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Many readers will rejoice - fittingly on this Gaudete Sunday - to learn that last Thursday, 10 December 2009, the Cause of Beatification of the Servant of God Zita, last Empress of Austria and wife of Blessed Emperor Charles, was solemnly opened by His Excellency Msgr. Yves Le Saux, Bishop of Le Mans, France. The process was opened in Le Mans, and not in the Swiss diocese of Chur, where the Empress died 20 years ago in 1989 in Zizers, with the consent of Msgr. Huonder, the Bishop of Chur, and the permission of the Congregation for the Causes of...

Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2009/December/09-ag-1289.html Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Tuesday, December 1, 2009 United States Transfers a Guantanamo Bay Detainee to France WASHINGTON — The Department of Justice today announced that a detainee has been transferred from the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay to the control of the government of France. As directed by the President’s Jan. 22, 2009 Executive Order, the interagency Guantanamo Review Task Force conducted a comprehensive review of this case. As a result of that review, the detainee was approved for transfer from Guantanamo Bay. In accordance...

A gunman has attacked a university in southern Hungary, wounding at least four people, local media report. The man is reported to have entered the biophysics research institute at Pecs University (PTE) and opened fire. Two of those injured were in a critical condition, according to national news agency MTI. A 23-year-old man has been detained by police, the agency said, and eyewitnesses say the scene of the shooting has been closed off.

Printer Friendly Format World Hungarian bishop who froze in communist prison beatified as martyr By Catholic News Service Posted: 11/13/2009 ESZTERGOM, Hungary (CNS) -- Hungarian Bishop Zoltan Meszlenyi, who froze to death in a Hungarian prison in 1951, has been beatified as a martyr for the faith. "His readiness to apply the church's love was shown clearly when he was dragged away and kept in inhuman conditions, barefoot through the winter, in solitary confinement without medical help," said Cardinal Peter Erdo of Esztergom-Budapest, who preached the homily at the Oct. 31 beatification Mass in Esztergom. "For many years, a...

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) - Even his best friend betrayed him. Stelian Tanase found out when he asked to see the thick file that Romania's communist-era secret police had kept on him. The revelation nearly knocked the wind out of him: His closest pal was an informer who regularly told agents what Tanase was up to. "In a way, I haven't even recovered today," said Tanase, a novelist who was placed under surveillance and had his home bugged during the late dictator Nicolae Ceausescu's regime. "He was the one person on Earth I had the most faith in," he said. "And...

BUDAPEST, Hungary -- It was a night for unnatural beauties. Contestants showed off breast implants, nose jobs and face lifts as Miss Plastic Hungary 2009 strove to promote the benefits of plastic surgery in a country where artificial enhancements are viewed mostly with a wary eye. "I think this competition is long overdue," said photographer Marton Szipal, one of the pageant judges. "Hungarians used to laugh about plastic surgery but it's time for Hungarian women to care more about their appearance. They are the most beautiful in Europe."

Slovakia: No Hungarian spoken in public Published: Sept. 2, 2009 at 12:18 AM BRATISLAVA, Slovakia, Sept. 2 (UPI) -- Ethnic Hungarians in Slovakia demonstrated Tuesday against a new law allowing only the use of Slovak language in public institutions, Hungarian officials said. Slovakia maintains the law comports with European standards, but Hungarian protesters say it violates international law, the BBC reported. The penalty for the regular public misuse of the Slovak language is a fine of up to $7,000, which is close to the average yearly salary in Slovakia, the news service reported. A meeting between the prime ministers of...

Hilarious (if you are a musician)

BUCHAREST, Romania - At first, fans politely applauded the Roma performers sharing a stage with Madonna. Then the pop star condemned widespread discrimination against Roma, or Gypsies — and the cheers gave way to jeers. The sharp mood change that swept the crowd of 60,000, who had packed a park for Wednesday night's concert, underscores how prejudice against Gypsies remains deeply entrenched across Eastern Europe. Despite long-standing efforts to stamp out rampant bias, human rights advocates say Roma probably suffer more humiliation and endure more discrimination than any other people group on the continent. Sometimes, it can be deadly: In...

