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politics
Viewpoint
PSD vs. PSD
09.02.10 | by: Adrian Severin | in: politics
PSD’s fate as the Romanian democratic left-wing’s sole party affects the structural balance of the political stage in Romania and because of that it concerns us all. In the following period PSD’s main problem won’t be Traian Basescu, PD-L or PNL, but PSD itself.

Any organism reproduces according to its genetic program, passing on its traits to its descendants. For a change to occur a mutating factor is needed. In what concerns PSD, it has ended up being a regional party without a territory, an army led not by general staff...
Viewpoint
Iliescu’s second referendum
09.02.10 | by: Dan Cristian Turturica | in: politics
For those that did not understand at the right time the geopolitical stakes of the Presidential elections, February 4 offered another chance to figure out what camp each of the primadonnas of Romanian politics serves. The American President’s invitation for our country to take part in the missile shield, the prompt acceptance given by the Supreme Defence Council as well as the series of internal and external political statements that followed tell us exactly what is the great gain of the December 2009 elections, but mostly what would have been in store for...
PSD wants national security strategy adapted to antimissile shield
09.02.10 | by: Nine oClock | in: politics
PSD leader Mircea Geoana declared yesterday that it is a must to adapt the national security strategy to the new conditions created after the announcement of the administration from Bucharest that the antimissile shield elements will be hosted on the national territory.

Geoana also stressed that PSD Vice-president Cristian Diaconescu, about whom he said that he has a great international experience, will deal in this moment, on behalf of his formation, with the adaptation of the national security to the new conditions, and also with related issued,...
worldnews
Iran plans major nuclear expansion over next year
09.02.10 | by: Reuters | in: worldnews
TEHRAN - Iran said it will start making higher-grade reactor fuel today and will add 10 uranium enrichment plants over the next year in a nuclear expansion sure to stoke tensions with the West. The statement by Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation head Ali Akbar Salehi followed orders from President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sunday for work to begin on producing atomic fuel for a Tehran research reactor. It may increase Western suspicions that Iran’s nuclear programme is aimed at making bombs, a charge Tehran denies. Iran informed the U.N. nuclear agency in...
Haiti protesters denounce aid corruption, hoarding
09.02.10 | by: Reuters | in: worldnews
PORT-AU-PRINCE - Hundreds of Haitian earthquake survivors protested in a suburb of the wrecked capital on Sunday, accusing a district mayor of corruption and hoarding food aid provided by relief groups, witnesses said. The protest in the Petionville neighborhood of Port-au-Prince was one of the largest since the Jan. 12 quake that killed more than 200,000 people and left over 1 million homeless. It reflected still simmering anger among survivors over problems in the massive international relief effort.

Aid agencies from around the world have moved tons...
Envoys go to North Korea for talks push
09.02.10 | by: Reuters | in: worldnews
SEOUL - A senior Chinese official was in North Korea yesterday and a top U.N. political envoy was slated to arrive a day later in a new push to have the reclusive state return to stalled nuclear disarmament talks. The high-profile engagement this week with the North may bode well for reviving the six-country nuclear talks that North Korea has boycotted for a year, and could lead to a reduction of tensions on the troubled peninsula, analysts said.

The destitute North is under pressure to return to the nuclear talks, where it can win aid to prop up its...
business
EC proposes 2012 as deadline for Romania curbing its deficit under 3 pc of the GDP
09.02.10 | by: Carmen Dinu | in: business
Romania took effective measures to correct its budget deficit, and the European Commission (EC) proposed to push back by one year, to 2012, the deadline for bringing the deficit under 3 pc of the GDP, the European executive announced on Monday.

“Romania has made a serious effort to limit the deterioration of its budget deficit and to preserve macroeconomic stability during the past year. “The worsening of the economic situation since the initial recommendations were made, justifies extending the deadline by one year. But the consolidation...
‘Euro-leaf’, the new European organic logo
09.02.10 | by: Nine oClock | in: business
The ‘Euro-leaf’ design is the new European Union’s organic logo created by a German student. The new EU organic logo will be obligatory on all pre-packaged organic products that have been produced in any of the EU member states and meet the necessary standards, Mediafax informs. The winning logo was the result of a pan-European contest open to art and design students. Nearly 3,500 logo submitted designs were examined by an internationally renowned jury, the EC announced by press release on Monday. The winning logo was designed by Dusan...
EUR 4 bn EU money without co-ordinator
09.02.10 | by: Nine oClock | in: business
Over EUR 4.2 bn EU funds for human resources are without a manager. HotNews.ro reports that Labour Minister Mihai Seitan has said that the legal interim term of the Director of the HR Development Operation Programme, Cristina Iova, had expired on February 5 and that the secretary of state who should be managing the field had not been appointed.

