Timeline Romania

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Dacia was an ancient kingdom and later a Roman province in southern Europe between the Carpathian Mountains and the Danube corresponding generally to modern Rumania and adjacent regions.
 (WUD, 1994, p.363)
 In 2002 almost 90% of the country's 23 million people were Eastern Orthodox and 1% Eastern Rite Catholics.
 (SFC, 5/25/02, p.A27)
104Mil BC    In 1914 Romanian Baron Franz Nopcsa (1877-1933) found fossils of small dinosaurs in Romania that dated to about this time in the Cretaceous period.
    (SFC, 6/8/06, p.A7)

36-34k BCE    In 2002 the jawbone of a cave-man living in what is now Romania was found in Pestera cu Oase. It was reported as the oldest fossil from an early modern human to be found in Europe and was carbon-dated to this time.
    (AP, 9/22/03)

650 BC    The Transylvanian Dacians are first known from their contacts with the Greeks about this time.
    (WSJ, 6/18/97, p.A20)

103-105AD    Apolodorus of Damascus built a bridge over the Danube for Emperor Trajan. It connected the Roman provinces of Moesia Superior and Dacia (the Yugoslavian and Romanian banks respectively).
    (AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.26)

105AD        Flavius Cerialis, prefect of Cohort IX of Batavians at Vindolanda in northern England, was transferred to the Danube to join Trajan’s forces gathering for the Second Dacian War.
    (AM, May/Jun 97 p.17)

700-800    Invading Slavs assimilated the Thracians in the area of modern Bulgaria and parts of Greece, Romania, Macedonia and Turkey.
    (SFC, 8/17/05, p.A2)

1300-1400    The Sihastra Monastery was founded in the 14th century.
    (SFC, 12/7/98, p.A25)

1400-1500    In Romania Vlad Tepes, aka Vlad the Impaler, the son of Vlad Dracul (Vlad the Dragon), was a 15th century gruesome Wallachian nobleman. Dracula means son of the dragon. He punished disobedient subjects and “unchaste” women by impaling them on sharpened logs, often dining amid the victims as they died. The family name changed to Kretzulesco and grew in stature with members upgraded to princes and princesses.
    (WSJ, 10/30/97, p.A20)

1437        Sep 18, Farmers revolted in Transylvania.
    (MC, 9/18/01)

1660        May 29, Gyorgy Rakosi II prince of Transylvania, died in battle.
    (SC, 5/29/02)

1691        In northwest Romania an icon was painted at a monastery in Nicula. According to legend, the icon of the Weeping Virgin, wept for 26 days in 1699. The first recorded miracle occurred in 1701 when it is said to have cured an army officer's wife who was going blind. The church attached to the monastery is named after St. Mary and pilgrimages there are made every year on Aug. 15, Mary's name day. In 1977, the church burned down, but the icon was unharmed. In 2005 low water level revealed its skeleton.
    (AP, 8/15/05)

1801        Apr 8, Soldiers rioted in Bucharest and killed 128 Jews.
    (MC, 4/8/02)

1812        Russia acquired Bessarabia, the north eastern part of the original principality of Moldavia, in the aftermath of the Russo-Turkish War (1806-1812).
    (Econ, 1/6/07, p.43)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bessarabia)

1821        Jun 2, Ion Bratianu (Lib), premier of Romania (1876-88), was born.
    (SC, 6/2/02)

1864        Dec 4, Romanian Jews were forbidden to practice law.
    (MC, 12/4/01)

1876        Feb 21, Constantin Brancusi (d.1957), Romanian-French sculptor (Princesse X), was born in Hobitza, Romania. he made it to Paris in 1902. His works include “The Kiss” (1908) and the “Sleeping Muse” (1910).
    (WSJ, 10/19/95, A-18)(WSJ, 11/30/01, p.W12)(MC, 2/21/02)

1881        Aug 19, Georges Enescu, composer (Romanian Dances), was born in Romania.
    (MC, 8/19/02)

1882        May 15, May Laws: Czar Alexander III banned Jews from living in rural Romania.
    (MC, 5/15/02)

1887        Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum (1887-1979) founder of the Satmar Hassids in Satu Mare, Romania, was born. The ultra-orthodox sect of Judaism later established itself in NYC.
    (Econ, 4/29/06, p.37)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joel_Teitelbaum)

1895        Oct 1, Romanians in Constantinople were massacred.
    (MC, 10/1/01)

1902        Sep 17, The US protested anti-Semitism in Romania.
    (MC, 9/17/01)

1902        Sep 22, John Houseman, director, producer and actor, was born in Bucharest, Romania.
    (HN, 9/22/00)(MC, 9/22/01)

1906        Mar 3, Vuia I aircraft, built by Romanian Traja Vuia, was tested in France.
    (SC, 3/3/02)

1907        Mar 31, Romanian Army put down a Moldavian farmers' revolt.
    (MC, 3/31/02)

1909        Nov 13, Eugene Ionesco, Romanian-born dramatist, was born. His work included “The Bald Soprano” and “Rhinoceros.” [see Nov 26, 1909 and Nov 26, 1912]
    (HN, 11/13/00)

1909        Nov 26, Eugene Ionesco (d.1994), Romanian-born French dramatist, was born. [see Nov 13, 1909 and Nov 26, 1912]
    (AP, 11/26/02)

1912        Jun 28, Sergiu Celibidache, Romanian conductor, was born.
    (MC, 6/28/02)

1912        Nov 26, Eugene Ionesco, dramatist (Rhinoceros), was born in Slatina, Romania. [see Nov 13 and Nov 26, 1909]
    (WUD, 1994 p.750)(MC, 11/26/01)

1913        Jun 1, Serbia and Greece concluded a secret treaty for joint action against Bulgaria; joined by Romania. Dissatisfied with their share of the spoils, Serbia, denied its proposed outlet to the Adriatic Sea, sought compensation in Macedonia along the Vardar River which the Bulgarians rejected while Greece asked for control of Thessaloniki and "a certain part" of the eastern Macedonian territories, which Bulgaria rejected as well.
    (www.maknews.com/html/articles/stefov/stefov61.html)

1913        Jul 10, Rumania entered the Second Balkan War and four days later the Ottoman Empire joined the general assault on Bulgaria. Faced with four fronts, Bulgarian armies were defeated piecemeal and the government at Sofia was forced to seek peace. Atrocities were widespread. For example, in pursuing the Bulgarian army Greek forces systematically burnt to the ground all Macedonian villages they encountered, mass-murdering their entire populations. Likewise, when the Greek army entered Kukush (Kilkis) and occupied surrounding villages, about 400 old people and children were imprisoned and killed. Nor did the Serbian "liberators" lag behind in destruction and wanton slaughter throughout Macedonia. In Bitola, Skopje, Shtip and Gevgelija, the Serbian army, police and chetniks (guerrillas) committed their own atrocities.
    (www.maknews.com/html/articles/stefov/stefov61.html)

