Topic: Nicolae Ceausescu

Travels with mother: In search of the world

Anne D'Innocenzio has traveled with her mother since she was a little girl. But at 80-something, her mother, ever fearless, is beginning to slow and told her that her traveling days are coming to an end. 

Chapter & Verse Herta Muller calls Mo Yan's Nobel win 'a catastrophe'

Nobel Prize laureate Herta Muller accuses Mo Yan of praising his country's censorship laws and calls his win 'a slap in the face for all those working for democracy and human rights.'

A banker's punishment: Sir Fred Goodwin is now just Fred

Fred Goodwin, the former head of the Royal Bank of Scotland, was stripped of his knighthood for his role in the bank's 2008 crisis. But it's not clear hefty bonuses will get similar treatment.

Nobel Prize in Literature: Winners from the past 10 years

The 2011 winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, a notoriously hard-to-predict award, will be announced on Thursday. Here are the winners from the past decade. Some were surprise candidates while others were expected but all – in their own unique styles – caught the attention of the Nobel committee.

Witch tax hits Romanian witches and fortune tellers

Witch tax: Superstitions are no laughing matter in Romania and have been part of its culture for centuries. President Traian Basescu and his aides have been known to wear purple on certain days, supposedly to ward off evil.

Nicolae Ceausescu and dictator's wife exhumed in Romania. Why?

Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife – or the bodies of those purported to be the former communist leaders of Romania – were exhumed Wednesday. DNA tests will be done, at the urging of the surviving Ceausescu family, to verify their identities.

Nicolae Ceausescu, former Romanian dictator, and wife exhumed

Nicolae Ceausescu ruled Romania for 25 years with an iron fist before being ousted and executed during the 1989 anti-communist revolt in which more than 1,000 people were killed.

If everything's 'revolutionary,' nothing is

From corn chips to deodorants, marketers tout new products as 'revolutionary.' But real revolutions are rare. And revolutions that endure depend on a secret ingredient: democracy

Fall of the Berlin Wall: Timeline

A history of the events that caused the Berlin Wall to fall on November 9, 1989.

Herta Mueller: No nostalgia for Communism

Nobel Literature laureate Herta Mueller counters a current longing for the old days with harsh portrayals of their reality.

Moldovans erupt in protest after decades of silence

Thousands of young Moldovans stormed through the capital to protest alleged fraud in elections won by the Communist Party.

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U.S., Europe gulf opens at NATO summit

European objections keep Georgia, Ukraine off membership track, but US plans for missile-defense program in Europe gets an endorsement.