Hungary Helps, a humanitarian aid programme launched by the Hungarian government in 2017, has recently funded the construction of a new church at the site of Jesus Christ’s baptism by the Jordan River in Jordan. Hungary Helps focuses on oppressed Christians in the Middle East.

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó of Hungary shared a Facebook post about his phone conversation with Minister of Mining and Energy Dubravka Đedović of Serbia. In it, he wrote that cooperation with neighbouring countries on energy policy is crucial in these times; and announced that the two countries have agreed to accelerate their joint energy security investments.

President Biden’s approval rating currently stands at 38.8 per cent in the RealClearPolitics polling aggregate, and at just 36.1 per cent in the FiveThirtyEight polling aggregate. Meanwhile, President Trump left office in January 2021—after the controversial Capitol riots—with a 41.1 per cent approval on RCP and a 38.6 per cent approval on 538.

The Hungarian Police has apprehended three foreign men and a Hungarian woman who ran a series of international online scams. They set up fake accounts on dating apps and websites, and targeted wealthy middle-aged to elderly women to swindle money out of them.

At the 67th annual M4 Sport Athlete of the Year Gala, Olympic gold medalist swimmer Hubert Kós won Best Male Athlete of the Year, Olympic gold medalist pentathlonist Michelle Gulyás won Best Female Athlete of the Year; while the Best Team of the Year award was given to the Women’s Handball National Team, which came in third at the European Championship in December.

The United States has long given up any intent for territorial expansion. Incoming President Donald Trump, however, is bringing the spirit of ‘Manifest Destiny’ back to the White House, and is already making progress on making the acquisition of Greenland a reality.

In a by-election called to fill the seat of deceased MP Árpád János Pótápi in the 2nd electoral district of Tolna County, Fidesz-KDNP’s candidate Dr Krisztina Csibi won by 44.5 points. Three years prior, in 2022, Fidesz’s nominee won by ‘only’ 35.4 points. Péter Magyar’s Tisza Party did not even field a candidate, with Magyar dismissing the election as irrelevant.

Researchers at the University of Szeged’s Albert Szent-Györgyi Medical School are pioneering the development of technologies for the diagnosis and treatment of respiratory diseases. Among other projects they are working on a new, portable respiratory function measuring device, also suitable for home use, for the diagnosis of respiratory diseases.

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni of Italy defended Elon Musk at a press conference in Rome yesterday, asking the reporters: ‘Is the problem that he is rich and influential, or that he’s not left-wing?’ She also said she believes Musk is no threat to democracy, George Soros is.

24 armed men attacked the Presidential Palace in N’Djamena, Chad yesterday, 8 January, but the attack was thankfully thwarted. Prime Minister Viktor Orbán of Hungary commented on the incident on his X page. Hungary has had a strategic partnership with the African nation of Chad since September 2024.

In a bizarre Facebook post, György Raskó, an operative of the Hungarian opposition Tisza Party, argued that Europe needs a war to do away with right-wing populism for good. The post was a reaction to the right-wing populist FPÖ party now being close to forming a government in Austria.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has announced that it will cease working with third-party fact-checking services on its social media sites Facebook, Instagram, and Threads. Instead, it will rely on user-submitted ‘community notes,’ popularized on major Trump supporter Elon Musk’s X.

Companies in the hospitality industry can now apply to the Hungarian Tourism Agency’s Priority Partners programme, organized by Visit Hungary. Successful applicants will receive valuable perks, such as a 50 per cent discount on the application fee for tourism sales programmes run by Visit Hungary; and participation in B2B activities such as webinars, roadshows, and workshops. Applications are open until 27 January.

Antal Rogán, the Chief of Staff to the Prime Minister of Hungary, has been placed on the US Treasury Department’s sanctions list, in the last two weeks of the incumbent Biden administration. US–Hungary relations have severely soured under President Biden.

A video shared by American journalist Colin Rugg on X has gone viral, showing a stray being the first to rush across the Hungarian-Romanian border at an event celebrating the full incorporation of Romania into the Schengen Area on 1 January 2025. Romania and Bulgaria became the full members of the Schengen Area under the Hungarian presidency of the Council of the EU.

