France

Admiring a Hungarian invention in Paris: the world’s largest one-piece spherical Gömböc at the Pompidou Centre

gömböc pompidou

The “Gömböc” is on permanent display in one of the world’s most important collections of contemporary art, which is also one of the largest public libraries in France.

The world’s largest “Gömböc” on public display has been exhibited at Centre Pompidou in Paris, presented by one of its inventors, architect Gábor Domokos, Professor at the Department of Morphology and Geometric Modelling and the Department of Mechanics, Materials and Structures at the Faculty of Architecture at BME (BME ÉPK), also head of the MTA-BME Morphodynamics Research Group, and French mathematician Roger Mansuy, BME press release said.

Gömböc

The “Gömböc” was invented by two Hungarian architects: Gábor Domokos, Professor at the Department of Morphology and Geometric Modelling and the Department of Mechanics, Materials and Structures at the Faculty of Architecture at BME (BME ÉPK), also head of the MTA-BME Morphodynamics Research Group, and Péter Várkonyi, Professor at the Department of Mechanics, Materials and Structures at BME ÉPK, who, after more than 10 years of persistent research, identified the shape of the “Gömböc”, thus proving the 1995 conjecture of the Russian mathematician Vladimir Igorevich Arnold, according to which there exists a homogeneous convex body with less than four equilibrium points.

gömböc pompidou
Source: Ambassade de Hongrie

The “Gömböc” is an objectified form of a mathematical model, the only known homogeneous body with only two equilibrium points: one stable and one unstable. When placed on a horizontal surface, it always returns to its stable equilibrium position from any initial position.

Gömböc in Paris

The 2006 Hungarian invention is housed in a walk-around, bottom-lit display case as a permanent exhibit in the middle of one of the largest public libraries in France, an institution hosting one of the world’s most important collections of contemporary art. Sequence number 500 of the individual “Gömböc” refers to the classification of the International Library Catalogue, where this number stands for mathematics and natural sciences.

“It is fantastic when someone manages to prove that the impossible does not exist,” said Georg von Habsburg, Hungarian Ambassador to Paris and Honorary Citizen of BME, in his opening speech, who added it was a great honour to have a Hungarian invention included in the permanent collection of Centre Pompidou. He recalled that research into scientific issues is a priority in Hungary, and one of the proofs of this is that the world has 16 Nobel Prize winners of Hungarian origin.

In France, the first “Gömböc” was exhibited in 2011. The sensational Hungarian invention is on display in a prominent place at Institut Henri Poincaré in Paris, with the sequence number 1928, corresponding to the year in which the mathematical centre hosting the exhibit was founded. There are around a hundred mathematical models on display in the institute’s collection, but previously none of them was a Hungarian invention.

At Centre Pompidou, the largest monolithic model (made from a single piece) of the “Gömböc” ever produced is on display. Its material is clear plexiglass from the USA. The 30 centimetre high, 26.7 centimetre wide and 33.3 centimetre long work of art weighs 25.5 kilograms. The production of this special, high-value model in Hungary was supported by Ottó Albrecht, and the courier service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs helped to deliver it to Paris.

gömböc pompidou
Source: Ambassade de Hongrie

Gábor Domokos admits that he feels like “just a supporting character” in the wide range of uses of the “Gömböc” that started 17 years ago – from arts to the pharmaceutical industry and space exploration – as many others are now using the “Gömböc” and writing articles about it.

The “Gömböc” inspired researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US, among others, to create the oral mRNA vaccine. (Editor’s note: The topic was reported in a previous article on bme.hu) In a similar way, the achievements of the BME researchers have played a key role in the development of a modern insulin delivery device for diabetics. (Editor’s note: Details of the research results can be found in a previous article on bme.hu)

Following the two-hour presentation, Gábor Domokos told MTI in Paris that he is now an external member of NASA’s Mars mission, being one of the first to receive images taken by the Mars rover, and his job is to advise on morphological issues.

“Based on the current shape and contour of the rocks, we can tell how big they were when they started to wear away, which is of great help to geologists. And from the crack patterns, we can deduce how a stone was formed,” the researcher highlighted.

The mathematical model derived from this research can be used to determine the original size of a pebble based on the number and position of its equilibria. This calculation helped the inventors in collaboration with NASA to prove that Mars was once crossed by rivers of significant size, based on rocks seen in images taken by the Curiosity Mars rover.

“A new language of morphological questions seems to be emerging, in which “Gömböc” was the starting point. It revealed how to talk about shapes in the language of numbers,”

the BME researcher pointed out. “The recognition of this language is a paradigm shift: if we can read the numbers written by nature into the shapes, we can describe the change and evolution of the shapes by arriving at a meaningful classification,” he added.

