OECD reading performance has fallen to its lowest level since PISA began, while Hungary’s 452-point result is the country’s worst on record. The deeper problem may not be educational alone, but how long children can stay with demanding material, as digital stimulation and weaker family support reshape attention—leaving parents and a generation that knows both worlds with growing responsibility.

Vienna says it never complained to the European Commission about Hungary’s emergency riverbed sill at Paks, contradicting Péter Magyar’s repeated claims that Austria had taken the matter to Brussels. The denial comes as the project faces genuine international scrutiny from the Danube Commission over navigation, while also becoming caught up in controversy surrounding the procurement.

Europion’s latest poll found that support for the Tisza Party fell slightly in September, while Fidesz gained marginally and the share of voters without a party preference increased more substantially.

Hungary’s women’s basketball team is back among the World Cup’s final eight for the first time since 1986 after defeating Japan 84–63 in Berlin on Tuesday. Réka Lelik led the way with 23 points, but the next challenge could hardly be tougher: the United States, unbeaten in 33 World Cup games, though Italy has already shown that disciplined defence can make the champions uncomfortable.

Real Madrid fans held up cards displaying the coat of arms of Ceuta during the UCL game against Internazionale, to show solidarity with the autonomous Spanish enclave city that has been experiencing a major illegal migration crisis since late July.

Hungary’s government is launching the Szent István Rural Development Programme, which will initially provide joint development funding to groups of ten rural settlements, Prime Minister Péter Magyar told Parliament.

Google has introduced major changes to its search results in Europe to comply with EU antitrust requirements, saying the measures will worsen the user experience and increase costs for European businesses.

Self-proclaimed ‘proud feminist’ Labour MP Stella Creasy has shared a video of herself attending the Muslim Milad Al Nabi march in London, United Kingdom. As her critics pointed out, the march she praised and promoted was gender-segregated.

Britain’s asylum system is under fire after UNHCR warned that weak interviewing creates a real risk of granting asylum to applicants who are not entitled to it. The findings resurfaced alongside a Home Office whistleblower’s claim that only ‘one in 100’ applications are genuine, prompting outrage and ridicule from both politicians and ordinary citizens.

Hungary’s Parliament elected six of the nine members of the newly established Independent Public Media Board on Tuesday and chose media researcher and media lawyer Judit Bayer as its chair.

The Reagan administration offers a useful lesson for today’s U.S.–China relations: human rights do not have to be separated from strategic diplomacy. As Washington and Beijing navigate trade, technology, and security, raising individual cases of persecution can remain an important part of American foreign policy.

A home-made missile launcher aimed at a high-voltage power line has been discovered near Germany’s Weisweiler power plant. The find comes in the wake of sabotage attacks on the country’s energy infrastructure last week, with police investigating climate extremists and possible copycats.

Hungary has ordered ten Russian diplomats to leave the country over activities deemed incompatible with diplomatic status, prompting Moscow to vow a ‘harsh and painful’ response. The expulsions mark the sharpest move against Russia since the new government took office, as ties deteriorate and Budapest’s new foreign-policy doctrine labels Moscow a ‘threat to Hungary’.

Around 30 humanoid and quadruped robots marched outside Poland’s Digital Affairs Ministry on Monday in what organizers called the world’s first protest by humanoid robots, demanding protections for workers threatened by AI and automation. The unusual demonstration comes as Warsaw pursues an ambitious AI strategy that the World Bank estimates could lift real GDP by 1.3–12.1 per cent by 2035.

Audi Hungaria will not be affected by the Volkswagen Group’s latest workforce reduction plans, the company said. The Győr plant also has no plans to change its production capacity utilization.

This summer was Hungary’s driest on record and the second hottest since measurements began in 1901, according to HungaroMet. The national average temperature reached 23.43 degrees Celsius, while only 74.1 millimetres of rain fell nationwide.

