Istvan Csurka, far-right politician, dies

BUDAPEST, Hungary -- Hungarian far-right politician and writer Istvan Csurka, known for his anti-Semitic articles, has died. He was 77.

Csurka's death was announced by his family. He had been hospitalized in recent weeks with an undisclosed illness, but no other details were immediately available.

Csurka, who last was a member of Parliament between 1998 and 2002, hit the headlines late last year when his nomination -- later withdrawn -- as artistic director of a Budapest theater was criticized in Hungary and abroad by theater professionals and Jewish groups.

Csurka wrote more than 20 plays, some satirizing the communist regime, and published many volumes of essays and short stories.

His newspapers and magazine articles often blamed Jews and international powers for Hungary's problems.

-- AP