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 Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his Fidesz party have won a commanding third consecutive term in office after opposition parties failed to convince voters in parliamentary elections on Sunday.

Fidesz has dominated Hungarian politics since it won the 2010 national elections by a landslide. Orban's campaign largely focused on a populist rejection of immigration - the Hungarian government has long refused to honour European Union refugee quotas aimed at bringing relief to people fleeing war-torn regions in North Africa and the Middle East. Fidesz now stands on the verge of holding a supermajority in parliament, which would grant the party an opportunity to plan changes to the constitution.

While Fidesz has widespread support at home, the EU and the United Nations have been critical of Orban’s government. In turn, Orban made his dislike of those international bodies a key part of his appeal to voters. George Soros, an American-Hungarian billionaire financier and philanthropist, is also a target of Orban's ire. Orban claims that Soros' Open Society Foundations are a political tool aimed at undermining the fabric of the Hungarian state, and that Soros wants to bring millions of migrants into Europe.

In February, opposition parties dared to dream that support for Fidesz was beginning to wane after a novice independent backed by the opposition defeated a Fidesz candidate in a local government by-election in Hodmezovasarhely. Sunday's sobering result instead prompted the leaders of the Socialist party to resign en masse. Meanwhile the far-right Jobbik party took far fewer seats than it hoped, having complained throughout the campaign that Fidesz's continued shift to the hard right had eroded Jobbik's base of support.

As Fidesz savours victory, The Stream will digest the result and consider the direction Hungary is headed.

A Brit buying the Daily Mirror in 1976 would have come across an article entitled 'Cheated by the dole queue fiddlers'. Now, in 2018, a recent headline in The Sun screamed 'Hod a Liar: Benefits cheat who swindled $67,612'.

In 40 years, little has changed and, as the headlines suggest, the coverage of welfare is and was designed to outrage.

The 'benefits cheat' is one of a few cliche characters that the British media rely on when covering the state welfare system. There is the 'single mum with lots of kids' trope - especially popular around Christmas; and the immigrant moving to England, just for free money. There is also the alcoholic wasting his or her money on drink or, as the media would put it, wasting your money on drink.

These characters are recycled over and over.

"Those narratives and those kinds of images create and sustain divisions between deserving and undeserving populations, between workers and shirkers, between welfare dependents and hardworking families," says Ruth Patrick, a researcher at the University of Liverpool.

The rise of reality TV has given these stereotypes new life and has also turned some benefits recipients into celebrities. The BBC's 'We All Pay Your Benefits' started the trend in 2013, and similar offerings followed on other channels.

Along with millions of viewers, the programmes attracted plenty of criticism for the exploitation of people's hardship for entertainment - which has come to be known as 'poverty porn'.

"The whole set up of these programmes is around there being like a 'them' and 'us'," Patrick adds, "The reality is that we're all welfare dependant in different ways, so we all interact with and use the welfare state at certain times in our life."

Bob Jefford, the co-executive producer of Benefits Britain told The Listening Post that "casting" is a very important part of putting a TV show together and that the characters they choose need to be interesting.

However, the most "interesting" characters may end up skewing reality.

Rosalynn Warren, a freelance journalist, knows this from having reported on the subject and from personal experience. "I grew up on benefits in the UK with a single mother and she supported myself and seven other siblings," said Warren. "How the media depict people like myself growing up is not the reality that I saw. The characters they follow will say, 'Oh, I spend it all on presents or I go to the tanning salon'. They give these outrageous comments that [are] great sound bites but not reality."

Barry Tomes, a PR agent, saw an opportunity in the poverty porn industry and took it. He has a book of clients who are on benefits and he says that when journalists and TV producers need help with some kind of benefits story - they call him. He knows that being outrageous is the way to make the news. And if it doesn't quite reflect reality? He says that's just a part of the game.

"Any story that looks like a benefit recipient is spending big money, that's the key," says Tomes. "So just take one of our clients, Marie Buchan, as a good example. Marie Buchan hadn't been in the press for a while, and she wanted a horse. I said, well, people are going to go nuclear about you having a horse."

They did go nuclear. Buchan was invited on talk shows, and she and her horse were given page spreads in newspapers. The horse was reported to cost $98 in some papers, $5,634 in others.

"Everybody comes to the conclusion the horse must cost thousands of pounds. The facts that were printed were nothing like the truth, but I was happy to run with that because that's what we do. I don't decide if it's fact or fiction, that's for the publisher to decide."

The election campaign in Hungary has been dominated by one issue, immigration.

Right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban's hardline approach to migrants has grown stronger over the years.

In 2015, more than 400,000 refugees - many fleeing the Syrian war - passed through the country.

In response, Hungary built a fence along its border with Serbia and Croatia, to keep them out.

