Hungary

The Balaton Shipping Company has started its 178th shipping season with four new ships; in addition to the two new ferries designed for Lake Balaton, two new catamarans have arrived, one of which will operate in the western basin

Mathematician András Stipsicz and biologist Csaba Pál have been awarded advanced fellowships by the European Research Council in recognition of their outstanding research achievements over the past decade

The country is continuing to strengthen the army and air force; in particular, Minister of Defense said that 2024 will be all about the Hungarian air force, foreseeing the expansion of the army's fleet of 14 Gripen fighter jets with 4 more

Ferenc Krausz, experimental physicist, has been named person of the year 2023 by public media; he is a 2023 Nobel laureate for his experimental methods in producing attosecond pulses of light to study the movement of electrons within atoms

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, after an interview with former US president and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, declared that 'Donald Trump has been a president of peace'

The number of visitors to the Fiumei Street Cemetery, the Jewish Cemetery on Salgótarjáni Street and the National Mourning Park in the New Public Cemetery is increasing year by year, turning Budapest's historical cemeteries into tourist attractions

Icon and actress Zsa Zsa Gabor, who died in 2016 at 99, will be commemorated with a life-size statue by János Babusa in Budapest; born in Hungary, she made a career in the USA, winning a Golden Globe Award and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

The National Election Office rejected the joint referendum initiative of the opposition party Momentum and Dániel Karsai on end-of-life decisions

Art and Antique Budapest, Hungary's largest classical and contemporary art fair, at its 6th edition, will open doors from 29 February to 3 March, and will have a record number of 40 galleries participating this year

As of March, for food retailers with a turnover of more than HUF 1 billion ( €2,6 million) will be compulsory to indicate whether the packages of the products they sell have become smaller than before, the Hungarian Gazette reported

The Budapest100 programme, which will take place from 9 to 12 May 2024, will showcase the diverse architectural heritage of the 1970s and initiate a debate on its appreciation and possible future

Árpád Kovács, outgoing president of Fiscal Council, described 2023 as a weak year while next year's projected GDP growth of 3% will be based on stronger social consumption, return to productive investment and progress in the process of adapting energy use