Hungary's leggy chick
A Hungarian chicken farmer, Tibor Duró, is bringing up a four-legged chicken, born amongst 18,000 other chickens. The bird, now four weeks old, is developing satisfactory and has been accepted by the other animals. Last year, Duró had a three-legged chicken, but it perished after only two weeks. Duró says he would like to give away this very special specimen to somebody who has an interest in the unusual.
Eductional occupation
The head of a Lithuanian company that printed a calendar which ignited "ethnic tensions" was fined LTL 1000 (USD 250). The calendar in question showed the Belarusian, Polish and Russian territories as "occupied" Lithuanian lands. The publisher said it was educational and that there are plans to publish a similar calendar in the future.
Plane crash
Several flights were cancelled by Estonian Air after a bizarre incident involving a damaged wing. Though the company said it was damaged during towing, press reports suggest the plane had actually rolled off a ramp and ran into a car and a utility pole. The Boeing 737 should be airborne again in a week.
World fame and statues aflame
The mayor of Barcaföldvár in Braşov County, Ioan Cioaca (PNŢCD), has been caught on film vandalising a memorial stone to Hungarian soldiers who died in a Soviet death camp after the Second World War. Cioaca later tried to confiscate the videotape, made by reform priest András Ungvári Barna, but was unsuccessful. Lajos Sylvester, writing for the Transylvanian daily Háromszék, asks what the difference is between the mayor and the commander of the death camp. Sylvester also predicts that Cioaca is set for world fame if the film is shown to a wider audience.
Meanwhile, in Tîrgu Mureş (Marosvásárhely to Hungarians), which last week received the EU's special flag in recognition of local inter-ethnic tolerance, a yet-to-be-unveiled statue of the city's former chief judge was set on fire in a anti-Hungarian attack.
Hungarian disbelief
To happier news: László Zsalay, a US resident who left Hungary in 1959, won the jackpot while on holiday in Las Vegas. Zsalay was not surprisingly a little taken by it all and the manager of the Sahara hotel casino had to explain that Mr Zsalay had won USD 4.2 million on the Wheel of Fortune. Zsalay initially believed that he had won "only" 4.2 million times 25 cents and had to be convinced that he in fact had won four times as much.
CER Staff, 1 July 2000
Moving on:
