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Romania through international eyes

People
People in the News

In his final speech to Parliament before it adjourned for the 28 November elections, President Ion Iliescu said that persistent poverty and corruption were Romania’s largest problems. He said poverty was the main obstacle to reforms necessary to bring Romania into the Western fold, and that corruption was the scourge of Romania, shaking people’s faith in democracy. Opposition circles strongly criticised a government decision to award a contract to Vinci, a French construction company, to build a highway from Bucharest to Brasov. The main opposition candidate for the upcoming presidential election, Bucharest’s mayor, Traian Basescu, suggested that French and Romanian government officials had personally benefited from the deal, which was sealed during a visit by the French prime minister, Jean Paul Raffarin. Romania commemorated its first National Holocaust Day with speeches given by President Iliescu to Parliament and outside Bucharest’s main synagogue, in which he acknowledged the country’s involvement in, and perpetration of, the Holocaust. ''This shameful chapter in our recent past must be neither forgotten nor minimised,'' he said. The state announced that King Michael, the former sovereign, is to receive 30 million euros as compensation for properties seized during the communist era; Peles Castle in Sinaia is also to be returned to him. General Eugen Badalan, who as a major had asked soldiers to bayonet protesters during the Revolution, became the Romanian Army’s Chief of Staff. Reporters without Borders released its annual ranking of countries with independent medias; Romania ranked 70th, beneath countries such as Burkina Faso, Congo and Guatamala. A rabies-infected Carpathian brown bear was shot dead after attacking and killing two people, and mauling nine others, in a forest near Brasov. An earth tremor with a Richter scale reading of 5.8 shook Bucharest and many other parts of Romania, with no reported injuries. Petrom, Romania’s largest company, said its net income had doubled for the first nine months of the year, to 55.6 million euros. The National Musuem of Contemporary Art, located in the east wing of Parliament Palace, opened. Bucharest’s new mall, Plaza Romania, located in the Militari area, opened.KLM announced its third daily flight between Bucharest and Amsterdam. The Chelsea forward Adrian Mutu, one of the country’s best footballers of the post-Hagi era, tested positive to a banned substance and then admitted his guilt, which pundits thought might lessen his punishment. Romania lost 1-0 to the Czech Republic in a World Cup qualifie. Liviu Vasilica, the folk singer, died, aged 52. Figures showed that this year Romania will export 3,410 kilograms of beluga caviar, making it the world’s leading exporter.

Graffiti spotted on a wall in Ramnicu Valcea

The US presidential election was narrowly but decisively won by George Bush, after the Democrats candidate Senator John Kerry decided not to pursue a very slim chance of winning by forcing a recount in the state of Ohio. The Republicans also won control of the House of Representatives and the Senate. The first videotape aired by Osama bin Laden for nearly two years suggested that the best way for the United States and its allies to avoid terrorism was to stop spreading influence in the Middle East. Around 70 members of the Iraqi national guard died in car bombings, suicide bombings and a mass execution. The deputy mayor of Baghdad was assassinated in a drive-by shooting, on his way to work. Their deaths brought the number of Iraqis who have died during the US-led invasion to over 100,000, according to a research study in the magazine Lancet, many of whom had been women and children who had died violently during airstrikes by helicopters and planes. The study showed that an Iraqi was 58 times more likely to meet a violent death than during Saddam Hussein’s rule. Margaret Hassan, who heads the Iraq branch of Care International, was kidnapped and appeared on a video tape pleading for her life, and a Japanese backpacker was taken hostage and then murdered. Poland said it would begin withdrawing its troops from Iraq from January 2005, and Hungary said its 300 troops would be permanently withdrawn by March. Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian leader, became seriously ill with a blood disorder and flew to Paris for medical tests, then fell into a coma. John Howard won a fourth term as his Liberal-National Party coalition swept to victory with an increased majority in Australia’s national elections. Hamid Karzai won the Afghan presidential election. An earthquake with a Richter scale reading of 6.8 that hit Niigata, 250 kilometres north of Japan, killed 24 people and left thousands homeless. In southern Thailand almost 80 Muslim demonstrators arrested to quell rioting suffocated after being locked in army trucks. A major Israeli offensive in southern Gaza left at least 14 Palestinians dead and dozens injured. Morgan Tsvangirai, Zimbabwe’s opposition leader, was found to be not guilty of a charge of treason, a verdict considered to be a rebuke for the country’s leader, Robert Mugabe. Retaliating to a tightened US trade embargo, Cuba banned transactions in US dollars. KPMG, the consulting firm, was fined $10 million - the largest ever fine by the Securities and Exchange Commision - for overlooking revenues made by Gemstar, a TV-guide owning publisher. Microsoft, the world’s largest maker of computer software, said that its September quarter profits were up by 11 per cent compared to the same period last year, to $2.9 billion. Arsenal’s run of 49 matches without a defeat came to an end when it lost 2-0 to Manchester United at Old Trafford. The Boston Red Sox won the World Series for the first time since 1918. Australia’s cricket team beat India in India for the first time in 35 years. Jacques Derrida, the philosopher and founding father of deconstuctionism, died, aged 74. Keith Miller, one of cricket’s most glamorous and carelessly talented all-rounders, died, aged 84. John Peel, the champion of new music, who was one of the first disk jockeys to broadcast punk, hip hop and rap on the radio, died, aged 65. Christopher Reeve, the actor famous for his depiction of Superman, who broke his neck in an equestrian event in 1995 and spent the subsequent years in a wheelchair, died, aged 52. Archaeologists digging in a series of limestone caves on Flores Island in Indonesia unearthed the remains of a new species of human, that lived until 12,000 years ago and grew to one metre in height. The Times, the British newspaper, began printing in tabloid format after 216 years as a broadsheet.