1913        Aug 10, The Treaty of Bucharest ended the Second Balkan War. It was concluded by the delegates of Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, and Greece. The entire "disputed zone" was taken by Serbia, Greece secured its position in Thessaloniki and southeastern Macedonia, the Ottomans regained all the territories lost in the First Balkan War to Bulgaria with the exception of eastern (Pirin) Macedonia, and the Romanians seized Southern Dobruja. 
    (www.maknews.com/html/articles/stefov/stefov61.html)

1914        Jun 15, Saul Steinberg, American cartoonist (New Yorker), was born in Romania.
    (HN, 6/15/01)

1914        Baron Franz Nopcsa (1877-1933) found fossils of small dinosaurs in Romania that dated to the Cretaceous period.
    (SFC, 6/8/06, p.A7)

1916        Aug 28, Germany declared war on Romania.
    (MC, 8/28/01)

1916        Sep 1, Bulgaria declared war on Romania as the First World War expanded.
    (HN, 9/1/99)

1917        Jan 5, Bulgarian and German troops occupied the Port of Braila in East Romania.
    (HN, 1/5/99)(WUD, 1994, p.178)

1918        Jan 26, Nicolae Ceausescu, Romanian president (1967-90), was born.
    (MC, 1/26/02)

1918        An attempt to establish a Moldovan Soviet failed and Romanian troops occupied the province.
    (WSJ, 1/2/02, p.A18)

1920        Aug 10, Allies recognized Poland, Czechoslovakia and Romania.
    (MC, 8/10/02)

1920        Paul Celan, Romanian poet (d.1970), was born.
    (AP, 11/23/02)

1920        Hungary ceded the hills of Transylvania to Romania.
    (WSJ, 1/2/97, p.1)

1922        May 29, Iannis Xenakis, Greek mathematician, architect and composer, was born in Romania. In 2004 James Harley authored “Xenakis: His Life in Music.”
    (SSFC, 7/25/04, p.M4)

1924        The Bolsheviks formed the Moldovan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (ASSR), aka Transdniestria, as a basis for later taking over a chunk of Romania.
    (WSJ, 7/8/97, p.A1,8)(http://tinyurl.com/b7m4b)

1925        Brother Cleopa entered the Sihastra Monastery at age 25.
    (SFC, 12/7/98, p.A25)

1926        Queen Marie of Romania spoke at the dedication ceremony of the unfinished Maryhill Museum in Washington state. Sam Hill, railroad magnate, built a replica of Stonehenge as a monument to Klickitat County soldiers who lost their lives in the World War on the premises. His nearby mansion later became the Maryhill Museum of Art.
    (AM, 9/01, p.10)

1927        The Legion of the Archangel Michael was formed and later became the Iron Guard. It was committed to the “Christian and racial” renovation. The Fascist organization fed on anti-Semitism and mystical nationalism and was a major social and political force in Romania between 1930 and 1941. It was finally destroyed when in 1941 when it staged a revolt against the government of General Ion Antonescu.
    (HNQ, 11/27/01)

1928        Sep 30, Elie Wiesel, Holocaust survivor, writer (Souls on Fire), best known for his first book “Night” about his own experiences in concentration camps, was born in Romania. He won the Nobel Prize in 1986.
    (HN, 9/30/98)(MC, 9/30/01)

1933        Apr 25, Romanian Baron Franz Nopcsa von Felso-Szilvas (b.1877) killed his long time companion and secretary, an Albanian named Bajazid Elmas Doda, and committed suicide.
    (SFC, 6/8/06, p.A7)(http://tinyurl.com/jffdw)

1934        The wife of PM Gheorghe Tatarascu asked Constantin Brancusi to commemorate the citizens of Targu Jiu, who died trying to hold back the WW I Austro-German invasion. Brancusi agreed and created sculptures titled: “Endless Column,” “Gate of the Kiss” and “Table of Silence.” The 97-foot Endless Column was taken down for restoration in 1996. A 2nd restoration was completed in 2001.
    (WSJ, 11/30/01, p.W12)

1935-1944    In 2000 the memoir of Mihail Sebastian, a Jewish Romanian playwright, was published: “Journal, 1935-1944: The Fascist Years.” Sebastian died soon after the war in a traffic accident.
    (SSFC, 12/17/00, Par p.19)

1938        The documentary film “Tara Motilor” by Paul Calinescu won the documentary section at the Venice Film Festival.
    (SFC, 3/28/00, p.E2)

1938        In Romania Bran Castle, owned by Queen Marie, was bequeathed to her daughter Princess Ileana. In 1948 it was confiscated by the Communists. In 2006 the fabled “Dracula’s Castle” was transferred to Dominic van Hapsburg, a New York architect who inherited it from Princess Ileana.
    (SFC, 5/24/06, p.A2)

1939        Aug 13, Saul Steinberg, American artist (The Art of Living, New Yorker Magazine), was born in Romania.
    (MC, 8/13/02)

1940        Jun 26, The Soviet Union delivered an ultimatum to Romania and 2 days later occupied Bessarabia and North Bukovina.
    (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupation_of_Bessarabia_by_the_Soviet_Union)

1940        Oct 8, German troops occupied Romania.
    (MC, 10/8/01)

1940        Nov 27, Astonescu's Iron Guard massacred over sixty aides of the exiled king, including Nicolae Iorga, a former minister and acclaimed historian. Two months prior General Ion Antonescu seized power in Romania and forced King Carol II to abdicate.
    (MC, 11/27/01)

1940        King Carol II abdicated for the 2nd time and Michael became king for a 2nd time.
    (SFC, 10/20/00, p.A16)

1941        Jan 9, Some 6,000 Jews were exterminated in a pogrom in Bucharest, Romania. [see Jan 22]
    (MC, 1/9/02)

1941        Jan 22, The 1st mass killing of Jews took place in Romania. [see Jan 9]
    (MC, 1/22/02)

1941        Feb 10, London severed diplomatic relations with Romania. Romania's indigenous fighter, the IAR 80, saw service in defense of its homeland and against the Soviets.
    (HN, 2/10/97)

1941        Jun 19, Romania ordered Jews to evacuate Darabani.
    (MC, 6/19/02)

1941        Jun 28, German and Romanian soldiers killed 11,000 Jews in Kishinev.
    (MC, 6/28/02)

1941        Jun, In the northeastern city of Iasi, Romania, up to 12,000 people are believed to have died as Romanian and German soldiers swept from house to house to killing Jews.
    (AP, 6/14/03)

1941        Jul 23, German and Romanian troops reoccupied Moldova as part of Operation Barbarossa.
    (WSJ, 1/2/02, p.A18)

1941        Jul, The 16,000 sq. mile area of the Ukraine named Transnistria was granted by Hitler to the Romanian dictator Ion Antonescu for Romania’s participation in the war against the soviet Union. Jews from Bessarabia, Bukovina and Moldova were transferred here and many thousands were murdered from 1941-1944 by the Romanian Gendarmeric, the Einsatrzgruppe D, Ukrainian police and Sonderkommando R.
    (WSJ, 7/30/97, p.A15)

