Romania

Incumbent President Basescu invited his countercandidate Mircea Geoana to a public debate. The debate will be organized at the Public Policy institute on Thursday, at 7PM moderated by Robert Turcescu. The decision was taken today, after the staff of the two candidates met.

Sibiu's mayor, Klaus Johannis, endorsed by the Social Democrats, Liberals and Hungarian Democrats for PM announced on Monday morning, in a press conference that he will leave for Bucharest to talk with Geoana and Antonescu. The meeting is scheduled at the Parliament around 3PM.

By Anca Teodorescu (AFP) – 2 days ago

BUCHAREST — Men convicted of murder, drug trafficking and robbery lined up on the stage of the prestigious Bucharest theatre to be given a standing ovation.

No matter that the audience included 50 prison warders, just in case. The first drama festival for Romanian convicts has been hailed as a success, especially by inmates given a taste of freedom from jails across the country so they can show a more human side.

None of the two main political parties do not wish to reveal the amount spent on the campaign but focus on counting how much the opponents spent, one newspaper reads. Elsewhere in the news, Romanian boxer Lucian Bute won the match against Librado Andrade and gets to keep his world champion belt. Meanwhile, the third death caused by the new virus was registered in Romania. Romanian Cristian Sandru was repatriated by British authorities after a European arrest warrant was issued on his name for stealing 10 hens back in 2004.

November 28, 2009

CHISINAU -- In a sign of growing rapprochement with neighboring EU-member Romania, Moldova's government has changed the language signs on all of its websites from "Moldovan" (MD) to "Romanian" (RO), RFE/RL's Moldovan Service reports.

The Moldovan Constitution states that the official language of the country is "Moldovan," although most linguists say the language spoken in Moldova does not differ enough Romanian to be considered a different language.

The revenues of the state budget totalled 10.7 billion RON (about 2.5 billion euros) on November 27, up 8% compared with the level registered a year ago, interim Prime Minister Emil Boc said on TV.

Bancpost, the eighth largest bank on the Romanian market in terms of assets, is preparing to move its headquarters from the tower block on Calea Vitan to a new office building in the Pipera district, Olimpus Bancpost Office Building, in order to cut rental costs.

Anca Vlad, owner of drugs distributor Fildas and drugstore chain Catena, set up firm no. 800 in the early days of capitalism on the Romanian market, while this year the group she controls has over 200 million euros in turnover, and over 1,000 employees.

The presence in Romania of representatives of H&M, one of the world's leading clothing retailers, to gather information on a potential direct entry onto the Romanian market reveals the significant long-term potential of the Romanian clothing market.

Petrom and Rompetrol, the main players on the Romanian petroleum market whose cumulated market shares account for more than half of the local fuel sales, bet on different strategies in terms of distribution of refined products in the first nine months of the year.