New dad Zuckerberg vows to give away Facebook fortune

Yahoo – AFP, Glenn Chapman, 2 Dec 2015

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla hold their baby

daughter Maxima (AFP Photo)

San Francisco (AFP) - Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg announced Tuesday he is a dad and pledged to give away his fortune to make the world a "better place" for baby daughter Maxima and others.

In a letter to Maxima posted on his Facebook page, Zuckerberg and wife Priscilla Chan said they were going to give away 99 percent of their company shares -- estimated value $45 billion -- during their lives in an effort to make a happy and healthy world.

"Max, we love you and feel a great responsibility to leave the world a better place for you and all children. We wish you a life filled with the same love, hope and joy you give us. We can't wait to see what you bring to this world," the letter said.

Facebook chief executive and founder 

Mark Zuckerberg announced the birth

of daughter Max December 1 on his

 Facebook page (AFP Photo/Money

Sharma)

Zuckerberg will "gift or otherwise direct" nearly all his shares of Facebook stock, or the after-tax proceeds of sales of shares, to further a mission of "advancing human potential and promoting equality" by means of activities for the public good, the California-based social network said in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

Zuckerberg "intends to retain his majority voting position in our stock for the foreseeable future," Facebook said in the SEC filing.

"As you begin the next generation of the Chan Zuckerberg family, we also begin the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative to join people across the world to advance human potential and promote equality for all children in the next generation," the Facebook chief and his wife said.

"Our initial areas of focus will be personalized learning, curing disease, connecting people and building strong communities."

Giving Pledge

Zuckerberg early on added his name to those who have taken a Giving Pledge to dedicate the majority of their wealth to philanthropy.

"My hat's off to Mark Zuckerberg for making a decision he'll never regret and making a difference he'll forever be remembered for," pledge-signer and former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg said in an online post.

"The traditional approach to giving –- leaving it to old age or death –- is falling by the wayside, as it should. Mark's decision shows that when it comes to philanthropy, 30 is the new 70."

Zuckerberg is 31 years old, while Bloomberg is 73.

Breakthrough Prize Founders Priscilla Chan and Mark

Zuckerberg attend the Breakthrough Prize awards 

ceremony, at NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain

View, California, in November 2014 (AFP Photo/

Steve Jennings)

Names on the pledge include Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg, Oracle billionaire Larry Ellison and IAC/InterActiveCorp powerhouse Barry Diller.

"We believe all lives have equal value, and that includes the many more people who will live in future generations than live today," Zuckerberg and Chan said in their letter to Max.

"Our society has an obligation to invest now to improve the lives of all those coming into this world, not just those already here."

Zuckerberg in November said that he and his wife are donating $20 million to help get high-speed Internet service to US classrooms.

The money is being given to nonprofit group Education Super Highway to help with its mission, the Facebook chief executive said in a post on his page at the social network.

A month earlier, Zuckerberg and his doctor wife revealed plans to start a private school in a hardscrabble Silicon Valley town, mixing education with health care.

Zuckerberg voiced pride in his wife, Priscilla, for the plan to create "The Primary School" in the working-class city of East Palo Alto.

Last year, Zuckerberg and Chan began pumping $120 million into San Francisco Bay Area schools.

More than five years ago, Zuckerberg channeled $100 million to improve schools in the New Jersey city of Newark in an early foray into improving public education that got failing grades.

Dad time

Zuckerberg plans to take two months' paternity leave to be a dad.

Beginning with the 2016, dads working 

full-time for Facebook anywhere in the 

world will have the option of taking four 

months' paid leave (AFP Photo/Justin

Sullivan)

"Studies show that when working parents take time to be with their newborns, outcomes are better for the children and families," Zuckerberg said in an earlier post on his Facebook page.

Beginning with the new year, dads working full-time for Facebook anywhere in the world will have the option of taking four months' paid leave.

All new dads working for Facebook outside the US currently get a minimum of four weeks' paternity leave, with more time offered in locations where required by local law, according to Facebook.

Same-sex partners who are not primary caregivers for babies get the same paid leave time as dads, the social network said.

The change, effective January 1, essentially raises parental leave time for dads and non-custodial same-sex partners from four weeks to four months.

Maternity leave offered to Facebook employees around the world is already four months, and the benefit was available to both moms and dads in the United States.