1941        Aug 7, In Romania 551 Jews were shot in the Kishinev ghetto.
    (MC, 8/7/02)

1941        Oct 8, The Romanian government gave the order to deport 11,000 Jews remaining in Kishinev across the Dniester to Rybnitsa and into Nazi hands.
    (WSJ, 1/2/02, p.A18)

1941        Oct 22-23, Some 39,000 Jews were killed by Romanian troops over 2 days in Odessa. Many of them were burned to death in a public square or in warehouses that were locked shut. Some 90,000 Jews were killed in Odessa altogether.
    (SFC, 6/15/98, p.A11)

1941        Dec, In Romania authorities ordered the dissolution of all Jewish organizations. Chief Rabbi Alexander Safran (1910-2006) helped set up the Jewish Council, an underground organization comprising all sectors of the Jewish population. The council used its links with Romanian church officials, the Vatican and the royal family in a bid to prevent the mass deportation of Romania's Jews to the Nazi extermination camps.
    (AP, 7/28/06)

1941-1945    Some 148,000 Bessarabian Jews were killed in Rybnitsa and other ghettos and concentration camps on the East bank of the Dniester during the Nazi occupation.
    (WSJ, 1/2/02, p.A18)
1941-1945    In 2000 Radu Ioanid authored "The Holocaust In Romania," which described how 250,000 people died under Ion Antonescu. 25,000 Gypsies were deported to Transnistria (later in the Ukraine), of whom 1,500 died.
    (WSJ, 1/19/00, p.A20)

1942        Jun 12, American bombers struck the oil refineries of Ploesti, Rumania for the first time.
    (HN, 6/12/98)

1943        Aug 1, Over 177 B-24 Liberator bombers attacked the oil fields in Ploesti, Rumania, for a second time.
    (HN, 8/1/98)

1943        Dec 11, U.S. Secretary of State, Cordell Hull, demanded that Hungary, Rumania, and Bulgaria withdraw from the war.
    (HN, 12/11/98)

1943        Former King Michael I purchased the Savarsin castle. It was later used as a hospital and then a private residence for Ceausescu. A local court in 2000 awarded the castle back to Michael.
    (SFC, 4/6/00, p.C16)

1944        Mar 18, The Russians reached the Rumanian border in the Balkans.
    (HN, 3/18/98)

1944        Apr 2, Soviet forces entered Romania, one of Germany's allied countries.
    (HN, 4/2/01)

1944        Jun 23, In one of the largest air strikes of the war, the U.S. Fifteenth Air Force sent 761 bombers against the oil refineries at Ploesti, Romania.
    (HN, 6/23/98)

1944        Aug 23, Romanian prime minister Ion Antonescu was dismissed by King Michael, paving the way for Romania to abandon the Axis in favor of the Allies. King Michael organized a coup against the pro-Nazi dictator, Marshal Ion Antonescu, but was double-crossed by Joseph Stalin and betrayed by the Allies who ceded the country to the Russians at the Yalta summit in 1945.
    (SFC, 6/27/97, p.A16)(AP, 8/23/97)

1944        Aug 25, Romania declared war on Germany.
    (AP, 8/25/99)

1944        Aug 30, Ploesti, the center of the Rumanian oil industry, fell to Soviet troops.
    (HN, 8/30/00)

1944        The Soviet army re-conquered Bessarabia. Only then were the two parts of present-day Moldova joined together to form the Moldavian SSR. At the same time, about one-third of Bessarabia, including its entire Black Sea coastline, was incorporated into the Ukrainian SSR. The Transdniester region, having long been part of the Russian Empire and then the Soviet Union, remained more Russified and Sovietized than Right-Bank Moldavia.
    (http://tinyurl.com/b7m4b)

1944        Some 350,000 Romanian Jews survived WWII and many soon migrated to Israel.
    (WSJ, 10/4/06, p.A11)

1945        Mar 2, King Michael of Romania gave in to Communist government.
    (SC, 3/2/02)

1945        Mar 12, USSR returned Transylvania to Romania.
    (MC, 3/12/02)

1945        Nov 30, Radu Lupu, pianist (Enesco 1st prize-1967), was born in Galati, Romania.
    (MC, 11/30/01)

1946        The communist regime imprisoned hundreds of thousands of priests, intellectuals, peasants and politicians deemed dangerous and impossible to convert to communist ideals.
    (SFC, 5/25/02, p.A27)

1947        Dec 30, Rumania's King Michael was exiled when the Soviet backed Communists took over. King Michael of Romania agreed to abdicate, but charged he was being forced off the throne by Communists.
    (SFC, 6/27/97, p.A16)(AP, 12/30/97)(HN, 12/30/98)

1947        Chief Rabbi Alexander Safran was dismissed from his post and forced to leave Romania, making his home in Geneva. He had refused to cooperate with the new Jewish Democratic Committee, saying it was a Communist body intent on breaking up traditional Jewish organizations and bringing Jewish life in Romania to a standstill.
    (AP, 7/28/06)

1948        Jan 3, King Michael left Romania. His Peles Castle in Sinaia was confiscated by the Communists. In 2006 it was returned to the former king.
    (SFC, 10/20/00, p.A16)(SFC, 5/24/06, p.A2)

1948        The communist state banned the Eastern Rite Catholic Church.
    (SFC, 5/25/02, p.A27)

1948-1951    Father Alexandru Todea escaped from prison and went into hiding. During this time he was secretly made a bishop.
    (SFC, 5/25/02, p.A27)

1950            Dec 2, Dinu Lipatti (b.1917), Romania-born pianist, died of leukemia in Geneva, Switz.
    (www.inkpot.com/classical/lipatti.html)

c1950        Brother Cleopa under pressure from the Communist party to stop receiving visitors, who sought his guidance, left the Sihastra Monastery and became a hermit in the mountain forests for 3 years. He ate 1 potato a day.
    (SFC, 12/7/98, p.A25)

1951        Sep 17, Romanian bishop A. Pacha of Timisoara was sentenced to 18 years.
    (MC, 9/17/01)

1951        Bishop Alexandru Todea was caught and sentenced to 12 years in prison.
    (SFC, 5/25/02, p.A27)

1954        Marin Sorescu published his poetry “Alone Among Poets.”
    (SFC, 12/11/96, p.A24)

1955        May 4, Georges Enescu (73), Romanian-French violist, composer (Oedipe), died.
    (MC, 5/4/02)

1955        May 14, Representatives from eight Communist bloc countries: Soviet Union, Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland & Romania, signed the Warsaw Pact in Poland. Andras Hegedues signed for Hungary.
    (AP, 5/14/97)(SFC, 10/26/99, p.B4)(MC, 5/14/02)

1957        May 29, George Bacovia [Vasiliu] Romanian poet, composer (Plumb), died at 75.
    (SC, 5/29/02)

1958        Jan 7, Petru Groza (74), premier and president (Romania, 1945-58), died.
    (MC, 1/7/02)

1958-1964    Col. Gheorghe Craciun (d.2001) commanded the Aiud Prison. He was later charged with the deaths of 216 prisoners but died before the trial was completed.
    (SFC, 6/16/01, p.A17)

