Romanian truck drivers and farmers protest as talks with the government fail to reach an agreement
Romanian truck drivers and farmers are protesting again across the country again as negotiations with the coalition government over lower taxes, higher subsidies and other demands failed to reach any agreements.
Romanian court rules to keep Andrew Tate under house arrest as human trafficking case continues
A court in Romaniaโs capital has ruled to extend by another 30 days the house arrest of Andrew Tate, the divisive social media influencer who is charged with rape, human trafficking and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women.
Andrew Tate to remain under house arrest in Romania as human trafficking case drags on
A Romanian court has extended by 30 days the house arrest of Andrew Tate, the divisive social media personality who was charged this week with rape, human trafficking, and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women.
EU Council chief vows support, ammunition for Ukraine
European Council President Charles Michel has pledged to continue supporting Ukraine against Russian aggression โfor as long as necessary,โ adding that EU leaders will โmassively ramp upโ ammunition production to send to the war-torn country.
In Romania, French, Dutch FMs sign agreement to boost ties
The foreign ministers of France and the Netherlands paid an official visit to Romania on Friday where they visited a NATO battlegroup, and later signed an agreement to strengthen ties between the three countries amid Russiaโs war in neighboring Ukraine.
Divisive influencer Tate loses appeal against asset seizures
A court in Romaniaโs capital Bucharest has ruled against an appeal by the divisive social media personality Andrew Tate who challenged asset seizures by prosecutors who are investigating him on charges of being part of an organized crime group and human trafficking, an official said Wednesday.
Romania revives restrictions as hospitals struggle, jabs lag
Doctor Petruta Filip is working 100-hour weeks at a hospital in Romaniaโs capital Bucharest which, like hospitals throughout the country, is struggling under an onslaught of coronavirus patients requiring treatment amid worryingly low vaccination rates.
Romanian woman, 104, says vaccine "only way" to end pandemic
Zoea Baltag receives her second dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine in Bucharest, Romania, Sunday, March 28, 2021. A 104-year-old Romanian woman received her second vaccine dose against COVID-19, becoming the oldest person in Romanias capital Bucharest to be fully inoculated against the disease. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)BUCHAREST โ A 104-year-old Romanian woman has received her second COVID-19 vaccination shot, becoming the oldest person in Romaniaโs capital of Bucharest to be fully inoculated against the disease. Accompanied by relatives who helped her into Bucharestโs Childrenโs Palace, Zoea Baltag, born in 1916, welcomed her second dose of the Pfizer vaccine on Sunday and declared it the only way to combat the pandemic. Romania โ a country of more than 19 million โ has administered more than 2.8 million vaccine doses and seen 23,114 virus-related deaths.
Romanian police protest cutbacks, poor conditions
Protesters from the police trade unions set off smoke grenade in the colors of the national flag during a rally in Bucharest, Romania, Thursday, March 25, 2021. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)BUCHAREST โ Hundreds of police protested Thursday in the Romanian capital of Bucharest over cutbacks and poor working conditions. A few days ago, the Europol union posted a photograph online that showed a pile of plaster debris that had fallen from a police station ceiling in the northern town of Botosani. Like other protesters, Ioan Canarau, vice president of Europol trade union, attended Thursdayโs demonstration wearing thick metal leg cuffs. โWe protest with chains on our feet because we feel tied by our hands and feet, and because we canโt offer Romanian citizens a good police service,โ Canarau said.
Central Europe's hospitals slammed, can't treat all in need
Romanian doctors on Wednesday March 24, 2012, are working around the clock and having to decide who most deserves a bed in intensive care COVID-19 units. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda, File)WARSAW โ Poland recorded its highest daily number of new coronavirus infections Wednesday as hospitals buckle under a new surge. Maternity wards have been suddenly turned into COVID-19 wards, forcing women to change plans for where they will be giving birth. Facing a lack of qualified medical staff to treat the nearly 12,000 COVID-19 patients now hospitalized, Hungary has authorized medical students to come in to help. Some Hungarian hospitals have also sought volunteers to assist nurses and doctors in COVID-19 wards, giving training sessions to those without medical backgrounds.
