June 13, 2024 UPDATE
A roundup of the main local and international news
Newsroom, 13.06.2024, 20:24
DAY The Ministry of National Defence on Thursday staged a series of military and religious ceremonies dedicated to the Heroes Day at army bases and military installations across Romania. The name of the heroes who fell in various battles and missions were symbolically mentioned, while funeral bell tolling was heard in churches all over the country. ”We are expressing our gratitude for the heroes who survived the horrors of World War Two, for those who opposed the communist dictatorship and fought for liberty during the anti-communist revolution of December 1989, contributing decisively in the process of ousting the totalitarian regime in Romania”, the Romanian president Klaus Iohannis said in a message. He has also voiced appreciation for those who are presently involved with the country’s defence systems. As a token of gratitude for the country’s fallen heroes in WWI, the Romanian authorities ruled in 1920 that the Heroes Day is a national holiday celebrated on the Ascension of Jesus Christ, a tradition which was resumed after 1990. The Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ is the moment of his bodily ascension into heaven forty days after the resurrection.
LOAN G7 Leaders, who convened in Italy, reached a political agreement on Thursday to use frozen Russian assets in an attempt to help provide Ukraine with a 50 billion dollars loan over the next year in its ongoing war with Russia, a US presidency official has been quoted by AFP as saying. Profits from the 300 billion dollars in frozen Russian assets largely held in countries like Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the USA will be used to back the loan. Most of the money would be in the form of a loan mostly guaranteed by the US, the same official added. The western states would rather seize the frozen Russian assets and use them in the reconstruction of Ukraine and for the purchase of weapons but such a measure, which was also asked by Kyiv, is, at least for the time being, difficult, as there are numerous obstacles, of legal, geopolitical and financial nature such as the risk of throwing the international financial markets into turmoil and weakening the Western currencies. Also on Thursday Brussels saw the meeting of the US-led Contact Group for Ukraine where Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said the Ukrainian troops are holding strong on the frontline while the allies are continuing their efforts to provide weapons, mainly air defence systems, such as the Patriot interceptors. He also said the Ukrainian forces are fending off Russia’s new offensive in the Kharkiv region.
BILLS The Romanian Government on Thursday endorsed an emergency decree on creating a special environment budget designed to fund projects aimed at developing integrated waste management infrastructure. The beneficiaries of the aforementioned projects are inter-community development agencies at the level of counties or other structures. The move is aimed at backing the implementation of the projects promoted by the local authorities by providing investment funding aimed at completing the systems of integrated waste management. Also on Thursday, the government endorsed a series of new regulations on the prevention of cyber-attacks against medical units and the creation of a unique registry that should comprise all medical units.
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