Round the Danube Bend by Balint Szlanko 26 August 2009 Those upstart Slovaks are at it again, sneering at the nation that ruled them for a thousand years. The Slovak thugs have finally shown their true colors. As if their archaic language law limiting the use of Hungarian in public were not enough, last week they banned Laszlo Solyom, the Hungarian president, from visiting Komarno, where he was due to speak at the unveiling of a statue of St. Stephen, an 11th-century Hungarian (and by extension, Slovak) king. The Slovaks have been a thorn in the side of the Hungarian...

Participants in a very eventful picnic gather for its 20th anniversary at the Austro-Hungarian border. Twenty years ago Wednesday, Hungarian Border Guard Arpad Bella was standing in front of that gate in his summer uniform, pistol at his side, awaiting the arrival of a special delegation of Austrian visitors. Bella’s men had been told to be on the lookout. Meanwhile, reformers within Hungary’s Communist Party had given local democracy activists permission to organize a symbolic event on the border — a “pan-European picnic” in which they would share food, wine and declarations of cooperation with their Austrian neighbors. With foreign...

You've heard how bad things were in the Weimar Republic, when people would rush straight to stores to buy food after receiving a pay check because their money would buy much less the next day. But it turns out that Germany's hyperinflation in 1923 was nothing compared to that experienced by Hungary, Zimbabwe and Yugoslavia. In a new paper published by the Cato Institute, economics professor Steve Hanke lists the all-time worst episodes of hyperinflation: Note that Hungary's daily inflation rate was ten times greater than that in Weimar Germany, and prices doubled almost six times faster in Hungary than...

WWII US airman's remains repatriated from Hungary By PABLO GORONDI (AP) – 4 days ago BUDAPEST, Hungary — The remains of a U.S. airman killed in Hungary near the end of World War II are on their way back to the United States, officials said Tuesday. The remains of Sgt. 1st Class Marvin Steinford were discovered five years ago in a mass grave in the town of Zirc in western Hungary, where he had been buried with 26 Soviet soldiers. Steinford, a native of Iowa, was part of a 10-man crew of a B-17 bomber which was shot down near...

"I am now only an American professor," Gen. Bela Kiraly said with a grin. His grin was a survivor's grin -- a charming, elegant East European survivor with a sense of humor about himself and perhaps the end-of-1984 Christmas party. Smile and sip the holiday brew, for we were about to survive George Orwell's ominous year in which The Party prohibits free thought and exerts total control over Oceania -- Orwell's fictional masks for communism crushing Great Britain. We were in non-fictional Brooklyn, however, in a real friend's home, and we were quite free to speak and think. I suggested...

An Open Letter to the Obama Administration from Central and Eastern Europe 2009-07-15 by Valdas Adamkus, Martin Butora, Emil Constantinescu, Pavol Demes, Lubos Dobrovsky, Matyas Eorsi, Istvan Gyarmati, Vaclav Havel, Rastislav Kacer, Sandra Kalniete, Karel Schwarzenberg, Michal Kovac, Ivan Krastev, Alexander Kwasniewski, Mart Laar, Kadri Liik, Janos Martonyi. Janusz Onyszkiewicz, Adam Rotfeld, Vaira Vike-Freiberga, Alexandr Vondra, Lech Walesa. We have written this letter because, as Central and Eastern European (CEE) intellectuals and former policymakers, we care deeply about the future of the transatlantic relationship as well as the future quality of relations between the United States and the countries of...

The first C-17 cargo plane to be stationed in Hungary is on its way to becoming a workhorse for NATO countries and other friendly nations. The C-17 Globemaster, which was parked at the Charleston Air Force Base on Friday, is just a few days off the Boeing assembly line. It is destined for Papa Air Base, a former Soviet jet base that was going to close until Hungary emerged as a NATO country. The plane will fly a variety of transport missions in support of NATO, possibly in Iraq and Afghanistan and for humanitarian relief projects. The plane will be...

Budapest - Bela Kiraly, a key figure in Hungary's ill-fated anti-Soviet revolution in 1956, died at the age of 97, the Ministry of Defence told MTI on Saturday. Inaugurated as an officer in 1935, Kadar graduated from the Budapest Military Academy in 1942, then took part in the Second World War. Promoted to general in 1950, he became commander of the Military Academy. A year later, however, he was sentenced to death, later mitigated to life imprisonment, under the trumped-up charge of conspiracy against the state. A key phase of his life was the 1956 revolution and freedom fight when...

