The Balaton shippimg company BAHART ended its peak season on a high note, surpassing two million passengers by the end of August, a milestone attributed to new ships, a diverse programme offering, and special discounts. Bahart’s ferries and passenger ships saw record traffic, with the introduction of new catamarans and ferries boosting growth beyond expectations.

In a recent interview with Hungarian sports daily Nemzeti Sport Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr said he believes there needs to be a holistic solution to protect biological women from unfair competition; and that he thinks no-one would be surprised if Budapest made a bid for hosting the Olympic games, given its success in hosting major sporting events in recent years.

The hackathons provide an opportunity for young people to turn their ideas into reality. The transfer of entrepreneurial basics, the encouragement of innovation, and the fostering of creative problem-solving equip them with tools that can address social and economic challenges. This knowledge not only leads to individual success but also contributes to community well-being, sustainable development, and enhancing the region’s competitiveness.

Kenya’s approach to religious diversity is equally remarkable. It is a deeply Christian country, yet the coastal region, like much of East Africa, is mixed, even Muslim-majority in some areas. Despite this, there is an almost unique religious harmony. Mosques and churches coexist peacefully, and schoolgirls, whether in hijab or not, walk to school together as friends.

According to a recent study by Hungary’s National Media and Infocommunications Authority (NMHH), frequent TikTok use negatively impacts the ability of young people aged 13–25 to recognize fake news. The study highlights the platform’s influence on critical thinking, revealing that extended TikTok usage diminishes the accuracy with which users assess information.

The world-famous American soft drink company Coca-Cola has received a lot of backlash from its Christian customers in the United States after it was discovered that the word ‘Jesus’ was not allowed to be put on the cans in their personalized can campaign, but the names of other religious figures, such as Allah. Buddha, and even Satan, were allowed.

The Day of Coffee will celebrate its twelfth edition in Hungary, offering coffee enthusiasts unlimited tastings of top-quality, specialty coffees, professional competitions, and exclusive pairings at Budapest’s Akvárium Klub. The event marking International Coffee Day is a unique opportunity to discover diverse coffee varieties, meet roasters, and enjoy interactive programmes and contests.

The Night of Modern Factories returns for its eighth edition on 8 November 2024, offering both personal and online experiences. Organized by a nonprofit organization in collaboration with the Ministry of National Economy, the event highlights how modern technology is reshaping production processes, allowing visitors to explore cutting-edge innovations in automation, robotics, and Industry 4.0 across Hungarian factories.

To support families who are raising or planning to have children, the government will introduce a new measure from 1 October to make it easier for self-employed people who opt for special taxation as well as for primary agricultural producers to claim the CSOK Plus and the Rural CSOK loans, and the baby expecting subsidy. The aim is to make these benefits more accessible to self-employed people. In their case, banks used to take only 10 to 20 per cent of their income into account when assessing their loan applications but will now be obliged to recognize at least 50 per cent of their earnings.

While the 2024 travel season continues, Liszt Ferenc International Airport is already preparing for 2025, when it will celebrate its 75th anniversary with a series of special cultural events. The celebrations will not only commemorate the airport’s history but also honour the life and work of composer Franz Liszt, whose name the airport proudly bears since 2011.

The 1924 Democratic National Convention was perhaps the most chaotic party convention in American history. One of the major issues was whether or not the potential nominees were willing to denounce the Ku Klux Klan. The fear was it likely would trigger a backlash from their voter base in the South. Eventually, the party did not issue a condemnation. After a record 103 ballots, and even some fistfighting, former West Virginia Congressman John Davis got himself the nomination.

Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr., Vice-President of the International Olympic Committee, gave an interview to the Hungarian news agency MTI, in which he discussed the prospects of a potential Budapest Olympics. He highlighted that the Hungarian capital has extensive experience in hosting international sporting events, making it unsurprising if Budapest were to submit a bid to host the 2036 Summer Games.

A recent report by Germany’s Tagesschau highlighted a growing trend of Germans relocating to Hungary due to dissatisfaction with their homeland’s liberal policies, particularly concerning immigration. Germans moving to Lake Balaton cite increased safety and alignment with Hungary’s conservative values, praising Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s stance on foreign and domestic policies.

Dorottya Baczoni, Rajmud Fekete, Gábor Megadja, and Gábor Csepregi took part in a captivating panel discussion at the Identity as a Political Weapon event hosted by Mathias Corvinus Collegium and XXI. Century Institute, talking about the sexual revolution that took place in the late 1960s in the capitalist West and the communist East.

Hungarian fashion and creative brands, including established names and emerging talents, took centre stage at Milan Fashion Week’s Budapest Select presentation. Held at Casa degli Artisti, the event showcased Spring-Summer 2025 collections alongside luxury cosmetics and design products, highlighting Hungary’s growing influence in international fashion and creative industries.

Prior to the start of Hungary’s current presidency of the Council of the EU, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó stated that the country plans to initiate the opening of a new chapter in accession negotiations with Serbia. This intention was also extended to the entire region, as the Hungarian foreign minister highlighted the country’s aim to hold intergovernmental talks with all five Western Balkan countries.

The Entente Florale Europe competition, the awards ceremony of which was held on 7 September in Székesfehérvár, has been organized since 1975 with the aim of promoting European towns and cities while advocating for principles of liveability and sustainability. Hungary was the first Central European country to join the competition in 1990 and has consistently achieved excellent results since.

As part of the Researchers’ Night, visitors are invited on 27 September 2024 to discover the evolution of programmable pocket calculators and the development of handheld computers and smartphones at the John von Neumann Computer Society’s 1200-square-metre IT museum in the Szent-Györgyi Albert Agora in Szeged. Renowned private collectors, including experts from the Arithmomuseum, will deliver presentations during the event.

The Hungarian government and Jewish communities, along with thousands of ordinary Hungarians, have shown full support of and solidarity with the State of Israel and the Jewish people in a number of ways since 7 October. We have listed the most important ones on the occasion of the 35th anniversary of Hungary–Israel relations.

Solar boat races combine technological innovation, as developing solar-powered boats presents unique engineering challenges, with athletic prowess, and the solar boat team of Budapest University of Technology and Economics excels in both fields. Despite technical difficulties on home turf, the team remains optimistic about their upcoming competition in Italy.

Minister for Culture and Innovation Balázs Hankó has announced that his Ministry will be supporting the Sándor Csoóri Programme with 2.5 billion HUF (around $7.1 billion) this year. The programme was created in 2016 to help Hungarian folk dancers, musicians, and craft artists cultivate Hungarian culture, in the motherland and across the border alike.

The 1838 flood, commemorated by many memorial plaques and water level signs in the centre of the city, was not only a natural disaster but a tragedy that brought the country together. The heroism of Baron Miklós Wesselényi (1796–1850) for instance is kept in high regard to this day. The young baron gained national recognition for rowing around the flooded city rescuing people. His boat was equally open to the poor and the rich survivors of the flood; many were pulled from the water, others were save from rooftops.

Hungarian national team captain Dominik Szoboszlai scored for Liverpool during their 3–1 win over AC Milan in the UEFA Champions League. On the same day Bayern Munich’s game ended in a rare 11-goal scoreline against Dinamo Zagreb, with the German side battering the Croats 9–2. But it seems that the fan fervour is just not the same as if this all had happened last year. There is a clear reason for that: the drastic UCL format change went into effect at the start of this season.

As a result of the heat island effect, temperatures in cities can be several degrees higher than in the surrounding green areas. The Hungarian Paulinyi & Partners design office, with the support of the European Space Agency, is developing solutions to combat urban heat islands using satellite data to create more liveable, cooler urban areas.

Debrecen University Rector Zoltán Szilvássy shared that researchers at the university are developing a bacteriophage (a virus that kills bacteria) that will ‘eliminate’ all antibiotic-resistant bacteria causing hospital infections locally, thereby preventing such infections in all health institutions in Debrecen in the future.

President Theodore Roosevelt hand-picked his successor William Howard Taft in 1908. However, he later turned against him, and ran as a third-party candidate in the 1912 election after failing to get the Republican party’s nomination, which led to the election of Woodrow Wilson, the first Democrat to win the Presidency in 20 years.

An interactive exhibition paying tribute to the work of Nobel laureates Albert Szent-Györgyi and Katalin Karikó has opened at the University of Szeged, aiming to inspire young people to pursue careers in science. The exhibition also showcases the history of the institution, tracing its origins back to 1581, with special emphasis on its relocation from Transylvania to Szeged in 1921.

At a book launch on 12 September young researchers of the MCC Centre for Next Technological Futures discussed their findings regarding startups and robots with renowned international experts. The English-language book summarizes the fact-based research conducted by the Centre over the past two years, the results of which have already been presented by the student researchers at several international conferences.

‘Space and time represent the two archetypes of political existence…Space inherently belongs to the polis, the starting point of political ‘residence’ (at least in the European cultural circle), and time belongs to the ship, the instrument of the ‘free movement of capital and labour’; the ship is an ancient invention but it is also—only developed later in time—a symbol of progression, change and technological dominance.’

Mongol rule brought not only immense destruction and suffering to the peoples of the conquered territories but also peace, known in modern research as ‘pax Mongolica’. The period of the Mongol Empire (1206–1368) is unique in world history.