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Budapest (MTI) - Altogether nine Hungarian cities have applied to become Europe's cultural capital together with a German city in 2010, a ministry official told MTI. The Cultural Heritage Ministry received nine bids before the Friday deadline, ministerial commissioner Balazs Mesterhazy said. Culture ministers of the European Union decided in spring 2004 that two cities, one from a pre-2004 member state and another from a new entrant, would be granted the title "Cultural Capital of Europe" each year starting in 2009. They also agreed that in 2010 the honor would go to a Hungarian and a German city. The government will select the successful Hungarian applicant in two rounds, and announce the winner next autumn. The nine applicants are Budapest, Eger, Gyor, Kaposvar, Miskolc, Pecs, Sopron, Szekesfehervar and Veszprem. Although two other cities - Debrecen and Kecskemet - have also indicated their intention to vie for the prestigious title, they have not applied officially.

Budapest (MTI) - Parliament hosted a special Roma Day at the end of December, organized by the National Gypsy Authority. "We want Hungary to become a country which has no room for anti-Semitism, racism or prejudice," said Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany, addressing the event. "The government needs to help the Roma community and the Roma ... need to help Hungarian society ... to understand that all people have to become committed to alleviating the problems of the Roma community," the prime minister said. Pointing out that nearly half a million people of economically active age, most of them Roma, lacked the fundaments of education needed to get a job, he stressed the importance of educating their children to halt the cycle before it could be repeated. Welfare Minister Kinga Goncz noted that Roma society had become polarized with a small group of young intellectuals on the one side and rural residents in dire poverty on the other. Laszlo Teleki, the ministry official responsible for Roma issues, said there was HUF 1bn (EUR 1 = HUF 247) available to assist the Roma community in social integration.

Budapest- Two explorers started a trip on Dec. 30 to be the first Hungarians to conquer the South Pole, a daily paper reported. Krisztina Bathori and Zoltan Acs will fly to the base camp lying some 1000 kilometers away from the Pole, and then take another flight in a ski-mounted plane that will carry them to their departure point, where the actual expedition begins. The two explorers expect to walk 6-7 hours daily on their skis dragging a sledge weighing around 30 kilograms in extreme conditions before they reach the South Pole, "where all longitudes meet and the ice is 3000 meters deep", after 111 kilometers. The South Pole expedition will not be the pair's first adventure trip. In April 2004, they conquered the North Pole, and Zoltan Acs was the leader of the Himalaya expedition which sent the first Hungarian, Zsolt Eross, on the top of the world in 2002.

Bad Buk-The Radisson SAS Birdland Resort & Spa in Bad Buk, Hungary, has opened. As the first Radisson SAS Resort Hotel in Hungary , the property sets new standards in the booming thermal-springs country of Hungary, offering over 208 rooms, an 18-hole, 72-par championship golf course and a spacious 11,500 square-foot spa offering wellness and beauty treatments as well as leisure and sporting facilities. Conveniently situated just 90 minutes south of Vienna, Bad Buk is already known to many as an established thermal springs resort. With the “Birdland Resort & Spa,” Radisson SAS intends to not only add to this reputation but also to offer far more than thermal treatments. The focus of the innovative resort is on lifestyle management, featuring tailor-made sport and nutritional programs. The aim is to become Hungary’s leading golf and wellness resort. The hotel is situated amongst the lush landscape of the Birdland Golf & Country Club and offers more than 208 spacious rooms and suites furnished in three different room styles (“classic,” “retro” and “chili”). The Birdland Golf & Country Club offers a challenging 18-hole, 72-par golf course and is currently being expanded to include a 9-hole facility, an 18-hole putting green and a Golf & Tennis Academy. First established in 1991, the golf course today enjoys global recognition as the Hungarian Championship course. It is open to players with a handicap of 36.

Romania- During its first meeting on 29 December, the new government issued an emergency ordinance introducing a flat 16 percent income and corporate tax as of 1 January 2005, Mediafax and AP reported.

The flat tax topped the priorities in the coalition government's program.

Washington, DC – On December 23, 2004 the Hungarian American Coalition received a $25,000 grant from the Charles Simonyi Fund for the Arts and Sciences to support hippo therapy for disabled children in Hungary. The grant’s beneficiary will be the Eilika Habsburg Foundation, located in Sóskút on the outskirts of Budapest. The Eilika Habsburg Foundation is one of the most important rehabilitation centers of its nature in Hungary. Their program works with more than 100 disabled children and adults who attend weekly sessions. The Foundation is managed by Eilika Habsburg-Lothringen, a professional therapist who is donating her services and considerable financial resources to help the disabled in Hungary.

The grant will partially fund the construction of an indoor riding course so that the disabled children and adults can have therapy sessions during the winter as well as the summer months. The construction is well underway and the new facility is expected to be operational by March 2005.Maximilian Teleki, President of the Hungarian American Coalition, said that “it is remarkable how much good can be made with the generosity of a few to help dedicated professionals like Eilika Habsburg-Lothringen. We encourage others to help the Foundation’s mission to improve the life of the physically impaired.”The Hungarian American Coalition is a nationwide non-profit organization that promotes public understanding and awareness of Hungarian American issues.

Hodmezovasarhely-The mayor of Hodmezovasarhely, a town of 60,000 in SE Hungary, took a HUF 2m (approx. EUR 8,000) bonus and donated it to a foundation that supports talented secondary school, college and university students who come from disadvantaged backgrounds. Mayor Janos Lazar said the foundation would make the money available to the students on a competitive basis in February, in amounts ranging from HUF 50,000 to 100,000 (EUR 200-400) for each. In 2003, Lazar donated his bonus to a children's meal service.

Budapest- (MTI) - The Hungarian UNICEF Committee awarded the organization's Bouquet of High Esteem to Budapest's Szabo Ervin Library, for its efforts on behalf of children, the committee director told MTI on Tuesday. "The library was granted the award for its efforts to get children interested in books amidst a global trend in which people are reading less and less," Edit Kecskemeti said. The award was presented to the institution with a message from film star Roger Moore, UNICEF's goodwill ambassador. The Bouquet of High Esteem was founded in 1996, at UNICEF's 50th anniversary, and has been given to many celebrities the world over.

Rome-In memory of Magdolna Bódi, a working-class girl killed at Litér at the end of World War II, a statue will be erected and there are preparations made for her beatification. The 24 years old girl was killed on March 23, 1945 by a Soviet “liberator” as the girl tried to defend herself against the rape. She had promised virginity some years before and wanted to become a nun but because of her poverty she had to work in a factory and organized the local group of Catholic Working Girls’ Union at Fűzfőgyártelep, in Nitrokémia Company. She helped a lot in supporting aged and ill persons and the hospital of wounded soldiers. There will be a conference held in memory of the girl and the local church will be adorned by stained glass pictures illustrating her life. There is an inscription on her tomb in the cemetery of Litér: “Mária Magdolna Bódi, 1921-1945. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God”.

Budapest- (MTI) - Despite rumours that the emergence of European low-budget airlines has caused a shortage of pilots to Hungary's airlines company, Malev pilots are even loaned to some foreign companies, including a Chinese airline, the company's communication chief told a national daily on Monday. Over the recent period only a few of the more than 300 Malev pilots quit the company to work for other airlines, Krisztina Nemeth told Nepszabadsag, dismissing rumors that Hungary's EU entry and the spread of no-frills airlines had led to a shortage of highly qualified pilots in the company. "Although Malev has felt the impact of market liberalization, it will not become short of pilots in the future either," she said. "The company began one and a half years ago preparations for market restructuring, training four to five pilots simultaneously. If need be, it will be able to man its fleet even by retraining pilots for new types of aircraft," Nemeth said. Nor do wages come into play, as Malev pilots are considered among the well-paid in East Central Europe, she said.

