Budapest - Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai Sunday presented his new government's programme of crisis measures and public spending cuts to steer Hungary out of its economic woes.

Pensions, public sector pay and welfare payments were all cut while value-added tax was increased in an effort to relieve the national budget by the equivalent of 4.4 billion euros.

Bajnai also announced tax relief for lower-income workers in an effort to counter unemployment. "This is a crisis management programme that demands sacrifice by all Hungarians," he warned.

Budapest  - The designated economy minister of Hungary's interim government stepped down on Thursday, a day after local media reported a large fine for anti-competitive practices against his former software company.

Media on Wednesday replayed a decision by Hungarian competition authorities three years ago to fine Vahl's company 690 million forint (over 3 million dollars at the time) for collusion with IBM Hungary in a public tender.

Budapest - Former economy minister Grodon Bajnai was voted into the post of Hungarian prime minister in a parliamentary vote Tuesday which at the same time expressed no confidence in Ferenc Gyurcsany, voting the socialist premier out of office. Immediately after the vote Bajnai, who has no party affiliation, said he would be reshuffling the cabinet and bringing in experts who were also free of party affiliations to take over the key finance, economy, social welfare and energy ministries.

Budapest - The home of a Hungarian Roma politician was set ablaze at dawn on Tuesday in what police believe was a deliberate attack.

The attack took place in Tatarszentgyorgy, a village some 40 kilometres from the capital that was the scene of a brutal murder in February.

One room in the home of the deputy leader of the local Roma Council, Lidia Horvath, was completely burned out, the fire service said.

Budapest - Hungary's parliament on Tuesday initiated a constructive vote of no confidence against Socialist Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany.

The motion, signed by 92 members of parliament, calls for the replacement of Gyurcsany with current Economy Minister Gordon Bajnai.

Subject to approval by a parliamentary committee, the vote should be held on April 14.

The move is in line with a plan announced by Gyurcsany himself at a party conference on March 21.

Budapest - Hungary's European Parliament election campaign season got off to a rocky start in Hungary when two politicians from the centre-right opposition party Fidesz were roughed up while pamphleteering, the party reported Tuesday.

A security guard allegedly grabbed local councillor Katalin Gubicza by the neck and threw her out as she and a male colleague tried to drop leaflets into letter boxes in a tenement house.