Romanian Environment Minister Laszlo Borbely said Thursday that the 2011 edition of the national cash-for-clunkers program will begin on March 18 and will be open to public bodies, which were banned from buying new cars in 2010. read more...

A powerful 8.9 Richter scale earthquake took place on Friday morning, in the North Eastern coast of Japan, the American center for earthquakes supervision announced. Several buildings in Tokyo were shaken real bad and a tsunami alert was instated in several countries. read more...

Authorities in over 20 countries and many islands in the Pacific Ocean issued tsunami alerts on Friday following the major earthquake which hit Japan earlier today, followed by a 10 m wave, CNN reports. read more...

Romanian President Traian Basescu was in Brussels on Friday to attend the extraordinary meeting of the European Council, the agenda of which includes the political situation in Libya and countries in the region, news agency Agerpres reports. read more...

Sources within the Democratic Liberal party declared for Hotnews.ro that local organizations leaders were called on Sunday in Bucharest by the central management for a meeting where the President might also be present. read more...

The Japanese news agency Kyodo reported that at this moment 88,000 people are missing after the tsunami that hit Japan, BBC informs. The toll of deaths amounts to 290 people after 200- 300 bodies were found on the Sendai beach, North East Japan. read more...

President Basescu declared on Friday, at Brussels, that there are about 2,500 Romanians in Japan and the Embassy is trying to reach all of them to identify their needs. read more...

The Fukushima nuclear plant 1 registered on Saturday morning increases in its radiation level by 1,000 times due to a fault at the cooling system, according to Kyodo News. read more...