fico are viktor 0rban, they are like a mastertacticians. , fico are viktor 0rban, they are like a masterfor instance with that european union aid to ukraine, he was blocking it in return for benefits for hungary. so this is really the type of leaders that we are talking about. but the same is also true for nato, there will be a nato summit injuly in washington. forany will be a nato summit injuly in washington. for any decisions made at nato also there unanimity is needed. we haven't seen particularly slovakia or hungary actually blocking decisions but we do see that decisions are sometimes taken longer to achieve, it takes longer to have this unanimity. in the end, this is a plus for the kremlin. you said in the — this is a plus for the kremlin. you said in the last _ this is a plus for the kremlin. you said in the last hour— this is a plus for the kremlin. you said in the last hour when you are talking about polarisation and division you could be talking about united states, presumably donald trump would see robert fico and we know we see in viktor 0rban and i about the direction he wa

chinese president xi jinping and the hungarian prime minister viktor 0rban have called for better relationso hungary on thursday. the leaders reportedly discussed trade and investment deals between the two countries, which will increase the size of the chinese footprint in europe. our correspondent nick thorpe has been following the visit from budapest. the first day of this two—day visit of the chinese president and his 400 strong delegation was spent deep in talks with their hungary and counterpart upon castle hill on the other side of where i am standing this evening. some 20 trade agreements were signed, ranging on everything from rail, road, electric vehicle development, energy infrastructure and so on. nothing very much knew as far as we can tell at this stage. 0ne far as we can tell at this stage. one new element was that hungary invited china to take part in the developing of nuclear and rico in hungary until now the last 40 years dominated by russia. the hungarian prime minister mentioned the war in ukraine and said hungary shared the position of china for an immediate ceasefire fo

so none of the criticism from elsewhere, a very warm welcome here and hungary's chance, viktor 0rban,r's chance to show the world and the rest of europe the fruits of cultivating a close friendship with china. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's look at another story making news. another conservative member of parliament has switched sides to labour. in a defection no—one saw coming, natalie elphicke, who represents dover, crossed the aisle. she says the conservatives under rishi sunak "have become a byword for incompetence and division." in a statement, she said the key factors for her decision are housing and border security. there seemed to be confusion about the decision on both sides of the aisle, with people from both parties criticising the move. certainly, backbenchers are confused. my stance on immigration and refugees and asylum seekers for example has always been completely different natalie and i'm not sure what that means now about labour's view of those things, is it me or is it her�*s? i am as baffled as everyone watching this. with natalie being

so none of the criticism from elsewhere, a very warm welcome here and hungary's chance, viktor 0rban, world and the rest of europe the fruits of cultivating a close friendship with china. rescuers say they've made contact with 11 people trapped under the rubble of a building that collapsed in the western cape of south africa. seven people were killed when the five—storey apartment block fell down in the coastal city of george. dozens of people remain unaccounted for. 0ur correspondent, shingai nyoka, is in george. those rescue efforts are ongoing. last night, the focus was behind me where you might be able to see a huge gaping hole in the concrete slab. we understand that at least two people were rescued from there. but the operation now has moved to another part of this construction site behind the slabs, and that's where the rescuers are working now. but it's been more than a0 hours since the building collapsed. the majority of people are still trapped underneath the rubble. but we have been hearing some really great stories here. we spoke to a man whose son had been trapped underne

so none of the criticism from elsewhere, a very warm welcome here and hungary's chance, viktor 0rban, the world and the rest of europe the fruits of cultivating a close friendship with china. jennifer welch is a former us national security director for china and taiwan. she explained the signifigance of the chinese president's trip to europe. it is no mistake or accident that xijinping chose it is no mistake or accident that xi jinping chose them are stopped along his first trip to the continent since 2019. it is also no accident that there is that sort of friendly relationship because like the criticism goes both ways. they are not going to be hearing from xijinping concerns are not going to be hearing from xi jinping concerns about the human rights record or their approach to democracy. there is a shared alignment and greater favouritism towards a russian among these countries in comparison to some of the western european countries that have been more concerned about china's relationship with moscow especially in the wake of its invasion of ukraine. when it comes to western europe a

