this is the briefing, i'm sally bundock. our top story: the australian cardinal and former vatican treasurer george pell, the australian cardinal george pell has been convicted of sexually is found guilty of child abuse, abusing two choirboys the most senior catholic in melbourne cathedral. he was found guilty on cleric to be convicted. five charges in december, but reporting restrictions have only now been lifted. he plans to appeal the verdict. north korea's leader, kimjong—un, arrives in vietnam for his second summit with president trump. the north korean leader, kim jong—un, has arrived in vietnam for his second summit with president trump. the brexit pressure mounts on theresa may. his train pulled in to dong dang brussels calls for a delay. station on the border with china the opposition suggests two and a half days after leaving pyongyang. a second vote. the us is seeking a commitment to denuclearisation. elon musk is in hot water for north korea hopes for an end to economic sanctions. another alleged misleading tweet. iran's foreign minister the news sent tesla shares tumbling. mohammad javad zarif a warm welcome to the programme, briefing you on all you need to know has announced on social media that he's resigning, apologising for what he called his shortcomings. he negotiated the deal that restricted iran's nuclear ambitions, since rejected by president trump. now on bbc news, stephen sackur is in budapest with hardtalk.

welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur. hungary is a relatively small country in the european union. hungary is led by a nationalist, populist prime minister, viktor orban, who believes his opposition to immigration and his defence of so—called christian values can transform notjust hungary but the whole of the european union. my my guests in his hungary's foreign minister, peter szijjarto. but can ‘0rbanism' win europe's battle of ideas?

peter szijjarto, welcome to hardtalk. thank you very much for the invitation. what is fascinating about being in budapest is in the past couple of days hundreds of posters have gone up to to pick thinkjean—claude juncker and an american business leader. the message is that the european union is threatening the security of hungary. why does your country feel the need to indulge in this propaganda? this is an election campaign so you should not be surprised about posters appearing in public areas... but this is nothing to do with the elections. it is simplya

to do with the elections. it is simply a from the government to your people. it is absolutely the obligation of a government to inform their citizens about developments which have an impact on the country, especially if there is an impact on their security, on their everyday life. the government has this obligation to inform the people about these issues and to answer the substance of your question as well, you know, george soros definitely has a totally different vision about the future of europe and about the future of hungary compared to what we have. that has been announced by him many times. it is absolutely open and public and we have a strong and heavy debate within about this

issue... one second, if he is allowed to go open with his criticism, with his different vision, it is intentioned to overthrow the government so why we the government not have the right to enter into this debate and go public as well. let's deal with this piece by piece. you government you tell me has a duty to inform. i do not imagine you imagine the government has a duty to lie but the information provided both in this poster and on social media posts are full of lies. can you give me the com plete full of lies. can you give me the complete issue. your facebook and social media post says the eu is intent on weakening border protection. yes, this is the case. it is categorically not the case

according to officials. they are lying. remember back in 2015 and the time since, what was the major debate? to let hungary the sill of the green border or build a fence and make it impossible for illegal migrants to go across the border. can you give me one example on the positive comments coming from european politicians or media? know, everybody was attacking it and the european commission was taking the lead in attacking hungary to protect its border. my question is, who is lying? they. they want to weaken our capacity to protect our border. from tax is a travel agency. they are not

a protection border. they want to ta ke a protection border. they want to take away part of the rights to protect borders. all position is it is an obligation. you claim that the eu is eager to ease access to migrant visas, that is categorically untrue according to all the detailed presentations from eu officials. they are lying. you are living in a parallel universe. they. they should listen to people. they should stop lying. the whole migration policy, in the last years, was just about how to invite migrants to this continent. in hungary people have decided many times. one other aspect of yourcampaign is decided many times. one other aspect of your campaign is this association of your campaign is this association of george soros withjean—claude