Today, there are thousands of different types of “Gömböc” in many countries around the world. The individual, numbered pieces are on permanent display at some of the world’s most famous universities and museums, including Oxford, Princeton University and Windsor Castle. The largest, 4.5 m tall first outdoor “Gömböc”-shaped sculpture is in Budapest, on Corvin Promenade, while the so-called light “Gömböc” pieces are also available online.

The theory of “Gömböc” also inspires young researchers: one of them is Krisztina Regős, a first-year doctoral student at the Department of Morphology and Geometric Modelling at BME ÉPK, who, with the professional support of her mentor Gábor Domokos, has succeeded in proving a 50-year-old mathematical conjecture. (Editor’s note: The young researcher was interviewed on this topic by bme.hu). A recent sensation is the publication of Krisztina Regős’s study in one of the world’s most prestigious journals, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). In addition to researchers from the University of Basel and the University of Bern, Gábor Domokos and Professor Konstantin S. Novoselov, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2010 for his research on graphene, also contributed to the publication. (Editor’s note: Details of the study can be found in the following news item on bme.hu)

VIDEO proof: military helicopters handed over to Ukrainians took off from Hungarian airport

győr airport ukrainian military helicopter

It seems that French military helicopters were delivered to the Ukrainian border police via Győr-Pér airport.

Military helicopters from France to Ukraine stopped at Győr-Pér airport

Three light military helicopters of the H125M Fennec type, bearing the national insignia of the Ukrainian State Border Guard Service, arrived at Győr-Pér airport. After about 10 hours of waiting and maintenance, they flew to an unknown destination. This is what can be seen on the footage recorded by Időkép’s webcam on 13 and 14 February, spotted by a reader of Átlátszó, a Hungarian investigative portal.

The Fennec Eurocopter helicopters were captured by the Időkép webcam. Photos taken in Kyiv the same week show helicopters of the same type and with the same ensign, Átlátszó reports. In addition to helicopters, a number of military transport aircraft also passed through Hungarian airspace.

Not the only military aircrafts that passed through our airspace

According to the Radarbox archive, Canadian and American planes from Budapest and the Hungarian Defence Forces’ Pápa airport delivered cargo to Rzeszów, the main distribution centre for arms shipments to Ukraine. A day before the arrival of these helicopters in Győr, the military news portal Militarnyi published a report and photos of the delivery of H125M helicopters to Ukraine. As they reported, France was going to deliver 55 H125M helicopters to Ukraine in February, based on an earlier agreement.

The first of these had already arrived in Ukraine by the time the article was published. The attached photos clearly show that the helicopter type and livery are identical to those filmed at Győr airport.

From Győr, they flew to Rzeszów, Poland

The archive of the Radarbox airspace monitoring application shows that the helicopters went from Hungary to Rzeszów airport near the Polish-Ukrainian border. The airport used to be a low-traffic airport serving mainly domestic flights. However, has since February 2022, it become one of the largest military air bridge stations in history. This is where much of the Western military aid to Ukraine passes through. The military vehicles, ammunition, weapons and other equipment are unloaded at Rzeszów-Jasionka airport, from where they are largely transported overland to Ukraine, 24.hu writes.

Ministry of Defence: We did not let helicopters through to Ukraine

As we reported, in mid-April, Politico, citing leaked US intelligence documents, reported that the Hungarian government is allowing allied states to use Hungarian airspace to transport arms to Ukraine.

In response to a question from napi.hu, the Hungarian Ministry of Defence called Politico’s report incorrect. As they wrote: “Our country did not let helicopters through to Ukraine. Hungary continues to send neither weapons, nor ammunition, nor soldiers to Ukraine, and does not allow the transfer of military supplies to Ukraine. The war can only end with an immediate ceasefire and peace negotiations.”

However, the Ministry’s information is presumed to be untrue, based on the footage taken in Győr. You can watch the video recorded by Időkép’s webcam in Győr in THIS article. You can check out the photos of the H125M helicopters in Ukraine HERE.

Successful evacuation from Sudan, six more evacuations underway – UPDATE

Sudan civil war

Four more Hungarian citizens have been rescued from Sudan amid the civil war there, with the evacuation of another six people currently under way, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjártó said on Monday.

Although Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó, Defence Minister Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky, and the Hungarian Counter-Terrorism Centre (TEK) have all made statements on the evacuation of Hungarians, the government can only ask for help from foreign states. There is now a request for cooperation with other countries.

The four Hungarians have safely made it to Djibouti, three of whom were rescued from Sudan through cooperation with France, Szijjártó said in Luxembourg, according to a foreign ministry statement, expressing thanks to France for its assistance.

