Thursday Turkeys: All Hail Árpád, King of the Internet!

• The "first free Hungarian Internet television station," Árpádhír, will be launched on December 5th, announced the company's president, János Horkovics-Kováts. The editor-in-chief of Árpádhír - which means "Árpádnews," as in the Árpád who introducted the formerly savage Hungarians to the charms of national domesticity - will be Barna Balog, who last year said that a hand grenade should be thrown into the Parliament. Its target viewers will be Hungarians living in the United States and Australia. [hírszerző]

• A traveling health clinic designed to screen prostitutes, which the health ministry promised would start operating in spring, will start working on December 1st. The bus will visit routes frequented by Hungary's hookers and for Ft 17,000 will screen them for illnesses like AIDS and hepatitis B. Hungary's 20,000 örömlányok are required to undergo similar screening tests every three months, but only a few per cent of them actually do. No word on whether the anti-cootie bus will accept payment in barter. [magyar hírlap]

• Regional Development Minister István Kolber didn't receive an invitation to the opening ceremony of the Esztergom Aquasziget, which was inaugurated by opposition leader Viktor Orbán a week ago. He had to buy the Ft 2,100 day ticket yesterday, because the security personnel refused to let him - and twenty county representatives - into the complex without it. Scandal! [hirado.hu]

• The driver of a Hungarian tractor-trailer died when a Romanian tractor-trailer slipped on the snow and collided head-on with his vehicle on Route E75 between Kistelek and Petőfiszállás at six this morning. The Romanian driver broke his ribs. [rtlklub.hu]

• Károly Kabai, a former business partner of terminally ill Finance Minister János Veres, was charged with what some say is an exceptionally large and cheeky case of tax evasion. [mno]

• State President László Sólyom has decided when the general elections will be held next year, but he won't tell anyone. C'mon, Laci, be a pal - we need to know when to go on vacation! [népszabadság]

• A 40-year-old man froze to death in Szank (Bács-Kiskun County), because he fell asleep in a pub, was dragged outside by three other men and left there for a whole night. []

• It wasn't the Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP) that had the advertisement made which is pictured in this article on FigyelőNet. [fn]