Orban has vowed to continue fighting against the EU quota on refugees, a plan meant to relocate asylum seekers across Europe.

Analysts say his policies could have a long-lasting impact on the European Union. Far-right and populist parties have made gains in other elections including in Italy and Austria. It is suggested a strong win for Orban could trigger cracks in the EU.

Will 92-year-old Mahathir Mohamad make a return as Malaysia's PM?

Malaysia will have a general election in the next 60 days in what could be the most tightly-contested poll since the country's independence in 1957.

Mahathir Mohamad, Malaysia's longest serving Prime Minister between 1981-2003 is making a comeback.

And he's determined to depose his former protege, the current Prime Minister Najib Razak.

Najib is under pressure after being accused of fraud in a multi-million dollar state fund.

Parliament was dissolved on Friday and the countdown to the elections is now on.

The survivor of a brutal honour killing in India testifies against her parents in the murder trial of her lower-caste husband.

In March 2016, Kausalya and her husband Shankar were brutally attacked on a crowded street in southern India.

Shankar, who came from a lower Dalit caste, died of his injuries. Kausalya survived and accused her parents of orchestrating an honour killing.

Witness follows Kausalya as she fights for justice through the courts, testifying against her parents in a trial where they face the death penalty.

Kausalya's now-estranged grandparents and brother, Gautham, also await the verdict, desperately hoping Kausalya's mother and father will be released.

The unique access to both sides shows a family torn apart by a caste hierarchy that remains deeply-rooted in India's social fabric.

In March 2016, Kausalya and her husband Shankar were attacked on a crowded street in southern India by a group of men who - almost casually - set about beating and hacking them in a 36-second assault.

Shankar, who came from a 'lower' Dalit caste, died of his injuries.

Kausalya survived her horrific wounds and accused her parents of being behind the attack - a so-called 'honour' killing.

Al Jazeera’s Witness followed Kausalya as she fought for justice through the courts, testifying against her parents and an uncle in a trial where they faced the death penalty.

Filmmakers also gained access to Kausalya's now-estranged grandparents and brother who desperately hoped Kausalya's mother and father would be released.

On Monday, The Stream meets director Sadhana Subramaniam to talk about a trial that gripped India, tore a family apart, and raised uncomfortable questions about caste and patriarchal violence.

According to the latest report by International NGO Transparency International, the image of India's government sector is still worse in the eyes of the world on corruption. By the way there are signs of improvement in the situation compared to 2015. In the latest report of the institution, the Global Corruption Index-2011, India has been placed at 81st position, while India was ranked 79th last year's report.

This index, which started in 1995 with the aim of giving a strong message to governments against corruption, has been evaluated in the case of 180 countries. This index is said to be based on the estimation and experience of analysts, traders and experts. It also uses similar criteria like work independence for journalists, activists and opposition leaders.

To prepare the index, the countries are given points ranging from 0 to 100 points on different criteria. The lowest point is considered to be the most corrupted. IIn this list, 40 points have been given to India, which is equivalent to last year, but after 2015 the situation has improved. When India was given 38 points.

Transparency International said, "In some countries in the Asia-Pacific region, threats are given to journalists, activists, opposition leaders and even law enforcement and regulatory agencies. Somewhere the situation is so bad that they are murdered.''

In the report, citing the Committee on Protex Journalists, it has been said that in 6 years, 15 journalists have been killed in these countries, who were working against corruption. In this case, India has been compared to countries like the Philippine and Maldives, and it has been said that in this case these countries are very bad in their area. In the case of corruption, the number of these countries is high and among them the freedom of the press is relatively low and the murders of journalists have also increased here.

New Zealand and Denmark are at the top with 89 and 88 points in this list. On the other hand, Syria, Sudan and Somalia are at the bottom with 14, 12 and 9 points respectively. In this list, China ranked 77th and Brazil 96th and Russia ranked 135th.

There is another case of looting customers by SBI, India's largest bank. The fear is that the bank looted a thousand crore rupees to the farmers.

According to a report printed in Madhya Pradesh's newspaper 'Nai Duniya', SBI is cutting 990 rupees from the farmer's account in lieu of the weather situation. Whereas, the central government of India is already providing season information to farmers in free on toll free number.

Before that, SBI has received considerable criticism for recovering big money from the account holders in the name of Low Balance.

On the basis of the plight of Vidisha farmer Hazarilal Sharma in Madhya Pradesh, the newspaper has published the report. This message came from the bank on Sharma's mobile phone that 990 rupees have been deducted from the account in lieu of weather news alert. The farmer complained to the bank management, but the money was not returned.

According to the report, B S Baghel, branch manager of SBI, situated in Steran of Vidisha accepted that without informing the farmers, the money is being cut from the account. He says that this money is deducted from Mumbai's main branch.

