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00:00 Cities in eastern Ukraine, including Kharkiv and Mikulayev, have been targeted in multiple
00:07 Russian drone attacks.
00:10 French police have arrested people involved in farmers' protests across the country
00:15 for the first time. 18 demonstrators were reportedly detained near Paris.
00:20 The European Union is stepping up pressure on Hungary ahead of the High Stakes Summit
00:24 on Thursday to agree on four years' worth of 50 billion euros of aid to Ukraine.
00:33 Cities in eastern Ukraine have been targeted in multiple Russian drone attacks.
00:38 In Kharkiv, several people were reported to have been injured when one of six Iranian-made
00:43 drones exploded near a residential area. The blast damaged residential buildings over a
00:48 wide area and left a deep crater in a road.
00:51 The city has been targeted in air attacks many times since Russia's invasion almost
00:56 two years ago.
00:57 "The glass in the window saved us. We were able to get out of the window. It would have
01:06 completely blown us away. The drone was always heard when it was flying, but this time it
01:13 wasn't."
01:15 In Mikulayev, a man was injured after an attack on a storage warehouse. Ukraine also claims
01:21 to have damaged an oil refinery near St. Petersburg in Russia.
01:25 Kiev has stepped up strikes on Russian infrastructure in recent weeks.
01:33 Around 75,000 ethnic Hungarians reside in the Ukrainian region of Transcarpathia.
01:39 Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has long alleged that Ukraine's government is
01:43 infringing upon their rights.
01:45 In December, Kiev amended its education and language laws to comply with the EU's membership
01:51 requirements, restoring many of the minority rights demanded by Budapest, much to the relief
01:56 of the region's Hungarian community.
01:58 "European integration was the catalyst that helped the whole process. It is possible that
02:08 the summit of the EU on December 8 was the point that raised the question of Ukrainian-Hungarian
02:14 relations."
02:15 But Hungary is not fully satisfied with the reforms, a potential sticking point as EU
02:21 leaders meet on Thursday to try to convince Orban to lift his veto on a 50 billion euro
02:27 aid package for Ukraine.
02:28 "We have just said what points we see the guarantee of getting back to 2015 conditions.
02:36 We hope that the work of the Intergovernmental Committee will succeed in crowning it."
02:44 Hungary has made 11 specific requests to Ukraine. They include restoring the status of the national
02:50 school, allowing a high school diploma to be taken in Hungarian and enabling the use
02:56 of the Hungarian language in public life.
03:04 The European Union has stepped up pressure on Hungary ahead of the High Stakes Summit
03:09 on Thursday to agree on four years worth of 50 billion euros of aid to Ukraine.
03:14 In the last European Council meeting in December, Hungary vetoed the initiative. Now, many member
03:20 states have lost patience with Viktor Orban systematically misusing his veto power. Now,
03:26 they are ready to act.
03:28 "We have never seen such an isolation for a new member state against other new member
03:36 states and it really seems to be a test for the European Union on how much it can handle
03:44 its internal disagreements."
03:47 Now, EU institutions and member states are trying desperately to find solutions. Possible
03:54 alternatives could be financing KIV outside of the EU's budget with the remaining 26 countries.
04:01 Other countries are demanding that the EU strips Hungary of its voting rights by stepping
04:05 up the so-called Article 7 process, a sanctions regime already in place against Budapest because
04:11 of democratic backsliding.
04:15 "We shall see whether the leaders will have enough patience to negotiate with Viktor Orban
04:23 or whether they will undertake this new way by using of Article 7, but it's just a speculation."
04:31 Hungary earlier signaled it would be open to an agreement if the EU would allow an annual
04:36 check-up on the Ukraine package. This was rejected by other countries. Budapest also
04:42 demanded more of the EU funds for Hungary be unfrozen. The funds in total make up 20
04:48 billion euros.