European elections: extremist and fringe parties are the big winners Millions of voters deserted mainstream parties in the wake of the economic crisis David Charter and Rory Watson in Brussels Extremist and fringe parties were the beneficiaries as voters across Europe deserted mainstream parties or stayed at home in protest at the state of their economies. The Centre Left was set to be the big loser across the 27 European Union countries with the Centre Right consolidating its position as the largest group in the Parliament. Anti-immigrant parties gained MEPs in Austria, Denmark, Finland, Hungary, the Netherlands and Slovakia. Governing...

Budapest - Hungary's largest gas distribution company Emfesz has been sold to Swiss-based firm RosGas AG, Emfesz spokesman Igor Gallyas said Thursday, confirming a report in the Russian newspaper Vedomosti. The news has prompted speculation that the Russian energy giant Gazprom, which is believed to be behind RosGas, is looking to strengthen its hold over the Hungarian, and by extension, the EU market. Gallyas, speaking to the Hungarian news agency MTI, neither confirmed nor denied the report by Vedomosti that RosGas is part of Gazprom's family of subsidiaries. However, in a statement posted on its website on April 28, Emfesz...

BUDAPEST, Hungary, April 3 (UPI) -- The Hungarian government expressed fears its economy would shrink by 5-6 percent this year, nearly twice as much as earlier projections suggested. Hungarian Deputy Finance Minister Laszlo Keller said economic experts were certain the decline will be deeper than the government's original prognosis of an annual drop of 3.5 percent in 2009, the Budapest Times online newspaper reported Friday. The government of Prime Minister-nominee Gordon Bajnai, taking into consideration the new prognosis of up to 6 percent recession, should work out a new state budget for 2009, Keller said. Bajnai already planned public spending...

BUDAPEST – If anyone wonders how bad the economic crisis is in Europe, consider this: While shooting a story in Budapest, last week we parked our vehicle on a street in a part of town that has fallen on hard times.

BUDAPEST (AP) - Hungary's prime minister stunned the country Saturday by announcing his resignation because he had become an "obstacle" to the reforms needed to pull the country out of its worse financial crisis since the end of communism nearly 20 years ago. Ferenc Gyurcsany, of the ruling Socialists, made the unexpected announcement at his party's congress saying that he was keeping a pledge he made in January last year to change the leadership if the embattled party's popularity failed to recover. He accepted his reputation was badly damaged when state radio in 2006 broadcast a speech he made at...

The very latest addition to the "Compromised International Embassies Series" are the Hungarian and Pakistani embassies of the Republic of Azerbaijan, which are currently iFramed with exploits-serving domains.

An 87-year-old man accused of killing a Jewish teenager in Hungary during World War II asked an Australian court on Tuesday to prevent his extradition to Hungary, and claimed the results of a lie detector test prove he had nothing to do with the death. Charles Zentai, an Australian citizen, is listed by the U.S.-based Nazi-hunting Simon Wiesenthal Center among its 10 most wanted Nazis as having "participated in manhunts, persecution, and murder of Jews in Budapest in 1944."

Hungary's PM catches fainting spokeswoman In a display of gallantry not often seen in the world of politics, Hungary's Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany came to the aid of government spokesperson Bernadett Budai when she fainted during a news conference on Sunday. Budai, 29, who was reportedly suffering from a bout of the flu, is shown in video footage of the conference attempting to walk off the stage. She appears disoriented however and proceeds to crash into the Prime Minister, before swaying and fainting in his arms. Gyurcsany, who nearly fell over himself when Budai collided with him, quickly regained his...

Hungary says Russian gas supplies via Ukraine stopped Tue Jan 6, 2009 10:06pm IST BUDAPEST, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Russian gas shipments via Ukraine to Hungary halted on Tuesday and the Hungarian government said it would ask some power plants to switch to alternative fuel by 1000 GMT on Wednesday. "I would like to inform you that gas shipments from Ukraine continuously declined today and at 1430 GMT they completely stopped," Transport and Energy Minister Csaba Molnar told a news conference. The government would consider freeing up strategic gas reserves and make a decision on Wednesday morning if necessary, he...

The upcoming meeting between President-elect Barack Obama and his onetime rival Sen. John McCain was set in motion during a phone call over the weekend between Obama and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), McCain's closest friend. In an interview Friday, Graham said that Obama requested the meeting during a 20-minute phone call that the South Carolina senator described as a "pleasant" discussion about how they could work together effectively. "We just talked about the desire to find something meaningful to work on," Graham said. "He was very nice to me, said that he considered me a serious, reform-minded senator that he...

One of the earliest villas in Budapest is being excavated at Bécsi út 262 (District III), reports the Budapest History Museum. The site is of special importance, as it fits well into the line of villas previously found in the area, providing more information on the location and extension of villa farms around Aquincum, wrote Krisztián Anderkó, the archaeologist leading the excavations, on the museum's website. Ruins of the Roman building complex were discovered following several months of excavation work at a plot destined to become a hypermarket. The Office of Cultural Heritage had ordered the excavation to be carried...

Poland has claimed that it has assembled enough votes to block a landmark EU climate change agreement after spearheading a revolt by Eastern European states that fear the package would increase their dependence on Russian natural gas supplies. A six nation bloc on the EU's eastern fringes signed a pact to fight a proposal designed to cut carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by a fifth by 2020. The target represents the EU's landmark initiative to address the pressures of climate change and would return the continent's output of CO2 to 1990 levels. Poland has led efforts to fend off adoption of...

The real reason for Budapest's tepid diplomacy, of course, is energy supplies - Hungary is reliant on Russia for its gas. The Socialist Prime Minister, Ferenc Gyurcsány, a former communist youth leader-turned-multimillionaire, makes sure to keep good relations with the Russian Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin, who also visited in 2006. ... Five million ethnic Hungarians live in neighbouring countries after Hungary lost two thirds of its territories at the Treaty of Trianon in 1920. Even today, numerous cars have a Hungarian emblem showing “Greater Hungary”. If Russia can invade Georgia to protect its nationals (never mind that most are not...

When Hungary fell to the Turks and the library was lost, its size in the minds of men grew exponentially. Figures of up to 50,000 books were bandied about. In fact there were probably never more than 2,500. Today some 216 of them are known to have survived. How they did, and how they became Hungary's quest for the holy grail, is a gripping tale, helped along by Mr Tanner's penchant for intriguing asides... Translations of Greek and Latin works were often of poor quality, even if they had been prepared for princes. Although Hungarians eventually built a cult of...

BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungarian police evacuated thousands of people in central Budapest on Tuesday where experts prepared to defuse a huge World War Two bomb found on a construction site. The two-tonne bomb is one of the biggest found in the Hungarian capital, which was heavily bombed by the Allies during World War Two. Earlier this month another part of Budapest was evacuated after a half-tonne bomb was discovered. About 16,000 people live in the area where the latest bomb was found, said Tamas Bansaghi, deputy mayor of the affected 9th district. "It was found after a mill was demolished...

Like pensions and insurance, defence is one of those subjects to which too many people only pay attention when things go wrong. You might think, in the light of the past decade, that this would have changed. But you would be sadly mistaken. Even today, even after Iraq, few mainstream MPs without an immediate personal or constituency interest in the subject turn up in the Commons for defence debates. Many politicians who are thoughtful about a range of domestic issues still pass by on the other side when the conversation gravitates to the military. In this they reflect the British...

Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary to soon recognise Kosovo: reports Three countries bordering Serbia -- Bulgaria, Croatia and Hungary -- could shortly recognise Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence, Croatian dailies reported Tuesday. The Zagreb government was expected to recognise Kosovo on Wednesday along with Bulgaria and Hungary, after the breakaway province declared independence from Serbia last month, said the newspaper Jutarnji List. Citing sources close to the government, Vecernji List, Croatia’s largest circulation daily, also reported Zagreb would recognise Kosovo’s independence on the same day as Budapest and Sofia. The decision was likely to be made this week, possibly at a government...

You would never know, by skimming through Le Monde, and Le Figaro, let alone the international media, that the Treaty of Lisbon, short of some deus ex machina, will be ratified sometime between now and February 8. The French news is full of American politics. This is another great decoy for Sarkozy. Besides his marriage (which is now old news), there is the great American election to distract the French from the scenario that will unfold in their National Assembly and Senate over the next two days.Those of you who know French may be interested in this video from Nicolas...

New NATO intelligence chief was trained by KGB By Judy Dempsey Published: February 3, 2008 BERLIN: The new chief of the Hungarian secret services, who spent six years at the KGB's academy in Moscow during the 1980s, has become chairman of NATO's intelligence committee, a development that diplomats said could compromise the security of the alliance. Sandor Laborc, 49, was personally chosen by Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany of Hungary as director of the country's counterintelligence National Security Office in December, after a bitter dispute between the governing coalition led by the Socialists - the former Communists - and the main...

