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Women’s Marches against President Trump attract millions  – György Lázár’s photos

Women’s Marches against President Trump attract millions – György Lázár’s photos

It began as a Facebook post by a Hawaii grandmother the day after Hillary Clinton’s loss in November and blossomed into a worldwide protest movement against Donald Trump.  The largest demonstration took place in Washington DC, where according to estimates well over half a million people marched. In California, my home state, about 400 thousand marched in Los Angeles, 100 […]

by · January 23, 2017 · Politics
Budapest, 2007. március 14.
Torgyán József, a Megújuló Magyarországért Mozgalom elnöke a szervezõdés céljairól tart sajtótájékoztatót a Marczibányi téri Mûvelõdési Központban.
MTI Fotó: Földi Imre

Hungary’s last Smallholder leader József Torgyán dies

Anyone who followed politics in Hungary during the nineties and in the early years of the current century remembers József Torgyán–the colourful chairman of the Independent Smallholders’ Party, former Minister of Agriculture and a true connoisseur of hyperbole. Mr. Torgyán’s wife and also a former Member of Parliament, Mária Cseh, confirmed that her husband died at their home in Budapest […]

by · January 22, 2017 · Focus
The names of survivors are read out Saturday morning in Budapest, at the Szinyei Merse Pál Gimnázium. Photo: 444.hu

Hungarians mourn 16 students killed in fatal bus crash

At least 16 students of Budapest’s Szinyei Merse Pál Gimnázium died Friday night near Verona, Italy, when their bus collided into a column and caught fire. Another 39 students were injured and transported to hospital–12 of whom are believed to be in serious condition. This is the deadliest Hungarian bus crash in 18 years–the last time Hungarians mourned such a […]

by · January 21, 2017 · Focus
Zsa Zsa at the the Las Vegas Riviera - 1956 October

Letter to the Editor – Zsa Zsa, the honorary freedom fighter?

HFP recently published my article about Zsa Zsa entitled Ambassador Réka Szemerkényi exploits Zsa Zsa’s memory for political purposes. In this piece I mentioned that John Gizzi wrote an article (also produced a video interview) claiming that Zsa Zsa was “an opponent of Communist tyranny.” He added that, “Zsa Zsa was always speaking at events for the Hungarian community in […]

by · January 20, 2017 · Diaspora
Richard Forrai, Jobbik's éminence grise.  Photo: Direkt36 / István Bielik.

Népszava raises questions about massive public funds transferred to pro-Jobbik company

Hungary’s Népszava daily newspaper has been trying, in vain, to get answers to its questions about how the Jobbik party is spending public funds at its disposal, and precisely what services are being rendered by a company that seems to be uncomfortably close to the party leadership and is the recipient of these funds. An organization called Iránytű Intézet (Compass […]

by · January 19, 2017 · Politics
László Botka being introduced as MSZP's candidate for prime minister on Wednesday.

Hungarian Socialists choose their candidate for prime minister: László Botka

The executive of the Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP) unanimously nominated László Botka to lead the party into the 2018 national elections, likely to be held next April. Forty-three year old Mr. Botka, the popular and long-time mayor of Szeged who beat his Fidesz rival by an impressive 22% landslide victory in the 2014 municipal elections, has come across as more […]

by · January 18, 2017 · Politics
NATO spending in 2016. Click to enlarge.

Trump is not happy with Hungary’s defense budget

Last year Donald Trump gave an interview to The Washington Post editorial board. He said: “NATO is costing us a fortune, and yes, we’re protecting Europe, but we’re spending a lot of money. Number one, I think the distribution of costs has to be changed.” Later he told the New York Times: “NATO is unfair, economically, to us, to the […]

by · January 18, 2017 · Politics
Inauguration party in Budapest

Fidesz far-right to celebrate Trump inauguration in downtown Budapest

Far-right media personalities associated with Fidesz, including a founding member of the governing party, Zsolt Bayer, have plans to celebrate President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration on Friday night in Budapest’s Szabadság tér, or Freedom Square in English. The outdoor public event will be held in the area between the Ronald Reagan statue and the Soviet monument–the latter was once much-maligned on […]

by · January 17, 2017 · Politics
Say no to the Olympics, say yes to our future!

Hungarian Millennials say “no” to Budapest 2024 Olympics and spearhead referendum

A group of Hungarians in their twenties and thirties called Momentum Mozgalom (Momentum Movement), which sees itself entering the political arena ahead of the 2018 national elections, has received the go-ahead from both the Budapest Election Committee and the Supreme Court of Hungary for a proposed referendum on withdrawing the Hungarian bid to host the 2024 Summer Olympics. Momentum must […]

by · January 16, 2017 · Politics
Dunaújváros city centre, with City Hall on the left.

Anger in Dunaújváros as residents go without water and heating

On Monday morning, residents of Dunaújváros, an industrial town of 48,000 residents located 70 km south of Budapest, once named after Joseph Stalin, are planning to hold a protest in front of the offices of the privately-held company that provides heating services and potable water to locals. The firm in question,  the Water, Sewer and Heat Supplier of Dunaújváros, abbreviated […]

by · January 15, 2017 · Politics