The minister said that a competition would nevertheless be held for the selection of a programme director. In the meantime, beneficiaries and consultants who have already submitted projects or whose projects are...

sports
Euro 2012: Lucescu sees France as group favorite
09.02.10 | by: Mihai George | in: sports
Razvan Lucescu, the head coach of the Romanian national football team, expects two difficult games against France in Group D of the Euro 2012 Qualifiers but opines that France remains the favourite, Agerpres reports.

‘There will be two battles but France is the favorite. It is difficult to talk only several months after our most recent games against them but France’s players...
Olympics-Vonn leads the Vancouver gold rush
09.02.10 | by: Reuters | in: sports
VANCOUVER - Italian ski showman Alberto Tomba turned the 1992 Albertville Olympics into Alberto-ville, and now Lindsey Vonn is putting out a welcome mat for Vonn-couver.

The host city that grew up at a time of 19th century gold rushes is braced for another stampede, this time of eager athletes brandishing skis and skates — and the occasional broom — rather than picks and...
Golf: Stricker beats Donald for Northern Trust win
09.02.10 | by: Nine oClock | in: sports
Steve Stricker held off England’s Luke Donald to win the Northern Trust Open in Los Angeles by two strokes, BBC Sports informs.

Donald fired a 66 but Stricker’s 70 was enough for a 16-under-par 268 winning total as he deposed fellow American Phil Mickelson as the world number two. Dustin Johnson and JB Holmes shared third place on 271, with Mickelson 14 shots behind leader...
culture
Angela Gheorghiu withdraws from Met’s production with Carmen
09.02.10 | by: Nine oClock | in: culture
Imagine
Soprano Angela Gheorghiu has cancelled her remaining two performances of the Metropolitan Opera’s new production of Bizet’s “Carmen.”

Gheorghiu withdrew in August from her first six performances of the run, which began Dec. 31. She was to appear in those performances with her husband, tenor Roberto Alagna. The staging had been designed around the couple, but...
Sarah Chang performance sold out
09.02.10 | by: Nine oClock | in: culture
Imagine
According to the organizers of the show, all tickets for the Sarah Chang Violin Battle performance on Valentine’s Day are sold out. The concert is part of a Culture Crusade larger project meant to support quality as opposed to kitsch in performing arts.

Violinist Sarah Chang is recognized the world over as one of classical music’s most captivating and gifted artists....
Shorts line up for fourth edition of NexT Festival
09.02.10 | by: Nine oClock | in: culture
The short and medium feature festival NexT will open for a fourth edition on April 13, in two of Bucharest’s cinema venues, Scala and Union. Organizers say this year the film competition will include a list of 30 titles, all of them selected by critic Andrei Gorzo. The festival hands several awards, the most important being the NexT trophy and the Cristian Nemescu award for directing. For...
homenews
General acknowledges intercession in corruption case
09.02.10 | by: Nine oClock | in: homenews
General Gabriel Gabor, chief of the Human Resources Division of MoD, questioned yesterday as witness in a corruption lawsuit, acknowledged that he interceded with acquaintances for the businesswoman from Vaslui, Maricica Iovita, charged with having given money in order that the businessman Adrian Porumboiu would be investigated.

The General admitted he knew the businesswoman from Vaslui,...
Dana Nastase questioned by DNA
09.02.10 | by: Nine oClock | in: homenews
Dana Nastase, the wife of the former premier Adrian Nastase, went yesterday to the offices of the National Anticorruption Department (DNA), where she was questioned for around one hour in “Zambaccian 1” file. “The case goes on,” Dana Nastase declared to journalists. “This case will not finish,” she continued ironically. In “Zambaccian 1” file, the...
Preventive arrest warrant for Sergiu Bahaian
09.02.10 | by: Nine oClock | in: homenews
The businessman Sergiu Bahaian, suspect of having commissioned the murder of four persons in Constanta County, was arrested preventively yesterday for 30 days, the decision being made by Constanta Tribunal. Bahaian is charged with instigation to qualified murder and instigation to particularly serious murder, in the case of Ionel Ulezu and Petrica Captalan, and with setting up an organized...