Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán says his country will decide whether Ukraine joins the European Union.

Halloween brings a bit of extra fun for the growing number of Hungarians who enjoy paddle-boarding.

A rising political newcomer in Hungary is seeking to capitalize on a scandal that rocked the party of the country's long-serving prime minister, Viktor Orbán, and a slumping economy to challenge the leader in upcoming European Union elections and beyond.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has long accused Ukraine's government of violating the rights of an ethnic Hungarian community in western Ukraine.

Thousands of Bulgarian soccer supporters have taken to the streets of the capital, Sofia, in protest over the management of the national soccer union, a demonstration that eventually turned violent.

The European Union's executive arm says it will ask Hungary to provide explanations and details about the country's role in the transfer to Hungary of 11 Ukrainian prisoners of war freed by Russia.

Pope Francis has urged Hungarians to open their doors to others as he wrapped up a weekend visit with a plea for an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Pope Francis has plunged into both sides of Russia’s war with Ukraine.

Thousands of students and other opponents of Hungary’s right-wing government have marched in the capital Budapest demanding educational reforms and a change in the Central European country’s political culture.

Theaters and other cultural institutions in Hungary are reeling from exponentially growing energy prices, and some plan to close for the winter to avoid the skyrocketing bills.

Anti-government demonstrators in Hungary have blocked one of the capital’s main thoroughfares during morning rush-hour traffic, the latest in a series of protests against recent changes to the country’s tax code that have carried on for nearly a week.

Hungary has placed price caps on fuel and some food and imposed special taxes on industries as the governments tries to ease an economic downturn and the highest inflation in nearly 25 years.

Intellectuals, broadcasters and cultural figures from Hungary’s Roma community have founded a radio station to reframe narratives and elevate the voices of their marginalized minority group.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban has declared victory in Sunday’s national elections, claiming a mandate for a fourth term as a partial vote count gives a strong lead for his right-wing party.

Opposition parties made their final appeal to Hungarian voters ahead of Sunday's fiercely fought national election.

Some of Ukraine’s most vulnerable citizens have reached safety in Poland through an effort of solidarity and compassion that transcended borders and raised a powerful counterpoint to war.

Hungary’s president says the country will hold a parliamentary election on April 3.

Tens of thousands of supporters of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his right-wing government marched in Budapest on Saturday in a demonstration of unity behind the populist leader’s contentious policies.

Independent conservative Peter Marki-Zay has won a primary contest to become the joint canddate of a six-party opposition coalition that will challenge right-wing populist Prime Minister Viktor Orban in Hungary’s elections next spring.

The mayor of Hungary’s capital has announced he would withdraw from a primary contest which will choose a joint opposition nominee to challenge right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban in an election next year.

An uptick in anti-European Union rhetoric in Hungary and Poland has some observers worried the countries' right-wing governments might be planning to pull out of the 27-nation trade bloc.

Pope Francis is urging Hungary to open its arms to everyone, in a veiled critique of Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s anti-migrant policies.

A Hungarian orchestra conductor received a COVID-19 vaccine booster shot onstage during a free open-air concert in Budapest to encourage people to get vaccinated.

Thousands of demonstrators marched in Hungary's capital to voice their opposition to government measures seen as targeting LGBT people.

Hungary’s government has called for a national referendum in defense of what it calls child protection measures that many have criticized as an attack on LGBT rights.

Populist Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has long used soccer to advance his right-wing politics.

President Joe Biden says the U.

Doctors in Hungary are questioning a government decision to lift some of the country’s lockdown restrictions amid peaking COVID-19 infections and deaths.

(AP Photo/Laszlo Balogh)BUDAPEST – Demonstrators in Hungary’s capital broke a ban on public gatherings on Monday to demand an end to the country's lockdown restrictions, even as a surge in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations sweeps the country. The demonstration was organized by a far-right party, Mi Hazank Mozgalom (Our Homeland Movement), and joined by some 1,000 people. They demanded an end to pandemic restrictions that have been in effect for more than four months and have placed a heavy burden on the country's economy. AdA survey published last week by Eurofound, a European Union agency, found that a smaller proportion of Hungarian workers received wage subsidies than in other country in the 27-member bloc. AdThe protest marked the March 15 national holiday, which celebrates the Hungarian revolution and war of independence of 1848, a national uprising against the ruling Austrian Habsburgs.