Another three Hungarians are being moved to safety in cooperation with the United Nations, while the evacuation of three other Hungarian citizens is currently ongoing, Szijjártó said.

They will be met by Hungary’s consuls at border crossings with Sudan, the minister said, adding that he could not provide further details for security reasons.

Meanwhile, another five Hungarian citizens are still in the Sudanese capital, Szijjártó said. Despite the poor technical conditions, “contact is established with them from time to time”, with the government advising them on how they can leave the country, he added.

Szijjártó said on Saturday that 14 Hungarian citizens had been rescued safely from Sudan. Another 15 Hungarians turned to the Hungarian authorities, he said on Sunday, adding that Hungary was making attempts to help them.

UPDATE

All Hungarians in Sudan accounted for

The government has contacted all Hungarian citizens in Sudan, they are all well and many are on their way to safe places, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said in Luxembourg on Monday.

The ministry contacted Hungarians in civil war-torn Sudan, as internet and phone services were restored for a short time, Szijjártó said.

Since Sunday, five Hungarians have been evacuated from Sudan. Another three are on their way to safe locations with the help of the UN, and two others are also being evacuated, he said.

“Another five people are in Khartoum, we have briefed them of options to evacuate and will coordinate further moves as soon that is possible,” the ministry statement cited Szijjártó as saying.

Major changes around Paks II – what happens to Russian and French assistance?

Paks Nuclear Plant Hungary

Economist Gergely Jákli wrote about the future of the Paks II project in his company magazine. He talked about how the strict contractual frameworks hold back the advancement of the project.

The strict framework is holding them back

Recently, PM Orbán’s political director Balázs Orbán admitted that the contractual framework of the Paks II project is being reconsidered in the light of increasingly stringent Western sanctions. Reacting to this, Mr Jákli said that there is an increasing need for the new blocks as soon as possible. He said that the current daily electricity demand of around 6,000 MW could rise to around 10,000 MW per day by 2030. Thus, if Paks I and Paks II were to produce in parallel by then, the two plants would still meet 40-45 percent of the expected electricity demand per day.

He then spoke about the general contractor agreement with Roszatom, which promises the completed Paks II project with a construction cost of EUR 12.5 billion. Of this, EUR 10 billion would come from Russian loans.

“Rigorously driven piles give the appearance of stability, but they also tie your hands and make it harder to move the project forward. I believe that the contractual environment is also full of such pillars, which are rather obstacles and slowing factors,” Portfolio quotes Mr Jákli as saying.

These changes are likely to affect only the status of the Russian prime contractor, in line with Portfolio’s background information, and not the complete replacement of Russia’s Rosatom in the project. Since, according to Mr Jákli, “the project is in our hands”, the indications are that Paks II Zrt. could be the main contractor, and French Framatome could really only get a bigger role in the management system.

Rosatom will still be the main partner

What Jákli said also confirms that Paks II Zrt. is still counting on Rosatom to build the primary circuit. Thus, the scheme would continue to build on the internationally well-established division of labour, with Western European companies joining the Russian primary circuit in various areas, Portfolio writes.

“We are committed to this, we plan to continue to implement the project with Roszatom, and our suppliers – both Framatome and Siemens – are also committed to the project,” Mr Jákli concluded.

Read also:

Is Hungary ending cooperation with Russian Rosatom? Here is the answer

rosatom hungary russia szijjártó

The claim that Hungary’s government is withdrawing from cooperation with Russia’s Rosatom on the expansion of the Paks nuclear power plant “is a lie”, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said on Tuesday, emphasising that the increased role of France’s Framatome in the project concerned only the delivery of the control technology required for the new reactor blocks.

Framatome’s role has had to be increased because its German consortium partner, Siemens Energy, has not yet received an export permit “for political reasons”, Szijjártó told a press conference during a break in a meeting of European Union energy affairs ministers in Brussels, according to a ministry statement.

Szijjártó said nuclear energy was subjected to discrimination, arguing that the expansion of Hungary’s Paks plant was “constantly facing obstacles” and “they are trying to impose sanctions on nuclear projects, which we regularly block”. He said Germany’s government was still blocking Siemens Energy’s participation in the Paks upgrade and had yet to approve its delivery of the control technology for the project in line with its contract.

Szijjártó slammed the “constant wave of fake news in the international liberal media”, calling reports that the Hungarian government was withdrawing from cooperation with Rosatom “an outright lie”. “We are committed to fulfilling the contract signed nine years ago with Rosatom,” the minister said. “We are committed to the construction of Paks 2 with Rosatom. We have no reason to withdraw from this cooperation.”

