Latest news

Political situation in Hungary
Rubio praises Orban: “Your success is our success”

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio praised Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s leadership during a visit to Budapest on Monday, AFP reports. He also supported Orban and his party ahead of the upcoming elections.

– I can say with confidence that President Trump is deeply committed to your success, because your success is our success, Rubio said during a joint press conference.

Orban has been prime minister since 2010, and also held the post between 1998 and 2002. Ahead of the April election, he is trailing opposition leader Peter Magyar in several polls. He said during the press conference that the next government will be formed in accordance with the will of the people.

– Sometimes I win and sometimes I lose. So I’m not afraid of what happens if we don’t win, because it happens regularly here, he said.

Climate Threat  Global Challenges
Warmest January in West Greenland in 109 Years

Greenland's west coast has had its warmest January in 109 years, AFP reports.

The capital Nuuk recorded an average temperature of 0.1 degrees Celsius, which is 7.8 degrees Celsius higher than the average for the past three decades. The warmest day was 11.3 degrees Celsius. The city of Ilulissat further north was also 11 degrees Celsius warmer than average during January.

It is not unusual for warmer air to move over Greenland for a day or two. But the fact that the record extends over such a large area indicates that something is changing, says climate scientist Martin Olesen at the Danish Meteorological Institute.

Extreme weather in Africa
59 people dead after cyclone in Madagascar

59 people have died and 15 people are still missing after cyclone Gezani swept over Madagascar last week. This is reported by the country's National Council for Risk and Disaster Management after an assessment on Monday.

More than 420,000 people are believed to have been affected by the disaster and around 800 people have been injured. The storm moved in on Tuesday and the situation was described as "total chaos", reports the BBC.

The cyclone moved in on the country just ten days after the latest storm Fytia, which killed 14 people. 

American UFO debate
Barack Obama: "Joking about aliens"

Former US President Barack Obama attracted a lot of attention this weekend after saying that aliens exist. Now he clarifies on Instagram that the statement was meant jokingly, even though there is much evidence that it is technically correct.

- Statistically, the universe is so big that it is likely that there is life out there, but the distances between the solar systems are so great that the chance that we would have been visited by aliens is low.

Obama continues:

– And I saw no evidence that we had contact with any aliens during my time as president. I promise!