viktor 0rban's government was really welcoming of this investment.ring companies, will be able to provide electric vehicles within the territory of the eu. so if the european union tries to order chinese vehicles sold at a very cheap price in europe, that would not be possible if these cars will be produced in hungary, which is a member state of the eu. so for china that was a major success. indie member state of the eu. so for china that was a major success.— that was a ma'or success. we are out of time but _ that was a major success. we are out of time but thank _ that was a major success. we are out of time but thank you _ that was a major success. we are out of time but thank you so _ that was a major success. we are out of time but thank you so much - that was a major success. we are out of time but thank you so much for. of time but thank you so much for joining us. of time but thank you so much for “oininu us. . ~ of time but thank you so much for “oininu us. ., ~ i. of time but thank you so much for joining us-— sweden is staging the eurovisi

was welcomed with a military parade in budapest — later he'll meet the hungarian prime minister viktor 0rban as one of its closest allies in the eu — and there have been high levels of chinese investment there. 0ur correspondent nick thorpe is in budapest for us. there was a long essay by xi jinping in the hungarian media and pro—government hungarian media. he's been warmly welcomed. the prime minister and his wife were out at the airport to meet him there. so very much a popular visit from the government's point of view. and the prime minister here talking about hungary wanting to serve as a bridge between china and the european union, whereas of course, some european leaders and of united states are warning yesterday, are suggesting that there is a that europe should be wary of a chinese agenda, that china is actually trying to drive a wedge between different eu members and between the eu and the united states. one thing that i think is quite significant is we're hearing that they could be an infrastructure project on the belt and road initiative announced after this trip. and of course, a

on thursday, he met hungarian prime minister viktor 0rban and said the two countries had upgraded theirmal. the important thing is notjust the trade in balance but the trade volume. at the end of the day, as you know, europe is looking for new sources of growth for itself and europe is acutely aware that china is going to become a very, very important market for eu products too, and let me give you some very important statistics so listeners understand how things have changed. in the year 2000 the european economy combined, eu economy combined was six times bigger than china�*s economy. now they are the same size. in five years�* time china will be bigger than the european union. europe is aware of this.

budapest in the past couple of hours — just in time for a gala dinner with hungarian prime minister, viktor 0rbanungarian president tamas sulyok, before visiting chinese investments in hungary. earlier on wednesday, xi was in belgrade. his serbian counterpart aleksandar vucic told thousands of supporters — many waving chinese flags — that the government in beijing was a sincere friend. elaine dezenski is a senior director at the foundation for defense of democracies, she told me why president xijinping has made serbia and hungary a part of his tour. i think it is pretty clear that xijinping doesn't have i think it is pretty clear that xi jinping doesn't have a i think it is pretty clear that xijinping doesn't have a lot of friends in europe and going to serbia and hungary pretty much guarantees that you'll get a friendly reception and these are two countries that are actively pursuing greater investment from china and they've been recipients in significant infrastructure investments and then signed cooperation agreements that are moving from the economic sphere to the security sphere and there is

and you could find quotes from viktor 0rban supporters in hungary and a whole bunch of other politiciansof these people, and certainly your conclusions echoed by them. my concern is why other forms of government, other ideologies, are ignoring this issue. this affects everybody. this isn't affecting only right—wing younger people. we're now looking at societies with 30—40% childlessness, the majority of which is what i call unplanned childlessness, left, centre and right. so, therefore, why is it that the left cannot address this issue? and, you know, i would say it was heartening to hear president macron a few weeks ago, for the first time within france, at least, stand up and say he's now worried about france's birth rates. i think many on the left would say that they care, too. they certainly care about, for example, offering better childcare support, offering women career progression, ensuring that child rearing doesn't affect them in a negative way. but they would say they don't want to draw it into a culture war. are you embracing a culture war? what worries me across potentially a

so, none of the criticism from elsewhere, a very warm welcome here and hungary's chance, viktor 0rbanhance to show the world and the rest of europe the fruits of cultivating a close friendship with china. let's get some of the day's other news now. three men in greater manchester have been arrested on suspicion of planning terrorism offences. 0fficers carried out raids across bolton and wigan. the men, aged 35, 36 and 51, are in custody and are being questioned by detectives. the arrests were part of an ongoing investigation. the labour leader, sir keir starmer, has been criticised by some of his mps for allowing natalie elphicke to defect from the conservatives to his party. the mp for dover says rishi sunak has failed on his pledge to stop the boats, but had previously accused labour of having no plan to deal with illegal immigration. a court in mexico has ruled that there are grounds to prosecute a man accused of murdering three foreign surfers. the decision to prosecute jesus gerard comes after a hearing held for him in ensenada, baja california where the victims�* bodies were fou