Meanwhile, Szijjártó said the EU’s pro-nuclear alliance comprising 12 member states led by France held a meeting earlier in the day. Currently seven countries are planning to build or are already building nuclear plants, Szijjártó said, adding this would lead to a “major nuclear rebirth” in Europe over the coming years in the interest of defending against price fluctuations.

The meeting’s participants agreed to work together closely to combat discrimination against nuclear energy. The group therefore calls for lending conditions to be changed so that they could also be used fairly for nuclear energy-related investments, Szijjártó said.

Legal and licensing procedures should also be reviewed and based on the decades of experience Europe has gained in the use of nuclear energy, he said. The alliance also proposes the development of joint training programmes in the interest of ensuring that there are enough professionals and capacity, he added.

Read also:

Financial Times: The French will put an end to the Putin-Orbán nuclear friendship? – UPDATED

Orbán Macron France

Of course, PM Viktor Orbán or Russian President Putin never said they were friends. But, among others, they met each year before the war in Ukraine, and Russians got the Paks nuclear power plant extension project for a lot of money. Furthermore, the Hungarian government keeps talking about the importance of peace, which momentarily means that the Ukrainians should lay down their weapons and accept the Russian invasion. Will the French terminate the good relationship of the two leaders? UPDATE: Read Russian Rosatom’s reaction in the issue below.

Hungary-Russia: a special relationship

PM Orbán and his government condemned the Russian invasion in Ukraine but always highlighted the rightful security claims of Russia and President Putin. They voted for all of the EU sanctions but were able to take off some Russian businessmen and clerics from the EU’s sanctions lists. The Western allies keep talking about the importance of arms deliveries to Ukraine. Meanwhile, Orbán said Hungary would never transport weapons for Kyiv because Budapest does not want to escalate the conflict.

Voices about seceding from the Russian energy deliveries are the strongest in the West, but Hungary keeps buying Russian oil and gas even though the purchase price is very high. However, it seems there are some cracks on the unique Hungarian-Russian relationship.

According to the Financial Times, Hungary started negotiations with France. The aim is to replace the Russians with the French regarding the Paks nuclear power plant extension project, the British paper wrote.

Orbán will kick out the Russians for the French?

Viktor Orbán met Emmanuel Macron last week in Paris, and they discussed a nuclear cooperation and the state of the extension project. High ranking government officials told FT that the Hungarian government started to rethink the project, which costs EUR 12 billion, financed from a Russian loan. Furthermore, the partners are Russia and the country’s Rosatom, 24.hu wrote.

Here are some photos about Orbán’s visit in Paris where he met with incumbent President Marcon and President Sarkozy. In the post, he wrote that Huns are in Paris:

A subcontractor of the Russian nuclear giant in Hungary is the French reactor manufacturing company, Framatome, which will deliver the new plant’s control system in cooperation with the German Siemens. Péter Szijjártó, Hungary’s minister for foreign affairs and trade, announced that the cabinet would like to increase the role of the French company in the project.

Balázs Orbán, the Hungarian prime minister’s political director, said there was an ongoing debate concerning the reimagination of the Paks extension project because the situation became more complicated after the war started. Interestingly, Hungary and France vetoed together the EU’s direct sanctions against the Rosatom. But Financial Times says the pressure is growing in that respect.

The political director added that changing the original plans would push the project back by years. However, experts believe the longer the war and the sanctions last, the more probable the Russian participation’s end becomes. However, it is not clear yet whether that means a new partner or a new plant.

A French official highlighted both sides are open for a closer cooperation. But nobody knows how that intention would materialise.

UPDATE: Russian Rosatom reacted (03.26.)

Lóránt Kóti, the communications leader of the Rosatom in Hungary, sent a statement on the issue to Portfólió. He wrote that the Russian company is ready to work on the project and hopes their cooperation with the Hungarian partners can continue.

Paks Nuclear Plant Hungary
Read alsoWhat’s going on? Production at Paks nuclear plant down half

We are further away from reaching climate goals, says former Hungarian President

thermometer temperature climate change

Compared with when 15 climate goals were adopted in Paris 8 years ago, the world now is further away achieving them, János Áder said at a UN meeting on water issues in New York.

The former president of the republic in Hungary, who is a member of the global body’s Water and Climate Leaders grouping, said that the world was also further away from attaining the aims on water and hygiene than when they were set in 2015. Growing populations and higher energy consumption is boosting demand for water, he said, and based on current trends, by 2050 roughly of half of the world’s population will live in regions where water is scarce. Investments in water infrastructure must be increased, Áder said.

Also, noting that there are now 32 UN agencies handling water issues as against 28 four years ago, he cast doubt on the efficiency of the UN’s operations in this area. Áder briefed the meeting on Hungary’s water-related measures related to maintenance of its 4,000km river dam system, the 41 billion forints spent on biodiversity and developing national parks in the past 10 years, and the creation of the Danube-Drava-Mura biosphere reserve. Fully 95 percent of waste water is returned to the environment after treatment, he added.