Facebook also gives a $4,000 bonus for parents to help meet the needs of new babies.

New dad Zuckerberg vows to give away Facebook fortune https://t.co/SSrPLJRfwE pic.twitter.com/J4fs0WbKzb

— Agence France-Presse (@AFP) December 2, 2015

Related Articles:

Apple CEO Tim Cook plans to donate $800m fortune to charity before he dies

Jack Ma's problem: what to do with all his money

Alibaba founders set up charity fund

Saudi Prince Alwaleed pledges $32 bn fortune to charity

Australian mogul Packer gives away $188 million

Bill Gates urges China's wealthiest to give to charity
Bill Gates to Visit Jakarta for New Health Fund

Norway hotel tycoon offers 5,000 hotel nights to refugees

Yahoo – AFP, 8 Sep 2015

Hundreds of migrants walk after leaving the transit zone of the Budapest train 

station, on September 4, 2015 (AFP Photo/Ferenc Isza)

Oslo (AFP) - A Norwegian billionaire who made his fortune in the hotel business offered on Tuesday 5,000 nights in his hotel chain to refugees who do not have a spot in asylum centres.

"We are offering 5,000 nights to refugees who need it," Petter Stordalen, who owns the Nordic Choice Hotels chain, wrote on Twitter.

The migrant drama unfolding in Europe "concerns absolutely everyone," he told Norwegian news agency NTB, adding that he would also cover the meal costs for the refugees who stay in his establishments.

The Norwegian migration board UDI said it would consider Stordalen's offer if its centres were overflowing.

Norway received 2,313 asylum requests in August, most of them from Syrians, Eritreans and Afghans, the highest number registered in a single month since the 1990s.

According to UDI, the number of asylum requests could reach up to 16,000 for the full year of 2015, compared to 11,480 in 2014.

Related Articles:

Latin American nations offer to take in Syria refugees

Pope calls for every European parish to take in refugee family

Wealthy Gulf nations face questions over Syria refugees


"Return of the Masters" - Apr 11-12, 2015 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)

Saudi Prince Alwaleed pledges $32 bn fortune to charity

Yahoo – AFP, Ian Timberlake, 1 July 2015

Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal answers questions during a 2011 press

conference in Riyadh (AFP Photo/Fayez Nureldine)

Riyadh (AFP) - Saudi tycoon Prince Alwaleed bin Talal on Wednesday promised his entire $32 billion (28.8 billion euro) fortune to charitable projects in coming years, in one of the biggest ever such pledges.

The pledge is "maybe... the first such big announcement" of its kind in the region, and is modelled on a charity established by Microsoft founder Bill Gates in the United States, the prince told reporters.

Alwaleed said his charity "will help build bridges to foster cultural understanding, develop communities, empower women, enable youth, provide vital disaster relief and create a more tolerant and accepting world."

The money "will be allocated according to a well-devised plan throughout the coming years", he said, but stressed there was no time limit for the donation to be spent.

Alwaleed said he would head a board of trustees tasked with spending the funds, which would still be used after his death "for humanitarian projects and initiatives".

The 60-year-old magnate belongs to the Saudi royal family and is a nephew of king Abdullah, who died on January 23.

In the conservative Muslim kingdom, Alwaleed, who holds no government rank, is unusual for his high profile and periodic comments about economic issues.

"We are clearly in very close coordination with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation", which is already working with Alwaleed on a polio eradication project, he said.

"This is very much separate from my ownership in Kingdom Holding," and there should be no impact on the publicly listed company's share price, Alwaleed told reporters on the 66th-floor headquarters of the firm which he chairs.

'Dramatic and drastic'

But he said his charitable commitment would provide even more incentive for his business investments to be profitable.

As well as media stakes, Kingdom Holding has interests ranging from the Euro Disney theme park to Four Seasons hotels and Citigroup.

Alwaleed is constructing a tower in the Red Sea city of Jeddah that is to rise more than one kilometre (almost 3,300 feet) to be the world's tallest building.

Earlier this year, he opened a pan-Arab news channel in Bahrain but authorities there shut the station after less than 24 hours on air and a new home is being sought.

Alwaleed last week in Paris signed a letter of intent with France's CDC International Capital to create the first French-Saudi investment fund, worth up to $400 million.

