Dâmbovicioara Canyon has a length of 2 km, within the calcareous mountain area of the Piatra Craiului Mountains, on the route Rucăr-Bran

Film made by Dan Alexoae

The road to the Rucăr Pass seen from the castle terrace.

Film made by Dan Alexoae

Neptun, Black Sea Coast, Romania. An usual morning, waiting for the sunrise.

Film made by Dan Alexoae

The decorative fountain, the secret passage, the habits of the Queen Maria, the chapel.

Film made by Dan Alexoae

Dambovicioara zone is characterized by a varied and spectacular Karsts relief. River flowing down from Fagaras, Piatra Craiului and Leaota Mountains have digged in the limestone fro here narrow and deep valleys, developing on a relatively restraint area the biggest gorges complex from our country. Many erosion forms are here, underground and on the surface. Little or middle size caves are frequent. The most known is “Dambovicioara”. Situated in the Northern part of the village with the same name – at about 1 km – este very accessible for the tourists, the entrance being just near the road that crosses the Dambovicioara Gorges.

Film made by Dan Alexoae

Bran Castle (German: Törzburg; Hungarian: Törcsvár), situated near Bran and in the immediate vicinity of Braşov, is a national monument and landmark in Romania. The fortress is situated on the border between Transylvania and Wallachia, on Highway 73. Commonly known as “Dracula’s Castle”, it is marketed as the home of the titular character in Bram Stoker’s Dracula, which has led to persistent myths that it was once the home of Vlad Ţepeş, ruler of Wallachia.

Film made by Dan Alexoae

This is the first time after the World War II when a government initiate an ID action based on racial criteria. During the next 48 hours, Rome’s authorities will fingerprint about 10,000 gypsies, helped by the Italian Red Cross.

In accordance with ANSA agency, about one hundred employees of the Red Cross will help the policemen to collect data related on civil state, health, and to make photos of the gypsies.

The resulting database will be manage by the Red Cross, in the future.

Same time, the authorities will “census the gypsy children from the school to evaluate there level of knowledge”.

The Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Franco Frattini, suggest a database of the European Union for the fingerprints and ADN of the gypsy children that lives in the nomad camps. “The best way to protect these children is to give them an ID, to give them the right to health assistance and education,” explained Franco Frattini. So, there has to be developed “an European database with the name, fingerprint, and ADN data of all these children, for a safer life for them…. If EU will not adopt this solution of the fingerprinting and ADN, …. Italy will adopt it anyway“.

The European Commission asked for a report from the Rome authorities till the end of this month, in order to evaluate the legality of these measures.

Today in the morning, very early, the Romanian police (DIICOT – the department for organized crime), in cooperation with FBI, started a very wide action against the identity thieves, especially in five counties known as the main headquarters of the thieves: Vâlcea, Teleorman, Sibiu, Hunedoara, and Bucharest.

Phishing is a criminally fraudulent process of attempting to acquire sensitive information such as usernames, passwords and credit card details, by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication.

In accordance with the TV channel Realitatea TV, at this action take part more than 150 policemen that made about 35 inspections till now. During the first hours was retained more than 24 suspects. The main cities targeted by this action are Drăgăşani and Râmnicu Vâlcea.

The main targets of the Romanian thieves that act through phishing are the known auction site eBay and the Romanian banks.

In a breaking news, the Romanian TV channel Realitatea TV says that one of the thief was found in the house of an important member of the Romanian Parliament.

The Ministry of the Communications and Information Technology realized a very interesting and useful guide for the investigators of the cybercrimes, that can be downloaded as e-book or for free content for webmasters, in the Romanian language, from here.

The NATO summit will take place in Bucharest, Romania, during the April 2-4, in order for Allied leaders to carry forward decisions taken at the Riga Summit and review the evolution of NATO’s main commitments, which are all mutually reinforcing.

During the summit, heads of state and government will assess the situation in Afghanistan and Kosovo, as well as in other regions where NATO is engaged. NATO’s operations and missions are a driving force for the transformation of the Alliance and, in parallel, demonstrate the ability of the Organization to practise solidarity in very different circumstances.

An important point of the summit’s agenda will be the enlargement, for Croatia, Macedonia and Albania.

A major topic of the discussions will be the ability to sustain operations, together with the ability to confront security threats in an effective and unified way, concluding on the NATO’s capacity to provide forces for operations and the ways and means of preparing for future security challenges.

© NATO

“A NATO summit is not just a working meeting. It is also a symbol of transatlantic unity, of shared values, of common security and a common future,” NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said.“A symbolic meeting needs a symbolic logo. This one, which we are unveiling today, is based on the Wings of Freedom monument which any traveller to Bucharest will see on his way to and from the airport,” De Hoop Scheffer stated.

“There is no doubt that the concept of freedom is at the very foundation of the Alliance, and I think it is a very fitting symbol for our Summit : NATO values, with a Romanian flavour.”

During the NATO’s summit will be closed both airports in Bucharest, for security reasons. It will only be used by top summit guests including U.S. President George W. Bush, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Russian President Vladimir Putin who has also indicated he will attend.

The summit is considered the biggest in NATO’s history, with heads of state and of government from all 26 NATO member states, as well as of 23 NATO partner states that will attend the summit.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization/Organisation (NATO); French: Organisation du Traité de l’Atlantique de Nord (OTAN); (also called the North Atlantic Alliance, the Atlantic Alliance, or the Western Alliance) is a military alliance established by the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty on 4 April 1949. With headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, the organization established a system of collective defense whereby its member states agree to mutual defense in response to an attack by any external party.

Mărţişor is one of the best Romanian traditions, celebrated in the beginning of the Spring, on March 1st. The tradition’s name is the diminutive of March (in Romanian: Martie). The men offer to the women a talisman object also called Mărţişor, consisting of a jewel or a small decoration like a flower, an animal, a heart, tied to a red and white string. There are multiple symbols in this gift, but all of it have three common sense: revival, sensibility, and the care for the women.

The gift is considered to bring good luck and wealth. Some consider the red as the symbol of the Spring, and the white for Winter, the tradition taking place right between the two seasons. I prefer the version in which the two colors represent the love and the sincerity. This symbols fit better with the early Spring flowers associated with this tradition, especially the snowdrops.

There are archeological proves that the tradition is over 8 thousands years old. It was celebrated by Getas, and it is found in the celebration of Mars as the protector of the fertility and vegetation, as well as in the celebration of the Marsyas Silen god by the Dacians. The Dacian women use coins and little stones tied to red and white wool wires, for wealth and fertility.

Similar traditions can be found in Balkans, especially in Bulgaria (the tradition is called Martenitsa – Мартеница), Macedonia and Albania.