Lake Balaton remained the most popular destination for domestic travellers last year, with more than a fifth of bookings, while over a quarter of the total value of online-paid reservations were settled using SZÉP cards, Szallas.hu said.
Visitors to the Budapest Zoo can explore Chinese cuisine on three evenings from Friday and discover the world of bears on Sunday, with special programmes linked to the Chinese Lantern Festival and the popular Bear Sunday family event.
After weeks of viral growth on right-wing platforms, the Amelia meme has broken into Britain’s mainstream media—prompting panic rather than reflection. The Guardian and LBC now accuse the purple-haired character of fuelling racism, as AI-generated Amelia content spreads globally, spawns copycat characters, and even inspires a cryptocurrency token.
Nurse Malinda Rose Cook at VCU Health in Richmond, Virginia has posted a series of videos on TikTok in which she calls for others to harm ICE agents in various ways. In one clip, she suggests other health professionals should inject immigration officers with saline or succinylcholine. According to a public statement by her hospital, she is now on ‘administrative leave’ while an investigation is ongoing.
Hungarian tourism closed a record year in 2025, with nearly 20 million visitors spending close to 47 million nights at domestic accommodation, according to the National Economy Ministry, citing the latest official tourism data.
On International Holocaust Remembrance Day, US Chargé d’Affaires Caroline Savage joined an immersive augmented-reality experience that transforms Budapest’s former Jewish ghetto into a living historical space. The project, If These Streets Could Talk, uses cutting-edge technology to place visitors inside real stories from the Second World War—an approach Savage described as ‘extremely powerful’.
American actress Sydney Sweeney has been targeted by the X account Zionist Tracker, claiming she is dating ‘fanatical zionist’ Scooter Braun and that she has done ‘zionist propaganda’ for meeting with two released Israeli hostages who were freed from Hamas captivity.
An amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill was passed by the UK House of Lords, which would ban the use of VPNs for citizens under 18. Free speech advocates caution that this could end anonymous browsing, as IDs would have to be submitted to VPN providers, and fear it could lead to a VPN ban for a wider population.
Creative Hungary has launched the Central European Creative Awards, a new regional prize building on Hungary’s long-running design award tradition, aiming to boost the visibility and competitiveness of creative industries across Central Europe.
In the game between AFC Bournemouth and Liverpool over the weekend, three Hungarian internationals played in the same English Premier League game: Alex Tóth, Dominik Szoboszlai, and Milos Kerkez. To mark the occasion, we collected all 13 Hungarian footballers who have made it to the Premier League.
The Super Bowl’s culture war is back as the New England Patriots return to the NFL’s biggest stage against the Seattle Seahawks, with Bad Bunny set to headline the halftime show. The Puerto Rican star’s anti-Trump politics—and rumours he may wear a dress as a ‘queer’ statement—have already triggered backlash, while Turning Point USA prepares a rival ‘All American Halftime Show’ built around ‘Faith, Family & Freedom’.
‘She searched, researched, and reached the oldest layers of our culture, whose memories had been passed down through generations in words, melodies, and spirituality. She rescued our archaic folk prayers from oblivion and became the defining figure, analyst, and systematizer of the genre.’
‘Our first written record of traditional Hungarian cuisine dates back to a 16th-century cookbook written by a chef who cooked for several Transylvanian princes…The book reveals the astonishing variety of dishes served at the tables of princes and nobles.’
US tennis player Amanda Anisimova has gone viral after refusing to join the mainstream media’s ritual condemnation of Donald Trump during a press conference at the 2026 Australian Open. Asked how it felt to ‘play under the American flag right now’, Anisimova said she was ‘always proud’ to represent the US—and dismissed the political bait as ‘not relevant’.
Ryan Coogler’s blues-infused vampire epic Sinners led this year’s Oscar nominations with a record 16 nods, surpassing previous highs and positioning the film as the frontrunner ahead of the 98th Academy Awards.