1959        The first International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO), a World Championship Mathematics Competition for High School students, was held in Romania, with 7 countries participating. In 1978 Dr. George Lenchner (1917-2006 created the Mathematical Olympiads for Elementary and Middle Schools (MOEMS, originally LIMOES).
    (http://imo.math.ca/)(www.moems.org/memoriam.htm)

1961        Nov 12, Nadia Comaneci, [Gheorghe], Romanian gymnast (1st 10/Olympic-gold-1976), was born.
    (MC, 11/12/01)

1963        Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej gave amnesties to political prisoners and Bishop Alexandru Todea was released from prison.
    (SFC, 5/25/02, p.A27)

1964        A number of political prisoners, including Alexandru Salca (d.2001 at 78), were released in a general amnesty. Salca served 7 years for opposing the pro-Moscow government and another 8 for opposing the 1956 Soviet invasion of Hungary. He later authored 4 books on the horrors of Communist prisons and the Black Sea Canal forced labor camps where tens of thousands perished.
    (SFC, 6/16/01, p.A17)

1965        Mar 19, Stoica became president and Ceausescu party leader of Romania.
    (MC, 3/19/02)

1966-1974    Ilie Verdet served as deputy prime minister.
    (SFC, 3/22/01, p.A20)

1967        Dec 9, Nicolae Ceausescu became president (dictator) of Romania.
    (MC, 12/9/01)

1967        Soviet Gen. Sakharovsky became chief intelligence adviser in Romania. He helped bring Yasser Arafat to the Soviet Union via Romania for training and indoctrination. The soviets maneuvered to have Arafat named chairman of the PLO with help from Egypt’s ruler, Gamal Abdel Nasser. Sakharovsky was later reported to be responsible for killing 50,000 Romanians.
    (WSJ, 1/10/02, p.A12)

1969         Richard Nixon visited Romania and became the first president to visit a communist nation since the start of the Cold War. In February 1972, the Republican Nixon shook the world with his visit to China. Nixon then followed that with a summit in Moscow, signing seven agreements with the Soviet Union ranging from arms control to space exploration.
    (HNQ, 11/20/01)

c1970s    Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej was the Stalinist predecessor of Ceausescu.
    (SFC, 6/15/98, p.A10)

1974        Mar 26, Romanian communist party named party leader Nicolae Ceausescu President.
    (SS, 3/26/02)

1976        Nadia Comaneci of Romania scored 7 perfect 10s in gymnastics during the Olympic games in Montreal.
    (NG, 8/04, Geographica)

1977        Mar 4, More than 1,500 people were killed in an earthquake that shook southern and eastern Europe. The earthquake in Romania, killed 1,541.
    (AP, 3/4/98)(SFC, 4/28/99, p.A15)(SC, 3/4/02)

1980        Ilie Verdet (d.2001 at 75) was appointed prime minister and served for 2 years.
    (SFC, 3/22/01, p.A20)

1980s        A huge building spree by Nicalae Ceausescu leveled entire neighborhoods in Bucharest and left a large number of stray dogs roaming the streets. Their number reached 100-200,000 in 1997.
    (SFEC,11/30/97, p.A20)

1982        Feb 9, Mihai Anton Prodea, artist, was born in Sibiu, Romania.
    (KMB, 2003)

1986        The church bishops secretly elected Bishop Alexandru Todea leader of the church with the rank of Metropolitan.
    (SFC, 5/25/02, p.A27)

1986        Ion Cioaba, Gypsy leader, was jailed and tortured on alleged charges of cheating the government on a copper contract.
    (SFC, 2/28/97, p.A24)

1989        Nov 24, Romanian leader Nicolae Ceausescu was unanimously re-elected Communist Party chief. Within a month, he was overthrown in a popular uprising and executed along with his wife, Elena, on Christmas Day.
    (AP, 11/24/04)

1989        Dec 15, A popular uprising that resulted in the downfall of Romania's Nicolae Ceausescu began as demonstrators gathered in Timisoara to prevent the arrest of the Reverend Laszlo Tokes, a dissident clergyman.
    (AP, 12/15/99)

1989        Dec 21, Romanian President Nicolae Ceausescu delivered what turned out to be his final public speech. The hard-line Communist ruler was visibly stunned as his listeners began booing. Ceausescu fled from power and was executed four days later.
    (AP, 12/21/99)

1989        Dec 22, In Romania there was a revolt and miners riots. Romania's hard-line Communist ruler, Nicolae Ceausescu, was toppled in a popular uprising following 23 years of dictatorial rule. Ion Ileascu and other top Communist functionaries of Ceausescu seized control. Ileascu ruled until Nov 1996.
    (SFC, 11/18/96, p.A10)(SFC, 11/20/96, p.C4)(AP, 12/22/97)(SFC, 6/15/98, p.A11)

1989        Dec 23, Ousted Romanian President Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife, Elena, were captured as they were attempting to flee their country.
    (AP, 12/23/99)

1989        Dec 25, Ousted Romanian President Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife, Elena, were executed following a popular uprising. His regime had mobilized some 700,000 informants to keep tabs on the population of 23 million people.
    (SFC, 12/27/96, p.B1)(AP, 12/25/97)(SSFC, 8/20/06, p.A20)

1989        Dec 26, Romanian television broadcast videotape of ousted President Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife, Elena, at their secret trial and footage of Ceausescu's body after his execution. That same day, a provisional government took control of Romania.
    (AP, 12/26/99)

1989        Some 1,200 deaths occurred during the revolution after the army officially changed sides.
    (SFC, 6/15/98, p.A11)

1989        Orthodox Patriarch Teoctist resigned after the fall of Ceausescu. He was accused of collaborating with the Ceausescu regime. Church leaders pressed him to return 3 months later.
    (SFC, 5/8/99, p.A10)

1989        The church was recognized by the state following the collapse of communism.
    (SFC, 5/25/02, p.A27)

1989        The village of Copsa Mica was exposed as one of the most polluted places in Europe. Despite cleanup efforts heavy contamination persisted in 2002.
    (WSJ, 1/9/02, p.A1)

1990        Jan 8, Military tribunals in Romania began trials of the country's dreaded security forces who stood accused of resisting the revolution that toppled Nicolae Ceausescu.
    (AP, 1/8/00)

1990        Jan 27, In Romania, four top associates of executed dictator Nicolae Ceausescu went on trial, charged with abetting genocide.
    (AP, 1/27/00)

1990        Mar 5, To the cheers of onlookers, workers in Bucharest, Romania, finally succeeded in removing a 25-foot, seven-ton bronze statue of Vladimir Lenin from its foundation.
    (AP, 3/5/00)

1990        Mar, Several people were killed and hundreds injured in clashes between Romanians and ethnic Hungarians in the Transylvanian city of Targu Mures. The Szeklers make up about a third of Romania's 1.4 million Hungarian minority.
    (AP, 10/8/06)

1990        May 20, Romania's ruling National Salvation Front scored victories in the country's first free elections in more than 50 years.
    (AP, 5/20/00)

