Geoana wants to team with Diaconescu, as first vice-president, and Dragnea, as secretary-general. Victor Ponta announced on Monday night his intention to join the race. Vice-president Ilie Sarbu said Iliescu’s withdrawal will have a negative impact upon PSD.
The commissions in charge with the Statute and with organizing the Congress met yesterday at the Social-Democrat Party’s headquarters, to arrange the last organizational details for Saturday’s congress.
Meanwhile, surprise news continued to surface, with honourary president Ion Iliescu yesterday announcing he will step down from the Congress and from all functions in the party. Unhappy with the decision made on Monday by the Executive Committee about running for the leading positions in the party based on lists, rather than individually, the honourary president of the party yesterday announced his latest intent on Antena 3 TV channel. Iliescu explained he finds this idea as “noxious,” as it will allow for voting “in bulk, leaders and teams,” instead of electing the best people for each position in the party.
Also on Antena 3, Iliescu said he might even withdraw from the Congress, so that he does take part in ideas he labeled as...
Washington has not yet asked Bulgaria to join the project, Ellen Tauscher said, adding that Russia was thoroughly informed of the missile plan in Europe.
Romania might host three interceptor batteries, meaning a total of 24 SM-3 anti-ballistic missiles as part of the US anti-missile shield in Europe, but the exact number will be negotiated the following months, US Undersecretary of State Ellen Tauscher said yesterday in an interview to several news agencies, quoted by Realitatea TV.
Tauscher, who delivered US President Barack Obama’s invitation to Romania to join the shield project two weeks ago, said SM-3 interceptors are currently grouped in batteries consisting of eight missiles and are located...
Antidiscrimination organizations have reacted to Foreign Minister Baconschi’s recent statements following his meeting with French State Secretary Lellouche calling them racist and biased towards Roma people.
In several written protests, the organizations accuse the minister of racial profiling, having automatically associated the Roma ethnical group with the idea of criminality.
“The minister directly connects the criminal offence with the ethnical group. Moreover, in a serious manner; he gives a biological explanation to public offence crimes, which is rather a Nazi motivation. Mr. Baconshi seems to be unaware of the fact that racial profiling is not in the spirit of the 21st century European law,” a press release from the organizations...
Bucharest’s budget may double if district mayor’s offices are dissolved, under a draft law on the capital’s administrative reorganisation promoted by the Interior Ministry, daily ‘Romania libera’ reported. “The City Hall budget is currently EUR 1.3 bln but the budgets of all six districts reach a total of EUR 1.7 bln. The new Bucharest would mean a total budget of EUR 3 bln,” said Save Bucharest Association’s programme director Nicusor Dan. District 6 Mayor Cristian Poteras also claims that by administrative centralisation, the capital’s budget would amount to 35...
WASHINGTON - Israel’s defence minister said on Wednesday the Jewish state would be willing to hand over parts of Jerusalem in peace talks with the Palestinians to be launched by U.S. President Barack Obama. A flare-up of violence in the Palestinian West Bank and a deadlock over Jewish settlements there loom as potential deal-breakers for Obama, who will host Israeli and Palestinian leaders for dinner at the White House in Washington.
Obama brought Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas together for face-to-face...
MOSCOW - Russian police detained more than 100 people including prominent opponents of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin at anti-Kremlin protests on Tuesday, after Putin said demonstrators without permits could expect harsh treatment. In Moscow, police detained opposition politician Boris Nemtsov and dozens of other protesters who defied authorities by gathering on a central square declared off-limits last week, shouting “Shame!” and “Russia without Putin!”
Police dragged protesters through the crowd on Triumph Square and shoved them into buses, carrying...
Sweden reopens WikiLeaks founder rape investigation
Sweden’s chief prosecutor said on Wednesday she was reopening a preliminary investigation into rape charges against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange that a lower official had withdrawn two weeks ago. Neither Assange, who has denied the charges, nor his lawyer could be immediately reached for comment. WikiLeaks published more than 70,000 secret military files on Afghanistan in July in what U.S. officials have called one of the biggest security breaches in U.S. military history. Assange has said he...
‘Nine O’Clock’ exclusive interview with Finance Minister Sebastian Vladescu
The IMF delegation has left. The money is expected in February. The European Commission too says it may disburse the next tranche in March. Could we say that we will be getting through winter in good conditions with respect to pensions and salaries?
Evaluations by the IMF, WB and EC have had positive results, recognising an improvement of macroeconomic conditions in Romania following the implementation of the government’s agenda of policies and reforms, sustained by the spending of funds sourced from multilateral financial assistance. This...
The Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) of the EU member states yesterday agreed to give Romania until 2012 to reduce its budget deficit to a value below the European acceptable threshold of 3 per cent of the GDP, a European diplomat told Mediafax.