A pharmacist holds a packet of Sputnik V vaccines to be used for the first dose in the pharmacy of the Borsod-Abauj-Zemplen County Medical Center and University Teaching Hospital in Miskolc, Hungary, Tuesday, March 9, 2021. That is the second-highest rate of vaccination in the 27-member EU after the small island nation of Malta and substantially above the EU average of 7%. In February, the country became the first in the EU to begin using China's Sinopharm and Russia's Sputnik V vaccines, even as polling showed that public trust in non-EU approved vaccines was low. “Hungary has more vaccines because it gave emergency approval to the Sputnik and Sinopharm vaccines," he said, adding that he had received a Sputnik V jab. Still, he says, Hungarians won't be safe until all countries in the world have access to vaccines.

A rapid rise in pandemic indicators since early February prompted Hungary's government to announce the new restrictions, including closing most stores for two weeks and kindergartens and primary schools until April 7. Hungary's high schools have been remote learning since November and its bars, restaurants and gyms have been closed since then as well. With nearly 16,000 confirmed deaths in a country of fewer than 10 million, Hungary has the 8th worst death rate per 1 million inhabitants in the world, according to Johns Hopkins University. Suto says his business suffered a loss of 200-300 million Hungarian forints ($645,000-$968,000) in 2020, and that the crisis will only deepen if the two-week closure that begins Monday is extended further. Hungary has obtained vaccines from Russia and China as well as those approved by the EU.

It plans to bring about 280 million doses to the Americas and the Caribbean by the end of the year. As of Monday, nearly 4 million COVID-19 vaccine doses had been administered, including to some 1.4 million people who have received a second dose. The country has fully vaccinated 1.2 million people while 2.6 million have received one dose of a coronavirus vaccine. ___BRATISLAVA, Slovakia — Hard-hit Slovakia has signed a deal to acquire 2 million doses of Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine. He said he understood the “conundrum” faced by developing countries as they wait for vital supplies of coronavirus vaccine.

Csaba Lengyel, President of the University of Szeged's Szent-Gyorgyi Albert Clinic Center shows a vial of the vaccine against COVID-19 produced by Chinese Sinopharm at the university in Szeged, Hungary, Wednesday, February 24, 2021. General practitioners around the Central European country were instructed to administer the shots, developed by Chinese state-owned company Sinopharm, to elderly patients. The Sinopharm jab brings the number of vaccines currently in use in Hungary to five including the Russian-developed Sputnik V, more than in any other country in the 27-nation EU. “I’m waiting for the Chinese vaccine, I trust in that the most,” Orban said. Ad“I would have liked the Russian vaccine, or Pfizer, but this came, and I'm very glad,” she said.

The vaccine will not be used without its examination and approval by the National Public Health Center of Hungary. A jet carrying 550,000 vaccine doses developed by the Chinese state-owned company Sinopharm landed at Budapest’s international airport after flying in from Beijing. Hungarian health authorities were the first in the EU to approve the Sinopharm jab for emergency use on Jan. 29. “I think this is huge.”Orban earlier said he would personally choose to be inoculated with the Sinopharm vaccine since he trusts it the most. The new vaccines shipment represents around 40% of all COVID-19 vaccine doses that Hungary has received so far, and makes Sinopharm nearly equally prevalent in Hungary as the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine.

A man receives a shot of Russian vaccine Sputnik V at Central Hospital of the Hungarian Defence Forces (military) in Budapest, Hungary, Friday, Feb. 12, 2021, as the vaccination with Sputnik V against the new coronavirus begins in the country. “If we compare Hungary's vaccination plan with the European situation, then Hungary can vaccinate 3.5 million more people by the end of May than a European country of the same size and population. AdOrban's government has criticized the pace of the European Union's vaccine rollout and in recent months sought vaccines from countries outside the bloc's common procurement program. Hungarian health authorities last month approved the jab developed by China's state-owned company Sinopharm and also authorized use of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine. It was unclear whether Orban's May projection was simply the number of vaccines the country has purchased outside the EU's procurement program.

