident the university’s defence of its freedom would ultimately “bring the slow-moving wheels of justice into motion”, but said it and other organisations he had backed were still at risk under the Orbán-led government.

Hungary’s populist prime minister has introduced tough measures for the registration of foreign-registered universities that could force the closure of the CEU, one of the top academies in the region. Thousands of people protested in Budapest in April against a bill seen by many as targeting the university.

In a wide-ranging speech on European integration, where he recalled how his Jewish family fled the Nazi occupation of Hungary, Soros hit back at Orbán for casting him as a scheming “currency speculator” in an “unrelenting propaganda campaign”.(guardian)…[+]

Spain’s top anti-corruption prosecutor has resigned following weeks of pressure that culminated in an admission that he holds a stake in an offshore company in Panama. Manuel Moix stepped down “for personal reasons” on Thursday, shortly after it emerged that he has a quarter-share in a company in the Central American tax haven that was apparently set up as part of an inheritance from his parents. The public prosecutor, José Manuel Maza, told reporters that Moix had resigned even though there was no suggestion “of any irregular or illegal behaviour” on his part.However, Moix’s brief tenure has been dogged by controversy over his alleged attempts to interfere in corruption investigations involving the governing People’s party (PP).

The Spanish socialist party (PSOE), which had argued that Moix’s business affairs in Panama made him unfit to pursue corruption, said his resignation had come too late.The PSOE’s newly re-elected leader, Pedro Sánchez, said Moix had been forced out “by media pressure and public opinion”, adding that the decisions and actions of prime minister Mariano Rajoy, who leads the PP, were “seriously damaging the health of our democratic system”.(guardian)…[+]

India has posted its slowest growth rate in two years, ceding its status as the world’s fastest-growing major economy to China, with economists blaming the downturn partly on last year’s shock decision to recall the country’s two highest-value bank notes.

Analysts said the 6.1% GDP growth figure for the January to March quarter – compared with China’s 6.9% – reflected a general economic slowdown in the south Asian giant, compounded by the shock demonetisation of 500 and 1,000 rupee banknotes, worth approximately £6 and £12. The move led to months of acute cash shortages across India that hit the country’s manufacturing and construction sectors particularly hard, the former recording slower growth than in the same period last year. The construction sector contracted by 3.7%.The cash recall was intended to hasten the country’s transition towards a formal economy and close down the booming economy of untaxed cash transactions, which aid corruption, the funding of terrorist groups and keeps counterfeit notes in circulation. It was also expected to unearth stashes of untaxed wealth in a country where just 1% pay income tax.(the guardian)…[+]