Romania Court Orders Rerun of Presidential Election First Round | BBC News

Dec 6, 2024 | Romania's constitutional court has annulled the result of the first round of voting in the presidential election, meaning the process will be restarted from scratch.

The first round was won by Calin Georgescu, an almost unknown far-right Nato-sceptic who has previously praised Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The court's decision comes after intelligence documents were declassified, suggesting Georgescu benefitted from a mass influence operation – conducted from abroad – to interfere with the result of the vote.

Far-right Candidate Takes Shock Lead in Romania Presidential Election | BBC News

Nov 25, 2024 | A far-right, pro-Russia candidate has taken a surprise lead in the first round of Romania's presidential election. With more than 99% of votes counted, ultranationalist Calin Georgescu was on 23%, followed by centre-right candidate Elena Lasconi of the Save Romania Union and populist social democrat Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, the pre-election favourite.

The strong showing of Georgescu, who has no party of his own and campaigned largely on the social media platform TikTok, came as the biggest surprise of the election. The latest count suggests Lasconi is narrowly ahead of Ciolacu by around 2,000 votes and will face Georgescu in a final run-off for the presidency on 8 December.

Andrew Tate Charged with Rape and Human Trafficking

Controversial influencer Andrew Tate has been charged in Romania with rape, human trafficking and forming an organised crime group to sexually exploit women.

Read the BBC article here.

Andrew Tate, influenceur masculiniste, mis en examen pour trafic d’êtres humains et viols : Arrêté à la fin de décembre en Roumanie, où il est assigné à résidence avec son frère, Andrew Tate est aussi accusé de violences sexuelles au Royaume-Uni. »

King Charles III's Secret Love Affair... with Another Country | The New Statesman

May 5, 2023 | For decades the King has been making private visits to a tiny village in Transylvania, Romania. This secret "affair of the soul" reveals much about what the King really believes - and what kind of a king he will be. …

Beyond the Wall: Part 1 - The Rise of Germany's Far Right; Part 2: From Germany to Bulgaria, What Happened to Hope? | People & Power

A Long Fight for Gay Rights in Romania

Nov 18, 2019 • This video is about the fight for gay rights in Romania, produced by Luis Jachmann

Being Gay in Romania | Bucharest

Mar 4, 2019 • In Romania, until 2001, you could be locked up in prison simply for being gay. And yet, Florin Buhuceanu kept fighting for equal rights no matter the danger he was putting himself in.

In Romania, Hard-Hit by Covid, Doctors Fight Vaccine Refusal

THE NEW YORK TIMES: An anti-vaccine clarion call by leading religious figures, echoed by prominent politicians and social media, helps explain why Romania now has the world’s highest Covid death rate.

The emergency unit of Bucharest University Hospital. Short of beds, the hospital erected a big treatment tent in the parking lot and turned the lobby into a new Covid ward. | Cristian Movila for The New York Times
COPACENI, Romania — As a new wave of the coronavirus pandemic crashed over Eastern Europe last month, devastating unvaccinated populations, an Orthodox Church bishop in southern Romania offered solace to his flock: “Don’t be fooled by what you see on TV — don’t be scared of Covid.”

Most important, Bishop Ambrose of Giurgiu told worshipers in this small Romanian town on Oct. 14, “don’t rush to get vaccinated.”

The bishop is now under criminal investigation by the police for spreading dangerous disinformation, but his anti-vaccine clarion call, echoed by prominent politicians, influential voices on the internet and many others, helps explain why Romania has in recent weeks reported the world’s highest per capita death rate from Covid-19.

On Tuesday, nearly 600 Romanians died, the most during the pandemic. The country’s death rate relative to population is almost seven times as high as the United States’, and almost 17 times as high as Germany’s. » | Andrew Higgins | Monday, November 8, 2021

How to Contain the Spread of Covid amid Vaccine Scepticism in Romania? | Covid-19 Special

Oct 22, 2021 • Nearly 400 Romanians are dying from the virus every day. The health system is collapsing. Ambulances are queuing outside hospitals, already at capacity. Some Covid patients are being transferred to neighboring Hungary for treatment. Romania has one of the highest Covid-19 death rates in the world. What will it take to stop the spread of the virus in a country where thousands are against containment measures, including vaccinations?

Holocaust – Witness: Paula Gris

Holocaust survivor Paula Gris is interviewed on Shalom TV's original series commemorating the Six Million. An educator at the Breman Jewish Heritage Museum in Atlanta, Ms. Gris has been engaged in teaching children and adults since 1981.

Catalan Companies Are Leaving Catalonia and Other World Stories | DW Documentary

Catalan companies are leaving Catalonia because of uncertainty; Famine as a weapon in South Sudan; Conservative party MP's in Germany are pushing for a quota; Fears of a new refugee route to Romania.

Why Is Romania Suddenly in Turmoil? - Inside Story

Around the world tens of millions of people can only dream of an income of $48,000.

Romania's Boiling Point: Outrage over Decree to Loosen Corruption Laws (Part 1 & 2)

Romania: Massive Protests Continue Over Government Corruption Decree

Romania Elections: Leftists Voted Back into Power

Romania's Social Democrats have been voted back into power a year after being driven out by protests over accusations of corruption and lack of accountability.