A separate deal saw a French consortium and CDC IC invest about $150 million in Kingdom Holding.

Alwaleed told reporters he has already donated a total of $3.5 billion over more than 35 years through his Alwaleed Philanthropies.

The charity has distributed houses and provided electricity to isolated Saudi communities, while supporting other projects around the world.

He said he announced his pledge now, after years of preparation, to institutionalise the process "so they can continue after my lifetime".

Flanked by his son Prince Khaled and daughter Princess Reem, he said they will be president and vice-president of the charity after he dies.

"I believe that a person should take dramatic and drastic decisions at his peak," Alwaleed said, proclaiming himself to be in good shape.

"I'm very healthy, enough to bike every day three hours," he said. "I assure you my health is good."

Tim Cook is one of many high-profile business people in the US, including

 Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and Warren Buffet, in giving at least 50% of their

wealth to charity. Photograph: Lucy Nicholson/Reuters

Related Articles:

Apple CEO Tim Cook plans to donate $800m fortune to charity before he dies

Jack Ma's problem: what to do with all his money

Alibaba founders set up charity fund

Australian mogul Packer gives away $188 million

Bill Gates urges China's wealthiest to give to charity

Bill Gates to Visit Jakarta for New Health Fund

Apple CEO Tim Cook plans to donate $800m fortune to charity before he dies

• Cook says money will go to many social causes, as well as nephew’s education
• Apple co-workers found Cook’s sexuality to be a ‘yawner’, he says in interview

The Guardian, Rupert Neate in New York, 26 March 2015

Tim Cook is one of many high-profile business people in the US, including
 Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and Warren Buffet, in giving at least 50% of their
wealth to charity. Photograph: Lucy Nicholson/Reuters

Yim Cook is planning to give away all of his near $800m fortune before he dies, the Apple boss said in a surprisingly frank interview, in which he also described his sexuality as a “yawner”.

Cook, 54, who took over as Apple chief executive from Steve Jobs in 2011, told Fortune magazine that he planned to donate all of his wealth to charity after providing for his 10-year-old nephew’s education.

Cook, who has spoken publicly about the importance of stopping HIV/Aids and climate change, as well as championing human rights and equality, did not specify which causes he would support but said he had already begun donating money quietly. He said he would develop a systematic approach to philanthropy, rather than just writing cheques.

Fortune estimated that Cook holds $120m worth of Apple shares and a further $665m of restricted stocks.

Cook follows other high-profile executives in giving their money away. In 2010, Warren Buffett and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates launched the Giving Pledge, an appeal to billionaires to give at least 50% of their wealth to charity. Tesla chief executive Elon Musk, former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg and eBay founder Pierre Omidyar have all signed up.

Cook has previously spoken of his affection for his nephew. In a speech last year, he said: “I have a nephew that I dearly love that’s 10, and when I look at him, and when I think of leaving a world that’s not as good as when I entered it, there’s no bigger sin than that.”

In 2012, Cook donated $50m to Stanford hospitals, near Apple’s Silicon Valley headquarters, including $25m for a new children’s hospital. He also gave $50m to Product Red, a charity working to combat Aids, tuberculosis and malaria, according to Silicon Valley website the Verge.

Cook also spoke about his decision to come out as gay last year – making him by far the most influential gay business executive as head of the world’s most valuable company.

He said he made the decision to come out “quite some time ago” and that his announcement was viewed internally at Apple – where most people already knew he was gay – as a “yawner”.

However, Cook said making his sexuality public knowledge was difficult because he is a very private and guarded about his personal life. “To be honest, if I would not have come to the conclusion that it would likely help other people, I would have never done it,” he said. “There’s no joy in me putting my life in view.”

In the interview, Cook also took a strong line on investors trying to make a quick buck out of Apple’s rising share price. “The kind of investors we seek are long term because that’s how we make our decisions,” he said. “If you’re a short-term investor, obviously you’ve got the right to buy the stock and trade it the way you want. It’s your decision. But I want everybody to know that’s not how we run the company.”

Earlier this week, a financial analyst predicted that Apple could soon become the world’s first trillion dollar company. Analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald on Monday said they thought Apple’s shares – which are currently trading at about $127, valuing the company at $733bn – could soon be worth $180 each, which would value the iPhone maker at $1.05tn.