1990        Jun, Miners, transported into Bucharest in government vehicles, destroyed hundreds of Interior Ministry files. Over 2 years well organized mobs of rural coal miners descended on Bucharest 4 times to knock the heads of student leaders, opposition politicians and others.
    (SFC, 6/15/98, p.A11)

1990        Dec 25, Romania’s former monarch, King Michael, arrived on his first visit to his homeland since Communist rulers forced him to abdicate four decades earlier. He was deported by the new Bucharest government less than 12 hours later.
    (AP, 12/25/00)

1990        Ilie Verdet, former prime minister, formed the Socialist Party.
    (SFC, 3/22/01, p.A20)

1990        Israelis began investing in Romania and by 2006 had put in as much as $2 billion, much of it routed through 3rd countries in order to take advantage of tax deals.
    (WSJ, 10/4/06, p.A1)

1991        Sep 24, Some 5,000 coal miners led by Miron Cozma rampaged through Bucharest leaving 3 dead and nearly 300 injured. This prompted the resignation of Prime Minister Petre Roman.
    (SFC, 2/16/99, p.A8)

1991        The Vatican raised Metropolitan Alexandru Todea to the rank of Cardinal
    (SFC, 5/25/02, p.A27)

1992        Sep, Ion Cioaba (1935-1997), had himself crowned as King of the Gypsies with a 13-pound crown in front of 5,000 followers.
    (SFC, 2/28/97, p.A24)

1993        Nov, Marin Sorescu became the minister of culture in the leftist government of Nicolae Vacaroiu.
    (SFC, 12/11/96, p.A24)

1995        Mar 27, Bernard Cornfeld (67), Romanian-US financier (Fund of Funds), died.
    (MC, 3/27/02)

1995        The capital is Bucharest. National Day is Dec 1. The average monthly wage is $150. Premier Nicolae Vacaroiu says the government is prepared to adopt new taxes to reduce imports and help support the national currency.
    (WSJ, 11/6/95, p.B-8F)

1996        The government rejected the Dec. 24, '95 results of an election in the Dnestr region of neighboring Moldava, a former Soviet state. The region voted for independence and closer ties to Russia.
    (WSJ, 1/4/96, p.A-1)

1996        May, Ilie Alexandru, aka the J.R. of Romania, opened his copy of the Southfork Ranch of the TV “Dallas” series in Slobozia as part of his Hermes Vacation park.
    (SFC, 6/16/96, Zone 1 p.5)

1996        Jun 2, Victor Ciorbia of the Democratic Convention won over Ilie Nastase, int’l tennis star representing the Party of social Democracy, in preliminary elections for the mayorship of Bucharest.
    (SFC, 6/14/96, p. A14)

1996        Sep 16, Romania and Hungary signed a treaty over the status of 1.6 million Hungarians in Romania and a guarantee of borders.
    (SFC, 9/17/96, p.A12)

1996        Nov 3, The opposition party won parliamentary elections ending control by ex-Communists.
    (WSJ, 11/4/96, p.A1)

1996        Nov 17, Centrist reformer Emil Constantinescu (57), professor of geology, defeated Ion Ileascu in presidential elections.
    (SFC, 11/18/96, p.A11)

1996        Nov 19, In Romania Victor Ciorbea, mayor of Bucharest, was named by the Peasant Party the next prime minister.
    (SFC, 11/20/96, p.C4)

1996        Nov 29, Emil Constantinescu was sworn in as president.
    (SFC, 11/30/96, p.A14)

1996        Dec 8, Marin Sorescu (1936-1996), poet and former minister of culture, died.
    (SFC, 12/11/96, p.A24)

1996        Sergiu Celibidache (b.1912), conductor, died. In 2001 Deutsche Grammophon released a box set of his selected performances.
    (WSJ, 4/24/01, p.A22)

1997        Feb, A new economic package was introduced that would reduce state subsidies, deregulate food and energy prices, close unprofitable state enterprises and private others.
    (SFC, 2/24/96, p.A10)

1997        May 1, Romania apologized for deporting tens of thousands of ethnic Germans to labor camps during Communist rule or “selling” them by demanding cash from the Bonn government for emigration permits.
    (SFC, 5/2/97, p.A17)

1997        Jul 11, President Clinton was cheered by tens of thousands of people in Bucharest, Romania, where he raised hopes for NATO membership.
    (AP, 7/11/98)

1997        Aug 7, Prime Minister Victor Ciorbea announced the closure of 17 factories at the urging of the IMF. 30,000 jobs would be lost and the following day thousands protested the closing of the essentially bankrupt companies.
    (SFC, 8/9/97, p.C1)

1998        Jan, In Romania the IMF froze the disbursement of a $530 million lending program.
    (WSJ, 5/6/98, p.A18)

1998        Mar 30, Prime Minister Victor Ciorbea resigned and stepped down from his role as mayor of Bucharest.
    (SFC, 3/31/98, p.B3)

1998        Apr 2, In Romania Radu Vasile, an economist and leader of the national Peasant Party, was named by Pres. Emil Constantinescu as the new prime minister. He soon began reforms with an economic program to restore domestic and foreign confidence.
    (SFC, 4/3/98, p.B5)(WSJ, 5/6/98, p.A18)

1998        Apr 8, It was reported that 22 Romanian ships carrying 500 sailors were stranded worldwide due to economic problems of the state shipping firm, Navrom.
    (SFC, 4/898, p.A12)

1998        Jun 25, The Senate voted to keep some 125 million secret police files locked away.
    (SFC, 6/26/98, p.D2)

1998        Jun, Sorin Moisescu (d.2000), independence leader, was appointed president of the Supreme Court.
    (SFC, 4/7/00, p.D5)

1998        Aug 4, A heat wave swept over Eastern Europe and caused 20 deaths in Romania.
    (SFC, 8/5/98, p.A10)

1998        Nov 23, An Arctic cold wave was reported to have killed 71 people across Europe over the last 3 days. 36 deaths were in Poland and 24 in Romania and Bulgaria.
    (SFC, 11/24/98, p.A14)

1998        Dec 3, Brother Cleopa, an Orthodox monk, died at age 87 at the 14th century Sihastra Monastery. He was renowned for his lectures and sermons, some of which were published under the title “Talks with Brother Cleopa,” in Sobornost, an ecumenical Orthodox and Anglican journal published in Oxford.
    (SFC, 12/7/98, p.A25)

1999        Jan 19, In Romania ten thousand coal miners clashed with police on the 15th day of a strike to protest low wages and possible layoffs.
    (USAT, 1/20/99, p.8A)(SFC, 1/20/99, p.A10)

1999        Jan 21, In Romania striking miners stormed through police lines, killed one officer and took 50 captive. The interior minister was fired.
    (WSJ, 1/22/99, p.A1)

1999        Jan 22, In Romania miners halted a violent strike after reaching a settlement with Prime Minister Rady Vasile.
    (SFC, 1/23/99, p.C1)