Europe’s migration crisis cannot be solved without rewriting the legal system that fuels it, the authors argued at an MCC event in Budapest presenting a groundbreaking study on renationalizing EU asylum policy. Speaking at the event, Balázs Orbán warned of ‘civilizational erasure’ and a ‘double threat’ of parallel societies and civil conflict, urging sovereign border control and reform of international humanitarian law.
Ferencváros kept both their unbeaten record and their spot in the top 8 in the UEFA Europa League league table after a 1–1 tie against the Greek side Panathinaikos. However, they will have to play a tough game against the English Premier League team Nottingham Forrest next week if they want to keep it that way.
Hungary expects stronger growth in 2026, driven by rising consumption, improving sentiment and an investment rebound in the second half, according to André Palóc of the Ministry of National Economy. Speaking at an Oeconomus event, he cited falling prices after retail mark-up cuts, winter utility protections and major family tax and housing programmes, as analysts forecast 2–3 per cent GDP growth.
The publication of Peruvian author Dr Vajk Miklós Lukacs de Pereny’s 2023 book in Hungarian was celebrated at a book launch event by the Center for Fundamental Rights. It featured opening remarks by István Kovács; as well as a panel discussion with futurist festival Brain Bar founder Gergely Böszörményi-Nagy and the author himself, exploring debates on transhumanism, transgenderism, and modern technology.
Leftist streamer Ian ‘iDubbbz’ Johmha has caused quite a controversy online for mocking and trying to discredit an Iranian immigrant appearing on an American reality show, who talked about the oppressive nature of the Ayatollah regime in Iran. He insinuated that, under President Trump, people are not much freer in the US than in Iran. Ironically, just a few days later, a massive wave of protests broke out against the regime in Iran.
The English Premier League club AFC Bournemouth has signed 20-year-old Hungarian midfielder Alex Tóth from Ferencváros for €12 million, a new transfer fee record in the Hungarian league. Previously, another Hungarian international, Milos Kerkez, has also played for the Cherries.
In his inauguration speech a year ago today, President Trump spoke about issues of domestic lawfare, border security, energy, peace, territorial expansion, and government efficiency. Now, one year later, it is worth examining: how has his second presidency measured up to those promises?
Hungarian students can buy a five-day Sziget Festival pass at half price if they purchase a monthly public transport pass through the BudapestGO app between 19 January and 31 July, organizers said.
A new volume titled Digital Parenthood takes an in-depth look at sharenting and the dilemmas of raising children in the digital age, analysing legal, social and media-related challenges linked to children’s online presence.
‘One of our shared intentions has been to open towards young people, but I also consider it important to increase the number of Hungarians who pray—for any cause.’
Anti-ICE protests are getting more and more intense in the progressive city of Minneapolis, Minnesota, where protester Renee Good was shot by an agent earlier this month. Videos online show demonstrators disrupting church service; and even appear to have accidentally beaten up one of their own, mistaking the unfortunate man for an ICE agent or ICE supporter.
‘Some were permitted to take shelter with relatives in the countryside, but the majority of such requests were rejected. Only in the rarest cases did deportees arrive under relatively consolidated conditions…This article will focus especially on deported families with little children, and our further articles will inspect other interesting cases as well.’
‘In addition to his role as patron of the country, the prince who died in an unfortunate accident had to wait centuries to find his place among the Hungarian saints, so that his legend could be used to inspire young schoolchildren and promote Catholicism to them.’
Hull City Council rolled out Pathways, an anti-extremism game, hoping to steer students away from so-called ‘far-right ideas’. But it didn’t go as planned. The game’s goth character, Amelia, meant to be a warning sign for nationalism, quickly turned into an internet sensation. People turned her into a meme, showing how clumsy progressive messaging gets when it paints normal patriotism as a threat.
An exchange at a US Senate hearing baffled many and went viral on X. Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri was asking obstetrician and gynaecologist Dr Nisha Verma if men can get pregnant, but could not get her to give a straight answer during five minutes of questioning.