It would be the first time any company had ever been valued at more than $1tn, and would make Apple more valuable than the gross domestic product (GDP) of Indonesia,the Netherlands or Saudi Arabia, according to World Bank statistics. It would also mean Apple would be worth 2.6 times as much as Google, the second most valuable company in the US, with a market valuation of $383bn.

Related Articles:

Jack Ma's problem: what to do with all his money

Alibaba founders set up charity fund

Australian mogul Packer gives away $188 million

Bill Gates urges China's wealthiest to give to charity

Bill Gates to Visit Jakarta for New Health Fund

Jack Ma's problem: what to do with all his money

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2014-11-16

Jack Ma. (File photo/CNS)

Jack Ma, the founder and executive chairman of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, recently said that he is looking for ways to use his wealth to give back to society and wants to compete with Microsoft founder Bill Gates to spend money more efficiently on charity.

"It's even more difficult to spend money than to make it," Ma stated while elaborating on his business operating philosophy at this year's Singles Day shopping festival event on Nov. 11.

He added that he was unhappy of late and found being the country's richest man "a great pain." He believes that the record-setting US$25 billion that his company's IPO was valued at may have contributed to this stress.

Ma saw his fortune swell to US$19.5 billion after Alibaba stood at a record-breaking US$25 billion IPO on the New York Stock Exchange on Sept. 19. The company's share price closed at US$114.54 on Nov. 12, almost twice its offer price of US$68.

He further noted that Alibaba's listing was not meant to make money. Instead, it was meant to make the company's governance more transparent by putting it under the supervision of its shareholders and users around the world.

"The primary reason for going public was that it calls for more transparent corporate governance and puts stock investors and users around the world in a position to supervise the company and take part in its development," the executive chairman explained.

Ma also pointed out that he intended to get Alibaba listed in the stock market in Shanghai. "For various reasons, Alibaba cannot be listed on the A-share market, but we hope Alipay can list on it in the future," he added.

Alipay is the country's most popular online payment tool launched by Alibaba.

Since Alibaba went public, Ma said that he has been under tremendous pressure due to high expectations from investors. "The stock value may rise; people may have high expectations of you; I may just think too much about the future and have too many things to worry about," he said.

The founder of the e-commerce giant admitted that while being a rich man was good, being the richest man in China was not. "It's a great pain because when you're (the) richest person in the world, everybody (is) surrounding you for your money," he stated during an interview with CNBC at his company's headquarters in Hangzhou the same day.

In order to get rid of this "pain," Ma noted that he was looking at ways to use his money to give back to society.

He affirmed that he is considering establishing a foundation that can "spend money following a business-like framework." He may even compete with the other global billionaires in this regard.

"The competition is probably between me and Bill Gates-who can spend money more effectively and who can be a better philanthropist," he said.

Related Articles:

Alibaba founders set up charity fund

Bill Gates urges China's wealthiest to give to charity
Bill Gates to Visit Jakarta for New Health Fund

Man installs ‘charity fridge’ outside his house

The arrangement ‘would spare the needy the shame of asking for food’

Gulfnews.com, Habib Toumi, Bureau Chief, May 6, 2014

A Saudi man placed a fridge in front of his house in Hail and invited others
to donate food. (Image Credit: Mezmez)

Manama: Saudi and Gulf citizens have heaped praise on a man who placed a refrigerator in front of his house in the northern Saudi city of Hail and invited people to donate food to help the needy.

The open air donation would spare the needy the “shame” of asking for food, the man, who was not named, said.

The move came to national and international attention after a religious scholar, Shaikh Mohammad Al Araifi, paid tribute on his Twitter account to “the Saudi man from Hail who was engaged in an indirect act of charity.”

A Saudi man placed a fridge in front of

 his house in Hail and invited others to

donate food. (Image Credit: Mezmez)

Writing under the moniker of “Sniper”, an online user applauded the “simple, but far-reaching idea.”

“That is exactly what we needed: A simple, but bright idea that goes a long way in helping people,” Sniper posted. “The idea should now be adopted and all large mosques in the country should place fridges to take and distribute food,” he said.

Another blogger, Abdul Rahman, went further by suggesting “the smart idea should be applied in front of all houses.”

