Budapest, February 29 (MTI) – Skies will be overcast early on,
then gradually clear, beginning in the northwest. Showers, thundershowers and even hail are possible. Winds will
initially be from the southwest and about 30-40 km/h, shifting to
come from the northwest and gusting to 90 km/h. During
thundershowers storm-force wind gusts may be as powerful as 100-120
km/h. Nighttime lows should range from 4 to 9 degrees Celsius, and
daytime highs will be between 10 and 15 degrees Celsius, the
National Weather Service reports. Continue »

Budapest, February 29 (MTI) – The Foreign Ministry welcomes the
agreement signed in Kenya between the government and the opposition
on sharing power in a coalition government, the ministry’s spokesman
told MTI on Friday. Continue »

Budapest, February 29 (MTI) – To date only 4 percent of 1-forint
coins and 6 percent of 2-forint coins in circulation have been
returned to the National Bank of Hungary (MNB), the bank’s
communication department told MTI on Friday. Continue »

Budapest, February 29 (MTI) – “Activities by extremist
organisations” are not expected on March 9, the day of an
opposition-initiated referendum, or March 15, Hungary’s national
holiday, Gyorgy Szilvasy, minister in charge of the civilian secret
services, said on Friday. Continue »

Budapest, February 29 (MTI) – A festival will offer eleven
recent German films in Budapest and three other Hungarian cities
between March 5 and 21, the Budapest Goethe Institute told MTI on
Friday. Continue »

The Amber Room
in New Hampshire proudly advertises the fact
that it has New Hampshire’s longest bar and
the Mickey Finn Brewery in Milwaukee holds concerts
in its Amber Room. Until recently, however, the Amber Room
was considered by many to be related only to beer halls. The real story,
however, takes us back to the time when one of the world’s most spectacular
treasures vanished. Continue »

Story
of the week – South Stream Pipeline

Hungary
and Russia sign South Stream accord
A Hungarian-Russian agreement involving construction of the South Stream gas
pipeline was signed in the Kremlin in Moscow on Thursday, with Hungarian Prime
Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany and Russian President Vladimir Putin present for the
signature ceremony…

Washington
urges Budapest to prioritise Nabucco pipeline
Hungary should give unambiguous priority to the Nabucco gas pipeline, a senior
United States official has said…

South
Stream deal not to restrict other projects, say gov’t officials
Hungary’s agreement with Russia’s Gazprom to build a stretch of the South
Stream pipeline contains no stipulations restricting other existing or future
agreements, said government officials on Wednesday…

 

Politics
and referendum

TV
reporter impersonates MSZP campaign chief – offers to buy referendum votes
A reporter who works for the right-leaning all-news television channel Hir TV
admitted to being behind a series of phone calls that offered to buy votes from
Roma representatives…

POLL – Referendum outcome for opposition appears assured
Four million Hungarian voters — 54 percent of the voting population — intend
to vote in the March 9 referendum on overturning the government’s doctor,
hospital and university tuition fees, according to the latest poll by Nezopont
Institute…

Kóka
admits fraud possible, knows no evilThe police last week began
investigating allegations of fraud at the Alliance of Free Democrats (SZDSZ)’s
electoral convention last year, while party chairman János Kóka, who was
narrowly voted in at the convention, admitted there was a “strong suspicion” of
irregularities in the voting…
 CultureOutside,
inside; one & many
Photography is famously
the most democratic art and at this exhibition it is easy to imagine yourself
in the photographers’ shoes.The Ludwig Museum is showing two exhibitions by
Dutch photographers as part of the LOW Festival…50
European documentaries compete at Budapest festival
Fifty recent documentaries from 17 European countries will be competing at
the Dialektus Festival in Budapest on March 4-9, a festival spokesperson
told MTI on Thursday…

