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New Nasa chief, Jared Isaacman, has outlined several changes to flagship moon programme ArtemisNasa is cancelling plans to deploy a space station in lunar orbit and will instead use its components to construct a $20bn base on the moon’s surface over the next seven years, its new chief, Jared Isaacman, said on Tuesday.Isaacman, who was sworn in at the agency in December, made the announcement at the opening of a day-long event at Nasa’s Washington headquarters at which he outlinedchanges he is making to the agency’s flagship moon programme Artemis. Continue reading...

France’s Marine Le Pen and the Netherlands’ Geert Wilders among speakers praising prime minister at Budapest eventMarine Le Pen has called Viktor Orbán “an exceptional leader” and Geert Wilders hailed “a lion on a continent led by sheep” as Europe’s far-right figureheads rallied round Hungary’s prime minister before an election that polls suggest he may lose.“Hungary has become a symbol in Europe of a proud and sovereign people’s resistance against oppression,” Le Pen, the parliamentary leader of France’s National Rally (RN), told a gathering of EU-sceptical leaders in Budapest on Monday. Continue reading...

US president’s backing comes as Hungary’s PM faces toughest election campaign of 16 years in officeDonald Trump has endorsed Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, who faces his toughest electoral challenge next month since taking power 16 years ago, as Europe’s far-right leaders gather for a “grand assembly” in Budapest.In a video message, the US president told the national-conservative Cpac Hungary conference in the capital on Saturday that Orbàn, who has been trailing in the polls behind a centre-right rival for more than a year, was a “fantastic guy”. Continue reading...

Hungarian PM, who is facing an upcoming election, appears in no mood to compromise as EU leaders meet in Brussels this morningThe new Dutch prime minister, Rob Jetten, is making his European Council debut this morning.Asked about Viktor Orbán’s position, Jetten insisted that “it is obvious that Ukraine needs out full support to win this war against the Russian aggression,” as he stressed the EU loan “is crucial to make sure Ukraine can prepare for the next winter.” Continue reading...

Hungarian PM shows no sign of backing down while Volodymyr Zelenskyy urges EU to resolve disputeHungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, will face pressure from other EU leaders to stop blocking a vital €90bn loan for Ukraine over a political dispute about an oil pipeline.Ahead of an EU summit on Thursday, Orbán, who faces elections next month, showed no sign of backing down in his veto of the loan. He said he would not allow it until the damaged Soviet-era Druzhba pipeline supplying Hungary with Russian oil via Ukraine was repaired. Continue reading...

The bloc’s foremost troublemaker could lose April’s election, but the headaches he’s caused will not necessarily disappear with him• Don’t get This Is Europe delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereHow do you solve a problem like Viktor Orban? By crossing your fingers and hoping it disappears in just over three weeks’ time. But even if the European Union’s disruptor-in-chief is ousted in elections next month (which is far from certain), Europe’s Hungary problem is unlikely to vanish overnight.EU leaders will gather in Brussels on Thursday and Friday for yet another summit that will be at least partly hijacked by Orbán, Hungary’s illiberal prime minister. Continue reading...

Unofficial body co-chaired by ex-Labour leader says Britain failed to meet its duty to seek to prevent a genocideThe Labour government has been complicit in crimes committed by Israel in Gaza and in the desecration of international law, according to an unoffical tribunal on Gaza chaired by the former party leader Jeremy Corbyn and two specialists in international law.The tribunal’s findings to be published on Monday are likely to be cited in May’s local elections, in which Labour faces a rearguard action to beat off challenges from the Greens and Your Party, in part driven by anger that the government has not done enough to back the Palestinian cause. Continue reading...