April 10, 2025 UPDATE
A roundup of local and world news
Newsroom, 10.04.2025, 20:00
NATO The NATO headquarters in Brussels will host on Friday a meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group, comprising 32 NATO member states and 25 other countries, at the initiative of London and Berlin. For the first time since this cooperation format was set up, the US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth will not participate. On Thursday, also at NATO headquarters, a meeting of the “Coalition of the Willing” for Ukraine was held, organised by the United Kingdom and France. According to Reuters, they discussed a “reassuring force” for Ukraine, in the event of a ceasefire in the war with Russia. London and Paris are working on the establishment of a European contingent that would contribute to the security of Ukraine against possible Russian attacks. The “Coalition of the Willing,” led by the United Kingdom and France, is made up of 31 countries, including Romania, which have pledged consolidated support for Ukraine against Russia’s aggression. The goal of the initiative is to facilitate the peace talks between Kyiv and Moscow launched by the US in February this year, by contributing to sufficiently solid security guarantees for Ukraine to ensure that a potential ceasefire and peace agreement will be sustainable.
TARIFFS The European Union will postpone the introduction of tariffs on US imports by 90 days, the European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen announced on Thursday, according to AFP and Reuters. The announcement comes after the US president Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that he would also pause for 90 days the additional tariffs on US imports that exceed the 10% baseline tariff. The United States last month introduced 25% tariffs on imports of steel, aluminium, vehicles and car parts, regardless of country of origin. In turn, the EU has adopted a set of tariffs between 10% and 25% on a range of US products, from motorcycles to soybeans and poultry. These are the tariffs that will now be suspended for 90 days.
DRILLS Some 250 Romanian and Spanish troops Thursday took part in a live ammunition training exercise, carried out as part of the multinational exercise “SEA SHIELD 25”, at the Babadag training range in Tulcea County (south-eastern Romania). The multinational exercise, in which over 2,300 troops from Romania and 11 other Allied and partner states are taking part, will end on Friday. It is the largest NATO maritime exercise organised in Romania this year.
BOOK FAIR Romania takes part between April 11 and 13, in Festival du Livre de Paris the most important international event dedicated to books in the French capital city, the Romanian Cultural Institute (ICR) announced. The participation is organised by the ICR, through the National Book Center (CENNAC) and the ICR Paris, jointly with the embassies of Romania and the Republic of Moldova in France. Visitors will be able to choose from 52 titles by Romanian authors translated into French, published by 37 publishing houses in France and Switzerland, and 23 titles in Romanian, brought out by 13 publishers in Romania.
BEARS Romania has the largest number of brown bears in Europe, between 10,419 and 12,770, while the optimal number of specimens is 4,000. This is the main conclusion of a survey carried out since 2021 by the Ministry of Environment, together with the “Marin Drăcea” Forestry Research and Development Institute and the Romsilva National Forestry Agency. “These findings open a new stage in the management of the brown bear population in Romania—a real balance between conservation and citizen safety, between the protection of biodiversity and the interests of local communities,” said the environment minister Mircea Fechet.
TENNIS The captain of the Romanian women’s tennis team, Horia Tecau, said she hopes for a successful weekend in Group A of the Billie Jean King Cup, in which Romania will face Japan and Canada, in the Japanese capital city, Tokyo. The matches are played in a round-robin format, with two singles matches and one doubles match at each meeting. Romania will first take on Canada (April 11), followed by Japan (April 12) with Canada scheduled to face Japan on April 13. Only the top placed team will qualify for the final tournament, which will take place in Shenzhen in September, and to which China (the host team) and Italy (the defending champions) are already qualified. (AMP)
