ROMANIA-GYPSIES-SINTESTI

Gogu Stanescu, 64, one of the local chiefs of the Roma community, so-called „bulibasha”, gestures in front of his house in Sintesti village, 12 Km south from Bucharest, 11 December 2005. Some 2,500 gypsies live in Sintesti, many of them having fortunes that can reach 400,000 euros or even more recycling metal, while two thirds of the estimated 1.5 bilion Romanian Roma people live in deep poverty. AFP PHOTO DANIEL MIHAILESCU