The judge, on trial for bribery in Iran and known as a notorious jailer of journalists, plunged six stories in what is being called an apparent suicide.

Stymied by borders closed by coronavirus restrictions, German farmers decided to fly thousands of seasonal workers into their fields.

Legions of seasonal workers from Eastern Europe who harvest crops from Spain to Sweden can’t get in, forcing a rapid rethink of how to secure food at Europe’s farms.

Weeks after more than 14,000 sheep died in the Black Sea near Romania, 180 lucky ones have been rescued by animal welfare groups, which pledged to protect them from slaughter.

Successive governments have failed to address the risks posed by aging buildings and shoddy construction, leaving millions vulnerable.

On Friday, officials ended a search-and-rescue operation off the coast of Romania. Crews are preparing to remove thousands of carcasses from the vessel.

A rescue operation was underway to save the animals in the Black Sea.

President Klaus Iohannis claimed victory as his challenger, Viorica Dancila, conceded.

Radu Jude dramatises the case of a disenchanted teenager turned in to the secret police in 1980s Romania in this chilling work of filmed theatreThe anger and despair in this Romanian filmed theatre work are kept in check by its ice-cold manner: it is spoken throughout in the kind of deadened official style that Ceaușescu-era apparatchiks might have used for reports on wrongdoers and dissidents, and the style that these same people might have used to defend themselves, and convince their political masters that they had internalised the right kind of torpid, soulless submission.Director Radu Jude (who made the much-admired I Do Not Care If We Go Down in History as Barbarians) has adapted a verbatim-theatre stage play by Gianina Cărbunariu, working with the writer herself; it chillingly dramatises an actual 1981 Securitate case file concerning a high school student called Mugur Călinescu. This teenager was discovered to be chalking protest slogans on walls (in scandalously large “uppercase print” letters) calling for an end to poverty and for free trade unions of the sort permitted by Romania’s ally Poland. To discover and punish the author of these innocuous sentiments, hundreds of informants were mobilised, phones bugged, ...

Six-week-old suffered cardiac arrest during ceremony, which involves three immersions in holy water

The Orthodox Church in Romania is facing growing pressure to change baptism rituals after a baby died following a ceremony which involves immersing infants three times in holy water.

The six-week-old suffered a cardiac arrest and was rushed to hospital on Monday but he died a few hours later, the autopsy revealing liquid in his lungs. Prosecutors have opened a manslaughter investigation against the priest in the north-eastern city of Suceava.

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Two ringleaders receive sentences of 27 and 20 years after 39 Vietnamese people suffocated in container

The two ringleaders of the people-smuggling gang responsible for the deaths of 39 Vietnamese people who suffocated in a sealed refrigeration container as they were transported across the Channel from France have received prison sentences of 27 and 20 years.

Ronan Hughes, 41, who ran a haulage company and organised the lorries and drivers to transport the migrants, was sentenced to 20 years at the Old Bailey on Friday. He pleaded guilty last year to 39 counts of manslaughter and conspiring to bring people into the country unlawfully.

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People-smugglers convicted of manslaughter and of conspiring to transport migrants

Two people-smugglers have been found guilty of 39 counts of manslaughter for the suffocation of 39 Vietnamese people as they were being shipped in a sealed refrigeration trailer across the Channel in October last year.

Two drivers were also found guilty at the Old Bailey of conspiring to transport Vietnamese migrants from northern France to Britain. The verdicts came at the end of a trial which exposed for the first time a complex and lucrative operation which has for years illegally brought Vietnamese people into the UK.

