Focus on Romania

the economist, independent.co.uk

--Ire of the Ţigan

Dec 8th 2010, 11:16 by R.W-M. BUCHAREST

THE Romanies of Romania will soon be the "Ţigan" of Romania, if the government has its way. A controversial bill before parliament will change the name of Romania's main ethnic minority from "Roma" to "Ţigan" [pronounced tsigan], a word that "is associated in the collective memory of the Roma with the slavery that existed in Romania from 1385 to 1856, and also the forced deportations in WW2", according to a protest letter sent by Romani groups to heads of state at a recent OSCE summit in Kazakhstan....more...

the economist

http://www.economist.com/blogs/easternapproaches/2010/12/romanias_romanies

- Holes and corners
By the standards of its region, Romania is a big country with problems to match

Disappointing Romania
Dec 9th 2010 BUCHAREST from PRINT EDITION

STABILITY is better than crisis and collapse. But what about recovery? After squandering time and cash in a binge that ended in a bust, Romania has sobered up and is trying to cope with its daunting problems. The most pressing is the economy. In the excitement of joining the European Union in 2007, Romania enjoyed a three-year boom in which annual growth peaked at a stonking 8%. Where a prudent government would have hit the brakes, Romania’s stamped on the accelerator, running a big budget deficit. The crash in 2009 forced the country to seek a €20 billion ($26 billion) IMF bail-out in 2009. ...more...

the economist

http://www.economist.com/node/17679741

-Drop in for a bite with Vlad Ţepeș
Dec 16th 2010, 10:40 by E..L. SNAGOV, ROMANIA

NOT one person in a million outside Romania will have heard of Vlad Ţepeș (pronounced Tsepesh). They may have heard vaguely of him under the name of "Vlad the impaler" but are most likely to confuse that real-life figure, a scourge of the Turks in 15th-century Romania, with the entirely fictional Dracula created in Bram Stoker's novel. Starring in countless films, comic strips and other works since then, the blood-sucking count is probably the most famous Romanian of all time. ...more...

the economist

http://www.economist.com/blogs/easternapproaches/2010/12/dracula

-Independent Appeal: How Ceausescu's orphans were given a new start in life
A charity founded by Anita Roddick is honouring her memory with its work in Romania. Cahal Milmo reports from Iasi
Saturday, 11 December 2010

When British volunteers arrived at Orphanage One in Halaucesti 20 years ago, they were greeted with a scene of Dickensian squalor.
Shaven-headed toddlers were tied to their urine-soaked beds by supervisors who patrolled the corridors with sticks up their sleeves ready to beat their charges. Even when it came to feeding time, babies were not picked up; their bottles were pushed through the bars of their cots. ...more...

independent

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/appeals/indy-appeal/independent-appeal-how-ceausescus-orphans-were-given-a-new-start-in-life-2157445.html

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