Budapest- A Hungarian pro-life movement, Alpha Alliance, along with several other pro-life organizations, marched in peaceful protest of abortion on December 28, the Catholic Feast of the Holy Innocents, from St. Elizabeth Church in Budapest to Sandor Petofi hospital. In response to the march, hospital officials pledged to cease committing abortions on three key national holy days: the 28th of December, the Feast of the Holy Innocents, the 25th of March, the Feast of the Incarnation and also the Day of Unborn Babies, and the 1st of June, International Day of Life, declared by the United Nations.In a written document, Peter Krasznai, leader of the department for gynecology at the hospital, confirmed the hospital will join the movement of the new national pro-life holidays, initiated by the Hungarian pro-life movement. In 2003 there were 53,000 abortions performed in the country of 10 Million, which has a fertility rate of only 1.29 per woman.

Budapest-(MTI) - A grass hybrid, designed primarily as a thermal power plant fuel, could end up playing a major role as a coal or oil substitute, a Wednesday Budapest paper wrote. The grass, wrote Nepszava, has been dubbed "energy grass" by a father-and-son team from an agricultural research institute that bred it and shows major promise as a crop that is easy to grow, is resistant to drought and frost, and costs only about 20 percent of the price of tree planting. Janos and son Zsolt Jankowszky of the Szarvas - SE Hungary - Agricultural Research and Development Institute, report that their grass can be grown on the same plot for ten straight years and can be harvested annually, providing a steady income to growers. In addition, its roots grow extensively, binding the soil and reducing erosion. The harvested grass can become a solid fuel in the power industry or can be used to produce pulp or paper. In other words, it is a wood substitute that can save trees and even feed livestock. The Jankowszkys report that the first cutting of the young grass is a high-grade feed. It grows well on low quality soil, and in time will actually improve the soil, the paper reported, while producing 15-20 tonnes dry grass per hectare, 50-60 percent more than the dry matter content of most forests.

Budapest- (MTI) - A single weekend shift in Britain can earn a Hungarian doctor or nurse many times their normal monthly wage at home, and many are taking up seasonal employment or work during weekends, putting a strain on the country's already understaffed hospitals. While health-care professionals are increasingly working abroad in their free time, earlier concerns of a massive exodus of health-care professionals following European Union entry, however, proved to be unfounded, Magyar Hirlap newspaper reported on Tuesday. But close to 500 health-care workers heading mainly for Britain, Sweden, Germany and Austria were issued permits to work abroad between May and December, the paper reported. "If we lose the same number next year, we will not be able to make up for their work," said Geza Gyenes, of Hungary's medical chamber (MOK), adding that Hungarian hospitals were understaffed by 10-30pc.

Budapest - The water level at Lake Balaton, Central Europe's largest lake, has finally risen to an acceptable level thanks to above-average rainfall, environmental authorities said on Wednesday. A rise of 41 centimetres over the past year puts the current official depth at 74 centimetres, four centimetres above the lower limit considered acceptable, the authority said. The water level on the lake has been extremely low in recent years, dropping down as far as 23 centimetres in October 2003 and threatening its value as a tourist attraction. The tourism lobby called for artificial replenishment, but environmentalists, fearing the impact of river water, fought a winning battle to wait it out. Lake Balaton is 600 square kilometres in size. Located in W Hungary, it is second only to Budapest as a tourist attraction. The low water level was a major factor in cutting the lakeside tourist season to a month and a half, down from its usual three months.

Budapest-After one and a half decade of the death of so-called Socialism and that of the announcement of free market economy one can witness a poverty unknown for generations coming after the war. The great but exactly unknown number of the homeless, pressed out from the inner city, try to find for themselves shelters in parks and forests. They find their ’homes’ on Gellért Hill in caves, in the landings and under the arches of the Castle or in ruins of old houses. The poverty reminds one of the medieval ages though so far there has been no victim of the frost. No attempt has been successful so far to solve the problem of homelessness in Hungary.

