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This NYT report on Hungary and Mr. Orban is critical of current events in Hungary, yet requires reading between the lines, as the country has a long history and experienced many changes. There have been difficulties under both free markets and socialist policy in Hungary and Mr. Orban is adapting policy to the situation in Hungary for ordinary people without adhering to either policy and adapting as he goes along.

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Hungary's president Orban visits Ukraine and mets Zelensky for peace talks. Hungary's has assumed the presidency of the EU in 2024. He suggests a ceasefire from Ukraine first to bring a settlement to the war.

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People in Poland, Hungary, and other countries in Central Europe took out mortgages in Swiss Francs. The jump in the value of the Franc means their payments go up increasing economic pain in these countries. In Hungary the government of Viktor Orban has converted most franc loans into local currency forint loans at favorable rates and this will now be seen as a remarkably positive move. Poland has a growing economy compared to Hungary with borrowers in francs with higher incomes than Hungary, yet with 37% of the homeowner loans in Swiss Francs political parties are looking for support before elections offering to shift these loans into the local currency. Banks in Poland are well capitalized and are not likely to be seriously affected.

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Navigating the difficult shoals of the waters like a ship at sea in a storm as DJT and America work with the Europeans Merz, Starmer, Macron and Meloni to get a peace for Russia and Ukraine with peace talks in Switzerland, Austria or Hungary.

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 Mayor Reiter of Munich, Christian Kern, head of Austrian railway OBB, say here that the actions of Viktor Orban of Hungary gave the German government very little time, only a few hours, to act. The first motivation was to act in a humanitarian way, which is what happened. The German government had asked Orban to register and handle immigrants in an orderly way. In the end with the failure of Orban to do this, the immigrants who would have come north anyway, streamed into Germany and Austria in buses and trains. Clearly Hungary and Germany could have handled this better. The German public provided support with a large number of volunteers helping. One German minister is cited here as saying that if Orban wanted to build a fence he should have done it in a quiet way, as there are fences between Bulgaria and Turkey, and Turkey and Greece and it has not bothered anyone.

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DJT raises issue of NATO countries Turkey Hungary and Slovakia others buying Russian oil and gas + EU trade with China while asking for US help. Britain is a NATO country expanding trade with China while being strident about Russia. Germany has over two decades built economic relations with China through a period of Russian attacks on Ukraine including the Scholz administration approving China's stake in the port of Hamburg. India has been singled out by the EU and US, and by DJT with high tariffs while Britain and Germany carry on expanding trade with China. DJT believes China's support has emboldened Russia in its policy in Ukraine including pausing peace negotiations.

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EU leaders get Viktor Orban of Hungary to agree to a $50 billion fund to keep Ukraine's economy funded in 2024.

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Industry will bear the brunt of cuts under a gas rationing plan approved by EU nations. EU nations will reduce gas usage by 15% with some flexibility granted to Spain, Portugal and Hungary.

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The new Social Studies, Civics and English Reading curriculum for K-12 in Texas Schools looks at a broader approach to reading of classics which have been largely bypassed in an erroneous approach to reading focused on whatever is in contemporary trends. The current approach is leading to a generation of children who do not know much about the Nation's history and culture and form of government, about the English language and its prominent American authors. One draft includes books like “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” by Eric Carle for kindergartners, “A Wrinkle in Time” by Madeleine L’Engle for seventh graders and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech for eighth graders. Frederick Douglas and Langston Hughes are also included. It also has passages from the Bible, including a meditation on Love from First Corinthians.  All this is happening as the Nation has a new Test alternative to ACT and SAT called the CLT Classical Learning Test which provides longer reading passages from English and American Literature and history, science, technology, world knowledge, far better than ACT or SAT. ...

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Pictures and moment by moment account of the final penalty shootout in The Guardian of the big game of the soccer season between PSG and Arsenal, Champions League Final in Budapest, Hungary.  A French soccer team prevails over a British soccer team with fans going in large numbers to Budapest for the game. PSG under Luis Enrique quiet style team play prevails in shootout at Champions League Final over Arsenal. The game 1-1 after a goal in the 7th minute by Germany's Havertz, and and an equalizer in the 65th minute by Dembele on a penalty kick. Hakimi, Mendes, Neve, Dembele, Ruiz, Barcola, Marquinhos and Doue, goalkeeper Marin were pulled together by Spanish coach Luis Enrique into a tightly knit team that played consistently to keep Arsenal to 1-1, with 92% accuracy in passes. Luis Enrique has given PSG a new mentality compared to star centric days when Mbappe, Neymar, Messi played at PSG when team play was secondary.  Luis Enrique says about the game that he"decided a long time ago to stay calm and try to enjoy it because you need luck to win on penalties. I think we were great in terms of the quality of our kicks and also the goalkeeper. It’s amazing [to retain the Champions League]. Maybe today both teams deserved to win, but the way we played the whole season, I think we deserve it. We’ll try to do it again next year. Why not? The match started in the best way for them, scoring after a lucky action. We are used to attacking [against a low block] but they are strong physically, they know how to defend and it was very tough." ...

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Highlights from Euro 2021 round of 16 soccer from DW.com. 

Germany barely made it with a late goal from Leon Goretzka to make it 2-2 after Hungary led 2-1 till the final minutes of the game. Hungary gave France and Portugal a tough time in their matches. Italy showed excellent defensive skills and was one of the most improved teams says DW.com. Jorginho of Italy competes with Cristiano Ronaldo for most valuable player in Euro 2021. Ronaldo scored the most goals in Euro 2021.

The best goal scored was from Patrik Schick of Czech Republic with his goal from over the halfway line against Scotland using excellent technique.

The best performance for "hanging in there and self-belief" goes to Robin Gosens of Germany who scored one goal and two assists in the all important 4-2 win against Portugal.