English

"Nicușor Dan's move to the presidency from the mayor of Bucharest presents an opportunity for the next mayor of Bucharest to be a politician who is politically and administratively prepared for a similar trajectory (In this case, I mentioned Ciprian Ciucu of the National Liberal Party(" – I wrote on December 9 last year, after the presidential elections were...

In today’s Critical Conditions podcast, Claire and I focused on Africa — again in convulsion. Two flashpoints, Sudan and Nigeria, with 300 million people between them, illustrate the unpromising direction of travel. But there’s so much more. Nigeria is suddenly the object of Trump’s erratic attention. Out of nowhere, he threatened “decisive military action” unless Abuja stops the massacre of...

Actor and director Justin Baldoni’s  $400 million extortion and defamation lawsuit against his co-star Blake Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds has been abruptly closed by a judge.  This sudden terminus comes after Baldoni missed a court-imposed deadline to amend his claims: failure to take the opportunity to revive the case automatically leads to an end of the lawsuit.  In June,...

It's sleek, it purrs, it's  dark, rebellious even, and can cost a cool half a million dollars or more. But it's a unique experience and now available to customers in Romania. Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Bucharest unveiled the Black Badge Spectre for the first time in Romania at a select reception held last week in the capital attended by the city's...

A Moldovan television journalist and talk show host Mariana Rață received a death threat through a voice message from an individual identifying himself as a supporter oft he politician Renato Usatîi. The threat on october 30 came shortly after an episode of her political talk show “Cutia Neagră” where Usatîi featured as a guest. In a post on social media,...

Solana, HBAR and litecoin spot ETFs launch in the US. Western Union announces USDPT stablecoin.   Crypto markets retreated 6.5% last week, after Fed Chairman Powell signalled that a December interest rate cut is not a foregone conclusion, which dampened investors expectations for looser financial conditions going forward in the short-term, writes Simon Peters, cryptoasset market analyst at multi-asset investment platform...

A poem entitled ‘We have a country’ which was performed in Romania’s recently inaugurated National Cathedral has no connection to fascist  poet Radu Gyr, the Romanian Orthodox Church said. The words of ‘We have a country ‘ have been “attributed completely erroneously to Radu Gyr ( ) in recent years,” the Romanian patriarchy said on Sunday. Radu Gyr wrote a...

A night walk in the Old Town and a lesson in modern slavery Last week I attended a meeting of European Editors of independent media hosted by my friend Adam Reichardt, editor-in-chief of New Eastern Europe magazine. It was fascinating, and soon I will repurpose my keynote address to that forum on these pages. But my purpose today is another:...

The Louvre heist of October 19, 2025 involved the theft of eight — or possibly more — pieces of jewellery from the Galerie d’Apollon at the Louvre.  On October 25, two suspects were arrested: one at Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport who was intercepted while boarding a flight  to Algeria, and another was picked up his home after DNA evidence on...

Amazon is to lay off a number of 14,000 corporate workers, many of whom are from HR.  Unnamed source forewarn twice this number of layoffs in total.  More jobs will be cut in an effort to reverse a pandemic hiring spree, which coincided with a pandemic online shopping spree.  Costs much be cut, and Amazon’s CEO particularly warned white-collar employees to be...