later he'll meet the hungarian prime minister viktor 0rban.e eu — and there have been high levels of chinese investment there. let's speak to charles parton who is a former chinese diplomat and associate fellow at the council on geostrategy. what do the country is one from this alliance, what do they get out of it? it alliance, what do they get out of it? , ., ,., , alliance, what do they get out of it? , ., ,., y ., it? it is the 75th anniversary of the establishment _ it? it is the 75th anniversary of the establishment of - it? it is the 75th anniversary of the establishment of relations| the establishment of relations between the countries, so they want to celebrate that, and hungary is the biggest destination of chinese investment in central and eastern europe, so they want more of that, and they want more trade, obviously, to celebrate the building of the railroad from budapest, from belgrade to budapest, but you also need to look underneath the surface at what the aims of cg and ping are, andi at what the aims of cg and ping are, and i w

he has been in france and serbia as well and later he will meet prime minister viktor 0rban.losest allies in the eu and they have been high levels of chinese investment. donna john's —— donald trump's lawyers are expected to question stormy daniels in the hush money trial which revolves around a $130,000 payment made to her before the 2016 election. donald trump has pleaded not guilty to 3a counts of falsifying business records to conceal the payment. these are pictures coming to us from manhattan, this is the scene outside the courtroom where he is due appear shortly. we can speak to a former us federal prosecutor. sarah, a remarkable first day of testimony from stormy daniels, what did you make of it? it from stormy daniels, what did you make of it?— make of it? it was fiery and she earned some — make of it? it was fiery and she earned some points _ make of it? it was fiery and she earned some points for - make of it? it was fiery and she earned some points for the - earned some points for the prosecution, describing the background that led to the hush money payments, and t

sit on a table and have one hand towards emmanuel macron and 0laf scholz, and another towards viktor 0rban in a niche that she is still in the european union and she's plaintiff that. it’s in the european union and she's plaintiff that-— plaintiff that. it's been an interesting _ plaintiff that. it's been an interesting discussion - plaintiff that. it's been an interesting discussion on| plaintiff that. it's been an - interesting discussion on that we have not got to climate change, which is interesting, but we will talk about it next week because were off to germany, just enough time to say think it's a mark and nathalie tocci and fabrizio pagani for your contributions, and in 21, the green party in germany answered with the best election results in history, notice of stall, we look at why next week. hello there. despite some cloud across northern areas, especially across scotland, much of the country had a pretty decent day today with a good deal of sunshine around. it felt quite warm through the afternoon. that's how we're keeping things for the rest of this week. always a bit more clou

they're very, very friendly with viktor 0rban in hungary and that is perhaps the model that they have again? i don't think these demonstrations will die down. and we've been talking to so many people over these past weeks. they're mainly young generation. these are gen z of georgia, and they were brought up with the idea that their country would one dayjoin the eu. so what's happening now, they see it as a pivot in the country's foreign policy and they keep telling us that never, ever back to ussr. and that's how they see it. you know, it is quite black and white. you know, it's either eu or russia. do you think that the georgian dream is kind of fixed in power? will it win another election? this partly what we have been witnessing in the past weeks here in georgia, it is about the upcoming general elections here in georgia in october 2024. critics and commentators are saying that the reason why georgian dream is trying to push for this legislation, perhaps, yes, it's not because they want to turn away from the eu. they want to eliminate this threat, as they see, that is coming from n

definitely of hungary, as i said, because of this very close friendship between robert fico and viktor 0rbanfew weeks, to the european parliamentary elections, and we have projections that the far—right, or the nationalist right, or nostalgic nationalist, anti—eu sentiment kind of parties, and that they are tipped to go first in eight or nine countries, and second or third in a further nine countries. now, that can change decision—making within the eu. we've just seen an interview in the british press with the estonian prime minister, saying, "this looks to me very much like 1939". i mean, it does bring back these sentiments, whether they're true or not, doesn't it? why would estonia say this? well, estonia would say this because it feels directly threatened by russia's full—scale invasion of ukraine, and saying this is like 1930s europe is going to make people, they hope, sit up and listen. is this 1930s? i mean, again, it could be a big debate. i think we should always be careful about being too alarmist. aware ? yes. alarmist? not really. so, these are times of crisis in europe, and these