Related: Essex police release names of Vietnamese lorry death victims

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A tragic nightclub fire leads to a domino effect of consequences that cascade through Romanian society in Alexander Nanau’s exceptional documentaryFollow our countdown of the 50 best films of 2020 This absorbing, harrowing documentary from Romanian director Alexander Nanau shines a spotlight on an awful episode in the country’s recent history: a nightclub fire in 2015 that claimed 64 lives, many of them as a result of bacterial infections while they were being treated in hospital for their burns. The ensuing scandal exposed a seam of corruption and gangsterism in the medical authorities, and brought down the government.The bare details of what happened pack a hell of a punch. In the first few minutes of the film, we see footage from inside the club as the blaze takes hold: on-stage fireworks ignite wall panels during the live set of an angry metal band called Goodbye to Gravity. As realisation dawns on the band, and audience panic sets in, there’s a frantic scramble for the exit in a near-identical manner to the 2003 Station nightclub fire in Rhode Island that claimed even more lives. Related: Collective review – shocking exposé of needless deaths in Romania Continue ...

A new mysterious metal monolith has appeared atop a mountain in California, just a week after a similar structure captured the imagination of the world when it was discovered in the deserts of Utah – before disappearing. Amid mounting international attention of the mystery, a similar structure was reportedly found in the mountains of Romania - before it disappeared as well

• New mystery metal monolith appears on a California mountaintop
  

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Sex traffickers can make profits of over £1m a year per brothel – and Covid lockdowns have only made it easier for them to operateThree weeks ago, police entered a brothel in south-east England after receiving intelligence about criminal activity there. Inside, they found eight Romanian women wearing face shields and masks, and laminated Covid-19 health and safety sheets on the wall. An industrial-size bottle of hand sanitiser stood by the front door.“On the surface, this did not look like a place where criminality and sexual exploitation was taking place,” says Cristina Huddleston, a trafficking victim support specialist who joined the raid that evening. Related: ‘We're bonded like sisters': the choir giving trafficked women a voice The majority of women who are targeted [by traffickers] are from extremely poor backgrounds, with a history of sexual abuse or domestic violenceA decade ago we knew where the brothels and massage parlours were in Greater Manchester. Now everything is done onlineIn the UK, suspected cases of trafficking and modern slavery can be reported to the national modern slavery helpline on 08000 121 700This article was amended on 5 January 2021 to make clear that a statistic referred to the Northumbria ...

An investigation into the Queen Hind sinking a year ago is yet to be published and the live export trade continues to boomRomania has been accused of “complete silence” over its investigation into the sinking of the Queen Hind last November, which resulted in the deaths of more than 14,000 sheep. Rescuers who rushed to the sinking Queen Hind vessel, which left Romania’s Black Sea port of Midia a year ago, managed to save just 228 sheep out of a total 14,600, but only 180 ultimately survived the ordeal.Romania’s prime minister Ludovic Orban vowed on television last year to end live exports in the “medium-term”. However, since the Queen Hind disaster more than 2 million live animals have been exported from Romania – mostly to north Africa and the Middle East.Romanian authorities have claimed the vessel was 10% below capacity and that the animals were “clinically healthy and fit for transport”. But campaigners say the vessel was overloaded and this ultimately led to the thousands of sheep drowning in the Black Sea.The only information to emerge since the sinking has been the discovery of secret compartments onboard with dead animals inside, by the company hired to remove the ship from the water.Romania’s ...

China is actively seeking students from countries along its Belt and Road Initiative, including the Balkans, but experts say such countries must do more to build their own China expertise if they are to make the most of Beijing’s global outreach.

Distrust of Romania’s government is so high that the country risks being excluded from key decision while running the EU Council presidency in the first part of 2019, experts warn.

Moves to lure foreign investors with citizenship offers may bring in some extra cash – but risk further tarnishing Moldova’s already damaged credibility, experts say. 

As Europe grows more critical of Israel’s policies towards Palestinians, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is busy wooing new allies in the Balkans and Eastern Europe in order to divide the EU.

Brussels says it suspects Moldova does not want to punish those behind an audacious $1 billion bank heist. Experts say that, for the ruling party, politics come first.

After disagreements with the EU, Moldova’s ruling Democratic Party has adopted a more populist-nationalist stance ahead of elections in February – and could even resort to a post-poll alliance with pro-Russian forces.

