October 12, 2013
Click here for a roundup of international and domestic news.
Corina Cristea, 12.10.2013, 12:14
The Romanian authorities don’t have any information indicative of the fact that CIA detention or drop-off centres have ever existed on Romanian territory or that the Romanian airports have been used by the US agency to carry or detain prisoners suspected of terrorism. The announcement has been made by the Romanian Foreign Ministry, which took note of the Resolution adopted by the European Parliament on the alleged use of European countries by the CIA for the transport and illegal detention of prisoners. As regards the appeal launched to Romania and 12 other EU member states to start an independent, unbiased, extensive and efficient inquiry, the Romanian Foreign Ministry makes clear that such measures have already been taken. The Romanian authorities recall that Romania has already made a thorough and extremely transparent investigation.
The Romanian special parliamentary committee set up to analyse the controversial gold exploitation project at Rosia Montana has completed the series of hearings and is expected to draft a report by Friday, which is to be debated in a plenary session by Parliament. For three weeks now, the aforementioned parliamentary committee has heard members of the government, representatives of the Canadian investor and of civil society. We recall that thousands of people have recently protested in the University Square in Bucharest and in many cities across Romania against the cyanide-based exploitation of gold in the Apuseni Mountains, whereas the miners in the area have expressed their support for the project.
The UN Security Council has authorised the creation of a joint mission of the UN and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, OPCW, in an effort to eliminate Syria’s chemical weapon stockpile. Early this week, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has recommended the creation of an approximately 100 people strong mission, headquartered in Damascus and having a base in Cyprus, in charge of destroying Syria’s chemical weapons by June the 30th 2014. A team of UN and OPCW experts has already been present in Syria since October the 1st. OPCW, set up in 1997 and headquartered in the Hague, on Friday got the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize. The Romanian Foreign Ministry has hailed the decision by the Norwegian Nobel Committee and the active roleplayed by OPCW.
NATO Secretary General, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, has pleaded at the NATO PA in Dubrovnik, Croatia, in favour of larger budgets being allotted for defence. He has called on the NATO member states to explain to their citizens that the military equipment acquisition is essential to guarantee security and he evoked Syria as the latest example in which military might has efficiently served to back diplomatic initiatives. An opinion poll conducted in the NATO member states shows the population is poorly informed on the level of spending made with defence, considering that larger sums of money are spent with this, than in reality, Rasmussen has underlined. Attending the NATO PA underway in Dubrovnik are some 300 MPS of the 28 NATO member states.
Two Afghan policemen were killed and 8 others injured in a car bombing earlier today, in Jalalabad, the largest city in eastern Afghanistan. FP recalls car bombings and suicide bombings are the most frequently used method by Taliban fundamentalists, who are carrying out the most extensive insurgency since they were removed from power in 2001, by a US-led international coalition. The car bombing comes just one day after US Secretary of State, John Kerry, arrived in Kabul, on a two-day surprise visit. Kerry is trying to take out of the deadlock the difficult negotiations with Afghan president Hamid Karzai, on the issue of maintaining US troops in Afghanistan post 2013 and following the withdrawal of the 87 thousand NATO military from Afghanistan.
Romania’s national football team has gone up on the third position of the 2014 World Cup qualification Group D, after defeating Andorra, 4-nil and thanks to the other results obtained in the same group. Also in Group D, world vice-champion Holland, which has already secured qualification, has defeated Hungary on home turf, 8-1, and Turkey defeated Estonia in an away match, 2-nil. The matches to be played on October the 15th are: Hungary- Andorra; Romania – Estonia; Turkey –Holland. Romania’s objective is to rank second in the group, which will enable it to play the tie match to qualify for the World Cup.
