Budapest

Before Hungarian Education Administrator Ferenc Somogyi participated in this morning's formal announcement of Western Maryland College's satellite branch in Budapest, he visited the Westminster campus to gain a fresh perspective on a recent development in the changing face of Eastern Europe."

Dr. George B. Udvarhelyi, an internationally known Johns Hopkins neurosurgeon who established the Office of Cultural Affairs at the East Baltimore medical school, died Tuesday evening at Roland Park Place of complications from a neck fracture. He was 90. "George Udvarhelyi was a colorful character who during his years there made remarkable contributions to the medical school at Hopkins," said Dr. Richard S. Ross, former dean of the Johns Hopkins medical school. "He was a cosmopolitan Middle European gentleman who was always impeccably dressed and drenched in fine cologne."

Western Maryland College has fewer students than most Baltimore high schools. It can't recruit top-seeded athletes, and doesn't care to. But the quiet school on the edge of Westminster lays claim to something no other college in the state can: A branch campus in Eastern Europe.Four years ago, the college muscled aside two other schools to open a campus in Budapest. This week, the institution will hold commencement in Westminster for its inaugural class -- 19 students who have added an international flair to the serene beauty of the Maryland campus.

My husband and I live in Bel Air. In April, we stayed four nights in Budapest during an Eastern European vacation. The city and its people were captivating and it was a great experience for us to see its post-Communist beauty. This is a photo of the Parliament Building on the banks of the Danube River. Completed in 1896, this is Hungary's largest building, and as a Parliament building, is second in size only to Great Britain's Parliament in London. Elegant riverboats like the one in the foreground cruise up and down the Danube regularly with stops along its banks, including Budapest.

Western Maryland College has two campuses.The new one is in the former Communist education building of Hungary, in cosmopolitan Budapest, where free trade, night life and restaurants have emerged since the fall of communism in 1989.The mother campus in Westminster is down the street from one bar and a diner where the most exotic flavoring is black pepper.In Budapest, the multilingual students come from as far as Cyprus and Florence, Italy, to take WMC courses taught in English.In Westminster, most of the students come from Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

BUDAPEST -- On the weekend President Clinton came to Hungary, there was a line of many hundreds of locals waiting for four hours for their chance to get close to an American celebrity.The throng wasn't vying to see Mr. Clinton -- whose appearance was barely noted here. Madonna is coming, and this was the day that producers of the film "Evita," starring the flamboyant pop singer and Spanish heart-throb Antonio Banderas, were casting extras for the movie.The rules were straightforward: You had to be between 30 and 70, able to sing in English and possibly to dance.

Dr. George B. Udvarhelyi, an internationally known Johns Hopkins neurosurgeon who established the Office of Cultural Affairs at the East Baltimore medical school, died Tuesday evening at Roland Park Place of complications from a neck fracture. He was 90. "George Udvarhelyi was a colorful character who during his years there made remarkable contributions to the medical school at Hopkins," said Dr. Richard S. Ross, former dean of the Johns Hopkins medical school. "He was a cosmopolitan Middle European gentleman who was always impeccably dressed and drenched in fine cologne."

Budapest's first Kierkegaard Week, exploring the influence of the Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard, will be held Nov. 30 to Dec. 5. The week is sponsored by the Budapest Chamber Theater in honor of the debut of the Hungarian playwright Andras Nagy's award-winning drama, "The Seducer's Diary," based on an essay by the philosopher about his own life.The week's events include a number of exhibits, such as one on Kierkegaard and Copenhagen at the Hungarian National Library. The week concludes with the premiere of "The Seducer's Diary" at the Budapest Chamber Theater on Dec. 5. (An English translation of the text will be available.

All things are skewed through the eye of the Newt.Charles Town West Virginia without racing is like Harpers Ferry without John Brown.Bill went to Budapest, one place the Republicans didn't carry, for solace.

BUDAPEST, Hungary -- In a country whose self-image is that of the downtrodden and ignored, people found it normal that the first announcement of President Clinton's pending visit came not from official channels.No, Hungarians had to read about it in the papers."This shows how important the media is," Hungarian diplomat Istvan Gyarmati said with a shrug. "I'm not very formal, so I don't care about formal notification. What is important is to know when the plane will land."Presumably, the White House will advise Mr. Gyarmati, the head of the host Hungarian delegation to the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE)

BELA KIRALY, 97 A Hungarian revolution leader Bela Kiraly, one of the military leaders of Hungary's short-lived anti-Soviet revolution in 1956, has died, the Hungarian government said. The daily newspaper Magyar Nemzet reported that Mr. Kiraly died Saturday morning in Budapest. In 1952, he was sentenced to death on trumped-up conspiracy charges by Hungary's Stalinist regime. The October 1956 revolution, aimed at overthrowing the communist regime, lasted less than two weeks before it was crushed.