3,000 at Romania anti-vaccination protest amid COVID-19 rise
Anti-vaccination protesters rally outside the parliament building in Bucharest, Romania, Sunday, March 7, 2021. Some thousands of anti-vaccination protestors from across Romania converged outside the parliament building protesting against government pandemic control measures as authorities announced new restrictions amid a rise of COVID-19 infections. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)BUCHAREST โ Around 3,000 anti-vaccination protesters from across Romania converged outside the parliament building in Bucharest on Sunday as authorities announced new restrictions amid a rise of COVID-19 infections. According to a government website, more than 1.7 million people in Romania have received a COVID-19 vaccine. Romania โ a country of more than 19 million people โ has recorded more than 828,000 COVID-19 infections, and 20,900 people have died.
WHO: 'Premature,' 'unrealistic' COVID-19 will end soon
(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)GENEVA โ A senior World Health Organization official said Monday it was โprematureโ and โunrealisticโ to think the pandemic might be stopped by the end of the year, but that the recent arrival of effective vaccines could at least help dramatically reduce hospitalizations and death. The worldโs singular focus right now should be to keep transmission of COVID-19 as low as possible, said Dr. Michael Ryan, director of WHO's emergencies program. โIf weโre smart, we can finish with the hospitalizations and the deaths and the tragedy associated with this pandemicโ by the end of the year, he said at media briefing. Ryan said WHO was reassured by emerging data that many of the licensed vaccines appear to be helping curb the virus' explosive spread. Tedros also noted that for the first time in seven weeks, the number of COVID-19 cases increased last week, after six consecutive weeks of declining numbers.
Romania: Protesters want reprisals for fatal hospital fire
Protesters waving flags march after a deadly fire at a hospital treating COVID-19 patients in Bucharest, Romania, Saturday, Jan. 30, 2021. It was the third hospital fire in Romania in as many months. Not a single new hospital was built in Romania in 31 years," AUR co-president George Simion said, referring to the time since communism ended. AdSimion said the party and its supporters โwant the resignation of those responsible,โ naming Health Minister Vlad Voiculescu and Department of Emergency Situations head Raed Arafat. We need new hospitals.โBefore the fire at the Matei Bals hospital, a November fire in a COVID-19 intensive care unit in north Romania killed 10 people and a fire psychiatric hospital in the same region killed one person in December.
Fire at Romanian hospital treating virus patients kills 5
An emergency paramedic leans against a wall outside the Matei Bals hospital compound in Bucharest, Romania, Friday, Jan. 29, 2021. A fire early Friday at a key hospital in Bucharest that also treats COVID-19 patients killed four people, authorities said. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)BUCHAREST โ A fire early Friday at a key hospital in Bucharest that also treats COVID-19 patients killed at least five people, authorities said. Some hospital staff could be seen later still wearing protective suits and face masks after rushing out. Read Arafat, the emergency department chief, said the four victims were all hospital patients.
Romania Holocaust survivor Tucarman dies from COVID-19 at 98
A man adjusts images of Iancu Tucarman, during his funeral, at a Jewish cemetery in Bucharest, Romania, Monday, Jan. 11, 2021. Tucarman, one of the last remaining Holocaust survivors in Romania, on was buried after dying from COVID-19 last week at the age of 98. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)BUCHAREST โ Iancu Tucarman, one of the last remaining Holocaust survivors in Romania, was buried Monday after dying from COVID-19 last week. Dozens gathered at Tucarmanโs funeral in Bucharest to pay respects and mark a horrific legacy of World War II. Tucarman died on Jan. 8 after battling the coronavirus.