The new chief of the Hungarian secret services, who spent six years at the KGB's academy in Moscow during the 1980s, has become chairman of NATO's intelligence committee, a development that diplomats said could compromise the security of the alliance. Sandor Laborc, 49, was personally chosen by Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany of Hungary as director of the country's counterintelligence National Security Office in December, after a bitter dispute between the governing coalition led by the Socialists - the former Communists - and the main opposition party, Fidesz. Laborc, a former Communist who was trained at the KGB's Dzerzhinsky Academy from...

Turn on the sound and click on the link. :)

WARSAW. DECEMBER 10. INTERFAX CENTRAL EUROPE - Ukraine will be invited to participate in a number of future meetings of the Visegrad Group - a regional alliance of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia - in a bid to boost EU cooperation with its eastern neighbors. "We will invite Ukraine to take part in a number of the Visegrad Group's future sittings," Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek said at a joint press conference of leaders from the Visegrad Group and Slovenia, broadcast Monday by news channel TVN24. The two-day meeting focused on EU neighborhood policy towards eastern countries, Kosovo...

Slovak Police Say Seized Radioactive Material Was Uranium By Stefan Bos Budapest 30 November 2007 Officials in Hungary and neighboring Slovakia say police have detained three suspects who were in possession of material enriched enough to be used to make a so-called "dirty bomb." Stefan Bos reports for VOA from Budapest. A spokesman for the Hungarian Customs and Finance Guard, Attila Kiss, tells VOA that, after months of preparations, Hungarian and Slovak police detained three suspects on charges of trying to sell enriched uranium for at least $1 million. Kiss says police discovered half a kilogram of enriched uranium in...

Three people have been arrested for trying to sell more than two pounds of an unspecified radioactive material, which officials then seized, police said Wednesday. Specialists were examining the radioactive material, which the three were trying to sell for $1 million, said police spokesman Martin Korch. Two of the suspects were arrested in eastern Slovakia, the other in Hungary, he said. They were not identified. Slovak and Hungarian police have been working together on the case for several months, Korch said. Hungary's National Bureau of Investigation had no comment Wednesday. The Czech news agency CTK, citing unconfirmed reports, said the...

(BUDAPEST) - A good night's sleep on luxury Hungarian down pillows is likely to become a rarer experience as Hungary's poultry sector declines in the face of mounting problems. According to British retailers, pillows and duvets made from Hungarian goose feathers are "soft", "luxurious" and have an "unparalleled ability to spring back to shape". The feathers are hand-plucked from geese which are given a special diet, raised for longer than most competitors, bathed in summer and kept sufficiently cold in winter to develop big feathers, a Hungarian producer says. But in recent years Hungary's poultry sector has been hit by...

Japan announces carbon credit deal with Hungary Friday 23rd November, 2007 Japan has announced it intends to buy carbon credits from Hungary to become the world's biggest buyer of carbon credits. Japan's trade ministry believes the agreement with Hungary could lead to similar deals with Poland and the Czech Republic. Under the Kyoto Protocol, Japan has pledged to cut emissions to 6 per cent below 1990 levels. It is currently running at 8 per cent above. Buying carbon credits from Hungary is bound to bring criticism from other countries as the credits do not result in cuts in emissions.

An Australian man has completed a three-year journey from Mongolia to Hungary, following in the footsteps of the Mongolian leader Genghis Khan. The journey took more than double the time Mr Cope anticipated When Tim Cope began his 10,000 km (6,200 mile) journey in June 2004 he expected it to take 18 months. However, a stint at home when his father died and other delays meant it took more than double that. Throughout the trek he travelled on horseback and relied on the hospitality of local people, including nomads. He travelled with three horses at any time, one to carry...

Hungary's right-wing opposition is embarrassed by the far right THESE should be halcyon days for Viktor Orban, leader of Fidesz, Hungary's main opposition party. Fidesz leads the ruling Socialists by 20 points in the polls. That is mainly because of the government's austerity measures, but also reflects aftershocks from the riots after a notorious speech by Ferenc Gyurcsany, the prime minister, over a year ago, in which he admitted to lying about the economy before the 2006 election. Yet Fidesz is in disarray. Its new bugbear is the Magyar Garda (Hungarian Guard), a self-styled civil-defence group. The Garda, whose members...

