What the newspapers say: January 29, 2008

London tabloids triggered outrage in a Southern Romanian village as they accuse the local community involvement in human trafficking, one newspaper reads on Monday. Elsewhere in the news, the Government plans to forbid smoking at work. And a Romanian climber dies at 6,000 meters on the Aconcagua highs in Argentina.

Romania Libera quotes Londonese tabloids like The Daily Mail or The Sun that read about some 150 Gypsy children forced to give up school in Tandarai village, Romania and beg in London. The tabloids support their arguments quoting a local school director talking about this.

However, principal Steluta Mitrea says that the newspapers misquoted her, as she only declared that some 150 kids gave up school, never mentioning a trafficking network set up by the Gypsies.

Contacted Romanian villagers said that years ago two Gypsy traffickers lived in their village but they claim they have moved. Whatever the truth, Gypsies here do not seem to be better off than their counterparts in other parts of Romania, the newspaper reads.

Given this, local Gypsy representatives say they will sue the British newspapers for misleading and misinforming public opinion. Many Gypsies from the village left abroad in search for a better life.

Another British newspaper, The Times reads that British authorities were forced to re-organize their resources to better cope with the Gypsies fleeing into Britain. Moreover, the newspaper reads that a couple of weeks ago, three Gypsy children were arrested while caught shoplifting.

Police officers discovered at least 27 children in one location, many of them under 1 year old. Authorities argue that children trafficking returns profits as high as 1 billion pounds every year.

Elsewhere in the news, the Government plans to forbid smoking at work, Gandul reads. The newspaper informs that the new legislation, framed through a governmental ordinance rules that all public places need to set up special smoking places.

The ordinance rules that cigarettes should not be sold in an area of about 200 meters from hospitals or schools. However, Corporate Affairs Director of JT International, Gilda Lazar says that the measure is absurd. Gas stations located near hospitals are compelled to give up selling cigarettes.

More in the news, Cotidianul reports that Romanian climber Laurentiu Bulareanu, aged 31 died at an altitude of some 6,000 meters in Argentina after he and his wife reached the Aconcagua peak. Sources from the police, quoted by Romanian news agency Mediafax inform that while returning, the man felt sick.

Even if his wife, Claudia Bulareanu went for help, paramedics got there too late. A cause of death wasn’t yet established. However, local people argue that most probably the cause of death is a heart attack.

The first Romanian to reach Aconcagua peak on January 11, David Neacsu declared that the peak is tricky due to its characteristics. Romanian Ambassador in Buenos Aires, Ion Vilcu said that authorities are doing everything they can to aid the man’s wife.