'Believe in science': EU kicks off COVID-19 vaccine campaign
But it was also a public chance for them to urge Europe's 450 million people to get the shots amid continued vaccine and virus skepticism. The Los Olmos home suffered two confirmed COVID-19 deaths and another 11 deaths among residents with symptoms who were never tested. After he got his shot, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis declared Sunday โa great day for science and the European Union." Germanyโs BioNTech has said itโs confident that its vaccine works against the new U.K. variant, but added that further studies are needed. The European Medicines Agency on Jan. 6 will consider approving another vaccine made by Moderna, which is already being used in the United States.
Romania's parliament approves new government
(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)BUCHAREST โ Romaniaโs parliament on Wednesday approved a new liberal government and prime minister, keeping out of power a left-leaning populist party that won most votes at a parliamentary election earlier this month. Some 260 lawmakers in Romaniaโs 465-seat, two-chamber assembly on Wednesday voted for the new government, while 186 voted against. Former investment banker and finance minister Florin Citu become the new prime minister at a time when Romania is struggling against the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and its economic fallout. โI assure you that I will not deceive your trust," Citu told the parliament. Citu was backed by three more parties, giving him a majority in Romaniaโs two-chamber parliament.
Romaniaโs center-right prime minister resigns after election
Romanias center-right prime minister Ludovic Orban resigned Monday Dec. 7, 2020, after a general election in which voters delivered nominal victory to the left-leaning, populist opposition party. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru, File)BUCHAREST โ Romaniaโs center-right prime minister resigned Monday after a general election in which voters delivered nominal victory to the left-leaning, populist opposition party. With 95% of votes counted in Sundayโs election, Ludovic Orbanโs National Liberals (PNL) have been defeated by the populist Social Democrat Party. Until then, Defense Minister Nicolae Ciuca will act as the prime minister, having been designated for the post by President Klaus Iohannis. Only 33% of potential Romanian voters went to the polls Sunday, compared with nearly 39.5% in 2016.
Romanians elect new lawmakers, seek end to political turmoil
Voting started in Romania's legislative election expected to restore some measure of stability after five years of political and social turbulence with more than 18 million Romanians registered to vote for a new legislative body. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)BUCHAREST โ Romanians voted Sunday in a legislative election that many hope will restore some stability in one of the poorest European Union nations after five years of political and social turmoil. More than 18 million Romanians are registered to vote for a new national parliament, but turnout was expected to be low because of votersโ fears about becoming infected with the coronavirus. To date, the EUโs seventh-most populous country has confirmed more than 500,000 cases of COVID-19 and more than 12,000 deaths. The Social Democrats have dominated Romaniaโs political life since the fall of communism in 1989, often in multi-party coalitions that at times included the PLN.
Romania's Jewish State Theater explores work on Holocaust
Portraits of Auschwitz death camp prisoners are displayed on a mesh as actresses of the Jewish State Theatre, perform during the premiere of the "The Beautiful Days of My Youth" play, based on the diary of Romanian Jewish Holocaust survivor Ana Novac, in Bucharest, Friday, Oct. 16, 2020. Maia Morgenstern, head of the Jewish State Theater and a Romanian Jewish actress best known for playing Mary in Mel Gibson's controversial 2004 movie "The Passion of the Christ," described the play's staging in an interview with The Associated Press as an "all-feminine project." (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)BUCHAREST โ The latest premiere at the Jewish State Theater in the Romanian capital, Bucharest, explores the horrors of the Holocaust via a survivor's memories of the Auschwitz and Plaszow concentration camps. Friday's debut of โThe Beautiful Days of My Youthโ by Romanian Jewish Holocaust survivor Ana Novac follows the National Holocaust Remembrance Day commemorations on Oct. 9, the day when deportations of Romaniaโs Jews and Roma began in 1941. Some 280,000 Jews and 11,000 Roma were deported and killed under Romania's pro-Nazi regime during World War II.
