"Marriott will soon have three hotels in Budapest, Hungary. Marriott International has announced plans to double its hotel portfolio in Europe by 2015, as part of a global reorganization aimed at accelerating worldwide growth.

"Yamato is coming! The drummers of Japan bring their brand new show, Matsuri Fiesta to Budapest.

"Legendary rock and roll figure BI LLY IDOL and trip-hop style-icon MASSIVE ATTACK are definitely going to perform on the18th VOLT Festival – and the same applies to ANDY C, PAROV STELAR BAND and DJ YODA. Just four months before opening the gates, some of the names of the local heroes are also published: ÁKOS and QUIMBY – among many others – will also do a show in Sopron, right on the main stage.

"Former prime minister Ferenc Gyurcsány will make a speech on Hungary’s last few years and the tasks ahead at a Democratic Charta public function on March 19.

"Terence McDonagh is a drug- and gambling-addled detective in post-Katrina New Orleans investigating the killing of five Senegalese immigrants."

Along with the Hungarian city of Pecs, and the German city of Essen, Istanbul is also a ‘European Capital of Culture’ this year. This Turkish delight of a city stands out from the others in several ways, not least because part of it’s in Asia. Recently I caught up with Wolfgang Koller there, former Budapest expat and now the GM of the Courtyard Hotel by Marriott Istanbul. I asked him about his expat life in Istanbul, and what visitors ‘must see’; do and eat during a weekend stay.

"Ever since the Welwyn Garden City based trio launched themselves onto the music scene in 2005, with their debut album ʻYoung For Eternityʼ, they seemed destined for greater things. Their second album in 2008, ʻAll Or Nothingʼ, ensured the band were here to stay.

"Hungary’s most powerful computer to date was presented to the media at the Csillebérc centre of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences on Tuesday. It will research the genetic back-ground to asthma, allergies and leukaemia.

"Horse-racing phenomenon Overdose will race again in May, website delmagyar.hu reported, quoting its owner Zoltán Mikóczy on Monday. “Dózi” last raced on April 19, 2009.

"The surprise jump in Hungary’s inflation to 6.4% in January has made a deep impression on analysts and, as a consequence, they now project the country’s inflation path to be considerably higher in 2010 than before. The market presently sees it unlikely that the headline CPI figure will drop to below the central bank’s medium-term goal (3.0% +/- 1ppt) this year.

"It is now almost as hard to imagine MUPA without its Mood Concerts as Hungary without MUPA! Now in its fourth year, each week students from the Budapest Academy of Music and sometimes young musicians from conservatoires and regional colleges give intimate concerts around the Foyer of the Palace.

"This evening, we see three aspects of Iván Markó: Message of Angels from 2006 is about love and the experience of community, place upon on the “wings” of Bach’s music; Faun was premiered in November 2009 and is a reinterpretation of the creation by Mallarmé, Debussy and Nijinsky, while Sheherezade, dating from autumn 2007 and based on Rimsky-Korsakov’s suite, illuminates human relationships from a female perspective, within the famous tales of a thousand and one nights.

"The K & H group is transferring Ft 2.5 million to Heim Pál Hospital, from where medical instruments were stolen recently.

Before Monday, 1 March, my only connection with the little country in the southwestern UK was a joke t-shirt I once had with the logo 'Save the Wales' emblazoned across its chest. And I watched the Welsh rugby side beat England at Twickenham a few years ago. Otherwise, nothing. So I was flattered to be recently invited to the first ever St. David’s Day celebration here in Budapest.

Before Monday, March 1, my only connection with that tiny little country in the southwestern UK was a joke t-shirt I once had with the logo Save the Wales emblazoned across its chest. And I watched the Welsh rugby side beat England at Twickenham a few years ago. Otherwise, nothing. But on March 1, I was flattered to be invited to the first ever St. Dvydd’s Day celebration here in Budapest.

Budapest businesses have begun to throw their weight behind a staggering charity fund-raising challenge that will see two local expats tackle five-and-a-half marathons in six days in the furnace of the Sahara desert.

"The President of the Republic of Hungary Mr László Sólyom has invited The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall to undertake an official visit to Hungary from 17th March to 20th March 2010. Their Royal Highnesses will also be paying official visits to Poland and the Czech Republic.

"Hungarian fuels group MOL will raise the price of gasoline and diesel by HUF 6 and HUF 3 per litre, respectivley on Wednesday, Portfolio.hu has learned on Monday. The company’s move is no surprise, considering the increase in fuel rates over the past week.

"Hungary’s competition authority (GVH) has approved Bonafarm Zrt., an interest of OTP Bank Chairman-CEO Sándor Csányi, to acquire 100% of salami maker Herz Szalámigyár Zrt., and all of its movable and immovable property. Herz has been under liquidation.

"Aggtelek National Park (ANP) has gone bankrupt with only Ft 20 million in its account, which is only sufficient to pay its staff salaries, Magyar Hírlap reports.