Harghita County

A new photography exhibition by the AGERPRES National News Agency called "Nature in pictures" opened on Friday with the opening of the Cea1 Borsec Festival that takes place this weekend.

Romanian police have arrested a 30-year-old man from Bacau County in northeast Romania for defacing Hungarian-language signs in four towns in neighbouring Harghita County, the Romanian news agency Mediafax reported on Monday.

Ethnic Hungarians account for 85 per cent of the population in Harghita County, and the vandalism of the signs had caused local tensions.

Prime Minister Ludovic Orban said Monday that, in the case of the bear injured in a road accident in Harghita County, the authorities have greatly delayed the decision-making process. "According to the normative acts, the veterinarian should have evaluated the situation.

The president of the Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania (UDMR) Kelemen Hunor and the leader of the UDMR Group in the Chamber of Deputies Korodi Attila have informed through an official letter to the President and the Vice Presidents of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), the political groups of the Council of Europe and the national delegations' leaders of the Europea

US ambassador to Romania Hans Klemm, British ambassador Paul Brummell, Belgian head of mission Thomas Baekelandt and Hungarian ambassador Zákonyi Botond joined the revellers at the traditional Lenten start carnival in Sansimion - Harghita County, making merry, dancing, tasting traditional foods - the hallmark kurtoskalac included - all accompanied by a shot of palinka.

Romania's Senate on Monday postponed a vote on a bill designed to commemorate March 15 as the anniversary of the 1848 Revolution in Hungary.

Hungarians everywhere honour the uprising against Habsburg rule - eventually crushed by Austria with Russian aid.

Gheorghe Funar, running for president as an independent candidate, accused the Social Democrat Party (PSD) and the Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania (UDMR) - both in the ruling coalition - of having a secret pact.

Presidential candidate of the Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania (UDMR) Kelemen Hunor is due to launch his presidential bid for this November's presidential election at the Sports Hall of Miercurea Ciuc today.

Romanian MEP Monica Macovei (of the Democratic Liberal Party, PDL) said on Thursday that the minorities' rights, of the Hungarian minority included, are respected in Romania, but an unknown problem is the fact that the Romanians' rights are not respected in Covasna and Harghita counties (central Romania).

Defence Minister Mircea Dusa on Sunday at Toplita, Harghita County, awarded the Badge of Honour of the Romanian Army, the highest such award, to Christian Orthodox Archbishop Ioan Selejan of Covasna and Harghita.