'Only in the Chimney': Anti-Semitic Carol Causes Uproar in Romania

SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL: Advocacy groups are incensed after a Romanian government-owned channel broadcast a Christmas song glorifying the Holocaust and calling for Jews to be burned. The channel is blaming a local group for the performance.

Outrage has erupted among advocacy groups in Romania after the state channel TVR broadcast an anti-Semitic Christmas song calling for Jews to be burned in a chimney. According to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA), the song ran on a Dec. 5 broadcast by the rural-targeted TVR3 channel.

In the broadcast, a choir was shown singing a Christmas song that indirectly glorifies the Holocaust. The song, which rhymes and uses the word "jidovi," a pejorative word for a Jew, includes the lyrics, "only in the chimney as smoke, this is what the 'jidov' is good for."

On Wednesday, Romania's Foreign Minister Titus Corlatean harshly condemned the event and called on the public prosecutor's office and parliament to bring those responsible to justice. Israel's embassy said it was "concerned" about the broadcast. » | tmr -- with wires and reporting by Keno Verseck | Thursday, December 12, 2013

Immigration: Romanian or Bulgarian? You Won't Like It Here
THE GUARDIAN: Ministers consider launching negative ad campaign in two countries to persuade potential immigrants to stay away from UK

Please don't come to Britain – it rains and the jobs are scarce and low-paid. Ministers are considering launching a negative advertising campaign in Bulgaria and Romania to persuade potential immigrants to stay away from the UK.

The plan, which would focus on the downsides of British life, is one of a range of potential measures to stem immigration to Britain next year when curbs imposed on both country's citizens living and working in the UK will expire.

A report over the weekend quoted one minister saying that such a negative advert would "correct the impression that the streets here are paved with gold".

There was no word on how any advert might look or whether it would use the strategy of making Britain look as horrible as possible or try to encourage would-be migrants to wake up to the joys of their own countries whether Romania's Carpathian mountains or Bulgaria's Black Sea resorts. With governments around the world spending millions on hiring London-based consultants to undertake "reputation laundering" there would be a peculiar irony if Britain chose to trash its own image perhaps by highlighting winter flooding of homes or the carnage of a Saturday night A&E ward.

There are precedents. In 2007, Eurostar ran adverts in Belgium for its trains to London depicting a tattooed skinhead urinating into a china teacup. It remains unknown if any discussions have taken place over personalities who could carry off a similar exercise in anti-nation branding. » | Rajeev Syal | Sunday, January 27, 2013

My comment:

Showing videos of Muslim vigilantes in Whitechapel should probably be enough to frighten them away. – © Mark

This comment also appears here

Romania: The Spectre of Tyranny
A Romanian journalist discovers that the dictatorship of the past still casts an influence over people's lives today.

Serbien kann EU-Beitrittskandidat werden
Rumänien gibt den Widerstand gegen Serbiens Annäherung an die EU auf
NZZ ONLINE: Serbien rückt näher an die EU heran. Rumänien gab seinen Widerstand auf, womit einem positiven Entscheid der EU-Staats- und Regierungschefs nichts mehr im Weg stand. Herman Van Rompuy bleibt Gipfel-Chef und forderte Wachsamkeit.

Der frühere belgische Premier Herman Van Rompuy ist für weitere zweieinhalb Jahre als EU-Ratspräsident bestätigt und zugleich zum Vorsitzenden der Euro-Gipfel bestimmt worden. Seine Bestätigung als Ratspräsident war ebenso unbestritten wie seine Ernennung zum Vorsitzenden der künftigen Gipfel der 17 Euro-Staats- und Regierungschefs.

Er fühle sich «sehr geehrt» über die Weiterführung seines Mandats als ständiger EU-Ratspräsident, twitterte Van Rompuy. Er akzeptiere zudem die Ernennung zum Vorsitzenden der Euro-Gipfel und danke für das Vertrauen. » | sda | Donnerstag, 01. März 2012

Former King of Romania Addresses Parliament for First Time Since 1947

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The former king of Romania and the last wartime leader still alive addressed the Romanian parliament for the first time since his forced abdication in 1947.

Sitting resplendent on a throne-like chair King Michael I, 90, called for politicians to provide greater democracy and to restore the dignity of a country that has struggled to bring wealth and prosperity to all of its people since the overthrow of the despotic regime of Nicolae Ceausescu in 1989.

The king had been afforded the rare privilege of addressing both houses of the Romanian parliament in honour of his 90th birthday.

"The time has come after 20 years to ... break for good with the bad habits of the past", said the king. Taking a swipe at the country's present ruling elite, often chided for apparent self-interest and corruption, he added in 2011 "demagogy, selfishness and attempts to cling to power" should not have their place in Romania.

"All united, we have to pursue our efforts in order to become once more respected and dignified", he said in a speech that won a standing ovation and shouts of "Long live the King!" from some MPs. » | Matthew Day | Tuesday, October 25, 2011