juncker, the implication is that soros is pulling the levers of the european union and, in the words of your prime minister, soros is in control of a conspiracy to luer migrants into europe. there is not one shred of evidence to support that contention. let's look at the issue on a factual bases because it issue on a factual bases because it is important to keep all debates about the future of the eu on a factual basis... you tell me how jean—claude juncker. .. explain to factual basis... you tell me how jean—claudejuncker... explain to me howjean—claude juncker is a jean—claudejuncker... explain to me howjean—claudejuncker is a puppet of george soros? soros has put out his plan about an open europe openly... i am asking for specific evidence. look at what was included in his plan. how many migrants

should be brought into the european union, how it is significant that oui’ union, how it is significant that our borders, how much of the border protection should be pushed back and look at the policy of the european commission is since 2015, exactly carrying out those points included in his plans. in your view that evidence? that is a —— absurd. in his plans. in your view that evidence? that is a -- absurd. my question is, why european commissioners have received george soros 21 times without any kind of public announcement afterwards. there is no evidence. but have presented no evidence that george soros is controlling the eu immigration policy. please compare. . . immigration policy. please compare... just because soros says

things and the eu does things is not a causal relationship. they are the same. that is not evidence. it is. we think it is evidence. i respect your position and i expect you to respect mine as well. it is exactly the same migration policy carried out by the european union which has been written in the soros plan. you're being judged with what happens in this country. the european parliament voted last september voting unity that measures against your government because of your systemic abuse of european norms and values. there were 69 points in this report. out of which, 13 have already been agreed by the government and by the european

commission back in the thousand 11— 2013 so we can consider them close. there were 19 points on which we have constant dialogue, which is the normal way of resolving different approaches about issues in the eu. and they were 37 points which were simple, systematic qualified lies about my country. i was there twice in the commission and answered all these questions. more than 100 pages, point to point, going through why those are lies and not sure about my country. we can go through some of them if you like, which are clearly not lies, for example the central european university has been denied the ability to hand out us degrees it is therefore forced to move to vienna... that is a big lie. that is fake news. they are here.|j

have been, i have spoken to the director... he says... that they are here. it is not a lie that the headquarters has moved to vienna? he describes it as a tragedy for academic freedom, for hungary and for europe approves this government is ready to manipulate the law and democracy for its own purposes. he lies. their risk a law which applies to institutions in the same way. it says that if you are a foreign university you're allowed to issue a diploma of another country if you have a school in that given country so suggesting that they had to move from hungary his light because they are issuing hungarian diplomacy and

have all the accreditations to operate in hungary, the only thing they cannot do is issue us diplomas because that and not have a school in the us. what about the transit zones on in the us. what about the transit zones on the border, flouting norms and standards? the un officials were here and went to the border. they had the chance to look around so i do not understand... where they denied access in your transit zone? the answer is yes. the un said quite simply they were denied access. there are laws and rides whom to allow to have access to wear and if you are contradicting the law... the only people contradicting the law, according to many independent sources are your governments

flouting norms and procedures when it comes to the rights of would—be refugees seeking refugee status in hungary itself. the government consistently flouts international law when it comes to the treatment of migrants. it is not true. they are lies organisations. it is not true. one organisation has been described as mercenary soros organisations. i went to see officials in geneva after these comments and i asked them what is your questions? they refer to their bureaucracy, that they did not know what was in the report. if anybody is open to any kind of dialogue it is open to any kind of dialogue it is me and the government. i go to new york, to geneva, and i always open and ready to talk face—to—face

about issues but putting out these allegations and perceptions are simply not fair. the un looked at systemic corruption. those are all reasons why the european union, the democratically elected parliament of the eu, has decided that hungary must face article seven sanctions. they made a cheating during the voting because no parliament in the world, hugh have three options that the yes, no, abstained. they took out abstention from counting. did you know that? any time from european bureaucrats, how is it possible that in a vote in session you take abstention out? what would you take abstention out? what would you say if we had done the same in

hungary? there are double standards applied always. you have to understand, there is a phenomena that we are usually under attack by a mainstream media in europe and it is very unusual that someone fights back but we are not ready to take these accusations and allegations because we have to defend our country. you always question decisions here in hungary, we are nation of freedom fighters. the eu think it totally impossible to win seven elections in a row, if such kind of allegations were true? would you think hungarian people would give their trust to this party seven continuous times if there was systemic corruption dictatorship? de think hungarian people are not mature enough to make their rate