Future tasks include preventing the desertification of central Hungary, making better use of solar and wind energy, and the speeding up upgrades to the water utility network, he said. The 2023 Water Conference is starting today at the United Nations. Áder will speak on Thursday, while Péter Szijjártó, the foreign minister, will address the debate on Friday.

Read alsoNATO ignores Hungary’s objection, holds Ukraine committee meeting

PHOTOS: French company invests a lot of money in Hungary to build new plant

French build new plant

French-owned Schneider Electric on Friday laid the cornerstone for a 16 billion forint plant it is building in Dunavecse, in central Hungary.

The investment creating 500 jobs is supported by a 2.3 billion forint government grant, Péter Szijjártó, the minister of foreign affairs and trade, said at the ceremony. The plant, Schneider Electric’s fifth in the country, will make medium-voltage equipment for electrical distribution systems, the minister said.

Szijjártó noted that French businesses form the sixth largest group of foreign investors in Hungary, and bilateral trade was worth 10 billion forints last year, with Hungarian exports accounting for 6 billion euros. Schneider Electric employs around 2,000 people in the country at four plants, a logistics base and two shared service centers.

Here are some photos:

And a video:

Orbán and Macron talk about the future of Europe

macron orbán 2023 paris (2)

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and French President Emmanuel Macron met in Paris late on Monday to discuss bilateral ties and the most important aspects of the future of Europe, the PM’s press chief said on Tuesday.

Orbán said Hungary wants an immediate ceasefire and peace talks in Ukraine, Bertalan Havasi said. Hungary has been pro-peace since the start of the war and will stay so, Orbán said.

Socialists call for ‘strong, united Europe’

Gábor Harangozó, deputy head of the opposition Socialist Party, advocated a “strong, sovereign, and united Europe” at a press conference published on Facebook on Tuesday, following a recent meeting of European Socialist leaders in Warsaw.

The Socialist party is committed to reinforcing European integration, and “concerned to see that Hungary is falling in the trap of nationalist selfishness and narowmindedness”. He insisted that stronger and more complex cooperation in Europe could help remove economic and security dependencies.

Concerning the Ukraine war, Harangozó said “Russia cannot win and the perpetrators must be brought to court”, adding that Europe needed a new security system.

Europe should become a “sovereign and attractive centre” based on “a fair distribution of welfare and strong social cohesion”. Everybody in Europe must be “capable of having a good life out of their work”, he added. Harangozó also called for a common eastern Europe policy for the EU as well as further accelerating the EU’s enlargement.

Viktor Orbán
Read alsoPolitico: Viktor Orbán likes to talk big

PHOTOS: Orbán received a warm welcome from Macron in Paris

macron orbán 2023 paris (2)

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and French President Emmanuel Macron have started talks in Paris.

Ahead of a working dinner at the Elysee Palace, Macron received Orbán in the palace’s court shortly after 8.30pm.

According to French news reports, the sides are scheduled to discuss current European issues including the Russia-Ukraine war, support to Ukraine, strengthening European competitiveness, energy security, and developing Europe’s defence industry.

As we wrote before, the expansion of the Paks plant cannot succeed without cooperation with France, given that the control system for the new reactor blocks is being supplied by a French-German consortium, Péter Szijjártó said. Details HERE.

Foreign minister: increasing French participation in Paks nuclear power plant 2

france flamanville nuclear energy plant

Hungary is in talks on increasing the role of France’s Framatome in the expansion of the Paks nuclear power plant with a view to preventing the German government from being able to block the delivery of control technology required for the project, the minister of foreign affairs and trade said in Flamanville on Monday.

The expansion of the Paks plant cannot succeed without cooperation with France, given that the control system for the new reactor blocks is being supplied by a French-German consortium, Péter Szijjártó said after inspecting Framatome’s nuclear plant being built in Flamanville, according to a ministry statement.

Szijjártó said it was “unfair” that the German government continued to block delivery of the system to Hungary, arguing that decisions concerning the energy mix fell under national competences and that energy security was a matter of sovereignty.

The government is therefore in talks on further increasing the role of France’s Framatome in the project so that Berlin cannot continue to block the delivery of control technology, Szijjártó said.

Hungary is expanding nuclear cooperation with France with a view to ensuring that the Paks plant uses western European control technology, he said.

Paks nuclear power plant
Read alsoHungary might operate small nuclear reactor with American technology

Meanwhile, the minister said the war in Ukraine and the sanctions imposed in response to the conflict had resulted in a global energy supply crisis, while the world is under increasing pressure to act on climate change.

