Budapest  - Hungary's construction industry is to be given an 8-billion-dollar shot in the arm over the next year and a half in a bid to protect jobs and boost the country's flagging economy, the government announced on Wednesday.

Minister for National Development and Economy Gordon Bajnai told reporters that the money, over 1.8 trillion Hungarian forints, would be used to support 636 major projects over the next 18 months.

Budapest  - A passenger was killed when a helicopter plunged i

Budapest  - Austrian police arrested one of two men suspected of killing Romanian handball international Marian Cozma, Hungarian officials said Sunday night.

Hungarian police spokeswoman Piroska Varadi said international arrest warrants had been issued for two suspects, Sandor Raffael and Ivan Sztojka, but did not confirm which of the two had been caught at the Austrian border.

Cozma was killed and two of his teammates injured in a knife attack outside a Hungarian nightclub early Sunday.

Budapest - Hungary's cash-strapped national airline Malev told staff on Friday that they would be receiving their wages in two installments this month as it cannot afford to pay in full.

The airline, which was privatised for a token sum in 2007, blamed its inability to meet its payroll costs on the worsening economic situation in Hungary and the global financial crisis.

Malev spokeswoman Krisztina Nemeth said in a statement on Friday that low passenger numbers and a drop in turnover through the winter season were to blame for the company's embarrassing announcement.

Budapest  - Delegations from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European Union arrived in Budapest Wednesday to ensure Hungary is meeting commitments to strict financial housekeeping that were a condition for a huge rescue loan package last year.

The IMF, EU and the World Bank offered Hungary a 25 billion-dollar credit line last October as its economy teetered on the brink of collapse.

Budapest  - Political parties of all stripes on Wednesday slammed provocative plans by a Roma group to set up its own "Gypsy Guard" in response to the controversial extreme right-wing, paramilitary "Hungarian Guard".

Laszlo Padar, head of a Roma interest group in western Hungary, told the local press on Tuesday of plans to set up a "Gypsy Self- Defence Guard" in the near future.

However, Padar - who is also a socialist councillor in the town of Gyor - withdrew his plans on Wednesday afternoon after provoking a storm of protest.

"The setting up of a Roma Guard could lead to accusations of incitement," said Attila Horvath, the head of the local Roma minority council.