Rigged election allegations have erupted after official Saxony-Anhalt data showed AfD on 51.2 per cent among in-person voters but just 24.3 per cent by post. Yet even that sharply reduced postal share still matched the CDU and outpolled every other party, driving demands for a full recount, investigations, and renewed calls to restrict or abolish postal voting.

The Trump administration is preparing a major childcare policy shift that would let some married couples receive federal subsidies when one parent stays home to care for their child. The proposal, backed by JD Vance and rooted in a broader pronatalist agenda, draws heavily on conservative ideas long associated with Hungary’s Orbán-era family policy model.

András Bíró-Nagy will take over responsibility for European Union affairs at the Prime Minister of Hungary’s Office from September. His expanded duties will include coordinating EU policy, strengthening Hungary’s relations with the Union, and representing Hungarian interests at the European level.

Hungary’s industrial recovery strengthened in July, with output up 4.7 per cent year on year and 1.7 per cent from June, reinforcing hopes that manufacturing can again support GDP growth. The rebound remains concentrated in the automotive and electronics sectors, while analysts expect a weaker August mainly due to energy constraints related to the Paks crisis.

Magyar Közút has renovated nearly 140 kilometres of secondary roads this year using its own equipment and workforce, Transport and Investment Minister Dávid Vitézy said.

Social Democrats’ Magdalena Andersson is trying to turn Sweden’s final campaign week into Russiagate, accusing Ulf Kristersson of failing to address security concerns surrounding the Sweden Democrats. The attack comes as the so-called Tidö coalition has moved within the margin of error and Kristersson is preparing to bring SD into government for the first time.

Transgender activist and bartender Rihanna Kelver is being charged with felony aggravated assault in Wyoming for pulling a gun on a man who allegedly used a slur against him and shoved him to the ground. The case has angered his fellow LGBTQ activists across the US, who claim that he is only being prosecuted because he is a transgender woman.

Budapest’s Green Panel Programme could help address climate challenges through greening measures and building renovations designed to provide passive cooling, Mayor Gergely Karácsony said. He highlighted the city’s urban heat island effect and the growing pressure on electricity demand during heatwaves.

At least five people were killed and five others seriously or critically injured when a Boeing 767-300 cargo aircraft crashed at Miami International Airport, local authorities said. Several people were trapped in vehicles struck by the aircraft after it ran beyond the runway.

AfD’s landslide in Saxony-Anhalt has produced a 39–39–5 mandate split in the state parliament, leaving neither Ulrich Siegmund nor the firewall bloc with a majority and turning BSW into the kingmaker. The result opens several paths at once: issue-by-issue cooperation, strategic abstentions, a minority government—or another election.

Ulrich Siegmund has led AfD to a landslide victory in Saxony-Anhalt, with early projections putting the party on 44.3 per cent and 41 seats, one short of the 42 needed to govern alone. With the CDU collapsing to 18.3 per cent and BSW hovering below the threshold, the final count could still decide whether Germany gets its first outright AfD state government.

‘Thatcher…accepted political damage as the cost of policies she believed necessary for Britain’s recovery. It was these sorts of pressures that refined Thatcher and forged her into the Iron Lady we know today…The question for Japan today is whether Sanae Takaichi demonstrates similar political characteristics within the context of modern Japanese politics.’

Ulrich Siegmund heads into Sunday’s Saxony-Anhalt election with the AfD on 41–43 per cent, roughly double its 2021 result and around 20 points ahead of the governing CDU. Whether that delivers Germany’s first AfD state government may depend less on another surge than on whether BSW and the Greens cross the 5-per-cent threshold, with 26 per cent of voters still undecided in the final poll.

At least three boats carrying illegal migrants reached Algeciras, Spain, on Saturday, marking a third consecutive day of fresh landings from Ceuta as traffickers exploit dense fog over the Strait. Police had already confirmed 148 mainland arrivals aboard 29 boats by 19 August, raising further concerns over the protection of the Schengen Area.