• The Danube peaked at 861 cm in Budapest at midnight last night. The water is expected to recede a few centimeters by tomorrow, but it will probably be weeks before it is back to normal. The situation is still critical at Szentendre and emergency teams are continuously working on the dams. [index]

• Meanwhile, vendors are selling pretzels for Ft 400 and beer for Ft 800 to disaster tourists gawping at the carnage along the shores of the Danube. People are now taking photographs of people eating popcorn, drinking beer and taking photographs. [uno.hu, híradó]

• Far-right Jobbik Magyarországért Mozgalom ("Movement for a Better/Righter Hungary") and a few hundred of its supporters protested at the Soviet monument on Szabadság tér yesterday. They were demanding that the memorial erected for the "glorious Soviet troops" be removed. If it wasn't for them, you'd still be... [hvg.hu]

• At least six million people will watch tonight's televised debate between Hungary's two prime ministerial candidates. Viktor Orbán and Ferenc Gyurcsány will face-off at 19:00 and there is almost no way to avoid seeing it. The political sparring will air on all three national channels (MTV, RTL Klub, TV2), as well as Duna TV, ATV, Hír TV, Echo and Budapest TV. If you really want to avoid it, head down to Pixel Bistro, where there isn't a TV in sight, but don't on any account go into the MSZP offices next door. [vg.hu]

• Two kids were caught defacing election posters of Socialist candidate Csaba Horváth in District II. One of them turned out to be the son of Lajos Simicska, former president of APEH and former financial director of Fidesz, while the other is the nephew of András Kupper, the leader of Fidesz's Budapest chapter. [index]

• Péter Gyurcsány, the prime minister's teenage son from his first marriage, has been caught stealing chocolate from a store. According to tabloid Napi Ász, the security guard found chocolate bars worth Ft 551 in his pockets, which the boy said he had bought at another store, but he couldn't prove it with a receipt. The paper writes that his mother paid for the products, and he finally admitted to stealing them. MSZP spokesman István Nyakó says that the boy was only accused, but he didn't admit to stealing, and whoever states something else, will be sued. Sounds like politician speak: whatever happens, just deny it. [hírszerző]

• Music channel VIVA launches the karaoke show "Shibuya" in May, where amateur singers can compete. The show, named after the district of Tokyo where karaoke was born, was the most popular program on the German VIVA last year. [origo]

• The courts decided that István B., former economic director of the Equal Opportunities Government Office (Esélyegyenlőségi Kormányhivatal), who was accused of sexual harassment by his former secretary, Gabriella Sz., is innocent. Sz. has to pay Ft 1 million to B. and apologize in a private letter, while tabloid Blikk has to pay him Ft 4 million for printing the accusations as if they were fact. As super feminist Alanis Morrissette would say, isn't it ironic? And this time, it really is. [index]

• The future of the Hungarian Formula 1 is in danger after the EU launched proceedings against Hungary - among three other member countries - for violating regulations on tobacco advertising. Hungarian law agrees with the ban on cigarette advertising in principle, except at Formula 1 races. Nice try… [magyar nemzet]

• A 22 year-old Ukrainian man from Nyírmihálydi was taken to hospital in a critical condition last night. His injury on his arm was probably caused by a chainsaw, and he had suffered severe blood loss. The police are investigating the circumstances. [magyar nemzet]

• Ákos Komássy, president of Young Left (FIB), suffered serious injuries in a car accident on the M3 near Mogyoród yesterday. His colleague, who was traveling with him in his car, died during the night. Komássy was driving his own car and collided with a tractor trailer in front of him, hit the guardrails and then collided with a truck. The drivers of the other two vehicles were not injured. [inforadio.hu]

• A tram caught fire at the Pest side of Árpád híd late last afternoon after an overhead cable fell on it. Nobody was injured. [objektív hírügynökség]

• According to a recent Romanian poll, Hungary tops the nation's list of enemies, while the United States is its most favored nation. [index]