Romania's ruling party upbeat after municipal elections
A woman wearing a mask to protect against COVID-19 infection casts her vote in local elctions in Bucharest, Romania, Sunday, Sept. 27, 2020. Polls have opened in Romanias municipal election, which is being seen as a test of how the next general election on Dec. 6 will unfold for the countrys minority-led government. The PSD remains the strongest party in Romaniaโs parliament, despite losing its governing majority. Next, in the countryโs presidential election last November, Dancila suffered a crushing defeat to the NLPโs former leader, Klaus Iohannis. The PSD leader Marcel Ciolacu all but conceded the election loss by its incumbent major of Bucharest, Gabriela Firea.
Report: Iranian ex-judge dies in Romania after hotel fall
Forensic worker carry a body from a hotel downtown Bucharest, Romania, Friday, June 19, 2020. Gholamreza Mansouri, a former judge from Iran sought by his country to face corruption charges has died in unusual circumstances, Romanian media reported. Romanian police said only that a man had fallen from a high floor at a hotel in Bucharest, the Romanian capital, and was found dead. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)BUCHAREST A former judge from Iran sought by his country to face corruption charges died Friday after a fall in a hotel, Romanian media reported Friday. ___Associated Press writer David Rising in Berlin, and Andreea Alexandru in Bucharest, contributed to this report.
Calls for Romania's president to reject gender studies ban
A protester stands outside the presidential palace in Bucharest, Romania, Thursday, June 18, 2020, during a rally against a law banning the teaching of gender studies. Dozens of protesters gathered outside Bucharest's Cotroceni Presidential Palace, to express their opposition to a law banning the teaching of gender studies in the country's schools and universities and call on President Klaus Iohannis to reject signing the bill and send it back to parliament. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)BUCHAREST Dozens of protesters gathered Thursday in Romania's capital to express their opposition to a law banning the teaching of gender studies in the countrys schools and universities. Neighboring Hungary passed similar legislation in 2018, removing accreditation and funding for gender studies at the university level. Hungary recently also banned transgender people from changing their gender on official documents.
Romanian president to face former PM in presidential runoff
Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, right, speaks next to Romanian Prime Minister Ludovic Orban, after exit polls results indicate him as the leader of the presidential race, with up to 40 percent of the votes in Bucharest, Romania, Sunday, Nov. 10, 2019. An election runoff will take place on Nov. 24. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)BUCHAREST Romanian election authorities say President Klaus Iohannis will face Viorica Dancila, the recently ousted former prime minister, in the Nov. 24 presidential runoff. The election has been overshadowed by Romania's political crisis, which recently saw a fourth prime minister take office in less than three years. Dancila's Social Democratic government lost a no-confidence vote in October and was replaced last week by a minority government led by Prime Minister Ludovic Orban's National Liberal Party.
The Latest: Exit polls see runoff in Romania president vote
A man takes photos as a woman casts her vote in Bucharest, Romania, Sunday, Nov. 10, 2019. Voting got underway in Romania's presidential election after a lackluster campaign overshadowed by a political crisis which saw a minority government installed just a few days ago. Official results are not expected before Monday though exit polls by two local pollsters showed very similar outcomes. Iohannis says the exit polls show that "millions of Romanians in the country and abroad voted for our project, for a normal Romania." Both exit polls had Dan Barna, of the center-right Save Romania Union, receiving slightly more than 16% of the votes.
Romania's presidential election eclipsed by political crisis
FILE- In this Thursday, Aug. 8, 2019, file picture, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis speaks during the National Council of the Liberal Party in Bucharest, Romania. Romania will hold presidential elections on Nov. 10. Polls show incumbent center-right President Klaus Iohannis ahead with around 40%, followed by the center-left candidate Viorica Dancila, until last month Romania's prime minister, at 15-22%. Iohannis is a former leader of the National Liberal Party, which on Monday formed a minority government led by Prime Minister Ludovic Orban. If no candidate wins more than 50% on Sunday, there will be a second round of voting on Nov. 24.