The Bucharest Parliament is to establish on Monday the date when Mihai
\nRazvan Ungureanu, the man proposed to head the Romanian Foreign Intelligence
\nService, is to be interviewed and approved by Parliament. Ungureanu enjoys the
\nsupport of the Liberal Party, the largest opposition party in Romania, the
\nDemocratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians and the National Union for the Progress
\nof Romania, the junior partners in the ruling coalition, and the group of
\nnational minorities, while the ruling Social Democrats and their coalition
\npartners, the newly created Alliance of Liberals and Democrats, are opposed to
\nhis appointment. Mihai Razvan Ungureanu headed the Service before, between 2007
\nand 2012, and also acted as foreign minister between 2004 and 2007 and served a
\nshort stint as prime minister in the first part of 2012.<\/p>\n
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The second round of local elections is held today in the
\nex-Soviet Republic of Moldova, with a majority Romanian-speaking population, in
\n459 towns and villages. All eyes are on the mayor race in the capital Chisinau,
\nwhere the incumbent pro-western mayor Dorin Chirtoaca faces the former
\ncommunist prime minister Zinaida Greceanyi. The
\nmayors of 439 towns and villages in Moldova were established in the first
\nelection round, on the 14th of June. First round results indicate
\nthat the parties making up the pro-western minority government coalition, the
\nLiberal Democrat Party and the Democrat Party, are still in the lead, having
\nwon around two thirds of local administration posts, while the pro-Russian communist
\nand socialist opposition is in decline.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
Greece’s
\nParliament approved late on Saturday night the government’s proposal to hold a
\nreferendum on the country’s bailout deal with its international creditors on
\nthe 5th of July. Earlier on Saturday, eurozone finance ministers
\nrefused a bailout extension after June 30th. Greece’s prime minister
\nAlexis Tsipras believes the people will reject what he described as the
\ncreditors’ ultimatum. The decision to call a referendum has been harshly
\ncriticised by the former Greek prime minister Antonis Samaras who believes this
\nwill only push the country out of the eurozone. Eurogroup president Jeroen
\nDijsselbloem says the referendum has closed the door on further talks. He said
\nGreece’s creditors were flexible, but its government rejected all their
\nproposals and are now trying to pass on the responsibility to the Greek people.
\nGreece has to repay 1.6 billion euros by the 30th of June. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
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<\/p>\n
Canada works with France to
\ntrack the identity of the recipient of a macabre selfie sent by Yassin Salhi,
\nwho is suspected of beheading his employer in a jihadist attack near Lyon on
\nFriday. More than 60 people were killed in a wave of terrorist attacks on
\nFriday. Almost 40, including British, German, Belgian and French tourists, were
\nkilled at a spa in Tunisia, after a young man opened fire on a beach. The
\nattack was claimed by the Islamic State extremist group. 26 others were killed
\nand 227 wounded in a suicide attack on a Shiite mosque in Kuwait’s capital,
\nalso claimed by the Islamic State. Romania offered its deepest sympathy and
\ncondolences over the attacks in France, Tunisia and Kuwait and reiterated its
\nsolidarity in the fight against terrorism.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
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The EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini is attending talks in
\nVienna between Iran and six world powers, the US, Britain, Germany, France,
\nRussia and China to discuss Tehran’s nuclear programme. Talks on this dossier,
\none of the most sensitive in international relations in the last ten years, are
\ndue to end on the 30th of June, but the parties do not rule out a
\nfew days’ extension. A final agreement is being negotiated that will guarantee
\nthe peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear activities in exchange for lifting
\ninternational sanctions on Iranian economy. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
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<\/p>\n
Romania won 12 medals at the European Games in Baku, of
\nwhich three gold, five silver and four bronze. The gold medals came from
\nAndreea Chi\u0163u, in
\njudo, in the women’s 52 kg category; the women’s epee team; and Ana Maria
\nBr\u00e2nz\u0103, who won the women’s individual epee final. Romania took the silver in
\nthe kayak double, beam, the aerobic gymnastics group competition, the men’s
\nsabre team and men’s individual sabre. Finally, Romania won the bronze in the
\nepee competition, sambo and parallel and uneven parallel bars. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A roundup of local and international news<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":113,"featured_media":100004,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[28877],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-100307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash","tag-newsflash"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n