With a marked decline in the number of higher education applications, Prime Minis-ter Viktor Orbán this week defended his government’s higher education policies that will see a drastic cut to the number of state-funded places. Orbán said he was in favour of a system in which the state enables the poor to attend higher education… Continue »

Hundreds of people attended the burial of Kata Bándy in Szekszárd on Monday as more gathered in Pécs, some to condemn “Gypsy crime” and others to condemn anti-Roma racism. Bándy, a 25-year-old police psychologist, disappeared in the early hours of Sunday 8 July as she walked home from a Saturday evening birthday party in Pécs.… Continue »

Negotiators from the International Monetary Fund and European Union wound up on Wednesday an eight-day visit to discuss Hungary’s application for a 15-billion-euro credit line by speaking to union leaders. Prime Minister Viktor Orbán told reporters that his talks with the delegations had been “reassuring”, and the government is awaiting a “case report” in which… Continue »

“Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the… Continue »

I have been known to get a little paranoid at times. Not too often, mind you, but enough to make me question my reality on occasion. It’s particularly strong if I’ve had a week of reading back-to-back spy novels or watching old movies featuring the great conspiracies of our time. But I’m nowhere near Chicago… Continue »

Prague is one city that doesn’t have to persuade tourists to put it on the map. To list its well-documented attractions – architect’s dream, the “100 spires”, cobblestoned streets, that bridge, that clock, that castle – is to state the bleeding obvious; in fact a statement about as self-evident as this one we noted recently:… Continue »

He has sold 100 million records and singles worldwide and, in 2008, ranked 38 on Billboard’s 50th Anniversary Hot 100 artist chart. One would think a world superstar with a three-decade career would be rich fodder for the tabloid press. But when it comes to his personal life, it appears that Adams, dad to a… Continue »