1999        Feb 15, In Romania the Supreme Court sentenced in absentia Miron Cozma, leader of the coal miners, to an 18 year prison term.
    (SFC, 2/16/99, p.A8)

1999        Feb 16, Romanian miners began a fresh march on Bucharest.
    (WSJ, 2/17/99, p.A1)

1999        Feb 17, In Romania police crushed a coal miners protest and arrested Miron Cozma. One person was killed and a hundred were injured.
    (SFC, 2/18/99, p.A12)

1999        Mar 24, Tens of thousands of workers in Bucharest and other cities protested for lower taxes and a cut in utility rates.
    (SFC, 3/25/99, p.A10)

1999        Apr 20, Bulgaria and Romania offered to let NATO use their airspace to bomb Yugoslavia.
    (WSJ, 4/21/99, A22)

1999        Apr 21, Romania and the IMF reached a preliminary agreement for a $500 million loan.
    (SFC, 4/22/99, p.A15)

1999        May 7, In Romania the Pope began a 3-day visit. This was his first visit to a country with an Orthodox Christian majority. The Pope was greeted by Orthodox Patriarch Teoctist (84).
    (WSJ, 5/7/99, p.A1)(SFC, 5/8/99, p.A10)

1999        Sep, A plastic polymer called Guardian replaced the paper 2,000 leu bank note.
    (WSJ, 9/3/99, p.A9)

1999        Nov 2, In Bucharest dozens of orphaned and homeless teenagers protested and urged the government to provide jobs and housing.
    (SFC, 11/3/99, p.C5)

1999        Nov 7, Radu Teposu, writer, died in a car crash at age 45. His work included a book on postmodernism in Romania that was banned under the Communists.
    (SFC, 11/8/99, p.C2)

1999        Nov 23, In Romania some 5,000 workers of the CNSLR-Fratia trade union gathered in Bucharest to protest plummeting living standards.
    (SFC, 11/24/99, p.C5)

1999        Dec 10, The EU granted preliminary consideration for membership to Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, and Malta.
    (SFC, 12/11/99, p.A16)

1999        Dec 14, In Romania Pres. Constantinescu fired Prime Minister Radu Vasile, though the constitution did not grant him that power. Alexandru Athanasiu, the Labor and Social Welfare minister, was named to replace Vasile. The average monthly salary was down to $89.
    (SFC, 12/14/99, p.B2)

1999        Dec 16, Mugur Isarescu, the central bank chief, was appointed prime minister following a revolt by Peasants party ministers.
    (WSJ, 12/17/99, p.A1)

1999        Dec, In an effort to exorcise some of its past the government began an auction of the personal goods of former dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife Elena.
    (WSJ, 12/8/99, p.A1)

1999        Romania passed legislation to allow the opening of files in the archive of Securitate, Ceausescu’s hated security police. Disclosures began in 2006.
    (SSFC, 8/20/06, p.A20)

2000        Jan 30, In Romania a dam at the Baia Mare gold mine overflowed and caused cyanide to pout into the Lapus River and then into the Somes River. It flowed into Hungary and within weeks into the Tisa (Tisza) River in Yugoslavia.
    (SFC, 2/12/00, p.A9)(SFC, 2/18/00, p.A1)

2000        Feb 13, In Yugoslavia the cyanide spill from Romania reached the Danube and weakened to nonlethal levels. Life in the Tisa (Tisza) River in Hungary and Serbia was devastated and Serbia threatened to demand compensation at an int'l. court.
    (SFC, 2/14/00, p.A16)

2000        Mar 10, In Romania some 20,000 tons of metal pollutants escaped into the Vaser River from the state-owned Baia Borsa mine after a dam broke following heavy rains and melting snow.
    (SFC, 3/11/00, p.A9)

2000        Mar 25, Paul Calinescu, the father of Romanian cinema, died at age 98.
    (SFC, 3/28/00, p.E2)

2000        Apr 6, Sorin Moisescu (61), president of the Supreme Court, died.
    (SFC, 4/7/00, p.D5)

2000        Nov 26, Presidential elections were held. A Dec 10 runoff was expected between Social Democrat Ion Iliescu and ultranationalist Corneliu Vadim Tudor. Annual inflation stood at 45%.
    (SSFC, 11/26/00, p.A18)

2000        Dec 10, In Romania Ion Iliescu, former Communist turned social democrat, won the presidential runoff elections over nationalist Corneliu Vadim Tudor 70-30%.
    (SFC, 12/11/00, p.A12)

2000        Dec 28, Parliament approved Adrian Nastase, former foreign minister, as prime minister of a new leftist minority government.
    (SFC, 12/29/00, p.B6)

2001        Jan 18, There was a cyanide spill in the Siret River. 72 people were later hospitalized after eating river fish.
    (WSJ, 1/25/01, p.A1)

2001        Feb, Romania enacted Law 10 to govern restitution for properties confiscated between 1945 and 1989. In 2006 Romania passed legislation to return property that had been confiscated under Communist rule, to former owners and to establish a fund to pay damages for assets that could not be returned.
    (www.state.gov/p/eur/rls/or/64425.htm)(SFC, 5/24/06, p.A2)

2001        Mar 7, The Parliament voted to require citizens to notify police if foreign guests stay over 15 days. It also voted to make it a crime for anyone to divulge state secrets.
    (WSJ, 3/8/01, p.A1)

2001        Mar 21, Ilie Verdet, former prime minister, died at age 75.
    (SFC, 3/22/01, p.A20)

2001        Jun 5, Ten people were killed In Constanta when workers set off an explosion while welding the hull of a Maltese oil tanker.
    (SFC, 6/6/01, p.C3)

2001        Aug 7, A gas explosion in the Vulcan coal mine killed at least 14 miners.
    (SFC, 8/8/01, p.A9)

2001        Sep 27, Gellu Naum, surrealist poet, playwright and translator, died at age 86. His work included 20 poetry books, of which the 1st was “The Incendiary Traveler” (1936) and the novel “Zenobia” (1985).
    (SFC, 10/6/01, p.A18)

2001        Oct, Mohammad F. Abdul Razak, the 1st secretary at the Iraqi Embassy in Romania, was asked to leave for unsavory practices.
    (WSJ, 12/20/01, p.A12)

2001        Nov, New bonds were to be issued to finance the Sighisoara Tourism Development Fund and a planned Dracula theme park to open in 2003.
    (WSJ, 10/30/01, p.A1)

2001        Dec 3, US Sec. of State Powell met in Romania with officials from 55 nations in a conference on fighting terrorism.
    (WSJ, 12/3/01, p.A1)

2002        May 21, Cardinal Alexandru Todea (89), symbol of Catholic resistance to communism, died in Targu Mures.
    (SFC, 5/25/02, p.A27)

2002        Jun 11, Thousands of Romania state workers jammed a square in downtown Bucharest, blaming the government for a decline in living standards and calling for its resignation.
    (AP, 6/12/02)

2002        Jul 14, A bus with 52 passengers, mostly Polish students, crashed in western Romania, killing five people and injuring 26.
    (AP, 7/14/02)