Donald Trump and Grover Cleveland are the only two presidents in US history to have been elected to non-consecutive second terms. However, as it turns out, it is not the only thing the two statesmen serving in the highest office in the land have in common.

György Bakondi, Chief Security Advisor to the Prime Minister of Hungary, talked about the trends in illegal migration across Europe in the past year on the morning show of a major commercial channel. He shared that nearly 16,000 illegal border crossers and 132 human smugglers were apprehended at the border by Hungarian authorities in 2024.

Five-time Olympic gold medalist gymnast and Holocaust survivor Ágnes Keleti was the oldest living Olympic champion in the world. She was awarded the Athlete of the Nation honour by the Hungarian government in 2004. She sadly passed away at the age of 103 on Thursday, just a week before her birthday.

Political Director Balázs Orbán has talked to the Hungarian business site Portfolio.hu. In it, he expressed optimism about the incoming Trump administration ending the war in Eastern Europe, which would be very beneficial for the region’s economy. ‘If there is no threat of war, there is investor interest, there are no sanctions, no energy supply problems, no signs of economic overheating in war zones, but increased production and trade,’ he explained.

According to media reports, Hungary permanently lost access to €1 billion in EU funds at the end of last year. However, Minister of EU Affairs János Bóka of Hungary vowed that ‘as long as Hungary has a national and sovereign government, it will not lose a single euro cent’ and that ‘Hungary will use all legal and political means to obtain the remaining funds’ in a Facebook post.

Conservatives will have the chance to flip the State Supreme Court in the swing state of Wisconsin in April. In addition, two gubernatorial elections will be held in November, in Virginia and New Jersey, two states that moved heavily to the right but were still won by Democrats in the 2024 presidential election.

The old year has just passed, so, in an effort to reflect on all that happened in the eventful year of 2024, here are the stories that you, our readers have found the most compelling based on the amount of traffic they received. We hope you enjoy our year-end compilation, and happy New Year to everyone!

President Trump, after overcoming multiple indictments, one conviction, and two assassination attempts, completed the Great American Comeback story and won the 2024 US presidential election, becoming the 45th and 47th President of the United States. He also delivered the first popular vote victory for the Republican Party in a presidential election since 2004.

85-year-old István Győrkös has been convicted of murdering police officer Péter Pálvölgyi, who was conducting a search of his property in Bőny, Hungary in October 2016. According to press reports, Győrkös, who claims the killing was an accident, has now sued the Hungarian government for alleged violations of his right to due process and a fair trial.

With the Continental Army in dire straits, Commander in Chief George Washington knew he had to do something special to change the tide of the War of Independence at the end of 1776. So, he decided to strike the enemy when they least expected it: he crossed the icy Delaware River to get to the Hessian mercenaries stationed in Trenton on Christmas Day.

The high-profile clash between Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool ended in a scoreline very dear to Hungarian football fans, 3–6, to Liverpool. Hungary captain Dominik Szoboszlai scored a goal and made an assist during the victory solidifying the Reds’ place on top of the Premier League table for Christmas.

As the Hungarian presidency of the Council of the EU concludes, even EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, a frequent critic of the Orbán administration, has praised its achievements at a press conference. She highlighted the Budapest Declaration on the New European Competitiveness Deal, expanding the Schengen Area to Romania and Bulgaria, and progress on the Western Balkan EU expansion.

Actress Rachel Zegler, who wished that Donald Trump and his supporters ‘may never have peace’ after the 2024 US presidential election, had to suffer major embarrassment after her new film Y2K became a giant box office flop, even being beaten by the re-release of the Christmas classic White Christmas from the 1950s. Zegler will also star in Disney’s Snow White film next year, despite being Latina.

The Justice and Home Affairs Council of the European Union, under the Hungarian presidency, has agreed on the general approach to have EU Member States better align their criminal laws on migrant smuggling. Out of the 380,00 illegal border crossings recorded in 2023, about 90 per cent were facilitated by smugglers, according to Europol.

A video analysis by TLDR News EU suggests Viktor Orbán’s long tenure as Prime Minister of Hungary may be coming to an end in 2026 at last. However, our own, rebuttal analysis of polling and election data, as well as the cultural issues for Hungarian voters, purport that that is an unlikely outcome.