Hungary in the news - via HVG
Referendum schizophreniaon Sep 11, 2007 via HVG It could write a new chapter in the annals of Hungarian grotesque. Approaching referendums may yield simultaneous majorities in favour of both hospital privatisation and state ownership.See details
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Let them sue?on Sep 10, 2007 via HVG Civil liberties enshrined in the constitution leave the government little room for manoeuvre when it comes to taking legal steps against extremist groups.See details
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Making sacrifices without confessionson Sep 10, 2007 via HVG Plans to cut staffing at the National Security Office (NBH) are about improving productivity and cutting out dead wood to promote better information flows, according to Gyorgy Szilvasy, minister without portfolio in charge of the civilian secret services. The changes will reduce the number of operational directorates from four to three and cut the number of departments in half.See details
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Anomia and the rise of petty thieveryon Sep 10, 2007 via HVG What have villages given the cities over the past 15 years? Metal theft. Durkheim and Merton would find the Hungarian provinces fertile ground for research into the theory of deviancy.See details
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Interview with the president for Hungary of the World Institute of Scientology Enterpriseson Sep 05, 2007 via HVG Scientologist businesspeople only conceal their allegiance to protect themselves from attacks, according to Imre Toth, the 50-year-old president of WISE, the umbrella group for Scientology-inspired businesses at its Vienna conference.See details
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The gaffes of the right wing mediaon Sep 03, 2007 via HVG What makes right-wing journalists attempt to rehabilitate elements of the traditional Arrow Cross and Nazi symbols and, by their writing, to bring often justified accusations of anti-semitism down on their heads?See details
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Interview with Bela Budaon Aug 27, 2007 via HVG President Laszlo Solyom spoke in Szekesfehervar on 20 August of the need for compromise, warning also of the dangers of manipulating people by fear, a dangerous tool he said both political camps were using. hvg.hu asked the psychiatrist Bela Buda about the mechanisms by which social fears are stoked.See details
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Hysteria and overreaction in the Magyar Garda affairon Aug 27, 2007 via HVG The anti-fascists' overreaction to Arrow Cross-inspired initiatives risk provoking a boomerang effect. An insignificant, peripheral Hungarist micro-grouping has just been given billions of forints' worth of free advertising. To the hyperventilators we say keep calm! You'll achieve more that way.See details
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Matyas Eorsi meets with Cuban opposition leaderson Aug 22, 2007 via HVG Matyas Eorsi, Free Democrat parliamentary group leader and head of the liberal benches in the Council of Europe's parliamentary assembly, recently visited Cuba. There, he and some Estonian and Dutch MPs defied police threats to meet up with prominent opposition activists. He met with members of the Women in White movement, who are fighting for the release of group members who have been imprisoned for political reasons.See details
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Szent-Ivanyi on Hungarian foreign policy's weaknesseson Aug 21, 2007 via HVG The Hungarian government has failed to come up with an up-to-date vision of the nation. It should have thought more carefully about its line on American visas. The government must recognise the processes under way in Russia when it engages with the country. Alexandra Dobolyi, the Socialist MEP who has been spoken of as a potential foreign minister, should gain more experience before publicly expressing opinions on foreign policy. All this according to Istvan Szent-Ivanyi, an MEP, foreign policy committee member and foreign affairs spokesperson for the Free Democrats.See details
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Portrait of Janos Szabo, the new rector of the National University of Defence Studieson Aug 17, 2007 via HVG "My father was an army officer for a short while before working for local government. He had high expectations. Children were not to talk while eating and should not involve themselves in adults' conversations. I soon wanted to leave home," remembers the 54-year-old general and sociologist, as he explains how he nonetheless chose to join the armed forces.See details
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Bribe the instructors, faked tests - a driving licence in two weekson Aug 15, 2007 via HVG Fierce competition between driving schools have depressed prices - and this, not alleged corruption, has led to the poor driving skills of today's drivers, according to experts polled by Automenedzser.See details
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Laszlo Lengyel: Beyond Gyurcsany and Orbanon Aug 14, 2007 via HVG The leader of Left Hungary, Ferenc Gyurcsany, and Right Hungary, Viktor Orban, are political corpses. Hungary is a republic. Hungary has no owner.See details
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"The word 'buy' is not to my taste. Let's say we grow together."on Aug 14, 2007 via HVG Wolfgang Ruttenstorfer, the 57-year-old chief executive of OMV, the Austrian oil company, is working to bring about a forced marriage between Hungary's Mol and his company. He believes the capital markets want a cash payment, which amounts to a buy-out. He dismisses suggestions that Russia's Gazprom is behind the plans.See details
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Striking seasonon Aug 10, 2007 via HVG We should brace ourselves to expect more fraught salary negotiations from the autumn, especially in industries we all depend on.See details
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Hungarian sex workerson Aug 05, 2007 via HVG Prostitutes are to receive subsidised business classes. Like other self-employed people, they will pay tax and social security contributions. In exchange, they will gain the right to free healthcare and a pension.See details
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Hungarian Visa-Applicant: US Consul in Budapest Humiliated Meon Jul 29, 2007 via HVG Hungarian visa applicant at the US Embassy received the visa but in the process she has been humiliated, being subject of tricky questions asked by an embassy official. Others have similar complains. The officials aim at filtering out those applicants who might not leave the United States once their visa expires. There is much at stake: if the rate of rejected visa goes under 10 percent, US Visa-Waiver Program mayl also include Hungary. Last year the rate was 12 percent and it has declined steadily in recent years. (Sz?ljon hozz?!)See details
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Anxious relativeson Jul 25, 2007 via HVG What matters more? Solidarity with a small democracy whose inhabitants are our linguistic kin, or a summit with the head of a continent-sized nuclear power who is working to re-establish his country's superpower prestige? Ferenc Gyurcsany chose the former by attending the council of the Finno-Ugric peoples. That the Estonian prime minister did not attend did not prevent him from representing Estonia's point of view, he said. Fidesz does not agree.See details
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Popping the balloonon Jul 25, 2007 via HVG The new railway station at Budapest's Ferihegy airport, which was recently opened to much fanfare, does little to make the traveller's life easier. Our reporter travelled from Nyugati station in the centre of Budapest to Ferihegy, and discovered that there was less to the new link than met the eye.See details
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Tits, bums and money shotson Jul 25, 2007 via HVG Tits, bums, dicks, actors panting and ready - oh, and a fresh, two-week-old AIDS test certificate in a non-existent pocket - and the filming starts. We asked the porn actress Kati Kiraly and the best-known Hungarian porn director, Kovi, about the secrets of their profession. Secrets from behind and in front of the camera.See details
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