2002        Oct 9, The European Union's executive Commission declared Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, and Slovakia nearly ready for EU membership and recommended they be invited to join in 2004. Romania and Bulgaria likely will be delayed until 2007 because of weak economies, the Commission said, adding Turkey was the weakest link among candidates.
    (AP, 10/9/02)

2002        Nov 21, The Baltic nations of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania joined former communist states Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia as the next wave of NATO states.
    (AP, 11/21/02)

2002        Nov 23, President Bush visited Vilnius, Lithuania, and Bucharest, Romania, where he vowed to defend hard-won freedoms behind the former Iron Curtain.
    (AP, 11/23/03)

2002        Nov 29, Romania urged the EU on to reject a request by Hungarian producers for the exclusive right to sell a regional brandy in EU countries under the generic name "palinka." The Eastern European brandy, made from fermented fruit pears, plums, apricots or grapes, has been produced in the region under different names. In Hungary and in Romania's northwest region of Transylvania, it is called "palinka," or "palinca," while in southern Romania it is called "tuica," and in Moldova and Bulgaria "rakiya."
    (AP, 11/30/02)

2003        Jan 1, Dumitru Tinu (62), a leading Romanian journalist who covered the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia and steered his newspaper along independent lines after communism ended, died in a car accident.
    (AP, 1/1/03)

2003          Mar 8, In Romania 5 Iraqi diplomats were expelled for “activities incompatible with their status.”  Last week the US expelled two U.N.-based Iraqi diplomats and identified 300 Iraqis in 60 countries, some operating as diplomats out of Iraqi embassies, whom it wanted expelled.
    (AP, 3/10/03)

2003        Mar 20, Some 600 US and Romanian ground troops in Afghanistan began Operation Valiant Strike, an intensified search for Taliban, al Qaeda and loyalists to Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.
    (SSFC, 3/23/03, p.A1)

2003        Jun 17, Romania's government acknowledged that its former leaders deported and exterminated Romanian Jews during World War II.
    (AP, 6/17/03)

2003        Sep 22, The jawbone of a cave-man living in what is now Romania, found in 2002 in Pestera cu Oase, was reported as the oldest fossil from an early modern human to be found in Europe. It was carbon-dated to between 34,000 and 36,000 years ago.
    (AP, 9/22/03)

2003        Oct 6, Elisabeta Rizea (91), a Romanian anti-communist resistance fighter whose defiance of the regime made her a symbol of the fight against tyranny, died.
    (AP, 10/7/03)

2003        Oct 19, In Romania government leaders held an emergency session as many voters avoided the polls, throwing into doubt a referendum on a new constitution aimed at helping the country join the European Union.
    (AP, 10/19/03)

2003        Oct 21, Romanians overwhelmingly approved a new constitution designed to prepare the formerly communist country for membership in the EU.
    (AP, 10/21/03)

2004        Mar 29, Pres. Bush hosted a White House ceremony to welcome Bulgaria, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia into the NATO alliance.
    (WSJ, 3/30/04, p.A1)

2004        Apr 2, In Brussel an official ceremony welcomed Bulgaria, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia into the NATO alliance.
    (SFC, 4/3/04, p.A11)

2004        Jun 2, Romania’s Pres. Ion Iliescu unveiled the new Logan sedan, a joint venture between Renault and Romania’s Dacia. Starting prices were around $$6,100.
    (SFC, 6/3/04, C5)

2004        Aug 7, The Romanian sitcom "The Winding Road to Europe" featured villagers in the fictional La Europa pub and swapping stories about how joining the EU will change their lives. The European Union's Romania office has funded 12 15-minute episodes of "Winding Road" at $16,800 each, 4 of which had already aired.
    (AP, 8/7/04)

2004        Nov 28, Romanians voted for a president to succeed Ion Iliescu and lead the former communist country into the European Union. A run off was scheduled for Dec 12 when neither ruling Socialist’s Nastase nor Bucharest Mayor Basescu received 50%.
    (AP, 11/28/04)(WSJ, 11/29/04, p.A1)

2004        Dec 4, A car accident in Bucharest killed Teofil Peter of the rock band Compact. In 2006 US Marine Sgt Christopher VanGoethem, a US embassy guard, was acquitted of negligent homicide by a Marine court in Virginia.
    (SFC, 2/1/06, p.A3)

2004        Dec 12, Romanians returned to the polls for a presidential runoff between PM Adrian Nastase and Bucharest Mayor Traian Basescu. Reformist opposition candidate Traian Basescu won Romania's presidential runoff election.
    (AP, 12/13/04)

2004        Dec 14, In Romania Pres.-elect Traian Basescu opened talks to form a coalition government with a party formerly allied with his opponent and one representing ethnic Hungarians.
    (AP, 12/14/04)

2005        Jan 1, Romania enacted a law forbidding int’l. adoptions except to biological grandparents in an effort to help it win EU membership.
    (WSJ, 1/3/05, p.A1)
2005        Jan 1, Romania was forecast for 5.2% annual GDP growth with a population at 21.7 million and GDP per head at $3,720.
    (Econ, 1/8/05, p.89)

2005        Jan 16, A 66-year-old Romanian woman became the world's oldest woman recorded to give birth when she delivered a daughter by cesarean section.
    (AP, 1/17/05)

2005        Mar 28, In Iraq 3 Romanian journalists were abducted near their Baghdad hotel.
    (AP, 3/29/05)

2005        Apr 13, The European Parliament approved the entry of Bulgaria and Romania into the EU in 2007, but it said both countries still need to carry out necessary reforms.
    (AP, 4/13/05)

2005        Apr 18, The annual Goldman Environmental Prizes were awarded in San Francisco. Recipients included Stephanie Daniel Roth of Romania for fighting an open-cast gold mine.
    (SFC, 4/18/05, p.B2)

2005        Apr 22, Al Jazeera television reported  that insurgents gave Romania 4 days to withdraw its troops from Iraq in order to save the lives of 3 journalists kidnapped last month.
    (Reuters, 4/22/05)

2005        Apr 29, Heavy rains in western Romania have flooded hundreds of villages, forcing 3,700 people to abandon their homes and disrupting rail and road traffic.
    (Reuters, 4/29/05)

2005        May 6, Romania's foreign minister said his government would keep its troops in Iraq supporting postwar operations despite the kidnapping of three Romanian journalists.
    (AP, 5/6/05)

2005        May 12, Austrian authorities reported the break up a major human trafficking ring led by Romanian, Moldovan and Ukrainian criminals who smuggled more than 5,000 East Europeans to the West, many enduring horrific conditions in tiny hiding spaces in cars, trucks and trailers.
    (AP, 5/12/05)

2005        May 22, In Iraq 3 Romanian journalists and their Iraqi-American guide were freed after nearly two months in captivity. Mohammed Munaf, their Iraqi-American translator, was later tried and convicted on charges that he assisted in the kidnapping. In 2006 Munaf was sentenced to death.
    (AP, 5/22/05)(SSFC, 10/15/06, p.A20)

