Rumänien: Geldstrafe für Präsident wegen "Roma-Sager"

Der Anti-Diskriminierungsrat fordert eine Geldstrafe von 130 Euro für eine wegen rassistischer Äußerung aus dem Jahr 2010.

Wegen diskriminierender Äußerungen über die Minderheit der Roma soll der rumänische Präsident Traian Basescu eine Geldstrafe von umgerechnet 130 Euro zahlen. Der nationale Anti-Diskriminierungsrat habe diese Strafe beschlossen, da Basescu schon mehrfach abfällige Bemerkungen über Roma gemacht habe, sagte Ratssprecher Istvan Haller am Montag der Nachrichtenagentur AFP in Bukarest.

US Starts Transfer of its Airbase in Kyrgyzstan. -Hagel thanked Romania for its decision to host the U.S. Aegis Ashore missile defense system.

MOSCOW, October 19 (RIA Novosti) – The United States has started the withdrawal from an airbase in Kyrgyzstan that serves as the main transit hub for NATO forces in Afghanistan, the Pentagon said in a statement on Friday.
In 2011, Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev announced plans to shut the base down by 2014, when the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) is to be pulled out of Afghanistan.
He signed a bill ordering the closure of the base into law in June. It stipulates that US forces must abandon the base at Manas International Airport, near the capital Bishkek, by July 2014.

Greeks, Romanians, Cut Christmas Spending

Greek retailers registered the lowest Christmas sales for the past 10 years, down by 40% from 2011, according to preliminary estimations.
According to reports of the National Confederation of Hellenic Commerce, as cited by the Bulgarian National Radio (BNR), Christmas sales of clothes and footwear fell by 50% from 2011, sales of electric appliances decerased by 40%, and sales of cosmetics and books declined by 30%.
Even sales of food products prior to the 2012 Christmas holidays dropped by 20% as compared to 2011.