This bulletin is being issued for information only and reflects the current situation and details available at this time. The Hungarian Red Cross is grateful for the immediate cross-border assistance by the Austrian Red Cross, and it is coordinating its actions with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). Beyond the already received assistance, the Hungarian Red Cross is not seeking any external support or funding at this stage.

Summary:

This is a summary of what was said by the UNHCR spokesperson at today’s Palais des Nations press briefing in Geneva. Further information can be found on the UNHCR websites, www.unhcr.org and www.unhcr.fr, which should also be checked for regular media updates on non-briefing days.

UNHCR paper urges Hungary to improve treatment of asylum seekers

After unusually mild weather in December 2011 and early January 2012 almost all over Europe, the weather situation changed abruptly in the second half of January. An incursion of cold polar air, coming from northern Russia at the south flank of an extensive high pressure area brought a sudden cooling to almost the whole Eurasian continent). During that cold spell, also some considerable snowfall occurred over various parts of the continent. In the first half of February, the cold wave started weakening first in Asia and in mid-February also in Europe.

BUDAPEST, February 10, 2012 (AFP) - Hungary closed the Danube to river traffic Friday due to thick ice, bringing shipping to a near standstill on Europe's busiest waterway, as the continent's cold snap death toll passed 540.

"Shipping was ordered stopped overnight Thursday to Friday because of conditions created by icing along the Hungarian part of the river," Istvan Lang, who heads the national technical supervisory body OMIT said.

"All ships still underway must immediately head for the closest harbour," Lang, quoted by MTI news agency, said.

Brussels, 08 February 2012 - Despite dealing with severe winter conditions at home, European countries have responded swiftly to Bulgaria’s request for assistance to fight floods and prevent further damage from the severe winter that has engulfed much of the country. Several dams are overflowing in Bulgaria due to the heavy snow of the past few days. On Monday, 6 February, a wall of the Ivanovo dam broke and the released water inundated the village of Biser in South Eastern Bulgaria. Other towns in the region are also in danger of flooding.

BUDAPEST, February 6, 2012 (AFP) - The cold snap gripping swathes of Europe killed 12 people in Hungary over the past three days, authorities said on Monday, in the country's first announcement of fatalities.

"Twelve people have died from the cold in the last three days, 55 people have been evacuated and 172 accidents have been reported," the OKW emergencies authority said in a statement.

Hungary has reported temperatures of as low as minus 24 degrees Celsius (minus 11.2 degrees Fahrenheit) in the north and of minus 20 in the capital Budapest overnight Sunday to Monday.

Islamabad, January 4, 2012 – The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and partners today welcomed the opening of 35 new schools in Muzaffargah, Rajanpur and Rahimyar Khan in Southern Punjab, three districts hit by the 2010 monsoon floods. These schools have been constructed by the children’s agency at locations where schools were damaged or completely destroyed by the floods that devastated Pakistan from July to September 2010.

More than 4,500 children are now attending these schools which have been handed over to the Punjab Education Department.

BUDAPEST, Hungary, December 29 (UNHCR) – "Mother and father Congolese, the citizenship of the child unknown," reads the entry for nationality on the birth certificate of Glody. The three-month-old boy is one of those children born to refugee parents in Hungary and so is registered with unknown citizenship.

"I feel at a loss… no one can tell me what it means, but a word like 'unknown' never means good," said Glody's father, 37-year-old Leon Mukaba, as his youngest son slept peacefully in his lap.

VIENNA — A year after Hungary's worst chemicals spill released vast amounts of poisonous red mud, levels of toxic substances are lower than feared but still above average, Greenpeace said on Wednesday.

"All in all the levels of toxic contamination, particularly in maize and in the soil, are lower than feared," said Herwig Schuster from the environmental pressure group's central and eastern European office in Vienna.

"A lengthy and expensive clean-up will be needed in order to turn the rivers back into a functioning ecosysystem."