However Jitendra Sharma, Chief General Manager, SBI's Agricultural Branch, says that the amount deducted from the consent of the farmers by filing an agreement.

Recovery of Rs 990 on the name of weather alert is being done from the account holders of Kisan Credit Card. According to the SBI website, there are over one crore one lakh farmers credit card holders all over the country. If all these 990 rupees have been recovered, the total amount is Rs 999.90 crores.

Although it is not clear whether money is being levied by all the farmers or only those farmers who have agreed for this facility. By the way, the bank without consent can not charge fees for any such facility. It may also be possible that farmers have unknowingly ticked the relevant column on the form and agreed to it.

State Bank of India has signed an agreement with RML to provide weather alerts. This facility is available to customers of 500 SBI branches of 16 states.

But the question arises that the farmers are getting free information of the weather beforehand. This feature can be taken for free by dialing 1800-180-1551.

In the case of 10,000 crore rupees ($ 1.8 billion) scam in Punjab National Bank (PNB), the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has registered a case of money laundering against Diamond trader Neerav Modi and others. Modi is accused of scam of Rs 280.70 crore of banks.

The case has been registered on the basis of the FIR of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Official sources said that earlier this month the CBI had registered an FIR. On the basis of this FIR, this matter has been filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). It is believed that the ED has also taken cognizance of PNB's complaints against Neerav Modi and others. PNB has also demanded release of Look Out Notice from the CBI.

He said that the CBI will investigate whether the fraudulent amount of the bank was misappropriated and the accused had repeatedly used this method for making illegal property. The CBI has registered a case against Neerav Modi, his brother, his wife and business partner in this regard.

Apart from this, the CBI has also raided the residence of Modi, his brother Nishal, wife Amy and Mehul Chinubhai Chaukasi. All these are partners in Diamonds R US, Solar Exports and Stellar Diamonds. Two bank officers Gokulanath Shetty (now retired), Manoj Kharat's residence have also been raided. Neerav was also included in the list of Forbes' Indian Rich List.

PNB has alleged that Gokul Shetty and Manoj Kharat had issued eight LOUs for Allahabad Bank and Axis Bank in Hong Kong without fulfilling the procedure. Its total value was $ 4.42 crore (Rs 280.70 crore).

Strangely enough that the accused officials did not reportedly enter it. After the departmental scrutiny, the PNB had asked the CBI to investigate the matter by giving a complaint. It is alleged that documents were not provided for issuing eight LOUs worth crores rupees. Also, the approval was not received from the concerned officials.

During the reign of Nitish Kumar, cases of heavy fraud were reported in the recruitment of Assistant Professor by the Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC). BPSC has recommended recruitment of many people who were previously disqualified by BPSC. Now these people have joined the recruitment process and have been declared successful from there and have also been placed in universities.

ABP News has disclosed after a month-long investigation that many such candidates have been selected by the BPSC, whose names were neither previously eligible, neither ineligible or delayed in the list of applications, but later they were called for direct interviews and were also successful. According to the channel's Operation Interview, the investigation shows that after the ending of the deadline and after the start of recruitment process, some people have been unfairly benefited.

Vijay Shankar and Anamika Yadav both were appointed as Assistant Professors of English in BN Mandal University, Madhepura. Both of them were named in the list of ineligible candidates of the Commission. Both of these neither passed the net or slate, nor were the PhDs. Despite this both of them gave interviews and both were successful. Similarly, in the Magadha University, Virendra Mandal has been appointed in the subject of Philosophy. His name was not in any list. Neither in the list of eligible candidates nor in the list of ineligible candidates. They did not even have names in the list of late applications. In spite of this, some days before the interview, they were officially included in the interview and announced to be successful. When asked, Mandal told that his application had not been received in the Commission. Later the commission asked them to apply and they were found eligible. While the application can not be accepted by anyone in the event of the deadline, as per the rules. That is, the selection of Virendra Mandal is pointing to the Scam in the BPSC.

Ram Ashray Yadav, former chairman of the BPSC, says that no such application can be accepted in this way. If applications were accepted for some reason then its information should have been made public so that other people could also benefit. He also said that it may be that the application of other subject may go to the other subject in the scrutiny, but this should not change the number of total applicants.

Apart from this, allegations of forgery of the reservation rules are also on the BPSC. When ABP News wanted to know the parties from the BPSC on all these issues, no reply was given by the Commission.

It is to be mentioned that in the year 2014, BPSC had published an advertisement on 3,364 posts for different subjects. Result of many subjects has been released, while in many subjects the result is yet to come. Before that, the Bihar Vidyalaya Examination Committee, Bihar Staff Selection Commission, have been exposed.