Hungary’s parliament will elect the first president of the powerful NVVH anti-corruption and asset-recovery office on Friday, choosing between Nicholas Sárvári, Miklós Ligeti and Anna Róza Unger. The process, initially meant to establish the office’s independence and credibility, has instead descended into controversy, largely due to the governing party’s communication failures.

Ákos Hadházy has published emails he says expose a manipulated tender behind Hungary’s St Stephen’s Day celebrations, placing Tisza vice-president Márk Radnai in talks with the eventual winner weeks before procurement began. The case has sparked outrage among Tisza voters, with many calling it ‘Fidesz 2.0’ and warning that it undermines Péter Magyar’s regime-change narrative.

Ceuta saw its most violent day in weeks on Tuesday as illegal migrants clashed with riot police during a Red Cross food distribution, prompting officers to charge the crowd and use tear gas and rubber bullets. At the same time, hundreds of residents marched against further migrant accommodation and demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.

Hungary’s government has withdrawn €84.6 million in EU funding from turkey processor Gallicoop, a company linked to Lőrinc Mészáros, after ruling that its ownership structure failed statutory transparency requirements. The decision mirrors the recent removal of €169.2 million from OPUS TITÁSZ, another Mészáros-linked business; both companies are challenging the decisions legally.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe made a secret visit to Moscow on Tuesday, becoming the first American intelligence chief to travel there since William Burns warned the Kremlin against invading Ukraine in November 2021. With US intelligence now focused on possible Russian provocations against NATO’s eastern flank, the trip has revived speculation that Ratcliffe carried a similar warning.

Germany’s establishment celebrated Péter Magyar’s defeat of Viktor Orbán as a lesson in how to beat right-wing populism. Four months later, the comparison looks less comfortable: AfD candidate Ulrich Siegmund is using a similar campaign strategy, combining a strong rural presence with social-media dominance, while the establishment repeats Fidesz’s grave strategic mistakes.

An unexplained US Air Force C-17 flight from Latvia to Moscow has triggered speculation that Washington may be preparing fresh diplomatic contact with Russia, with some military-aviation observers even linking the mission to Pete Hegseth. The development comes just as Reuters reported the other day that negotiations over Ukraine had stalled, with potential efforts to revive them now being discussed.

Hungary’s governing Tisza Party has begun financing its party-communication pamphlet, Tiszta Hang, with a state-funded allocation from its parliamentary group, replacing the donation-based model used during the campaign. The shift is legal but politically awkward, cutting directly against Péter Magyar’s promise to break with publicly financed party propaganda.

A local woman in Ceuta says she and her mother rescued a 12-year-old girl from being raped by five Moroccan illegal migrants after hearing her screams outside their home at 2am. She said overwhelmed emergency services failed to send police, while the number of confirmed sexual assault cases has risen to 16 since the July mass invasion, with more than 200 complaints now reaching the courts daily.

Kalocsa-based Smarttable CEE has agreed to take delivery of €1.5 million worth of Chinese ZTT energy-storage systems as Hungary races to expand battery capacity after August’s energy crisis exposed the limits of its solar-heavy grid. The deal lands just as both Budapest and Brussels tighten scrutiny of Chinese-linked energy technology and infrastructure.