The deadlock over how to tax companies exploiting Romania’s Black Sea gas reserves is making investors nervous – and putting this hugely important energy project at risk.

Having done nothing to implement its new defence strategy, Moldova seems bent on turning a blind eye to growing threats to its security.

Experts say moves by the tax authority to oblige newlyweds to declare all their wedding suppliers may sound ridiculous – but form part of a justifiable clampdown on tax evasion and money laundering.

The Social Democrat-led government’s sudden push to legalize civil partnerships is putting the party’s alliance with the country’s powerful Church in jeopardy.

The Romanian Orthodox Church has lost some of its credibility by supporting the failed referendum against gay marriage – but even now, its power should not be underestimated.

The discovery of five unlicensed cigarette factories in a single month undercuts claims by the Bulgarian government that it is winning the war on contraband tobacco, experts say.

EU patience with Moldova is wearing thin four years after it signed an association deal designed to spur political and economic reform. 

Mobilizing the country against gay rights in a ‘family referendum’ has come as a very welcome diversion for an embattled political class facing accusations of corruption.

Romania's ruling Social Democrats removed several critics of strongman Liviu Dragnea from the party and from government posts on Monday. 

A Dutch writer who thought she had found a missing Picasso in Romania has now said she was the victim of a hoax.

Romanian police say raids have uncovered a scam under which crime gangs sold fake addresses in EU-member Romania to thousands of Moldovans.

Distrust of Romania’s government is so high that the country risks being excluded from key decision while running the EU Council presidency in the first part of 2019, experts warn.

While Bulgaria's government expresses pleasure over the latest annual progress report on its anti-corruption and judicial reforms, critics accuse Brussels of letting the government off far too easily.

Romania's government on Wednesday said it was considering whether to sue the European Commission over what it called a highly unjust report on the country's justice affairs – which the PM said had 'outraged' her.

The European Parliament and European Commission criticised Romania's backtracking on corruption and the rule of law, less than two months before the country takes over the EU Council presidency.

Bulgaria is the latest EU-member state to clarify that it will be not back the UN pact on migration, due to be signed next month in Marrakech, claiming it puts the national interest at risk.  

Romania's EU Affairs minister and coordinator of the EU Council presidency preparations resigned after a cabinet meeting, the country's government confirmed on Saturday. 

A Romanian investigative project has accused the ruling party of intimidation, after the state data protection agency threatened it with a large fine, for using personal data in articles.

Moves to lure foreign investors with citizenship offers may bring in some extra cash – but risk further tarnishing Moldova’s already damaged credibility, experts say. 

The Senate of Romania's parliament is set to decide on Speaker Calin Popescu Tariceanu's immunity after anti-graft prosecutors filed a request to investigate him for bribery.

As Europe grows more critical of Israel’s policies towards Palestinians, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is busy wooing new allies in the Balkans and Eastern Europe in order to divide the EU.

Brussels says it suspects Moldova does not want to punish those behind an audacious $1 billion bank heist. Experts say that, for the ruling party, politics come first.

Controversial legislative changes in Bulgaria aimed at forcing media to reveal all their sources of funding have been criticised amid concerns that they could herald pressure on donors.

The growing demand for Romanian passports is likely to further complicate already troubled Romania-Ukraine relations, experts say, as Kiev does not allow double citizenship.

At a meeting with Moldova's pro-Russian President Igor Dodon, who was seeking his backing before elections, Vladimir Putin overestimated the amount of Moldovan exports to Russia.

Patriarch Kirill gave Moldova's pro-Russian President Igor Dodon an honour for his support for his country's Orthodox Church, which remains loyal to Moscow.

Over 2,000 people marched through the Romanian capital on Tuesday night to commemorate the third anniversary of a fire that killed 64 and wounded 147 at a rock concert in Bucharest in 2015.

After the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople agreed to recognise the Ukrainian Orthodox Church’s independence from Moscow, Russia is seeking to strengthen ties with canonically subordinate allies.