April 27, 2025
A roundup of domestic and international news
Newsroom, 27.04.2025, 13:49
Pope. The tomb of Pope Francis in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore has been opened to the public, and hundreds of thousands of people are expected to pay their respects to the former pontiff who died on Monday, the second day of Easter, at the age of 88. Pope Francis was buried on Saturday after a mass attended by 250,000 people in St. Peter’s Square and a funeral procession through central Rome to the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore. He is the first pope to be buried outside the Vatican in more than 120 years. A simple inscription with the name Franciscus appears on the slab covering the tomb made of marble from Liguria, the region where the Pope’s family emigrated to Argentina. Many of those who paid their last respects celebrated his dedication to peace, as well as to protecting the poor and the marginalized. Hundreds of thousands of people took part in Saturday’s funeral, which marked the beginning of a nine-day mourning period, at the end of which the Conclave of Cardinals will be convened to elect a successor at the helm of the Catholic Church.
Ukraine. Russia’s continued missile attacks on civilian targets in Ukraine suggest that Vladimir Putin may not want to stop the war, US President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social, in a message in which he threatens Russia with new sanctions, AFP reports. The message was posted on the day the White House leader had a brief meeting in Rome with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, on the sidelines of Pope Francis’ funeral. “I hope we will achieve results on everything we discussed: protecting the lives of our people, a complete and unconditional ceasefire, reliable and lasting peace that will prevent the outbreak of a new war,” Volodymyr Zelensky said in a post on X. Earlier on Saturday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin had told President Donald Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, during their meeting at the Kremlin on Friday that he was ready to negotiate an end to the conflict in Ukraine “without any preconditions.”
Trump. US President Donald Trump will end his first 100 days in the White House on April 29, after his inauguration on January 20 as the 47th president of the United States. In his first 100 days in office, Donald Trump has issued 210 executive orders and actions on the federal government, the economy, climate change and energy, immigration and national security. According to opinion polls cited by CNN, 71% of Americans believe that Donald Trump has behaved exactly as they expected, while 28% say that he has not behaved as they expected. Also, 39% of respondents have a favorable opinion of Donald Trump’s leadership, while 59% of Americans are not satisfied with the way he has exercised his mandate as president of the United States. On the occasion of his 100th day in office, President Trump will make an unofficial trip during which he will present his presidential agenda, the White House says.
Commemoration. The commemorative march dedicated to the Romanian heroes who fell on the Western Front during World War II ended in Brno, with a ceremony dedicated to the Romanian soldiers who fell in the Czech Republic. In April 1945, during the offensive to liberate Czechoslovakia, the Romanian Army played a crucial role in the area of this city, an important political and economic center of the region. The march in the footsteps of the Romanian heroes who fell on the Western Front, in Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic, 80 years after the end of World War II, started in Bucharest and scheduled Commemorative ceremonies during a week at Oarba de Mureş – in Romania, in Budapest and in Zvolen – in Slovakia.
Chernobyl. The UN marked the 39th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster on April 26, when an explosion at the nuclear power plant there, in 1986, spread a radioactive cloud over large parts of the Soviet Union, now the territories of Belarus, Ukraine and the Russian Federation. In a message posted on its website, the UN recalls that almost 8.4 million people in the three countries were exposed to radiation. Humanitarian assistance was provided immediately after the accident, followed by years of reconstruction to secure the area and protect the population. On December 8, 2016, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution designating April 26 as the International Chernobyl Disaster Remembrance Day. In its resolution, the UN General Assembly recognizes that, almost four decades after the disaster, serious long-term consequences persist and that affected territories and communities are still faced with related issues.
Pensions. In Romania, the bill that radically changes the retirement rules in the justice system is to be debated on Monday by the Senate, as a decision-making forum. The permanent bureau decided on an accelerated calendar for the analysis and vote on this normative act initiated by the leaders of the governing coalition. The document, which stipulates that the retirement age of magistrates will go up to 65 years, starting January 1 next year, and the amount of the pension cannot exceed that of the last salary, has already received the green light of the Chamber of Deputies. The European Commission’s release of the third tranche of financing from the National Recovery and Resilience Plan depends on the approval of the law. Also on Monday, the Senate will debate and vote on the simple motion submitted by AUR regarding the Minister of Labor, Simona Bucura-Oprescu, who was summoned to Parliament to respond to criticism regarding the problems in the pension system. (MI)