decision? simple truth here in hungary? you a lwa ys simple truth here in hungary? you always talk about the brussels establishment, but you are part of it, you suggest the brussels establishment is in the pay of george soros. you said you think john claude euan kerr is controlled by george soros. that's right. and yet you never talk about the what you must regard as a completely corrupted organisation and the reason you do not is because hungary relies on the billions of euros sent from the cohesion funds and other funds into this country every year. you both want to say you're not part of this union and at the very same time you are one of the chief beneficiaries of this union. time you are one of the chief beneficiaries of this unionlj time you are one of the chief beneficiaries of this union. i think it's an extremely important point which you raise because this is another very unfair accusation, not the way you put in now but how it is usually portrayed. why? one, we are pa rt usually portrayed. why? one, we are part of the european union and will be part of the european union but in

the european union now, we're part of the solution and not the problem and we contribute to the success of the european union. why? we've got funds here but this is not the outcome of generosity of western europe. this is based on contracts and it's a 2—way street. one way, european funds coming here, the other way, with open to the market and you know how mini profits western european companies have gained here? the fact that 70 cents of every euro which comes to this country in funds is going back to the western part of europe. did you know that? if you know it and other representatives of distinguished media knows it, and western politicians, why don't they say it? on the other hand, the specific questions which come from the flow of cohesion funds. olaf, the internal auditing part of the european union, has looked at the way your company —— your government

has spent the funds, street lighting, water services and last year it said because of systemic failings and corruption, it wanted 280 - failings and corruption, it wanted 280 — plus million euros returned to brussels because it had been misspent in this country. how much have you returned? in this case, only can refer to the prosecutor general‘s office because these types of issues should be investigated by them. they have investigated these issues. you are foreign minister, you must know. you are not quite aware of the governmental structure you because these funds do not belong to the foreign ministry. to go to brussels all the time and its positive you must have a pop —— a positive you must have a pop —— a positive relation ship with brussels. how much of a return? you must ask my colleagues. you sit here is an accountable foreign minister of your government and you won't tell me. yes. is that reasonable

because that's money paid by taxpayers of the european union and its been abused and misspent inside your country. , and, accusations and allegations of my country which i must reject. they are not my allegations. you've quoted them but they are not mine. in this country, they are not mine. in this country, the prosecutor general‘s office is the prosecutor general‘s office is the responsible authority to investigate such kind of issues and if they find no crime, then i have to reject these kind of allegations. it is philosophically interesting, as you put it, to see that hungary is determined to reshape the european union from within which i guess explains the strong political relationship that your prime minister has developed with le pen, salvini, the nationalist government in poland. what are you telling me

about le pen, salvini? your own prime ministers saying, forging an alliance with all those who are opposed to immigration. he said in the last few weeks, as virus is concerned that the pgp have a tight relationship with someone, you must meet sometimes. but this is ideological. it is practical, not ideological. it is practical, not ideological. did you not hear your own leaders say, all the forces which are adamantly opposed to immigration in europe should fight together to create a new movement, a new block? what we think is it will be necessary and beneficial on behalf of the european union. anti— migration forces could grange —— gradually gain a majority in the parliament. that is our position and hope to have the best possible results reached here in hungary to

contribute this target to be completed. that anti— migration forces will have the majority in the european parliament. is this your way of saying after the may elections, you in the fidesz party will lower longer be a mainstream pa rt will lower longer be a mainstream part of the... b want to remain. all those anti—immigration forces, they are not part of the ept. jean—claude juncker has said in the future, your party, fidesz, has no place in the eu. it's the him to decide. ifi can just refer back a long time ago to 2011. the debate about migration had been there in the european people's party. it was not allowed because at that time, we didn't have this influx. the debate —— the debate was there. we debated about whether migration is the right answer for

