Mid-Week Briefing: Prime Minister Wanted, No Experience Preferred

Of course, the *big news* in Hungary over the past week was the sudden realization by Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány that he's a really, really bad prime minister and just needs to go off and do something else, preferably with a rope and a chair or a bottle of whiskey and a pistol. As things currently stand at 18:30 CET, it is unclear whether he will be replaced by a "non-political" technocrat, or if new elections will be held so that he is succeeded by a legitimately-elected leader with a popular mandate another greasy pol with one hand in the till and another up his secretary's skirt. Either way, those with patience and a strong stomach can keep on top of the whole spectacle here. And in other change you can't quite believe in:

• A pair of seriously demented "home invaders" threatened to cut off an old man's fingers with a pair of heavy-duty shears in Albertisa, Pest County, early Tuesday morning. The two men broke down the door of the victim's farmhouse, roused the poor geezer from bed, bound his hands and legs, punched him in the face, and said they'd snip his digits if he didn't break with the cash. Then, when he told them that his son was sleeping in another part of the house the robbers ran off. Good to have a son around! [velvet.hu]
• A 32-year-old man from the village of Monyoród, southwest Hungary, gave himself up on the phone to the police after stabbing his 67-year-old father in the neck. Then, when he was brought down to the station for questioning, he refused to make a formal confession. Okay, so not so good to have a son around. [HirTV.hu]
• A homeless man was brought to the hospital with life-threatening injures after being knifed in District XI on Monday evening by another homeless man, who was arrested. Good to have the police around! [index.hu]
• The chief of police of Budapest's Csepel Island has been removed from his post after being caught allegedly telling other cops to make sure no evidence was found during a search of his friend's house. Okay, not so good to have the police around. [caboodle.hu]
• A 20-year-old male Budapest disco bunny was almost beaten to death on a night bus in Budapest in the wee hours of Monday morning after he and three of his friends got into a dust-up with some other 24-hour party people. [HirTV.hu]
• A mom in Bátonyterenye (Nógrád County) went to the police after three elementary school students beat her 14-year-old son to a pulp. The pre-teen thugs had previously bullied the older boy into handing over his MP4 player and threatened to open up a family-size can of whoop-ass on him up if he ratted them out, which he eventually did, big-time, by swallowing his pride and going with his story of woe to the school principal, who probably then talked with his mom, who then humiliatingly brought in the police. The cops detained the three children, who "partially" confessed to the battery and were no doubt sent home without so much as a smack upside their little heads, which is why we will forgive their disgraced victim in advance if he shows up tomorrow at school with an AK-47 instead of his MP4 and just starts shooting. [blikk.hu]
• Women's interest portal Velvet.hu received a letter from a reader in which she asked for advice after being "shocked" to discover some ULRs from porn sites in her boyfriend's browser history, and asked if this was normal. [velvet.hu]
• A new poll revealed that Hungarian women don't mind being chained to the sink and left home alone with the kids, or having to check with their mates before spending their own money. [caboodle.hu]
• A 14-year-old schoolboy was suspended for improperly Photoshopping a nudie pic of his school's physics teacher. [sexiside.hu]

• A big-ass chunk of concrete wall was swept off from the fourth floor by a gust of strong wind at the Corvin promenade construction site in District VIII on Monday. The block smashed a windowed roof to smithereens down below. There's no word of any injuries, though investors in the mega-project are said to be hurting something awful. [Index.hu]
• A shepherd peacefully tending his sheep on the northeast plains of Gyulatanya was attacked by a pair of unknown assailants who tied up the juhász and stole two of his sheep. The beasts allegedly fetch about Ft 50,000 on the open market, and sometimes as much as a crisp Ft 54,000 note. [hirtv.hu]