BUDAPEST, , 13 (UPI) -- Slovakia’s prime minister, rejecting a Hungarian reconciliation proposal, says Hungary should unilaterally apologize to Slovaks, Hungarian media said Thursday. Hungarian Foreign Minister Kinga Goncz in Budapest Thursday supported a recently proposed draft declaration on reconciliation between Hungarians and Slovaks, the Hungarian news agency MTI reported. The Party of the Hungarian Coalition last week proposed the declaration to be passed by the parliaments of Hungary and Slovakia expressing regret for the treatment of minorities from each neighboring country during certain periods in the last century. The draft suggested Hungary apologize for its policy towards a Slovak...

Tonight’s Dose is dedicated to our cherished friend As most of us already know, she passed away suddenly this week. She had been sick for quite some time, but I don’t think any of us knew exactly how sick she really was. We’re all in shock … stunned by this … Gretchen suffered through so much pain in her life that we can’t help but rejoice and thank God she’s now being held in the arms of her friend Jesus--her tears wiped away forever. But then we remember the friend we’ve lost and our tears still flow. A recent photo...

Hungarians test eastern Europe's gay taboo By Krisztina Than BUDAPEST (Reuters) - "I am Gabor Szetey. A faithful Hungarian-European. Citizen, public official, member of the government. And gay." Of all the arenas in which a senior government politician could come out, Szetey's choice -- two days before a Gay Pride march earlier this month in post-communist eastern Europe -- was one of the most defiant. Hungary's Secretary of State for Human Resources risked hostility because he wanted to highlight persistent intolerance, not just of gay people, but also of other minorities, in eastern Europe. After decades under communist rule when...

<p>Warm relations between Poland and the Czech Republic were emphasised this week during a 3 day visit to Poland by Czech President Vaclav Klaus. Polish President Lech Kaczynski described Klaus as a "tested ally and friend". Later in a meeting with Polish Senate Speaker Bogdan Borusewicz co-operation within the Visegrad group was discussed with Mr Klaus saying the more the four countries could achieve together, the better. The Visegrad group is made up of Poland, The Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia. Poland's government has survived a week of crisis after former deputy prime minister, Andrzej Lepper, decided not to pull his junior party out of the coalition. Lepper was fired by Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski after he was linked to a corruption case. Mr Lepper initially threatened to withdraw from the coalition but later said his party would remain in government. He has denied the corruption allegations describing them as a "political provocation". Czech citizens' approval of European Union membership fell in the first half of this year. According to an EU survey, the Eurobarometer, only 46 percent of people thought EU membership was a good think compared to 51 percent last year. It's the first time EU approval has fallen below 50 percent in the Czech Republic. In Hungary, mayors, MP's and environmentalists are supporting a petition against the construction in Slovakia of a coal-fired power station. The objectors believe the planned power station will have a negative impact on the neighbouring Tokaj wine region, a world heritage listed site. Participants from both sides of the border say they will send the petition to the Slovak and Hungarian governments and ask for help from the European Union. Hungary's major energy company, MOL, has taken out credit worth around 2 billion euros in order to defend itself against a take-over by Austria's OMV. A spokesman for MOL confirmed the move following a number of media reports. OMV increased its share-holding in MOL from 10% to 18.6% at the end of June and has not ruled out a complete take-over. On Wednesday OMV chief Wolfgang Ruttenstorfer criticised the Hungarian firm's use of its own funds to buy back its own shares. Slovenia's Islamic community has signed an agreement with the government which regulates its legal status and activities. The leader of the community, Nedzad Grabus, said the agreement recognises the Islamic community as an integral part of Slovenian society. A number of other religious groups have signed similar agreements.</p>

Authorities are still probing why a gunman walked into New York New York casino after midnight Friday, randomly opening fire on gamblers and injuring four people. The chilling outburst sent patrons and workers scattering for cover inside of the packed casino, witnesses told FOX5 News, but security personnel and patrons quickly and courageously sprung into action, tackling the man and subduing him. Police said the brave bystanders included three off-duty out-of-town police officers and two military personnel. Las Vegas police rushed to the scene soon after the 12:45 a.m. incident and immediately took the man into custody. Investigators have identified...