BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungarian lawmakers re-elected President Janos Ader to his largely ceremonial post on Monday, Mar. 13 ensuring another five-year term for a supporter of populist Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government. Ader, nominated by Orban’s governing Fidesz party, defeated Laszlo Majtenyi, a former ombudsman for data protection nominated by the left-wing opposition. Ader won … Continue reading
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — A Hungarian teacher who pulled some students out of a fiery bus in Italy despite getting burned and losing his own two children in the crash was being hailed as a hero Monday, Jan. 23rd, as Hungary held a national day of mourning for the 16 victims. Gym teacher Gyorgy Vigh … Continue reading
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungary’s constitution bans “Islamization” because the document aims to protect Hungarian language and culture, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said Monday, Apr. 25. Orban also said the constitution forces the government to oppose any kind of mass migration that would endanger those principles. “To be clear and unequivocal, I can say that … Continue reading
PRAGUE (AP) — So where should the next impenetrable razor-wire border fence in Europe be built? Hungary’s right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban thinks he knows the best place — on Macedonia’s and Bulgaria’s borders with Greece — smack along the main immigration route from the Middle East to Western Europe. He says it’s necessary because … Continue reading
SOPRON, Hungary (AP) — The Hungarian city of Sopron, population 50,000, boasts an abundance of beauty shops and 200 dentists — one for every 250 residents. Most businesses don’t target the locals, though; they’re looking at the Austrians streaming across the nearby border to shop for bargains. Such cross-border traffic could soon suffer, as the … Continue reading
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — A Hungarian court on Thursday, Jan. 28, acquitted 15 employees of a company whose burst reservoir in 2010 flooded three towns with toxic red sludge, killing 10 people. A court in the city of Veszprem said the spill, Hungary’s worst environmental disaster, had been caused by the collapse of a reservoir … Continue reading
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungary’s use of razor wire, tear gas and arrests in response to migrants seeking refuge in Europe has shocked many across the world. But the crackdown comes as little surprise to those who have been watching the country’s political transformation since Prime Minister Viktor Orban won power in 2010 and began … Continue reading
BAPSKA, Croatia (AP) — Doctors treated children including newborns for exposure as dropping temperatures Monday worsened the plight of asylum-seekers walking for days in hopes of reaching sanctuary in Europe. A new group of migrants crossed into Croatia late Sunday, crossing the border near the small village of Bapska. They walked through cornfields and forests … Continue reading
The latest developments as European governments rush to cope with the huge number of people moving across Europe. All times local (CET): ___ 12:30 p.m. A Hungarian camerawoman caught on video kicking and tripping migrants near the Serbian border has offered a qualified apology for her behavior. Petra Laszlo says in the letter published in … Continue reading
ROSZKE, Hungary (AP) — Hundreds of angry and frustrated asylum-seekers broke through police lines Monday near Hungary’s southern border with Serbia and began marching north toward Budapest, while Britain and France pledged to take in tens of thousands more refugees to try to ease the crisis. As European leaders debated how to share responsibility for … Continue reading
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Thousands of people desperate to reach Western Europe rushed into a Budapest train station Thursday after police ended a two-day blockade, setting off a wave of anger and confusion as hundreds shoved their way onto a waiting train. But when it tried to drop them off at a Hungarian camp for … Continue reading
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Tempers flared among the thousands trapped in a makeshift refugee camp in the heart of Budapest on Wednesday as Hungary played hardball with its unwelcome visitors for a second day, blocking train ticket-clutching migrants from traveling deeper into Europe. The migrants, who have swamped every nook and cranny of public space … Continue reading
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hundreds of migrants chanted defiant slogans outside Budapest’s main international train station Wednesday as Hungarian police blocked them for a second day from seeking asylum in Germany and other wealthy European Union countries. “What we want? Peace! What we need? Peace!” the migrants shouted outside the cavernous Keleti train station, … Continue reading
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungary stunned migrants and European partners Tuesday by blocking asylum-seekers from its westbound trains, a move that raised new challenges for the EU’s passport-free travel zone and could drive many into the reckless hands of cross-border smugglers. Hungary’s right-wing nationalist government defended its U-turn — just days after it started permitting … Continue reading
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungary has joined Poland in denouncing remarks by FBI director James Comey which seemed to equate Poland’s and Hungary’s roles in the Holocaust with that of Germany. Hungary’s Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that Comey’s remarks delivered last week at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and then published in The Washington Post … Continue reading
Spartan Echo 