Miami - A $25 million fund would be created in a U.S. settlement with Hungarian Holocaust survivors who blamed Army officers for plundering a trainload of Jewish family treasures seized by Nazis, but no payments to people who lost family possessions are contemplated, sources said Wednesday. The money would be distributed to needy Hungarian Holocaust survivors under a concept used in previous settlements, sources close to the talks said on condition of anonymity. Details were first reported in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. The settlement is secret and details are still being negotiated, sources said. The U.S. government has not committed to an acknowledgment of wrongdoing. A final package is due before a federal judge Feb. 18. Participants in the mediated talks have signed confidentiality agreements, and the Justice Department and attorneys for Hungarian Jews had no comment. People who lost their family possessions had mixed views on a settlement that would not satisfy individual claims. But the United States has insisted it would be impossible to definitively prove whose property was on the so-called Nazi Gold Train when it was caught by U.S. troops in 1945."As usual justice will not be served," said Baruch Epstein, whose mother had a receipt for gold coins and jewelry taken from a family safe. "I am a very strong Republican, but sometimes the government, even your own people, do not do exactly the right things. That's life."He said he might change his mind if the final agreement included money for the study of Holocaust Jews or a memorial to Hungarian Jews. Well-established Jewish organizations have received funds in past Holocaust settlements. Alex Moskovic, who lost 41 relatives in the Holocaust, noted some survivors need money now because they may not be alive in five years. The fund "wouldn't have been our choice because, at the time, we felt that all that stuff was taken from us personally," said David Mermelstein, a Hungarian who was sent to Auschwitz as a teenager. "But to have a closure, that's what we wanted” A United Jewish Communities survey issued a year ago estimated about 5,000 Hungarians were among about 122,000 Holocaust survivors living in the U.S. In the waning days of World War II, the Nazis sent 24 train cars toward Germany carrying gold, silver, paintings, Oriental rugs, furs and other household goods seized from Hungarian Jews. French troops intercepted a separate cache. Nazis, Hungarians and Austrians stole from the train along the way. A commission appointed by then-President Clinton concluded in 1999 that American officers helped themselves to china, silverware and artwork for their homes and offices. The rest was later auctioned.

Budapest-According to the National Office of Statistics the number of births decreased to a historic bottom in Hungary. Though so far only the data of the first ten months have been processed by experts it is probable that the last year hit a negative record of births in Hungary. According to the report between January and October, 2004 there were 79 thousand babies born, by 950 less than in the similar period of 2003. There is little chance that the data would be more favorable in the rest of the year. Ferenc Kamarás, expert of the National Office of Statistic said the decline was due to fears of the future. So far the negative record has been hit by births in 1999 when 94 645 babies were registered. It is a better piece of news that the number of deaths has been decreased, too. The population of Hungary in October last year has been estimated by experts as 10 099 thousand. The number of marriages was 39 400 in the given period, 1400 (3.4%) less than a year before.

Budapest- December 27 (MTI) - An oil patch over one hundred meters wide was spotted on the Danube River just South of Budapest on Monday, a local environmental authority reported. Authorities were unable to identify the source. This is the second such mysterious spill on the river within the past month. The spill is dense heating oil, and will likely settle on the riverbank, from where it can be removed, a spokesperson said, adding that the authorities were asking anyone who knew how the oil had gotten into the river to come forward.

Budapest- The coalition parties refuse to discuss the person of the next President with the opposition, this is the essence of the statement made by Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány and Gábor Kuncze, chairman of the Free Democrats. President Ferenc Mádl said in an interview he had undertaken the office after a serious meditation and only for one term. Premier Gyurcsány said he had no candidate for the presidency but according to Magyar Nemzet he wants to nominate Kinga Göncz for the post. President Mádl probably will return to teaching, his mandate ends next summer and the parliament will decide about his successor.

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