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GUARDIAN Mon, 30 Jan 2012 22:30:01 GMT
During the early hours of Monday, a deep upper trough crossed the Southern Plains of the United States. With a very moist air mass ahead of this from the Gulf of Mexico, an eastwards moving line of severe thunderstorms was generated across the Mississippi Valley. The storms spawned several tornadoes, these mostly across Arkansas, which left behind heavy damage in places.
Very cold conditions have continued to affect parts of south-east Europe through the past week. The maximum temperature in Sofia, Bulgaria's capital, on Thursday was a bitter –5.8C; this is approximately seven degrees below the January average. Also on Thursday, Bucharest, the capital city of Romania, recorded a high of just –6.1C, likewise about seven degrees below average. On the same day Bucharest also saw blizzards, with 10cms of fresh snow falling while the wind gusted up to 45mph. With accumulations of snow already present, a snow depth of 39cm was measured by the end of Thursday.
In the southern........
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ECONOMIST Fri, 27 Jan 2012 15:23:53 GMT
IT WAS a swift, and surprisingly productive, about-turn. After declaring war on the IMF and repeatedly rejecting calls from the EU to change contentious laws, Viktor Orbán, the Hungarian prime minister, insisted this week in Brussels that he was open to discussion. "We are ready to consult on all issues," he told the Wall Street Journal. "Some disagreements are still there, but I am in an optimistic mood. I think we are very close to our targets now." Arguably, he had little choice. Hungary wants a financial safety-net from the IMF and EU. But any such deal must be green-lit by the EU, which has launched infringement proceedings against Hungary over its controversial central-bank law, the independence of its data ombudsman and its judicial reforms. In theory it is the Hungarian parliament rather than Mr Orbán that has the say on rewriting laws, but there is little danger of the faithful Fidesz flock objecting to the rapid about-turn. Mr Orbán's charm offensive had fast, and........
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ECONOMIST Mon, 23 Jan 2012 13:46:33 GMT
THERE were no fireworks and no joyous, flag-waving crowds, although the president, prime minister and speaker of parliament did at least raise a glass to the strains of Ode to Joy.Yesterday two-thirds of Croats who took part in a referendum on whether their country should join the European Union voted "yes", more than had been expected. The low turnout of 43%, however, meant that only a third of the electorate actually voted in favour. “It’s not great, but it's legal,” was the accurate if underwhelming summing-up of Zoran Milanović, the new prime minister. Still, not a single one of Croatia’s 15 regions voted against.Indeed, one could fairly make the case that given the steady stream of bad news from the euro zone, Balkan Greece and Croatia's neighbour Hungary, a two-thirds vote in favour of joining was something of an achievement.Croatia completed its negotiations with Brussels last year and, assuming no hiccups, will become the EU's 28th member on July 1st 2013. It will become the...
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ECONOMIST Thu, 19 Jan 2012 16:07:07 GMT
ROMANIANS are not often thought of as combustible folk. That may change after the country was overrun by street protests that show no sign of letting up. Bucharest, the capital, saw its worst violence for 20 years, as protesters burnt tyres and scuffled with riot police. Dozens were hurt and the city centre was damaged.The riots were started by a public spat between Raed Arafat, a popular health-care official, and Traian Basescu, Romania’s president, over a plan to privatise a medical-emergency system set up by Mr Arafat. The Palestinian-born doctor quit after Mr Basescu had called a television talk show to denounce his “leftist views”.The pro-Arafat demonstrations began on January 13th and reached their violent peak two days later, thanks partly to football hooligans, well used to fighting with the police. On January 16th the police made over 100 arrests. That largely stopped the violence but did not quell the anger. As the protests spread, the government said it would rethink its..
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GUARDIAN Mon, 16 Jan 2012 17:44:51 GMT
Protests in a normally apathetic nation are still being ignored by Romania's government and given little support by the opposition
In the 22 years that have elapsed since the fall of the Ceaușescu regime in Romania, free market and privatisation have turned into cure-all mantras invoked by almost everybody in power. President Traian Băsescu, who has been in office since 2004, is one of the main advocates of withdrawing state influence from a variety of fields – most recently, the Romanian health system.
Last week, the draft law on the reformation of the healthcare system triggered the resignation of Raed Arafat, an extremely popular, high-ranking state official, and intensive care physician. This sparked a series of protests, which quickly morphed into protests against the regime itself. Arafat, a naturalised Palestinian, is the founder of one of the most successful emergency systems in eastern Europe. Many hospitals in Romania may be anterooms to death, but the system he........
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GUARDIAN Fri, 06 Jan 2012 20:00:11 GMT
The former democracy campaigner's politics may have changed but his instinct for self-preservation has remained
The first time most Hungarians heard of Viktor Orbán was in June 1989 when, having just turned 26, he made a tub-thumping speech at the reburial of a former prime minister, ordering Soviet tanks out of Hungary and demanding free and democratic elections. Now 48 and holding the office of prime minister for the second time, his politics may have changed, but he has not lost his talent for dissent, thumbing his nose at the IMF and flirting with a veto at the last euro crisis summit in Brussels.
Those who know Orbán, above, say he is a highly intelligent man with a clear position on everything. "For Viktor Orbán, there is either black or white, night or day. You are either with him or against him," said one EU diplomat. Others report him to be a charming conversationalist who always knows his opponent's weakness. "He has an answer for everything," says one person who met....
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GUARDIAN Wed, 04 Jan 2012 14:25:10 GMT
The Budapest protests must be heeded in a region walking a line between budding democracy and revisionist nationalism
On Monday evening friends emailed me photos from the most recent anti-government demonstration in Budapest. It had been a memorable day in more than one way: on this 2nd of January 2012, the new, "unconstitutional" constitution of Hungary – now deprived of its title of "republic" – came into force, having been whisked through parliament at breakneck speed and with breathtaking disregard for the democratic principles on which the member states of the European Union are supposed to be founded.
But it was also the day when the opposition came out in force and unity, bridging political rifts, to protest against a constitution that has been devised by a single political party to cement its control of an entire country and its institutions.
The demonstrators – 50,000, 70,000, possibly as many as 100,000, depending on the source – gathered on Pest's elegant central.....
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| Full List of Eastern Europe articles |
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Arctic Blast Kills 6 in Serbia
Europe cold spell kills hundreds, 11,000 villagers trapped by heavy snow
Germany and eastern Europe: Love in a cold climate
Malev, Hungary’s National Airline, Collapses
Thirty degrees below – and at least a hundred dead: Europe's big freeze
Europe freezes in cold winter weather
Hungarian airline Malev collapses
Serbia: 11,000 trapped in remote villages by snow
Hungary Urges EU Members to Present Roma Plans
Who Else Has Been 'De-Knighted'?
Romanian Authorities Arrest Man Suspected of Hacking Into NASA and Pentagon Servers
European cold snap death toll at 83
Victims of Eastern Europe's cold snap rescued
Helicopters send food, evacuate in Europe freeze
European Cold Spell Kills 58
Anger and poverty unite former enemies in Bosnia
At least 48 dead as 'extreme cold' grips Europe
Cold snap kills 36 in Europe
Winter cold snap kills 36 in eastern Europe
Romania sells Ceausescu luxuries