“It is the best way to ensure that all people have access to food,” he said.

Another commentator said that the food placed in the fridge does not have to be leftovers.

“The idea should be to develop the concept so that all kinds of food can be placed, even freshly cooked,” he said.

Salah, a Bahraini national, said that the idea should be implemented in Bahrain as the fasting month of Ramadan is about to start in the summer.

“It is a great act of charity that can make many people happy and satisfied,” he said. “There is the food factor, but there is also the spiritual dimension, especially during the sacred month when people engage deeply in acts of charily,” he said.

Ramadan, the month during which Muslim adults abstain from food, drink and sex from sunrise until sunset to test their patience, is expected to start on June 28.

Australian mogul Packer gives away $188 million

Yahoo – AFP, 22 July 2014

File photo of Australian billionaire James Packer in Sydney (AFP Photo/Greg Wood)

Billionaire James Packer, one of Australia's richest men, on Tuesday announced he was setting up a philanthropic foundation to give away Aus$200 million (US$188 million).

The casino tycoon, who runs worldwide gambling empire Crown, said the cash would go to charities promoting the arts and those supporting the broader community, particularly indigenous education.

Half of the money, to be donated in Aus$20 million installments for the next 10 years, will come from Crown Resorts, and the rest from the Packer family.

"This exciting collaboration between Crown Resorts and our family creates a platform from which to contribute towards strengthening communities in Australia and developing our artistic future," said his sister Gretel, who will administer the fund.

Philanthropy Australia chief executive Louise Walsh said she hoped it would encourage more of the country's corporate boards and wealthiest people to do the same.

"We are starting to see some serious mega gifts happening now in Australia and this is fantastic," she told reporters.

The son of late media baron Kerry Packer, James Packer is one of Australia's wealthiest people, with a personal fortune estimated at Aus$7.2 billion.

Who is behind generous 'Tips for Jesus'?

BBC News, Alastair Leithead, Los Angeles, 21 February 2014

Related Stories

• Readers' tipping nightmares and fairytales
• Should tips be banned in restaurants?

A secretive syndicate of super-rich diners have started a trend of leaving lottery-winning tips for bar staff, waiters and waitresses across the US. The lucky recipients are thrilled at the windfall, but is this another sign of the growing chasm between the rich and everyone else in America?

Scribbling the phrase "Tips for Jesus" alongside outrageous gratuities on credit card receipts, the trend - presumably among the super-rich - has set the internet abuzz with speculation over who the ringleader might be.

Pictures of many grinning faces and evidence of their windfalls have been posted on Twitter and Instagram, where #TipsForJesus is not only trending but is unsurprisingly attracting a lot of "likes".

More than $130,000 (£78,027) worth of tips are said to have been left in the six months since the mystery handouts began.

Undercover benefactors

The rich and mysterious tipper or group of tippers have been leaving giant gratuities in a dozen cities across the US and Mexico, but recently the service staff of Los Angeles have been cashing in.

Just last week a waiter at a top Italian restaurant in LA picked up a $6,000 gratuity on a $900 dinner bill, and a fast food server was given a $100 for a $4 milkshake.

Two waitresses at an iconic Sunset Boulevard strip club, Jumbo's Clown Room, shared $2,000 in tips on a $272 bill.

But the undercover benefactors have also been operating in New York, Arizona, San Francisco and Palo Alto, and it's there where many people think the secret to the lavish spending lies - a Silicon Valley billionaire.

Some insider magazines have gone as far as to name former PayPal vice-president Jack Selby as the mystery money man, but he's keeping quiet and those responsible remain out of the public eye.

And apparently "Tips for Jesus" has nothing to do with religion.

Widening wealth gap

The ringleader asked to keep his anonymity in exchange for an interview with the San Francisco Magazine.

"The movement we started is intended to be agnostic," he is quoted as saying, suggesting he can't remember exactly how it all began, other than it being last September after a college football game in Michigan.

A $3,000 tip on an $87.98 tab, with a photograph posted to Instagram, and ever since then a flurry of local media interest has followed news of the latest big gratuity.

The ringleader has "been fortunate" in life, the magazine says, adding he and his friends had been big tippers for years - just not this big.

