During these
\ndifficult times, we feel Romania’s support, and currently there are optimum
\nconditions for a close rapprochement between the governments and peoples on the
\ntwo banks of the River Prut, said Moldovan President Nicolae Timofti during a
\nmeeting with Romanian PM Victor Ponta, who went to Chisinau on Thursday on
\nMoldova’s independence day. The two officials talked about the European road of
\nthe former Soviet republic, about regional developments and the situation in
\nTransdniestr. Prime Minister Ponta also met with his counterpart Valeriu
\nStrelet, who stressed the strategic
\npartnership between the two countries
\nand thanked Romania for its support. The two officials signed an
\nagreement under which Romania and the Republic of Moldova extended by 2020 the
\nimplementation of the 100 million Euro worth of financial assistance granted by
\nBucharest.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Romania is not faced with high pressure
\nfrom the increasing wave of migrants along the Western Balkans, said in
\nBucharest on Thursday the vice-Premier for national security and interior
\nminister Gabriel Oprea, at the end of the meeting of the National Committee for
\nSpecial Emergency Situations. He also said though that Romanian authorities
\ndecided to tighten security measures on the border with Serbia. At the meeting,
\nattended by representatives of over 20 institutions, a decision was made for
\nthe competent state institutions to monitor any change in the situation in the
\nregion and thus gradually adapt national security measures, in keeping with the
\nlatest developments. Currently there are six regional accommodation centers for
\nasylum seekers, which can accommodate approximately 1500 people. The rate of
\noccupancy is now 20%. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Serbia and
\nMacedonia called on the EU on Thursday to take action and solve the immigration
\ncrisis. The summit in Vienna, attended
\nby leaders from the Western Balkans and the German Chancellor Angela Merkel,
\nstressed the fact that those two countries are the most important crossing
\npoints from the dozens of thousands of immigrants. Serbia has announced it will
\nnot close its borders for the refugees, even if Hungary has been tightening
\nborder security and is now working on a controversial protection wall. In
\nBudapest, authorities get more worried by the day, as a new record was registered on Wednesday: over 3,400. Berlin
\nestimates that this year it would receive 800 thousand asylum seekers, four
\ntimes more than last year and calls on its partners to ensure a balanced
\ndistribution within the European area. Waves of refugees hit the Greek islands
\nevery day, many of whom are trying to reach western Europe, Germany in
\nparticular, by transiting Greece, Macedonia, Serbia, Hungary and Austria.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Ukraine’s
\nfree trade and association agreement with the EU will come into force on
\nJanuary 1st, 2016, announced in Brussels on Thursday the European Commission
\nPresident Jean – Claude Juncker, after a meeting with the Kiev leader, Petro
\nPorosenko. He also held talks with the president of the European Council,
\nDonald Tusk, who voiced worries over the escalation of violence in Eastern
\nUkraine. Tusk said it was important that Ukraine and the separatists agreed to
\nmake efforts and cease fire completely as of September 1st. Petro Porosenko
\ncame to Brussels after the Ukrainian Government and the private lenders reached
\nan agreement on restructuring the country’s debt, which is a crucial step
\ntowards unblocking emergency funding.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Mohammad
\nMunaf, who in 2008 was sentenced to 10 years in prison for acts of terrorism
\ncommitted against Romanian citizens, is now in Romanian police custody,
\nannounced on Thursday Romania’s president Klaus Iohannis. He said that Munaf
\nwas finally caught as a result of the cooperation between all the Romanian
\nstate institutions, under the coordination of the country’s Higher Defense
\nCouncil. In 2008, the Bucharest Court of Appeal sentenced Mohammad Munaf to 10
\nyears in prison for his involvement in the kidnapping of three Romanian
\njournalists in Iraq. Also, the court ruled that he had to pay 2 million Euros worth
\nof damages to the three journalists. Munaf is an Iraqi born settled in Romania
\nand has double citizenship, Iraqi and American. In late March 2005 he was the
\nthree journalists’ guide in Iraq, and was held hostage for 55 days, just like
\nthe Romanians. Upon their release, Munaf was taken by the US forces in Iraq,
\nwho accused him of complicity to kidnapping. In October 2006, the Central
\nCriminal Tribunal in Baghdad sentenced him to death by hanging, by the Iraqi
\nCourt of Cassation suspended the sentence.<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A roundup of domestic 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":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-100428","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n