NewsTracker Answers for week of Jan. 10, 2011

Q: Romanian witches, angry about having to pay income taxes for the first time, hurled poisonous mandrake into a river to cast spells on the president and government. Where is Romania?

Circle the area on this map


Q: The witches cast their spells on the shores of the major eastern European river that passes through Romania. What is the name of that river?

A. Rhine

B. Volga

C. Rhone

D. Danube


D. The Danube is Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It originates in the Black Forest in Germany and empties into the Black Sea through the Danube Delta in Romania and Ukraine.


Q: Superstitions are no laughing matter in Romania and have been part of its culture for centuries. Which fictional character is linked to someone from Romanian history?

A. Frankenstein

B. Dracula

C. Werewolf

D. Gandalf


B. Bram Stoker placed his vampire character Count Dracula in Romania's Carpathian Mountains. The character's name is believed to derive from a medieval Romanian ruler, Vlad Dracula. He also was known as Vlad the Impaler and is said to have killed from 40,000 to 100,000 civilians.


Q: Former Romanian ruler Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife, Elena, had their own personal witch. But, the witch didn't prevent their 1989 execution during the overthrow of Ceausescu's . . .

A. Monarchy

B. Nazi government

C. Communist government

D. Democratic government


C. In World War II, the Kingdom of Romania allied itself with Nazi Germany to invade the Soviet Union. At the end of the war, occupying Soviet troops forced Romania to become a Communist republic, which Ceausescu ruled with an iron hand for 24 years before the 1989 revolution.


Q: President Traian Basescu and his aides have been known to wear purple on certain days, supposedly to ward off evil. Basescu works in the Romanian capital . . .

A. Belgrade

B. Bern

C. Bucharest

D. Budapest


C. Bucharest also is Romania's largest city, with a population of nearly 2 million people.