JOSEPH S. MIKO, 87 Filmed footage of Hungarian Revolution Joseph S. Miko, a former cameraman whose extensive footage of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution was smuggled out of Budapest and is considered a significant piece of the documentary record of the historic uprising against Soviet oppression, has died. He was 87. Mr. Miko died of blood cancer April 28 at the University of California, Los Angeles Medical Center, said his son, Joe. A retired owner of camera and electronic stores in the L.A. area, Mr. Miko was forced to flee Hungary with his family after capturing the short-lived revolution on film.

Denes Agay, a noted composer and arranger, and author of the anthology Best Loved Songs of the American People, died of multiple organ failure Wednesday at his daughter's home in Los Altos, Calif., where he had lived since 2004. The former resident of the Charlestown Retirement Community in Catonsville was 95. Dr. Agay was born and raised in a small village near Budapest, Hungary, and earned a doctorate in piano composition and performance from the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music in Budapest in 1934.

Sweet sounds The lowdown -- Truly new things don't come around in the music business all that often, so when Quartetto Gelato hit the classical/crossover scene about a decade ago, attention was paid. This foursome, which started in Canada and enjoys an international fan base, handles eight diverse instruments; the violin and mandolin player also happens to be a tenor, so there's a vocal element in the programming, too. The group typically explores a diverting repertoire, which it will do in a program with an "Orient Express" theme presented by Candlelight Concerts in Columbia, including musical stops in London (a Flanders and Swann song)

BOSTON - Mervo graduate James Carter is headed to the World Indoor Track and Field Championships this weekend in Budapest, Hungary. Carter, 25, clinched his ticket to Hungary with a second-place performance in the men's 400-meter final at the USA Indoor Championships yesterday at the Reggie Lewis Center. He won his race, clocking 46.80 seconds in his section of the two-division event but wound up second overall when Milton Campbell of Atlanta took the second section in 46.43. "I did what I had to; I got out fast, was ahead by the first pole [reaching 200 meters in 22.19]

Perhaps it's the echoes of all those gypsy violins wafting in the air. Whatever the reason, there can be no denying that Eastern Europe has provided remarkably fertile ground for the growth of some of the world's finest string quartets. And the Takacs Quartet, formed a quarter-century ago in Hungary at Budapest's Franz Liszt Academy where its founding members studied, has become one of the most renowned. The quartet, which will perform the music of Beethoven and Schubert on the Smith Theatre stage at 8 p.m. Saturday under the aegis of Columbia's Candlelight Concert Society, is based in Boulder, Colo.

BELA KIRALY, 97 A Hungarian revolution leader Bela Kiraly, one of the military leaders of Hungary's short-lived anti-Soviet revolution in 1956, has died, the Hungarian government said. The daily newspaper Magyar Nemzet reported that Mr. Kiraly died Saturday morning in Budapest. In 1952, he was sentenced to death on trumped-up conspiracy charges by Hungary's Stalinist regime. The October 1956 revolution, aimed at overthrowing the communist regime, lasted less than two weeks before it was crushed.

The leaders of Europe went to Budapest to celebrate the end of the Cold War and discovered the event had not yet occurred.Newt is Speaker of the House. Newt was born to speak. Stop speaking is something Newt will not do.Talk about wrist slapping. A judge ordered the state deputy comptroller who wouldn't pay taxes to pay taxes. The bum ought to have to make out a tax return every day the rest of his life.Triumphant Republicans and born-again-moderate Democrats agree to steal from the poor and give to the rich.

MY BEST SHOT Gokyo Valley, Nepal Andrea Kelly Berlin While trekking into the Gokyo Valley of Nepal in November, I came upon this yak posed in front of peaks near Mount Everest. Yaks are very temperamental, so I gave him a wide berth as I passed. A MEMORABLE PLACE Back to Old World roots By Barbara Anderson SPECIAL TO THE SUN One hundred years ago, my maternal grandparents left Budapest, Hungary, to start a new life in the United States. One hundred years later, I spent four wonderful days in Budapest, ushering in the new century with a fantastic New Year's Eve party in the five-star Budapest Hilton.

U.S. warplanes fly first mission from Hungarian airfieldsBUDAPEST -- U.S. F-18 warplanes flew their first Yugoslav combat missions from Hungarian airfields yesterday, the U.S. military said."