The world will need safe, cheap and long-term energy supplies that also take into consideration environmental protection aspects, he said, adding that these goals could only be met by nuclear energy.

Hungary is a European leader in the area of nuclear energy and a member of the nuclear coalition that is “clearly led by France, which pursues a rational energy policy”, Szijjártó said.

He welcomed the cooperation between France and Hungary which he said would have “practical impacts”.

Passengers sick after Wizz pilot’s stunning move: plane never arrived at its destination

Wizz Air pilots Sweden

A Wizz Air plane could not land yesterday in Nice, France, due to the extreme winds. However, the pilot did not know that at first, and carried out an unexpected move leaving many passengers sick. Below you may read the details.

According to telex.hu, a Wizz Air plane could not touch down at the airport of Nice, on the French Riviera yesterday. Therefore, the aircraft flew to Marseille, but the concerning part is what happened in between. The plane took off in Budapest under the call sign W62263 at 12.15 PM, and should have landed in Nice at 2.20 PM. However, it never arrived in the world-known Riviera town.

It approached it, but because of the strong winds, the pilot decided to take two turns above the sea and tried to land only after that. The aircraft approached the runway smoothly. But then the pilot carried out a so-called go-around. He elevated the plane again and left the airport. Afterwards, he landed in Marseille, 200 kilometres away from the West.

Based on the estimate of Flightradar24, the plane’s height over the runway was 122 metres when the pilot started to ascend again because of the wind. However, a reader of telex.hu does not believe that calculation. He has experience flying a chopper and states they were only a couple of metres above the runway when the pilot carried out the move.

Anyway, many got sick on board after the move. Wizz Air sent a bus for the passengers after they landed at the airport of Marseille to take them back to Nice.

Wizz Air plane Ukraine All You Can Fly
Read alsoHungarian Wizz Air launches training programme for female pilots

Minister: it is time to end the suffering of the people in Ukraine

Hungarian foreign minister in France

Hungary and France both want peace in Ukraine, but differ on the tactical steps that could make it happen, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said in Paris on Tuesday.

As a neighbour of Ukraine, Hungary is confronted by the dramatic effects of the armed conflict on a daily basis, and its interests therefore lie in an immediate ceasefire and peace talks, Szijjártó said after meeting his French counterpart, Catherine Colonna, according to a ministry statement. France’s position on this differs from that of Hungary the way almost every other European country’s position differs from Hungary’s, Szijjártó said, adding that there was an expectation that Ukraine may eventually be in a better position in the war to conduct negotiations.

“We don’t believe in this; we think that it is time to end the suffering of the people,” he said. Szijjártó said he and Colonna were in agreement on almost every other strategic non-European Union issue. One example, he said, was the matter of nuclear energy. He noted that both Hungary and France had successfully pushed the EU to label nuclear energy as sustainable.

Szijjártó noted that the control system for the new reactor blocks of Hungary’s Paks nuclear power plant is being supplied by a German-French consortium, and whereas Paris had approved the necessary permits for the system, Berlin had yet to do so.

He said it was regrettable that certain German ministers were blocking the participation of Siemens Energy in the Paks upgrade project. He added that every country determined its energy mix in accordance with its national interests. “The Germans are now questioning this right and by . blocking the permit, they are endangering our long-term energy security, which is unacceptable,” Szijjártó said. He said plans were being devised with Siemens Energy’s French partner, Framatome, to prevent delays in the project in case the German government sticks to its position.

Szijjártó also touched on security in Africa, saying Budapest and Paris were in agreement that the starting point for Europe’s security was in Africa. “The protection of Europe, the fight against terrorism and the prevention of migration starts in Africa,” he said. Hungary is prepared to undertake joint military missions with France as it already has in Mali, he added. He also noted France’s participation in Hungary’s space programme.

Meanwhile, he said French companies were the fifth largest investor community in Hungary, adding that bilateral trade turnover had reached a record high last year, exceeding 10 billion euros.

suv police car accident budapest
Read alsoFrench porn director Pierre Woodman crashes into police car in Budapest

Hungarian government seeks new French investments

Car Factory Economy Industrial

Economic Development Minister Márton Nagy on Thursday met French Ambassador Claire Legras and a delegation of businessmen in Budapest, to discuss Hungarian-French business ties, Hungarian and European competitiveness and current tendencies in economic policy, the ministry said.

Representatives of the Hungarian-French Chamber of Commerce and Trade and of companies like Legrand, Servier, Groupama, Axereal and others have also attended the meeting. France is Hungary’s 10th largest trading partner and its 5th largest investor, with French companies employing some 40,000 people in the country, Nagy said.

