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A 39 years old man serving an 18 years sentence for aggravated rape in Romania was found by prison guards in a pool of blood with his genitalia completely severed. The man had cut off both his penis and his testicles with a knife. He was rushed to the military hospital in Cluj, where he was stabilized.
A bill submitted in the Romanian parliament on Wednesday could pave the way to legal status to a widespread practice: surrogate motherhood. One in six Romanian couples has fertility issues and this could help infertile couples have children in a legal fashion. Romanian families would often pay up to 40.000 Euros for surrogate mothers.
And now Romania’s designated Eurovision Song Contest is now short of the 100.000 Euros needed to sign up for the competition. His sponsors have backed out of the previous deal, after David Bryan’s sexually charged internet conversation was published by a Romanian tabloid. The Romanian organizers decided not to pull him from the contest, but he may be eliminated from the start because they lack the money.
Convicted paedophile James Connor is going to appeal against the ruling that sentenced him to a total of 22 year behind bars in Romania. The announcement was made by his new barrister, Ciprian Mitoşeru. “Of course we shall appeal against the sentence. The court’s decision seems extreme to me, as long as the children declared one thing during the prosecution phase and then they changed their statements in court”, said Mitoşeru.
The Albiţa-Leuşeni border crossing point between Romania and the Republic of Moldova was completely blocked on Monday morning, as anti-corruption operatives began the third series of raids of this year over charges of smuggling and bribery. More than 70 customs workers and border police were being interogated on Monday morning and many of their homes were being searched.
Photo: sunnyphong.wordpress.com
And it’s worth mentioning that by mistake, too. A Romanian MP has submitted into parliamentary debate a bill about the legalization of concubinage relationships by a non-marriage procedure. The project would allow citizens to get legal status for their relationship outside marriage, under the signature of a notary. What the Romanian MP forgot to mention was the gender of the citizens, leaving way for same sex couples to legalize their status.
A 49 years old taxi driver from Bucharest was beaten to death by an 22 years old driver, Wednesday night, in a row over a parking place. The young man was trying to park his car in a relatively crowded zone in the Romanian capital. The taxi driver reportedly started to honk at him aggressively, trying to prompt him to speed up. According to the eye witnesses, the suspect was so annoyed by the honking that he got out of his car and started to hit the cab driver.
Mr. Jurcă, after having lost 400 pounds, now weighs just 280
After shedding the equivalent of two and a half average sized men’s weight, Stelian Jurcă is now in serious condition, suffering from anemia and not being able to get out of bed. He was diagnosed in 2010 with morbid obesity, with a weight of 350 kilograms (nearly 700 pounds). After having undertaken a stomach by-pass surgical procedure, he has managed to shed more than half of his weight in less than a year, but his life is now hanging in the balance.
Two US citizens were arrested in Romania, as part of an international network suspected of providing weapons to the Taliban in Afghanistan, in exchange for narcotics. Alwar Pouryan and Oded Orbach were apprehended in Romania, on February the 10th, in an operation coordinated by the Romanian prosecutors and the Drug Enforcement Administration of the United States of America. According to investigators, they were meeting in Romania in order to arrange the details of a major delivery of weapons, consisting in rocket launchers, AK 47 and M16 assault rifles, carbines, sniper rifles, grenade launchers, anti tank weapons and thermal guidance missiles to the Taliban.
A total of over 60 million Euros in fines were announced today by the Romanian Council for Fair Competition against Vodafone Romania and Orange Romania, the largest mobile communications providers in the country. Vodafone was given a fine of 28.8 million, while Orange was served with a bill for 34.8 million, the equivalent of over 3 percent of each company’s turnover of 2010.
Camera Crews: Romania, Moldova, UK and Lebanon 