Bucharest  - Romania is facing a protracted tug-of-war over the formation of a new government, with parliamentary elections scheduled for November 30. The global financial crisis, which is already costing jobs in the new EU member state, is likely to play a role.

Opinion polls show insufficient support for any one party to rule

alone. The only apparent certainty is that Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu, leader of the National Liberal Party (PNL) will be voted out of office. His party can expect to come third at best.

Essen, Germany - One of Germany's two main electricity companies, RWE, said it signed up Thursday for a project to build two nuclear power reactors in Romania.

RWE is legally required to shut down its nuclear plants inside Germany over the next 15 years as Germany abandons atomic power, but the company has been advocating a return to nuclear power.

It initialled Thursday the investment terms for two new reactors at Cernavoda Power Station in Romania, RWE said at its main office in Essen, Germany.

Bucharest - Two underground explosions ripped through a coal mine in Romania on Saturday, killing 12 miners and injuring eight others, a news agency reported.

Eight miners at the Petrila anthracite mine died in the first blast at a depth of 950 meters (3,100 feet). The second explosion killed four members of a rescue team that was lowered into the shaft, the Mediafax agency said.

Six of the injured were in critical condition with severe burns, the head of a local hospital said.

Bucharest - Romania's current account deficit grew by nearly 15 per cent in the first nine months of the year, authorities said Wednesday, the latest sign of a possible economic crunch for the European Union newcomer.

Goods imports running far ahead of exports were the main reason for the 12.7-billion-euro (16.1-billion-dollar) shortfall in the nation's broadest measure of international trade, central bank data showed.

Medium- and long-term foreign debt grew by 25.2 per cent since the start of the year, the report said.

Romania, which joined the EU in 2007, is among the ex-communist nations that has raised concern in the global financial crisis, especially after international lenders saved neighbouring Hungary from possible default.

Dhabi, Nov. 12, 2008 -- Foreign Ministry Assistant Undersecretary for International Cooperation Affairs, Mohammed Abdul Rahim Abdul Jalil, received at his office here today Austrian Ambassador, Gerald Kriechbaum.

They discussed bilateral relations and ways to boost them, the follow-up of the work of joint committee meeting held in Austria and visa exemption between the two countries.

Bucharest - Rapid Bucharest's general manager Constantin Zotta an