Budapest Sziget festival expected to post losses

The week-long pop music and cultural Sziget Festival ended Tuesday night 15,00 visitors short of its 385,000 target. For the first time in its 15-year history the festival received no state funds.

Organiser Károly Gerendai told Napi Gazdaság that the festival is expected to post losses this year, mainly because of lower weekend turnout due to the rainy weather. However, other festivals organised by Sziget Szervezőiroda posted profits.

The busiest day was Sunday, with 63,000 visitors. Before that night's Faithless performance, 14,902 couples set a new world record for simultaneous kissing.

The longest concert ever took place at the Guinness Podium Stage where live music went on non-stop for 11,580 minutes from the start of the festival to the finish.

Police detained Hungarian, Sudanese and Nigerian drug dealers and seized 400 grams of marijuana, 200 ecstasy pills and smaller quantities of hashish resin on the Sziget on Tuesday, Magyar Hírlap adds.

The above story is just one of more than two dozen published today by Hungary Around the Clock, the most comprehensive source of daily English-language news about Hungary. For a free trial of HATC, click here. Hungarian news sources include Népszabadság; Magyar Hírlap; Világgazdaság; Napi Gazdaság; Magyar Nemzet; Népszava; Kossuth Rádió news and Hungarian television's nightly news broadcast.

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