Arnulf
Rainer exhibition at the Virág-Judit Gallery
There is still no clear
answer to the age-old question: what is art? Thanks to increasingly diverse
trends, it has become more and more difficult to come up with a definition that
encompasses Botticelli’s Venus, the Cubist works of Pablo Picasso and the
pictures by the chimpanzee Congo…

 

Economy
and Business

Forint
to become floating currency
The central bank’s Monetary Council on Monday decided to scrap the forint’s
intervention band as of February 26 and let the currency float freely against
other currencies…

Spas
all the rage in development
Construction of a new
covered spa and leisure centre which promises to be the largest of its kind in
Central Europe and the second largest anywhere on the continent is well under
way…

Analysts
fear signs of fiscal slippage, say measures populist
The government is planning
to cut taxes in a drive to create new jobs and will also offer shares in
state-owned companies to the general public, Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány
said during his annual state of the nation speech in Parliament last Monday…

 

Miscellaneous

Oscar
turns 80 – Summary of the Academy Awards
For those of you who, like me, stayed up until 6 in the morning to watch this
year’s honor to the film industry: “Congratulations, we did it!” And to those
of you who, unlike the rest of us, had to wake up early on Monday morning to
earn a living, here is my full review of the 2008 Oscars!…

Gala
of Eger Wines shows the region is respectable for whites as well as reds
Eger is best known outside Hungary for producing a strong red wine called Bull’s
Blood (Bikavér). For those in the know, however, there is far more to the
region than just that, and Eger’s palette has more than just red to offer…

Warning
over FX loans
Chairman of the National
Bank of Hungary (MNB) András Simor and chairman of supervisory council of the
State Financial Supervisory Authority (PZSÁF) István Farkas issued a joint
statement last week urging caution loans denominated in foreign currencies…

A
Tale of Five Cities
While the battle rages on in
Budapest about whether or not to build high rises on Csepel Island,
metropolises around the globe are competing with each other to attract tourists
with amazing developments that are literally scraping the skies…

 

Abroad

The
U.K.’s Tooth Decay
A recent Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) report stated that as many as 7.4 million
people in the U.K. have not been to a NHS dentist since the Labour government’s
controversial renovation of the system in April of 2006…Weather forecast and program guide for the weekend It
seems that we have to expect wind, cloudy skies and showers over the first
spring weekend. Lowest temperatures will stay in the positive while daytime
highs will range between 5 and 11 degrees Celsius. Winds will initially be in the 30-40 km/h range on Saturday, but may be as strong as 100-110 km/h
in some parts of the country on Sunday

Plan
this year’s vacation at the Travel Exhibition or look at all sorts of jewellery
at the Carat Exhibition. Both events take
place at Hungexpo Budapest Fair
Centre, so you can even do both. The magnifícent building of the Museum
of Agriculture
hosts the annual Easter Exhibition throughout March. Find out
everything about Easter, mix egghunt with a quiz, paint eggs or learn
arts and crafts. If you’re
in the mood for animals and people flying all over the place, visit the
Hungarian State Circus and see Festival Plus, the golden award winning
act of
the 7th International Circus Festival.

For more information on the above events please go to one of these websites or
visit the Budapest Buzz at www.budapestbuzz.com
for dining and clubbing ideas:

Travel Exhibition

Carat Exhibition

Museum of Agriculture

Hungarian State Circus   Continue »

Sixteen Hungarians received Israel’s
Righteous Among the Nations award for saving Jews during the Holocaust.
But as Stefan Bos reports, the ceremony was overshadowed by concerns
over renewed anti-Semitism in Hungary and other parts of Europe. Continue »

Budapest, February 29 (MTI) – Three members of the government
confirmed Hungary’s commitment to the European Union’s common energy
policy and the construction of the Nabucco gas pipeline in Budapest
on Friday. Continue »

Budapest, February 29 (MTI) – Hungarian President Laszlo Solyom
will pay an official visit to Israel and the Palestinian National
Authority on March 2-7, the president’s office told MTI on Friday. Continue »