People wearing masks take part in a hospitality sector workers protest, in Budapest, Hungary, Sunday, Jan. 31, 2021. Protesters gathered at a central square in Hungary's capital of Budapest on Sunday demanding a rethinking of the country's lockdown restrictions. Like many small businesses, it struggled to stay afloat as Hungary's pandemic restrictions limited bars and restaurants to takeout, and was forced to dismiss all but one of its six employees. Hungary's pandemic lockdown, which began on Nov. 11, is nearing its three-month mark, and last week was extended to March 1, requiring the hard-hit hospitality sector to hold out yet another month with little government aid. Opposition politicians and some health experts have urged a reevaluation of pandemic restrictions in the interests of saving service workers and providing some relief to Hungarians struggling under the psychological weight of a long lockdown.

Human rights and LGBT groups have condemned an amendment to Hungarys constitution approved on Tuesday that effectively bans adoption for same-sex couples and enshrines a strict Christian conservative ideology into the legal conception of the family. (AP Photo/MTI, Imre Foldi, file)BUDAPEST – Human rights groups on Wednesday condemned a new Hungarian law that effectively bans adoption for same-sex couples and applies a strict Christian conservative viewpoint to the legal definition of a family. Same-sex marriage was constitutionally banned in Hungary in 2012, but civil partnerships are recognized. However, the new amendment declares that only married couples may adopt children, effectively barring same-sex couples or single individuals from doing so. Luca Dudits, a spokesperson for LGBT rights group Hatter Society, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the new amendment violates international human rights norms.

European Union leaders meet for a year-end summit that will address anything from climate, sanctions against Turkey to budget and virus recovery plans. The 1.82 trillion-euro ($2.21 trillion) seven-year budget and recovery package was meant to come into effect on Jan. 1. Our landmark recovery package will drive forward our green and digital transitions,” EU Council President Charles Michel said in a tweet after the deadlock was broken at an EU summit he chaired in Brussels. Also taking to Facebook, Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki described the deal as “a double victory.”“The EU budget can be implemented now, and Poland will receive from it 770 billion zlotys (173 billion euros.) Many projects for Poland and Hungary — which are already being formally investigated by the EU for their potential violations of the rule of law — would have been held up.

BUDAPEST – After facing strong condemnation, a Hungarian commissioner on Sunday begrudgingly retracted an article comparing American-Hungarian billionaire and philanthropist George Soros, a staunch critic of Hungary’s government, to Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. “Europe is George Soros’ gas chamber,” Szilard Demeter, ministerial commissioner and head of the Petofi Literary Museum in Budapest, wrote in an opinion Saturday in the pro-government Origo media outlet. In a statement Sunday on Origo, Demeter said he would retract his article “independently of what I think" and will delete his Facebook page. Government media campaigns targeting Soros have led to charges of anti-Semitism. The article also noted the conflict over the European Union’s next budget, which Hungary and Poland are holding up over provisions that could block payments to countries that do not uphold democratic standards.

Lawmakers attend the commemorative parliamentary session marking the centenary of the Trianon Peace Treaty in Budapest, Hungary, Thursday, June 4, 2020. Hungary is commemorating the 100th anniversary of a post-World War I peace treaty which led to the loss of about two-thirds of its territory and left some 3.3 million Hungarians outside the country's new borders. (Tibor Illyes/MTI via AP)BUDAPEST Hungary's president on Thursday stressed the need for mutual respect between Hungary and neighboring countries where some 2 million ethnic Hungarians live following a post-World War I peace treaty signed exactly 100 years ago. We respect our neighbors but we ask them to also respect us and the Hungarians living in their countries, Ader said. In the 2018 parliamentary election, over 95% of the votes from neighboring countries were for Orban's Fidesz party.