People
PEOPLE IN THE NEWS
Newsmakers at home and abroad
June 2004
One of Romania's worst ever road fatalities occurred when a truck loaded with 25 tons of ammonium nitrate to be used in fertilisers ran off the road and exploded, in Mihailesti, 70 kilometres from Bucharest. Sixteen people who had rushed to the scene of the accident were then killed by a subsequent, much larger explosion, when the flames caused the gases to ignite. It was thought that the driver had fallen asleep at the wheel. Local elections around the country showed a major swing against the ruling PSD candidates, and Traian Basescu was overwhelmingly re-elected as mayor of Bucharest. Hunters from around the world converged on Bucharest for a conference at which the keynote speaker was Prime Minister Adrian Nastase, who is also the head of the National Hunters Association. Many then stayed on to shoot animals, despite a warning from animal liberation and conservation groups that the numbers of game were grossly overestimated. Opinion polls showed that 44 per cent of voters favoured Mr Nastase as the country's next president, even though his PSD party is yet to formally announce his candidacy for the November presidential elections. Raiffeisen Bank raised financing worth 34 million euros in a bond issue; the original prospectus showed that 29.7 million euros had been sought, but more bonds were sold after applications were oversubscribed by 15 per cent. The placement is worth almost as much as all post second world war corporate and municipal bond issues put together. The central bank said it was considering cutting its refinancing rate, which is currently 21.5 per cent, because the economy is growing and inflation is coming down. Mircea Geoana, the Foreign Minister, sued Cornel Ivanciuc of the weekly Academia Catavencu for suggesting that his father was a general in the Securitate, Ceausescu's secret police.
Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian president, visited Bucharest.
The Ministry of Finance said that dividend tax would increase from
the current 5 per cent to 10 per cent from next year. A new model Dacia ,
costing 5,000 euros was launched. Victoria Acerra, an American film producer,
and her 18-year-old daughter Eden Dodd were killed in a car accident.
Nelson Mandela is to withdraw from public life to spend more time with family and friends, complete his memoirs, read and engage in 'quiet reflection'.
Romania
's football team lost 1-0 to Ireland, in Dublin. Andrei Pavel and Victor Hanescu,
Romania 's two best male tennis players, were defeated in the second round of
the French Open at Roland Garros. Brasov 's first mall-type store, called Eliana
Mall, opened. Romanians wanting to travel to Turkey need to apply for a one-month
visa at the Turkish border or at airports, at a cost of $10; previously there
was no visa requirement. Steve Preston, the UK 's most renowned Elvis tribute,
performed two concerts at the Crown Ballroom. Jethro Tull, the folk rock band
that was popular in the 1970s, played a concert at Sala Palatului. The city
of Cluj staged the fourth edition of the Transilvanian Film
Festival,
to strong reviews. A gang of armed men broke into a hotel compound in Khobar,
Saudi Arabia and killed 22 people; the leader, who was injured and captured
in the attack, was quoted as asking for non-Muslims, and freeing Muslims. His
three colleagues were allowed to escape in return for not blowing up the entire
building, in which many more people were hiding. It was the third murderous
incident in five weeks involving Westerners in Saudi Arabia , considered to
be in retaliation for the distribution of hundreds of images and film footage
showing American soldiers mistreating Iraqi prisoners. The United States and
United Nations disagreed over who should lead Iraq 's interim government; there
was dissent too over who should be president. ìLet's not kid ourselves. We will
not have a fully representative government until free and fair elections are
held in January of next year,î said a spokesman for the United Nations. George
Tenet, the head of the CIA for seven years, resigned. Meanwhile US and UK leaders
George Bush and Tony Blair were adamant their forces would remain in Iraq at
least until 2006. Opinion polls showed that Democrat candidate John Kerry had
increased his lead over George Bush for November's US presidential elections.
At least 2,000 people were known to have died or disappeared, and tens of thousand
had been made homeless, when severe flooding hit parts of Haiti and the Dominican
Republic. In Istanbul the trial into last year's bombings of a mosque and the
Taksim Square branch of HSBC Bank was postponed indefinitely after the court
in which the case was to have been heard was found to have no legal status,
having been disbanded following an EU requirement. Stocks in India plummeted
the day after the Congress Party, led by Sonia Gandhi, unexpectedly won India
's general election. The first legal marriages between homosexuals took place
in America and France. The price of oil hit a 15-year high. Ronald Reagan, the
president of the United States between 1981-1989, died, aged 93. Gaston Gaudio
of Argentina won the men's title at the French Open tennis tournament, while
Anastasia Myskina of Russia won the women's. Fifteen Zimbawean cricketers resigned
from the national squad over disagreement with local administrators and the
International Cricket Council cancelled Australia 's Test matches there, but
allowed the one-day fixtures to proceed. In soccer, South Africa was chosen
as host of the 2010 World Cup. Ethiopia 's Kenenisa Bekele clocked 12 minutes,
37.35 seconds for the 5,000 metres, a new world record, at a meeting at Hengelo
in the Netherlands. Farhenheit 9/11, Michael Moore's documentary that is highly
critical of the Bush administration, won the Palm d'Or at this year's Cannes
Film Festival. The UK 's Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott, and its Finance
Minister, Gordon Brown, who wants to be the country's next prime minister, were
observed to have spent an hour and a half talking in the car park of an oyster
bar in Scotland. Norway became the second country to ban smoking in bars and
restaurants. Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe 's president, denounced the Internet as
a tool for colonialists and suggested that government inspectors be allowed
access to emails sent to and from Zimbabweans. Miss Australia , Jennifer Hawkins,
a model from Bondi Beach , won Miss Universe.
