The 97-year-old suspect László Csatáry has been arrested and charged with war crimes, prosecutors announced in Budapest on Wednesday. The scene is now set for Hungary’s second high profile Nazi-era war crimes trial in as many years. The former police commander Csatáry is accused of complicity in the transportation in 1942 of 15,700 Jews from… Continue »

Hungarian governments spent about HUF 1.85 trillion (EUR 6.39 billion) of European Union funds and taxpayer money on job creation and preservation between 2004 and 2010 but the ratio of active workers dropped from 56.8 per cent to 55.4 per cent, a report published this week by the State Financial Supervisory Authority (PSZÁF) said. And… Continue »

Starting in November families will receive child protection benefit in the form of Erzsébet vouchers and from the beginning of 2013 some social aid can be given in the same way, but the latter will be at the discretion of local governments. The new vouchers will not only differ in colour but besides foodstuff families… Continue »

Amendments to the government’s decree on higher education student contracts were on the Parliament’s agenda as this newspaper went to press on Thursday after the Constitutional Court struck down the contract’s provisions. The Constitutional Court declared the contracts, an integral part of the government’s new higher education law to be implemented from September, would run… Continue »

Neo FM has been bought for HUF 1 from its owner FM1 by a law company said to be backed by American investors, Népszabadság reported on Saturday. Dr. M-Média Kft., a Slovak-registered company established in September 2011 by lawyer Mihály Medveczky, has concluded an agreement to pay the almost HUF 600 million (EUR 2.08 million)… Continue »

For the first time in the event’s 30-year history, over 10,000 swimmers completed the 5.2-kilometre distance across Lake Balaton on Saturday. The fastest time was by distance swimmer Gergely Kutasi, who made it from Révfülöp to Balatonboglár in 62 minutes and 24 seconds. Kutasi, 21, came 44th in the 10km open water event at the… Continue »

In 2011 6.3 per cent of Hungary’s energy needs was produced from renewable sources, a 0.8 percentage point decline compared to 2010, the National Energy Office announced on Tuesday. Data released by the statistics office of the European Union on Monday revealed that in the EU the share of renewable energy in 2010 was 12.4… Continue »

The national property market saw an increasing number of transactions and growing sales prices in the first half of the year, a survey by realtor franchise Duna House contends. The franchise estimates there were 7,649 home sales in June – a 5 per cent increase year-on-year – with the first six months of 2012 up… Continue »

The government is planning to sign a long-term strategic contract with Coca-Cola for the beverage manufacturer to increase the number of its domestic suppliers. The Ministry of National Economy hopes the agreement will be the first step towards signing similar contracts with 15 to 20 large corporations present in Hungary. Continue »

My taste in music is debatable. I like jazz, blues and moody stuff such as Leonard Cohen. I like Pink Martini and the Frames. I like Johnny Cash and Glenn Miller. I’m the first to admit that I haven’t a note in my head, so when I find myself bopping, in my seat, to what… Continue »