Porto
Investment Hungary Limited, the successful bidder for
the Public Private Partnership with the City of Budapest, for the re-development
and operation of the Közraktár complex, announced the
signing of a Euro 29 million facility agreement with MKB Bank
Zrt. 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 »

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. Continue »

Budapest, February 28 (MTI) – Slovenian authorities deported to
Hungary three of four Ukrainian illegal immigrants who were detained
along the country’s border, a regional police spokesman told MTI on
Thursday. Continue »

Moscow, February 28 (MTI) – Hungary’s Prime Minister Ferenc
Gyurcsany and Russian President Vladimir Putin held a brief meeting
in Moscow on Thursday before signing a Hungarian-Russian
co-operation deal on the South Stream gas pipeline project. Continue »

Budapest, February 28 (MTI) – Mostly cloudy, but no rain
expected. Winds will be from the south-west and remain moderate. Lowest night-time temperatures will be between 0 and +5 degrees
Celsius while the daytime highs will be between 10 and 15 degrees
Celsius, the National Weather Service forecasts. Continue »

President Laszlo Solyom will not
drop his practice of nominating candidates for ombudsman without
prior consultation with the political parties, he told reporters on
Thursday. Continue »

Budapest, February 28 (MTI) – Hungarian cultural events will be
featured at renowned art events and venues in Hong Kong as part of
the Hungarian cultural season in China, the culture ministry said in
a statement on Thursday. Continue »

Budapest, February 28 (MTI) – The retail price for natural gas
will rise by average 5.8 percent from April and non-retail prices
will increase by average 5.2 percent, the economy ministry said on
Thursday. Continue »

Budapest, February 28 (MTI) – 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. Continue »