04:50 "Orban still has a kind of transactional logic, which means that if he receives good
04:57 offers it means that he can abandon his vetoism and obstructivist approach in the decision-making
05:07 process, but I don't think it can solve the long-term problem. And the long-term problem
05:12 seems to be that the legal system and political system of Hungary seems to be unfit to the
05:23 institutional structures and the values of the European Union."
05:27 Ukraine desperately needs EU aid to continue its defense against Russia's aggression. It
05:32 is also dealing with the fact US aid for Kiev is also currently being blocked by Congress.
05:43 In an unprecedented move, French police have arrested people involved in ongoing farmers
05:48 protests across the country. 18 demonstrators were reportedly detained as they tried to
05:54 blockade a major food distribution hub near Paris. Workers in the agriculture sector are
05:59 seeking higher wages, help with rising costs and less regulation. The government sought
06:05 to address their concerns with a number of concessions, but it failed to bring an end
06:09 to the rallies. The authorities say they are deploying 15,000 police officers, mostly in
06:14 the Paris region, to stop any effort by protesters to enter the capital.
06:22 There were similar protests elsewhere, as seen here in Italy. Farmers have taken to
06:27 the streets in several countries across the EU in pursuit of similar aims. Governments
06:33 are trying to address their issues ahead of European elections in June.
06:40 Two years after walking out of the stormed Parliament in Belfast, the pro-British DUP
06:45 have decided to return. At issue for the past two years has been the notional trade border
06:50 in the Irish Sea as part of the Brexit Windsor framework. The DUP say it isolated Northern
06:56 Ireland from GB, but now say two years on they have persuaded the British government
07:01 and the EU to drop the notional border. However, the real story arising from the change of
07:06 heart from the DUP is that the pro-British party has agreed to enter a Parliament where
07:11 Sinn Fein Vice President Michelle O'Neill will become the first ever Irish nationalist
07:16 to head up the Northern Ireland regional government.
07:31 The elevation of Catholic Michelle O'Neill to the role of First Minister gives Irish
07:36 nationalism in Northern Ireland the dominant political position. On the streets of Belfast,
07:41 the proposed resumption of the Parliament has been welcomed.
08:03 However some British Unionists say Michelle O'Neill and Sinn Fein are being rewarded for
08:08 bombing their way to the negotiating table.
08:36 The future of the Stormont Parliament here in Belfast now falls on Brussels and London
08:40 to make the appropriate amendments to the Windsor Framework document. With Sinn Fein
08:44 set to occupy the First Minister seat for the very first time in its history, expect
08:49 calls to grow louder for a unification of Ireland referendum in the coming years.
08:54 This is Ken Murray for Euronews, Belfast, Northern Ireland.
09:02 The French Parliament has overwhelmingly approved the inclusion of the right to abortion in
09:07 the French Constitution with 493 votes for and 30 against. The constitutional reform
09:13 promised by President Macron after a rollback of abortion rights in the US was backed by
09:18 the centrist coalition and left-wing groups. The text now heads to the Senate where it
09:23 could face opposition. Although France's major political parties support the right
09:28 to abortion, some centre-right Senate members oppose enshrining it in the constitution.
09:37 Fans of Taylor Swift and other top artists may soon not be able to access their songs
09:42 on TikTok because of a dispute between Universal Music Group and the social media platform.
09:48 UMG has accused TikTok of trying to bully it into accepting what it says is a bad deal
09:54 on music rights fees. The current deal was set to expire within 24 hours of the online
10:00 statement and the music publisher said it would withdraw all its songs unless it receives
10:06 an improved offer.
10:12 Meet SΓ‘ndor Kerecki, the Hungarian photographer who takes you back to the streets of Budapest
10:18 in the 1970s. Given a camera by his father at the age of 16, he spent the next 10 years
10:25 wandering the streets of the city where he captured everyday moments.
10:29 "You walk down the street, and you find something interesting. And when you go home and you
10:36 open it, you find out it's not interesting. There's nothing special about it. There's
10:43 nothing special about it. I've been doing it for a long time. I've been doing it for
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