The minister briefed the delegation on Hungary’s transforming industrial policy, on reindustrialisation and the main aims of its economic policy, the statement said. High investment volumes and exports will be key in Hungary to avoid recession and to “jumpstart the economy” in the coming years, Nagy said, highlighting the importance of French investments and developments in the process.

Nagy and the delegation agreed that dialogue and cooperation between the two countries should be “deepened and expanded”, the ministry said.

suv police car accident budapest
Read alsoFrench porn director Pierre Woodman crashes into police car in Budapest

Buda Castle among the most popular castles in Europe

There are countless historic sites across Europe that offer the feeling of travelling back in time by visiting them. And among these sites, the best way to confront history while still enjoying stunning scenery is to visit a castle.

However, it can be a difficult decision for anyone who wants to choose which castle is the most worth visiting on a trip to Europe. According to the travel agency The Thinking Traveller, one of the best ways to choose such a destination is to look at which locations are most often featured on Social Media. After going through millions of Instagram hashtags, the travel agency has compiled a list of the top 15 most Instagrammed castles.

Buda Castle

The Buda Castle (Budapest, Hungary) was ranked 8th on the list, even beating the Palace of Versailles in France.

The Buda Castle is perhaps one of the most famous places in Budapest, so it’s not such a surprise that pictures taken there are trending on Instagram. The complex is currently home to the Budapest History Museum and the Hungarian National Gallery. The castle and its neighbourhood have been on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1987. The castle served as the seat of the Hungarian kings from the 13th century. Although its history has been full of turbulent turns, tourists can still admire the castle and its neighbourhood in beautifully preserved condition. Visitors will find many medieval monuments, 17th-18th century houses and charming cobbled streets in the castle district. In addition, the basement system beneath the castle and the caves with thermal water beneath the hill are also exceptional.

With the hashtag #budacastle, Buda Castle is featured in 205,807 posts on Instagram.

Buda Castle
Photo: Pixabay / waldomiguez

Buda Castle at night
The castle at night. Photo: Pixabay

Top 3 castles in Europe

1. Tower of London – London, England

The first place was taken by the Tower of London. A total of 647,112 people used the hashtag #toweroflondon on Instagram. The tower built after the Norman Conquest served as a prison for centuries. However, today, as the number of Instagram posts shows, it is one of the most popular tourist attractions.

2. Edinburgh Castle — Edinburgh, Scotland

The hashtag #edinburgcastle was used in a total of 646,244 posts. One of the most interesting features of the castle is that it was built on top of an extinct volcano. The iconic building is one of Scotland’s most important national heritage sites and also a favourite among tourists.

3. Mont Saint-Michel — Normandy, France

The castle is a real hidden treasure, as it is located on a small island with a population of only about 30 people. Historically, the castle has played an important defensive role, as its isolation has made it easy to keep invaders from invading the castle. The hashtag #montsaintmichel has been used 596,062 times on Instagram.

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Read alsoPHOTOS: Budapest’s most beautiful historic cafés

PHOTOS: Budapest in the 1910s through the eyes of a French photographer

budapest auguste léon

Tens of thousands of archive photographs from a museum in France have recently been made publicly available. Among them are some taken in Budapest in 1913. They were shot by Auguste Léon, a French photographer who photographed the Hungarian capital and other sites as part of the Archives of the Earth programme. Check out some of his breathtaking photos in our article!

auguste léon budapest
Elisabeth Bridge and church in the foreground. Photo taken by: Auguste Léon

The Achives de la Planète programme

The Albert Kahn Museum in Boulogne-Billancourt, near Paris, has made tens of thousands of old photographs available to the public. The French museum’s collection is based on photographs taken under the Archives de la Planète (Archives of the Earth) programme. Between 1908 and 1931, 72,000 colour photographs were taken in 50 countries around the world, pestbuda.hu reports. The aim was to capture and document human cultures around the world.

The ambitious undertaking was the idea of French banker Albert Kahn, who financed it himself. His aim was to show what the Earth was like at the beginning of the 20th century. He wanted to capture and immortalise the human-inhabited world. Kahn hired two photographers, including Auguste Léon, who also photographed Budapest. The programme officially began in 1912, pestbuda.hu writes.

budapest auguste léon
Budapest, Agricultural Museum – view from the waterfront. Photo by: Auguste Léon

Auguste Léon in Budapest

The footage was shot by nine photographers and three filmmakers (183,000 metres of film tape survive) from Brazil to Scandinavia, showing historical events, cities, old trades, rural and urban life. The collection has been managed by the Albert Kahn Museum since 1990. Most of the well-preserved colour photographs are available online.