2005        Jun 15, In Romania Maricica Irina Cornici (23), an Orthodox nun, was found dead, gagged and chained to a cross. Father Daniel (29), the superior of the Holy Trinity monastery, had ordered the crucifixion of the young nun because she was "possessed by the devil."  The Orthodox priest faced murder charges and was unrepentant as he celebrated a funeral mass for his alleged victim. [see Jun 22]
    (AFP, 6/18/05)

2005        Jun 22, A Romanian monk and four nuns were charged with murder after a nun died during an exorcism. Maricica Irina Cornici (23) was crucified and left without food for three days. [see Jun 15]
    (AP, 6/23/05)

2005        Jul 7, Romania's PM Calin Popescu Tariceanu said his Cabinet would resign and early elections would be called after a court blocked essential justice reforms required by the EU.
    (AP, 7/7/05)

2005        Jul 17, Officials said heavy rains and flash floods have killed 20 in the past week people and inundated tens of thousands of homes in Romania. Death for the month reached 26.
    (AP, 7/17/05)

2005        Jul 27, The UN started evacuating more than 400 refugees from a camp in Kyrgyzstan and will fly them to a third country to keep them from being sent home to Uzbekistan where they fear prosecution. Uzbekistan has been pressuring Kyrgyzstan to hand over the refugees, and Kyrgyz officials relented in recent weeks, sending at least 87 of them back.
    (AP, 7/27/05)

2005        Jul 29, A plane with 440 Uzbek refugees left Kyrgyzstan for Romania.
    (AP, 7/29/05)

2005        Aug 22, Romania’s PM Calin Tariceanu reshuffled his center-right government, replacing four ministers including those in charge of finance and European integration after criticism of several cabinet members.
    (AP, 8/22/05)

2005        Oct 6, Romania said it has deported five students accused of having ties to al-Qaida and trying to recruit members of the country's Muslim community.
    (AP, 10/6/05)

2005        Oct 8, Romania reported new cases of avian flu in the Danube delta on the Black Sea and started to cull hundreds of birds to prevent the disease from spreading.
    (AP, 10/8/05)

2005        Oct 9, The slaughter of thousands of domestic fowl in Romania and Turkey began as a precaution against the spread of bird flu after both countries confirmed their first cases of the disease over the weekend.
    (AP, 10/10/05)

2005        Oct 15, The European Commission said tests have confirmed a link between the bird flu found in Romania and the virus that has devastated flocks in Asia and turned up in Turkey.
    (AP, 10/15/05)

2005        Nov 3, European Union officials said they would investigate a report that the CIA set up secret jails in Eastern Europe to interrogate top al-Qaida suspects. The international Red Cross also said it asked the US to let a representative visit detainees if such a facility exists. At least 10 nations denied that the prisons were in their territory. Human Rights Watch in New York said it has evidence indicating the CIA transported suspected terrorists captured in Afghanistan to Poland and Romania.
    (AP, 11/3/05)

2005        Dec 6, US Sec. of State Condoleeza Rice signed an agreement with Romania to open US military bases there. One site was identified by Human Rights Watch as the site for a clandestine prison.
    (WSJ, 12/7/05, p.A16)

2005        Dec 22, Romania's prime minister rejected US calls to allow adoptions by foreigners of about 1,000 Romanian children.
    (AP, 12/22/05)

2005        Romania introduced a flat tax of 16%.
    (Econ, 3/5/05, p.54)
2005        Romania’s GDP per head was $4,490.
    (Econ, 1/6/07, p.43)

2006        Jan 14, In southwestern Romania 7 miners were killed and five injured in a gas explosion at a mine. Union leaders blamed it on a lack of investment in safety measures.
    (AP, 1/14/06)

2006        Jan 29, In Bucharest, Romania, a stray dog killed a Japanese businessman. The mayor called for a crash program of canine sterilization and euthanasia to control the city’s 60,000 stray dogs.
    (www.inyourpocket.com/romania/bucharest/en/)(Econ, 2/4/06, p.48)

2006        Feb 16, In Romania authorities investigating the leak of secret military documents, including details on coalition troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, arrested Marian Garleanu, a Romanian journalist, for possession of leaked material. Garleanu denied any wrongdoing and said he was targeted because he has repeatedly exposed corruption in the Ministry of Defense.
    (AP, 2/17/06)

2006        Apr 5, Home Secretary Charles Clarke said London would press for Romania to be granted membership of the European Union "as soon as possible" as he praised the country's work against people trafficking.
    (AFP, 4/5/06)

2006        Apr 13, The Danube reached record-high levels in Bulgaria, Romania and Serbia, flooding fertile farmland as authorities in southeastern Europe considered ordering evacuations.
    (AP, 4/13/06)

2006        Jun 20, In southern Afghanistan an explosion tore apart a coalition tank, killing one Romanian soldier and wounding four others.
    (AP, 6/20/06)

2006        Jun 29, Romania's PM Calin Popescu Tariceanu proposed withdrawing 890 troops from Iraq because of high casualty levels and the cost of the operation.
    (AP, 6/29/06)

2006        Aug 18, In Greece a 700-year-old icon, said to have the power to work miracles, was discovered stolen from the cliff-side Elona Monastery. In September police arrested a Romanian national in Crete and recovered the Madonna and Child icon.
    (SSFC, 10/8/06, p.A26)(http://tinyurl.com/grxc8)

2006        Aug 22, The Orizont, a leased Romanian oil rig off the coast of Iran, came under fire from Iranian military vessels and was later occupied by Iranian troops. A 2nd Romanian rig had recently been towed from Iranian waters due to unpaid bills.
    (AP, 8/22/06)(WSJ, 10/14/06, p.A8)

2006        Aug, In Romania the heads of the leading spy agencies quit along with the top prosecutor after they failed to keep track of Omar Hayssam. The Syrian-born businessman, arrested on terrorism charges, fled Romania after being paroled for health reasons.
    (Econ, 9/16/06, p.62)

2006        Sep 2, In Romania liberal leaders expelled Mona Musca, one of the country's most popular politicians, from the party after she admitted to having collaborated with the Securitate secret police under the communist dictatorship of Nicolae Ceausescu.
    (AP, 9/2/06)

2006        Sep 26, The European Commission recommended that Bulgaria and Romania join the EU next year, but under some of the harshest terms ever faced by new members.
    (AP, 9/26/06)

2006        Oct 24, Britain said Bulgarians and Romanians will have only limited rights to work in Britain for at least a year after their countries join the European Union on January 1.
    (AP, 10/24/06)

2006        Dec 10, In Romania more than 6,000 inmates at 24 prisons took part in hunger strikes and other protests to demand amnesty and better living conditions.
    (AP, 12/10/06)

2006        At least 2 million of Romania’s 22 million people worked abroad, mostly in farm jobs.
    (Econ, 2/4/06, p.48)

2007        Jan 1, Bulgaria and Romania joined the EU. Some 30,000 Israelis gained EU citizenship due to their dual registration in Romania.
    (WSJ, 10/4/06, p.A11)(AP, 1/1/07)

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