April 29, 2017 UPDATE
Click here for a roundup of domestic and international news
Newsroom, 29.04.2017, 19:18
BREXIT – Romanias president Klaus Iohannis on Saturday participated in a special session of the European Council focusing on the Brexit issue. According to Iohannis, the situation of the almost three million community citizens living in the UK must be addressed first as well as that of the British residents in the EU. The financial obligations resulting from the Brexit must come next. The 27 heads of state and government have unanimously adopted the guiding lines of the negotiations mandate the EU and Britain are going to have after the UK has activated the exit clause. Under the principles adopted on Saturday, the European Council has made known its intention to maintain a close relation with Britain in the future. The 27 have announced that negotiations will be carried out in a unitary and transparent manner by all the member states. The effective exit will take place at the end of March 2019 when Romania is to hold the EU Rotating presidency.
TEST – Russia has put its air defence system in the Far East on a state of high alert to make sure that no missile launched by North Korea accidentally land on its territory. According to sources from South Korea and the United States, Pyongyangs missile test on Saturday failed. The missile didnt leave the North Korean territory and was not a threat to the USA, sources with the US army have been quoted by Reuters as saying. President Trump reacted saying that North Korea disrespected China with this test. The US administration has called for stepped up international pressure against the Stalinist regime in Pyongyang.
HOLIDAY – The mini-holiday on Labour Day is officially opening the summer holiday season here in Romania, with the seaside resorts on the Black Sea coast seeing a massive inflow of tourists. Romanians by tens of thousands have flooded particularly the resorts of Mamaia and Vama Veche. Over 26 thousand employees of the Romanian Interior Ministry will be on duty these days protecting the tourists, Romanian Interior Minister Carmen Dan has announced. According to her, 10 thousand policemen, 5 thousand firefighters, over 43 hundred border policemen and roughly 7 thousand gendarmes have been deployed for the tourists protection.
POPE – Pope Francis on Saturday celebrated a mass at a church in Cairo, the venue of a bloody ISIS attack in December when 30 Christians were killed. The Pontiff had earlier urged the leaders of all religious denominations to distance themselves from any form of violence in the name of God and made an appeal for unity against religious violence. During a peace conference he attended the Pontiff has said that religious leaders must affirm that violence and hatred arent compatible with faith and that any human life is sacred. The Pope spoke at the Al Azhar University, the cradle of Sunni culture, where Grand Imam, Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb said the militants interpreted religious texts in an ignorant manner. Islam is the state religion in Egypt but the Coptic Christians account for 10% out of the countrys 90 million inhabitants. The conference has also been attended by Constantinoples Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.
ELECTION – The nationalist candidate for the presidential election in France, Marine Le Pen has said that if she wins the second round due on May 7th she will appoint DLF party leader Nicolas Dupont-Aignan as the countrys Prime Minister. In the elections first round Eurosceptic Dupont-Aignan has mustered 1.7 million votes. Polls show Le Pen behind her centrist opponent Emmanuel Macron. Le Pen obtained 21.3% of the votes in the first round, three percent less than Macron.