At the beginning of the 20th century, pictures were also taken in Budapest, including of the Elisabeth Bridge, the Museum of Applied Arts, the Chain Bridge, the Parish Church in the city centre, the Vajdahunyad Castle and the city centre. You can also see these photos on the French museum’s website.

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Wizz Air closes a flight from Hungarian international airport and opens two new

Wizz Air Hungary

Hungary’s Wizz Air continuously highlights how smoothly it develops its fleet and routes, including new destinations one after the other, even in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. However, they decided to close one of their flights from Debrecen international airport. Meanwhile, their first flights to Saudi Arabia took off yesterday from Budapest.

According to okosutas.hu, Hungary’s leading low-cost airline, Wizz Air, has decided to close their flight to Paris Beauvais this winter. Before the COVID pandemic, the airline stationed two planes in the second biggest Hungarian city’s airfield. Now that number is only one, and it seems the company uses it even less frequently.

In the winter schedule, Wizz Air has only four destinations from Debrecen. Before, they communicated that they would not fly to the French capital from end-March, but they deleted all available flights in February and March. Unlike Ryanair, Wizz Air never communicates its flight cancellations. They only share information about the new destinations but refuse to comment or share information about negative news. It seems that is their market strategy. If you want to travel to Paris from Debrecen with Wizz Air, 27 January will be your last chance.

After that, you may only go to London, Tel-Aviv, Eindhoven and Larnaka from Debrecen with the Hungarian airline. In the summer, new destinations will include Mallorca, Burgas and Corfu.

We reported before that Wizz Air closed three European bases, one in Cardiff, Wales, one in Bacău, Romania and one in Bari, Italy.

Meanwhile, the Hungarian low-cost carrier announced the launch of direct flights between Budapest and destinations in Saudi Arabia yesterday. From 9 January, Wizz Air is operating flights between the Hungarian capital and Riyadh and Jeddah twice a week.

Those destinations have been reachable with Wizz Air from Austria and Italy since end-2022. Based on the plans, they would like to carry more than one million passengers to the Middle-Eastern monarchy in 2023. That is how they would like to help Saudi Arabia’s Vision 30 program aiming to triple the number of passengers choosing to travel there, the Hungarian News Agency (MTI) wrote.

Wizz Air flies to 10 Middle-Eastern destinations from Budapest, chairman Robert Carey pointed out in the company’s statement sent to the MTI.

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French porn director Pierre Woodman crashes into police car in Budapest

suv police car accident budapest

According to the Disaster Management Department, a car and an SUV collided on Monday afternoon in the 8th district of Budapest. The Budapest fire brigade and ambulance were called to the accident. Traffic was blocked on the affected section. It later turned out that French adult film director Pierre Woodman had been involved in a collision with a police car.

On Monday afternoon, a police car and an SUV collided in Budapest. The accident happened in Népszínház Street in the 8th district, baleset-info.hu reports. As it later turned out, the SUV was driven by French adult film director and producer Pierre Woodman. Two porn actresses, Liz Ocean and Lola Heart, were travelling with him in the car.

According to the news portal, the police car was driving towards Blaha Lujza Square. It was passing a tram when a black BMW SUV with German license plates turned out of Kiss József Street in front of it. The police car collided with the left rear landing gear of the BMW with great force. One of the policemen’s hands was injured and he was taken to hospital by ambulance. A woman in the SUV was in shock and was also taken to hospital, Telex.hu reports.

As Telex writes, according to eyewitnesses, the police car was not driving with its siren on. However, it was using its distinctive lights, so the driver of the other car should have noticed. The Hungarian news portal also sent their questions about the accident to the police. They replied shortly after. Their reply contained the following information:

“At 3:45 PM on 2 January, at the intersection of Népszínház Street and Kiss József Street in the 8th district, a police car was driving on a protected route, using a light signal (which is not a distinctive sign in itself), when the driver of a car coming from the right on Kiss József Street failed to give way despite the sign and collided. A police officer and a passenger in the other car suffered minor injuries. The circumstances of the accident are being investigated by the Budapest Police Headquarters”.

The fact that the SUV was driven by the famous porn director was confirmed by Pierre Woodman himself in his Twitter post. He wrote:

“2023 started well … I enjoyed so much beging [beginning – DNH ed.] the year with adorable @lizoceanxxx but on the way home a very fast police car hit me hard and injured @LolaHeartXXX on the head. She end up in hospital but is back home now and OK.”

 

 

In a comment below the post, Lola Heart wrote: its was very creepy situation, and happend anything very fast. The doctors told me, Im oke, so nothing problem… fortunely everybody ok, without poor car.”

suv police car accident budapest
Read alsoFrench porn director Pierre Woodman crashes into police car in Budapest