The Latest Breaking News from Viktor Orban

(This Jan. 3 story has been refiled to correct grammar in paragraph 11)

The European Commission said on Thursday it would hold back all 22 billion euros of EU cohesion funds for Hungary until its government meets conditions related to judiciary independence, academic freedoms, LGBTQI rights and the asylum system.

The European Union was haggling with Hungary on Friday over releasing billions of euros in aid in exchange for Budapest revoking its veto on extending a joint loan to Ukraine and acceding to a minimum global tax.

Soldiers are seen carrying a bath across muddy ground away from what appears to be a Russian military truck parked next to a warehouse while their colleagues are seen carrying a chair

The aid package was worth more than £15 billion

A rift between the European Union and member state Hungary has deepened after Budapest vetoed an 18-billion euro financial aid package to Kyiv, exacerbating a dispute over the rule of law in the country and Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s outlook over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

Thousands of teachers, students and parents protested in the Hungarian capital on Saturday in solidarity with teachers fired from top Budapest secondary schools for taking strike action that the government deemed unlawful.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Italy's newly elected far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni appear to be finding unlikely common ground on issues relating to Africa and migration. Meloni's is the latest in a list of strong partnerships that Erdogan has been working to build with European far-right leaders.

Hungary's prime minister said Friday that he will continue to oppose a European Union plan to provide an €18 billion aid package to Ukraine in 2023, a position that promises sustained tensions as the bloc and the nationalist Hungarian government wrangle over democratic standards.