What the newspapers say: March 19, 2008

Romanian stars are cheap to rent but, even so, there are few chances for anyone to pay for the honor: some 40% of Romanians receive a form of social assistance. The good thing is that, despite the poverty, the budget is generous enough to host a huge event, such as the NATO summit. Which, by the way, will make the unbearable traffic in Bucharest even worse.

In case one wants to have Jennifer Lopez at his party, the price for one night is 1.2 million dollars. Kylie Minogue demands between 0.9 and 2.7 million euro, while gymnastics star Nadia Comaneci and former tennis glory Boris Becker would accept the invitation for only 20,000 euro, according to Bild, Evenimentul Zilei reads.

But Bucharest prepares for an even more luscious party, with all strongmen in Europe, Russia and US gathering for the 2008 NATO summit. Drivers in Bucharest will be able to use only 6 crossroads in the city, in order to cross it, due to traffic restrictions during the event, Gandul and most other newspapers inform.

Speaking of the Summit: NATO doesn’t have a special policy for the Black Sea area, says the deputy NATO Secretary General, Claudio Bisognero, in an interview for Cotidianul. According to the official, the summit will focus on four issues: the military operations (mainly in Afghanistan and Kosovo), the enlargement process, the NATO partnerships and the 21st century challenges, mainly regarding the virtual space, anti-rocket defense and energy infrastructure issues.

Some bad news come from Gandul, where we find out that 8 million Romanians receive one form or another of social assistance, compared to 4 million in 2005, 4.29 in 2006 and 7.7 in 2007.

Still, Romanians love to buy. A lot. IKEA sold in Romania more than twice than expected: 87 million euro, instead of the estimated 40 million, making the store in Bucharest one of the top 20 IKEA stores worldwide, same Gandul reads.