Rubber stamps have even been made, and there's a possibility copy-cat tipping is going on - something welcomed by those lucky enough to share in the peculiar redistribution of wealth.

Tipping is part of culture in the US, where there are traditionally low wages for serving staff, but this is a curious form of luck-based philanthropy.

It's a reminder, perhaps, of the widening wealth gap between the super-rich and the rest across America.

Singer Fei Yu-ching gives NT$1m to feed rescued animals

Want China Times, CNA 2014-02-18

A staff member feeds dogs at an animal shelter in Kaohsiung.
(Photo courtesy of Animal Rescue Team)

Famous Taiwanese singer Chang Yen-ting, better known as Fei Yu-ching, has donated NT$1 million (US$33,000) to an animal protection group, which will use the money to buy cat and dog food for animals in shelters.

Ni Jing-tai, a spokesman for the Animal Rescue Team, said Monday that it set up a fund-raising platform to solicit donations on a long-term basis to help stray dogs or cats or those kept in underfunded private dog or cat shelters.

Ni said that Fei, known for his love of animals, contacted the platform through his agent and informed the group that he wanted to make a donation and hoped that more people would join him.

The group did not expect the donation to be as much as NT$1 million, and "we're very moved," Ni said.

Ni said the money will be used to buy dog and cat food that will then be donated to 50 underfunded cat and dog shelters around Taiwan, benefiting an estimated 12,900 cats and dogs.

Fei is famous for his mellifluous voice and has a wide following in the ethnic Chinese community.

News of the donation has received an enthusiastic response since it was posted on the Animal Rescue Team's Facebook page over the weekend.

As of Monday morning, more than 35,000 netizens "liked" the news, with some leaving messages such as "Fei Yu-ching is handsome and good at singing," "Xiaoge (nickname of Fei), you're great," "you are a guardian angel for stray cats and dogs," and "give you tens of millions of likes."

Homeless Hungarian man hits lottery jackpot with his last few coins

László Andraschek plans to use his lottery winnings of £1.7m to set up foundation for addicts and abused women

The Guardian, Dan Nolan in Budapest, Sunday 16 February 2014

László Andraschek, a homeless Hungarian man became a lottery millionaire.
Photograph: H Baranyai Edina/BorsOnline

Unemployed, in debt and facing another year living on the streets in Hungary, László Andraschek spent his last remaining coins on a lottery ticket. Now the formerly homeless man has a choice of accommodation around the world after becoming one of Hungary's biggest lottery winners, with a prize of about £1.7m.

Andraschek, whose 630m Hungarian forint win last September went unnoticed until he made a significant donation to a hostel for the homeless this month, said buying the ticket was a chance decision at a railway station on his way to Budapest for a workshop for recovering alcoholics.

"I had only picked six numbers and the female shop assistant reminded me that I needed to pick a seventh," he said. "I told her to make it 24 – it doesn't matter, anyway."

But he was wrong and now plans to use his winnings to establish a foundation for addicts and women abused by their husbands.

The 55-year-old resident of Gyor, north-west Hungary, said his first act was to repay his debts, before cycling to a car dealer. "When the car salesman asked me how much I would be willing to spend, I held up three fingers. As I had arrived on a bike he assumed this meant 300,000 forints, but actually I meant 3m."

As neither he nor his wife can drive, the car will be driven only by his children.

Andraschek has since bought flats for each of his three children, paid off the debts of his relatives and is planning to travel to Italy, having not previously held a passport.

He and his wife, Anikó, said they will invest their money cautiously and avoid the ruinous spending splurges of many a lottery winner. "I have become rich but I have not become a different person. I could buy a large-screen TV because I can afford it, but I won't buy three because I can afford it."

Having struggled with alcoholism, Andraschek finally quit five years ago and says he "now has no need to return".

The news of Andraschek's dramatic upturn in fortunes came as human rights activists organised a wave of protests worldwide against a new Hungarian law that bans sleeping rough, in a country that has 30,000 homeless people. Last week alone, demonstrations were held in front of Hungarian embassies and consulates in London, Paris, New York, Vienna, Lisbon, Dublin, Brussels, Essen and Istanbul. Next weekend a Hungarian NGO run by homeless people, A Város Mindenkié (The City is for All), will stage another protest in Budapest against the law, which threatens those living on the streets with a fine or imprisonment.