Five shot with rubber bullets in wind farm row


Five people were injured, on Monday, in Cogealac, Constanta County, after being shot with rubber bullets, following a conflict between the mayor and the locals, on the one hand, and employees of a security firm employed by the company setting up wind turbines, Mediafax reports. According to chief inspector Adrian Rapotan, deputy chief of the Constanta County Police, the mayor of Cogealac, Hristu Cati, and a few dozens people went to the company setting up a wind park in the area to fine it. They were forbidden to climb the fence of the company, on the grounds it was a private property. Following the row breaking out between the mayor, locals and the employees of the security firm, five people suffered injuries, made by rubber bullets, and were taken by ambulance to the Constanta County Police for medical investigations. The police are conducting an inquiry to decide whether the security firm may be held responsible for use of weapons.


Elderly patient beaten up by alleged relative


Bihor County Police started probe into the case of a 72-year-old man, interned at the Recovery Hospital in Baile Felix, after his ward-mate shot scenes in which the patient was beaten, on the hospital bed, by an alleged nephew, who used to visit him every day, Mediafax reports. According to police officers, the old man is bed-ridden, after suffering a stroke, and is interned in the Recovery Hospital in Baile Felix. He is unable to either speak or move. The old man was visited, daily, by a man from Oradea, aged about 50, who claimed to be his nephew and who used to beat him. Initially, the old man’s ward-mate was met with disbelief from the hospital authorities when recounting what was going on, so that he filmed the violent scenes with his mobile phone.


Probe into newborn death at Slatina hospital


The board of the Slatina Emergency County Hospital started a probe into the case of a newborn who died, supposedly, following a surgical intervention on the mother last week, Mediafax informs. Doctor Ion Eremia, the one who performed the surgery, claims he did everything in his power to save the infant’s life. “I’m not to blame. I’ve done everything that was humanly possible. Anyone may say what they wish,” Eremia said. Almost 40 Roma people, relatives of the mother, gathered, on Sunday evening, in the hospital’s yard, and police officers and gendarmes had to intervene.


Social assistance system allegedly robbed of about EUR 36 M every month


Tens of thousands of Romanians defraud the social assistance system by approximately EUR 36 M every month, and the figure might actually be higher and growing, an investigation by daily ‘Adevarul’ reveals. Current re-evaluation of all kinds of social assistance has already revealed the fact that a very high number of Romanians took advantage of the system’s weaknesses and corrupt authorities to cash money from the state illegally, the newspaper said. Preliminary results of the government’s re-evaluation of all social cases show that more than 25 per cent of pensioners on medical reasons are actually fit for work, that 23.5 per cent of those who receive the minimum guaranteed income do not actually meet the requirements and that 17.2 per cent of those who get aid for disabled people don’t actually have any serious medical problems, as their certificates claim. For all these abuses and illegalities, the state pays more than EUR 36 M every month, the newspaper said.