Budapest - So far 201 Suzuki workers have opted to take voluntary redundancy, the Hungarian wing of the Japanese carmaker announced on Tuesday.

Suzuki last week offered two months' full pay and this year's annual bonus in full to any workers at its plant in northern Hungary who opted to take voluntarily redundancy by December 18.

The car maker announced on December 8 that 1,200 jobs, or over a fifth of the workforce, would be axed in the face of a drastic drop in orders.

Budapest - A local leader of the controversial Hungarian Guard, a uniformed extreme nationalist organisation, was severely beaten on Monday during a dawn break-in at his home in a small town just outside Budapest, the national press reported on Tuesday.

The radical right-wing politician, Attila Szabo, was rushed to hospital where he underwent surgery for serious head wounds, according to reports in mainstream right-wing newspapers.

Szabo is the leader of his town's branch of the nationalist Jobbik Movement for a Better Hungary, which hopes to get a member into the European Parliament in the elections next year.

Budapest  - Passengers at Budapest's Ferihegy International Airport were faced with the prospect of more queues and delays as a strike entered its seventh day on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, striking rail workers began their third day of nationwide industrial action in a dispute that has already brought Hungary's railways to a near standstill.

Budapest Airport (BA), the firm that operates Hungary's only major international airport, announced on Wednesday morning that there would be no further cancellations on Tuesday.

The national airline Malev had already announced on Monday the cancellation of three of its Monday flights.

Budapest = The Hungarian parliament on Monday voted by 209 votes to 171 in favour of the government's 2009 budget bill.

Although the result was expected, it nevertheless put an end to months of debate and speculation over the exact details of the budget and the viability of Hungary's unpopular socialist government.

Finance Minister Janos Veres said the government's latest economic forecast had taken into account possible worst-case-scenarios.

Budapest - Hungary's rail network was almost completely paralysed on Monday due to a strike over pay and conditions by the largest rail workers' union, the VDSZSZ.

The industrial action began in the east of Hungary at midnight on Saturday, and was extended nationwide at 6 pm (1700 GMT) on Sunday. Hungarians woke up on Monday morning to find that there were no longer any Intercity or international services at all.

The three main railway stations in the capital Budapest were completely deserted, with only a handful of departures scheduled to leave and a few local trains bringing commuters in. The situation was similar in other cities around the country.

Budapest  - Railway workers began an indefinite strike on Sunday, adding to Hungary's transport woes as disruption continued at Budapest's Ferihegy International Airport for a fifth day.

Hungarian railway workers began their strike at midnight, with the industrial action initially confined to the eastern half of Hungary.

A spokesman for state-owned Hungarian Railways (MAV), Imre Kavalecz, said around half of trains in the main eastern cities of Debrecen and Miskolc had been affected. In other areas 90 per cent of trains were running.

The main rail union, VDSZSZ, is demanding a one-off payment of 250,000 forint (930 euros) to every worker as a share in the proceeds from the recent privatisation of MAV Cargo, the freight division.