‘It is clear that the Eurovision has become a battleground for the debate over gender identity and the boundaries of acceptability in the public sphere. Today, it seems, nothing is off-limits, and performers are encouraged to push the boundaries of what is considered socially acceptable. This anything-goes mentality has led to a competition where the weird and the wacky reign supreme, and where acts that would have been unthinkable in the past are now celebrated and applauded.’

The North Carolina University’s board of trustees unanimously voted to dismantle their DEI programme, and instead use those funds for added campus police and security needed due to the pro-Palestine protests by students. Similar developments have come out of the state of Florida as well.

The President of the Hungarian Institute of International Affairs outlined that while the European economy was sluggish in recent years, Hungary was able to continue to grow its foreign direct investments, in large part thank to its relations with China. The author believes that this approach would be advisable to follow for the whole of the European continent as well.

CEO of MTVA Dániel Papp expressed that during the most challenging times, it was sport that Hungarian society could cling to, as it provided a sense of freedom.

As part of the Europe Day celebrations, EU Member States opened their embassies to the public last weekend. Hungary’s Embassy in Washington DC was visited by around 3,000 people, who could take part in miscellaneous programmes celebrating Hungarian culture and history.

The Hungarian Post aims to draw attention to the importance of voluntary blood donation through the issuance of a new commemorative stamp designed by graphic artist Nóra Horváth and produced in 40,000 copies. The Blood Donation stamps are available from Monday at Filaposta, philatelic service points, select post offices, and the Hungarian Post’s webshop.

The Hampton, New Hampshire-based gym company was forced to lower its annual financial forecasts, both for revenue and profit, admittedly due to the March 2024 controversy when a biological man was photographed shaving his face in the women’s local room at one of their locations in Fairbanks, Alaska.

‘During this presidency, my job will be to improve China–EU trade relations and stop any attempts that try to limit and push back the quantity and quality of this relationship,’ Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated in relation to Hungary’s upcoming presidency of the Council of Europe in an interview with Chinese state television CCTV.

‘In facing the end of affordable chocolate, we encounter a microcosm of the broader challenges of living sustainably in a finite world. The path forward demands not only technological innovation and policy reform but also a cultural shift in how we value and consume the earth’s resources. The luxury of chocolate, once taken for granted, could become a conscious choice, a deliberate act that reflects our commitment to a more equitable and sustainable world.’

‘The systematic method Tóth uses really contributes to our understanding of ideology and ideological thinking. To mention a few substantial arguments that are derived from the plot of Darkness at Noon: ideological thinking is not necessarily concerned with objective reality; it naturally leads to radicalism; and—somewhat paradoxically—seems to replace its ideological nature with neo-Machiavellian pragmatism when the question of power politics emerges.’

Xi Jinping’s visit to Europe—the first in five years—is expected to be mainly business. The Chinese president is coming primarily to conclude new deals in the three countries he visited: France, Serbia, and Hungary. According to Carlos Roa, a guest researcher at the Danube Institute, Western analysts view the visit of the large Chinese delegation with concern for this very reason, as the trip seems more like a geopolitical signal.

Marking 80 years since over 550,000 Hungarian Jews were murdered during the Holocaust, the 20th March of the Living was held in Budapest on 5 May. This year’s march also honoured those murdered during the 7 October Hamas massacre.

Chinese President Xi Jinping is set to arrive in Hungary this evening, marking the end of his European tour. In anticipation of his visit, Xi penned an opinion piece in Magyar Nemzet, in which he discusses the significance and ways of strengthening relations between the two countries.

The second volume of the publication titled Hungarian Rock History presents the stories of prominent figures in the domestic rock music scene, including Bikini, Kontroll Csoport, KFT, Edda, Karthago, Quimby, and Kispál és a Borz, uniquely depicted in comic book format.

It was already known that the Hungarian duo was in a qualifying position, but the right to compete became official on Tuesday, when the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) published the list of quota doubles.

Conservative Dutch political commentator Eva Vlaardingerbroek’s speech at CPAC Hungary 2024 discussing the demographic changes in Europe was removed for a ‘hate speech’ violation on YouTube. On X, however, the speech remains, garnering over 50 million views in a week.

The Transatlantic Patriot Summit took place on 27 April, co-hosted by the Danube Institute and a number of international conservative youth organizations. The distinguished speakers covered a wide array of topics, including the left’s control over mainstream media in many countries, mass migration, and the upcoming elections in Europe and the United States.

The Hungarian Theatre Society (MTT) admitted the Szabadka National Theatre and the Viharsarok Dance Theatre into its ranks, increasing its membership to 90. The assembly approved the society’s 2023 balance sheet report and the 2024 budget.

While except for a few known pieces of the puzzle the story of the sword and its origins remain obscure, the Transylvanian Samurai sword of Thomas Kapustran is certainly a manifestation of the complexity and richness of Hungarian history. Despite being torn apart by two empires and enduring a century of wars, Transylvania still held a remarkable position in the world. So significant was its influence, grandeur, and civilizational level that it could procure luxury goods from distant and isolated lands like Japan.  

Professor Gottfried sat down for an insightful, two-hour discussion with host Meg Hansen of the Danube Institute, in which they covered topics such as the different branches of American conservatism, the current state of the political right in the United States, and ‘paleoconservatism’, a term coined by Professor Gottfried himself.

Former President János Áder spoke about his podcast initiative, the Blue Planet podcast, emphasizing the need to address environmental concerns. He explained that when launching the podcast in October 2020 his aim was to reach as many people as possible, especially the youth, with discussions on sustainability and solutions to environmental issues.

There are 3.13 million mothers in Hungary who have given birth to a total of 6.22 million children during their lifetime, meaning that Hungarian mothers have two children on average. Since the early 2000s, about three-quarters of adult women are mothers. Compared to 2011, the average number of children in the 20–35 age group has increased slightly (from 1.67 to 1.72), while among mothers aged 45–49 there are now 10,000 more large families, i.e. those with three or more children, than in 2011.

Azerbaijan has the potential to become one of the major natural gas suppliers to Hungary if the current determination to increase import volumes continues. However, the bilateral relations between the two countries extend beyond natural gas exports and are characterized by an enhanced strategic partnership. Given the commitment to construct an undersea high-voltage power line through the Black Sea, Azerbaijan could also become a key exporter of renewable energy to Hungary. On 1 May 2024 Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan, ahead of the Tashkent International Investment Forum, reached an agreement to construct a similar high-voltage undersea power line through the Caspian Sea.

In Stockholm, the old, not very nature-friendly method of planting trees was abandoned about a decade ago, and since then, tree-planting projects have been constantly looking to support urban trees and thus all other organisms—including humans—with a more complex but in many ways more rewarding solution.

The Hungarian and Turkic people (or rather, peoples) are connected in many cultural and even genetic ways. The Byzantine emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus called the Hungarian conquerors ‘Turks’, and the sons of the House of Árpád (Turul gens in medieval Hungarian sources) were later called ‘Princes of Turkey’ by the Byzantines. In the origin myth of the Hungarian royal dynasty, the ‘Turul bird’ is also of Turkish origin, as the symbol of the Sky and of the supreme God of Turkish myths, where it appears as toġrïl or toğrul.

‘Rather than an extremist group exploiting a social media platform to recruit vulnerable people, what took place last week appears to be quite the opposite. Decentralized local communities, far from governmental reach, are utilizing social media platforms to hype themselves up into a state where riotous violence becomes a necessary consequence. The ultimate conclusion to this sad series of events is that Egypt, as a centralized authority, is struggling to monitor these autonomous decentralized social media groups, and therefore these “Islamic vigilantism” incidents may continue to occur.’

During the Eta Aquariids meteor shower the observed meteors are of outstanding velocity, as they arrive at an extremely high speed of approximately 66 km/s and abruptly decelerate upon entering the Earth’s atmosphere. This year, the shower will reach its peak early Sunday morning (GMT+2).

President of the publishing company Angelico Press John Riess expressed his hope that many American readers would find János Csák’s recent book The Genius of America a fresh take on the U.S., stating: ‘We’re always being exhorted to have an honest conversation about the issues of race or gender or privilege. So, let’s also have one about the country itself, what it meant to our ancestors and what it might still mean to us. Read The Genius of America, comment, argue, discuss, contend, debate. That is, at least I hope, still the American way.’

It was an initiative where expert breeding and handling on three different continents that made this incredible success possible. Cudar, the third-placed Kuvasz, was bred in Brazil, with a Hungarian heart. Now living in America, it came back to Europe to demonstrate to the world the beauty, values and power of this incredible Hungarian breed.

Standing at sunrise on a rocky lookout point on the Gerecse mountain, listening to the babel of birds singing in the Bakony, reaching a small village in Zemplén at noon bell, or chatting with the locals in one of the village shops, an oasis for the weary wanderer; all of this enrich the National Blue Trail experience with something that is beyond the idea of an obvious inner journey, offering also a reinterpretation of the concept of homeland.