US vice-president has praised Orbán and criticised EU and UK energy policies in speech at private school in BudapestOh, you can see where this is going to go.In his second question, the moderator tries to bait JD Vance into criticising Ukraine, as the chair asks about what he says are “Ukrainian intelligence services attempting to influence” elections in the US or Hungary.“I’ve also been told that the vice-president of the United States coming and saying that Viktor Orbán is doing a good job and is a helpful statesman to the cause of peace, that’s foreign influence. But what’s not foreign influence is when the European Union threatens billions of dollars withheld from Hungary because you guys protect your borders; that’s apparently not foreign influence.“We would never do that because we respect the Hungarian people enough to respect their sovereignty. The fact that so many foreign actors, whether they’re transnational organisations like the bureaucrats in Brussels or whether it’s foreign governments, are literally threatening the Hungarian people vote this way or we’re going to exact our revenge on you – that should make you very angry.” Continue reading...

EU to ‘convey concerns’ to US about Vance’s Hungary intervention – Europe live
US vice-president has praised Orbán and criticised EU and UK energy policies in speech at private school in Budapest Oh, you can see where this is going to go. In his second question, the moderator tries to bait JD Vance into criticising Ukraine, as the chair asks about what he says are “Ukrainian intelligence services attempting to influence” elections in the US or Hungary. “I’ve also been told that the vice-president of the United States coming and saying that Viktor Orbán is doing a good job and is a helpful statesman to the cause of peace, that’s foreign influence. But what’s not foreign influence is when the European Union threatens billions of dollars withheld from Hungary because you guys protect your borders; that’s apparently not foreign influence. “We would never do that because we respect the Hungarian people enough to respect their sovereignty. The fact that so many foreign actors, whether they’re transnational organisations like the bureaucrats in Brussels or whether it’s foreign governments, are literally threatening the Hungarian people vote this way or we’re going to exact our revenge on you – that should make you very angry.” Continue reading...
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Starmer arrives in Saudi Arabia for talks with Gulf leaders on resolution to Iran war - UK politics live
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Close Brothers shares surge after UK bank says it can ‘comfortably absorb’ cost of car finance compensation
Specialist lender says it expects its slice of £9.1bn compensation set by FCA to be about £320m Close Brothers shares surged on Wednesday after the UK bank declared it could “comfortably absorb” its slice of a £9.1bn compensation bill over the motor finance scandal, hours after one of its rivals announced it was selling its UK operations over looming costs. The specialist lender said it expected the final terms of the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) compensation scheme to cost roughly £320m, a sum that is “broadly similar” to previous estimates and the £294m put aside to date. Continue reading...