April 17, 2022 UPDATE

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Newsroom, 17.04.2022, 19:15

EASTER Catholic and
Protestant Christians celebrate the Resurrection of Christ. At the Vatican,
Pope Francis once again called for peace, describing Easter as the gift of hope
during the Mass held in a basilica with thousands of believers. On Sunday, the
service took place in San Pietro Square after 2 years of Covid-related
restrictions. For Orthodox and Greek-Catholic believers, who celebrate Easter
next weekend, it was Palm Sunday, commemorating the moment when Jesus Christ
entered Jerusalem. In Romania, a mostly Orthodox country, nearly one and a half
million people celebrated their name day on Sunday. President Klaus Iohannis
wished happy and peaceful holidays to all those who celebrate Easter or Palm
Sunday.

UKRAINE As of midnight
Russian vessels are no longer allowed to enter EU ports, Romanian ports
included. The ban also covers ships that replaced the Russian flag with the
colours of another state after February 24 when the war in Ukraine started, but
not those which need assistance or shelter for safety reasons or those which
have saved lives at the sea. In an interview to Sunday’s issue of the German
magazine Bild am Sonntag, the head of the European Commission Ursula von der
Leyen said the next stage of EU sanctions will target Russia’s oil and banking
sectors, particularly the country’s largest bank, Sberbank. She added that
Brussels was working on smart mechanisms to include Russian oil in the new list
of sanctions, so as to reduce the financing for Vladimir Putin’s invasion army.
EU member states are currently paying for Russian gas and oil via Sberbank and
Gazprombank, which have so far been exempt from Europe’s sanctions, Reuters
explains. The EU announced on Sunday that EUR 50 million would be earmarked for
humanitarian aid to be sent to Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova. Some EUR 45
million will go into humanitarian programmes in Ukraine, while the Republic of
Moldova, where hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians have taken refuge since the
start of the war, is set to receive EUR 5 million.

REFUGEES The number of Ukrainian nationals who reached
Romania on Saturday was 12.4% higher than on the previous days, the Romanian
border police announced. Since the start of the crisis, over 730,000 Ukrainian
citizens have entered the country, most of them leaving Romania for other
destinations.

POLL The Church ranks first in a public confidence
poll in Romania. The survey conducted by CURS at the end of March indicates
that 67% of the respondents trust the Church, up 4% since January. The Army, on
the other hand, has lost 8% in the same survey. The most significant increase
in public confidence was reported for the National Bank of Romania, with 42% of
the respondents saying they trust the central bank, as opposed to half this
figure in January. The poll was commissioned by the National Liberal Party and
has a +/- 1.9% margin of error.

DIPLOMACY The Romanian Foreign Ministry celebrates 25 years
since the Joint Statement on the Romania-Italy Strategic Partnership was
signed. The genuine friendship between the 2 countries is facilitated by the
presence of over 1 million Romanians in Italy, making up the largest foreign
community in that country and also the largest Romanian community abroad, reads
a news release issued by the institution.

NORTH KOREA North Korea announced
the successful test firing of a new type of tactical guided weapon aimed at boosting
the country’s nuclear capabilities, which may indicate that Pyongyang is ready
to resume nuclear testing. North Korea suspended nuclear testing in 2017, and
the following year it blew up the tunnels in its underground nuclear test site,
but recent satellite imagery indicates digging and construction activities have
been resumed.

INVICTUS A
group of 20 Romanian military wounded in battle fields are taking part in the
one-week long Invictus Games, hosted his year by The Hague in the Netherlands.
They will compete in 7 sports, 6 of them individual competitions (hand archery,
athletics, rowing, powerlifting, cycling
and swimming) and a team sport (sitting volleyball). The
Invictus Games promote respect and empathy for the sacrifice and traumas of
wounded military, whose involvement in these activities is an opportunity for
social reintegration and for regaining self-confidence, the Romanian Defence
Ministry says. For Romanian troops, this year’s Invictus participation is the
third, after the ones in Toronto, in 2017, and Sydney, one year later. (AMP)