The EU finance ministers have approved the recommendations made by the European Commission on February 8, regarding the excessive deficit procedure against Romania, Hungary, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Malta. ECOFIN finds that all these countries have taken “effective” corrective...
The Romanian population is two to three times poorer in financial assets than the citizens of the Czech Republic or of Hungary, which explains why unemployment is so unacceptable in Romania and why pensions are such a hot issue, BNR Chief-Economist Valentin Lazea said yesterday. Lazea presented data suggesting that the population in Romania has financial assets worth EUR 33.3 bn and net liabilities of EUR 27.4 bn, according to ‘Ziarul Financiar.’
He explained he had considered a Unicredit study published in January 2010 and pointing out...
The Szeklers’ county is a historical region inhabited by a Magyarophone population. Distinct from the Magyars in terms of origin (the most credible hypothesis), social organization and cultural traditions, the Szeklers have been to a great extent their historical allies. Through religious communion, but also through repeated political centralization trends (starting with the medieval Magyar royalty and ending with the Austro-Hungarian dualism), the differences have lessened, and now the Szekler “characteristic” consists especially of the region inhabited by the most compact ethnic group outside Hungary. The Szeklers’ county, which corresponds to a great extent to Covasna and Harghita counties and half of Mures County, is the Transylvanian region where the Magyarophones hold an absolute majority vs. the Romanians. It is precisely for this reason that it was regarded with a special political eye. After the incorporation, further to WW I, of Transylvania within...
FC Bayern Munchen got the better of ACF Fiorentina last season but they can expect a tougher test tonight against a visiting Viola side chasing a sixth straight win in the first leg of their last-16 contest.
ACF Fiorentina visit FC Bayern Munchen for the first leg of their last-16 encounter aiming for a sixth successive UEFA Champions League victory, according to uefa.com.
The...
NEW YORK - Rafa Nadal made a smooth start to his bid to capture the one grand slam that has eluded him when he wore down Russia’s Teymuraz Gabashvili 7-6 7-6 6-3 in the first round of the U.S. Open on Tuesday.
Dressed menacingly in an all black outfit, Nadal had to dig deep to see off the stubborn Gabashvili after three hours of intense shotmaking from both men at Arthur Ashe...
All but two of FC Vaslui’s players boycotted the team’s morning training session on Wednesday, under the pretext that club owner Adrian Porumboiu gave them several days of holiday. Porumboiu is displeased with head coach Juan Ramon Lopez Caro’s performance, the team being 14th in the standings with only 5 points in 6 games, but hesitates sacking him. FC Vaslui finished last season on a...
Tim Burton’s ‘Alice in Wonderland’ is the most eagerly anticipated.
On the last weekend of February you will be able to see the worldwide release of Martin Scorsese’s latest DiCaprio vehicle, recently premiered in Cannes, Shutter Island. Based on a novel by Dennis Lehane, the film tells a 1954 story, where two U.S. marshals investigate the disappearance of a patient from a hospital for the criminally insane on an island in Massachusetts. They run into...
The National Theatre Festival (FNT) will present, in its 20th edition, the latest play directed by Silviu Purcarete – Le Roi se meurt (Exit the King), by Eugene Ionesco, an international production. The show premieres on September 15, within the Ex Ponto Festival in Slovenia, and will be presented, then, within the FNT, before touring to France, Italy, Montenegro, Macedonia and Croatia. This new...
The legendary Jazz musician is for the first time in Romania.
The Palace Hall will sound of the best in jazz sounds this fall, as on October 29 as of 8 pm, a unique and first-time concert featuring Herbie Hancock will delight quality music fans.
Herbie Hancock is a true icon of modern music. Throughout his explorations, he has transcended limitations and genres while still maintaining his unique, unmistakable voice. The musician’s success at...
Prosecutor General Laura Codruta Kovesi yesterday sent the Chamber of Deputies a request by anticorruption prosecutors to allow a criminal probe against former Youth and Sports Minister Monica Iacob Ridzi. Prosecutors want to probe Ridzi for abuse of position, intellectual forgery related to acts of corruption and other deeds.
Ridzi, already probed for embezzlement, resigned as minister...
The National Medicines Agency withdrew the license of supplying injectable products, vaccines included.
The National Medicines Agency (ANM) this month withdrew the license of the Cantacuzino Institute for placing injectable products on the market, because its good manufacturing practices standard ended.
The announcement was made yesterday by the director of the Cantacuzino Institute, Radu Iordachel, during hearings in the Health Commission of the Chamber of Deputies.
According to...
Turkish ship sinks near Constanta
A Turkish flag ship loaded with scrap iron sank near the Port of Constanta yesterday, Mediafax reports. Wednesday morning at about 4:30, the ship started to lurch. Two other vessels were sent to the area to rescue the ship, but failed. The 17 sailors onboard were rescued. No one knows for sure what caused the distress, but two options are being...
home