democratic challengers. our answer is no, migration is not the answer. there are parties that says they feel it is. one way the eu is going to change very soon is britain leaving. brexit. do you want the eu more than new concessions to britain to ensure that it does not leave with no deal? any change to the current position of the european union must be made by an unanimous decision of 27 countries. i assume it would be very compensated to open it would be very compensated to open it and change it in a way by the 27 as well but we are only one of them, the 27, so let's see. there has been a description of viktor orban's hungary as in the vanguard of

illiberal democracy and at times, viktor orban has embraced that notion of illiberal democracy and we've discussed different aspects of it in this interview. are you proud to and say hungary believes in illiberal democracy and to spread throughout europe? we believe in democracy because we are a democratic country, a democratic people. prime minister viktor orban is the only european politician who has run all the national parliament elections from 1990, he won four times and lost four times, he was a lwa ys times and lost four times, he was always accountable and he's never escaped the supervisory body of russian energy companies, he was a lwa ys russian energy companies, he was always here. it was accountable. from this perspective, i think he is the most democratic leader in the european union. what you said about illiberal democracy, it is unfair towards him in the country not to quote properly. what he said was, without kind fed off that up with

the approach that if it is not the liberal party is to win the election, then they immediately consider it as non— democracy. if you wish, our democracy can be this —— considered illiberal because it is not illiberal to rule and it's not fair that the liberal party is a lwa ys not fair that the liberal party is always try to betray countries as non— democratic if found in power. that is under this expression that i hope to understand. that is under this expression that i hope to understandlj that is under this expression that i hope to understand. i suppose my thought is you want to see your form, your style of politics spread wider in europe. actually, we are responsible for hungry. so don't put too much burden on our shoulders. we are fora too much burden on our shoulders. we are for a strong european union but the thing to get to a strong european union, we'd have strong member states so we really do not absolutely agree with the approach that the stronger european union would be. the stronger the member

states are, the stronger the european union would be in the future but that's a very heavy debate in this debate will be with us debate in this debate will be with us for a long time. peter szijjarto, we had to end a debit thank you very much being on hardtalk. we had to end a debit thank you very much being on hardtalkm we had to end a debit thank you very much being on hardtalk. it was my pleasure. hello there. on monday, the temperature reached 20.6 celsius in western parts of wales. and today, the temperatures are going to be very similar. basically, the record warmth is going to continue for one more day. and it's all due to this static weather pattern. it's been unusually warm for quite some time, this blocking weather pattern, there's the undulations in the jet stream. there's always winners and losers, of course. and on the warm side of the jet, it was 20 degrees on monday in london.

on the cold side of the jet, for example, in athens, it was only 7. the average temperatures at this time of the year in london is 10 degrees. the average temperature in athens is 15. and as you can see, over the week ahead, things are going to get a little bit back to normal, if you like. it's going to turn cooler in london and warmer in athens as the jet stream changes. we will look at that in a moment. while it is warm in sunshine in the day, it's cold at night and into rural parts across the south, temperatures could be down to —3 once again. some mist and fog patches in the valleys to lift in the morning. plenty of sunshine on the way again on tuesday. away from the far north of scotland, where we have a band of cloud. it will feel warm and the sunshine and 19, 20 with western parts of wales and around the london area too. we've still got our blocking area of high pressure close to our shores, feeding warmer air

around that towards the uk. pushing down colder airfor eastern europe and into the eastern med. wednesday we see some changes, more mist and fog around the southern parts of england and wales slowly lifting. lots more low cloud coming into the south—west approaches through the irish sea into northern ireland in western scotland. sunshine elsewhere, well above average. not as warm as they've been. on thursday, changes are more significant. we've got a lot more cloud around on thursday. some weather systems to bring some showery rain. perhaps getting as far north as north—west england or northern ireland. even some bursts of rain in the south—east. brightening up in the south—west later but on the whole, much more cloud in temperatures will be quite a bit lower as well. we saw the position of the jet stream earlier on. this is how it looks toward the end of the week. a much strongerjet coming right the way across the atlantic. a more westerly influence. we're losing the warmer air that is coming in from the south, so temperatures are lower, 11 or 12 degrees. more cloud around, a bit

of sunshine at times, but we're likely to see some rain coming in from the west.