April 22, 2025
A roundup of local and international news.
Newsroom, 22.04.2025, 13:55
Pope. The funeral of Pope Francis, who died yesterday, aged 88, will take place on Saturday at St Peter’s Basilica, the Vatican announced. Many heads of state and government are expected to attend the funerals, including the presidents of France, Ukraine, the US and Argentina, the pontiff’s birth country, as well as the head of the European Commission. Romania’s interim president Ilie Bolojan will also attend. The conclave who will elect the successor to Pope Francis, who led the Catholic Church for the last 12 years, with the Catholic community numbering 1.4 billion people around the world, will be held between the 5th and the 10th of May, said Radio Romania’s correspondent to Italy. The pope last met believers on Easter Sunday. His testament was made public yesterday evening, in which he made a final plea for peace and left instructions about his burial. The pope’s death sparked a wave of emotion across the world, with political and religious leaders of all faiths paying tribute and believers attending vigils in hundreds of churches around the globe. In Romania, politicians and religious leaders also paid tribute to the pontiff.
Ukraine. Ukraine is ready to attend talks leading to a halt in strikes against civilian targets, said Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky, who added that his country is waiting for a clear answer from Russia in this regard. Zelensky’s response came after Russian president Vladimir Putin, under pressure from Washington, yesterday proposed bilateral talks with Kyiv for the first time in recent years and said he was open to a number of ceasefires after the one-day Easter truce. The United States is currently trying to mediate peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv, but both president Donald Trump and secretary of state Marco Rubio warned on Friday that Washington may give up the mediation unless progress is made anytime soon. President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed that Ukraine would send a delegation to London on Wednesday to meet officials from the US and other western states. The talks in London are a follow-up to the Paris meeting last week, when the US and European states discussed ways to put an end to the war that broke out more than 3 years ago. In another development, Reuters quoted local officials as saying that the Russian troops on Monday night launched a massive drone attack on residential areas in the Black Sea port of Odessa, causing fires and damaging apartments.
Earth Day. Romania’s interim president Ilie Bolojan issued a statement on Earth Day saying Romania has significant natural resources and efficient plans must be prepared for them to be used wisely, while seeking to cut pollution levels. He added that a clean environment is an essential condition for the quality of life, health and sustainable development of society. “A safe and sustainable energy system can no longer be merely an optional objective, but must become a global priority”, the interim president also said in his statement. He recalled that Romania has in the past year adopted a new forestry code that strengthens the protection of forests, has expanded and improved the guarantee-return system for the recycling of packaging and has made progress in consolidating environmental education by means of dedicated policies and funding instruments. At the same time, Romania has continued the transition to green energy.
Legislation. Romanian deputies are this week looking at a number of important bills. On Tuesday and Wednesday, they are debating and voting on a bill providing financial protection to clients of real estate developers, and talks will get under way to amend magistrates’ pensions. Also, the specialist committees will debate a bill clearly banning military, police and other defence and law enforcement employees from working in parallel as private security or mercenaries without the approval of the authorities.
Tennis. Three Romanian players are on the main draw of the WTA tennis tournament in Madrid, worth over 7,800,000 euros in prize money. Jaqueline Cristian will face Britain’s Sonay Kartal, Irina Begu will play Ukraine’s Anhelina Kalinina, and Sorana Cîrstea will play Hailey Baptiste of the US. Two other Romanian players, Gabriela Ruse and Anca Todoni, lost in the qualifiers on Monday. (CM)
