The Turkish
\npolice have arrested three Russian citizens suspected of having connections
\nwith the Islamic State terrorist organization, following the suicide bomb attack
\ncommitted in the historical center of Istanbul on Tuesday. 10 people died and
\n15 were wounded in the attack, Reuters reports, quoting the Turkish media. Most
\nof the victims are German tourists. The attack occurred against the background
\nof Turkey being on state of alert
\nalready, following the bloodiest attack in its history, when 103 people were killed
\nin front of the central railway station in Ankara, in October 2015. Tuesday’s
\nattack has been denounced by the entire international community. The Romanian
\nForeign Ministry has too condemned it and has reiterated Romania’s
\ndetermination to fight terrorism, alongside its international partners. <\/p>\n
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Romania’s
\nAmbassador to Oslo is having talks today with the Norwegian Minister of
\nChildren, Equality and Social Inclusion, in a bid to settle the situation of
\nthe Romanian – Norwegian family whose five children were taken away by the
\nNorwegian Child Welfare Authority because their parents had apparently used
\nphysical punishment . The minors have already been placed in the care of three
\nfoster families. Their father, Marius Bodnariu, who is Romanian, has denounced
\nthe abuse, but has also admitted that there have been situations in which he
\nhas used some minor physical corrections to discipline the children. On the
\nother hand, the stand of the Child Welfare Authority is not known, because the
\nNorwegian law imposes full confidentiality in such cases. Manifestations have
\nbeen held both in Romania and abroad to support the Bodnariu family. In
\nBucharest, president Klaus Iohannis has stated he supports the Romanian
\nGovernment’s efforts to ensure the full observance of Romanian citizens’
\nrights, wherever they may be.<\/p>\n
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Romania’s President Klaus
\nIohannis is to receive a WB delegation
\ntoday, following Monday’s signing of a fresh memorandum between the WB and the
\ntechnocratic government in Bucharest. According to the new memorandum, the WB
\nwill keep providing technical assistance to the Romanian public institutions
\nuntil 2023 and will help the Romanian Government implement public
\nadministration modernization reforms. Thanks to the first memorandum, some 20
\npublic institutions benefited from 30 million Euro worth of funding in the 2012
\n– 2015 period.<\/p>\n
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The controversial business man Vlad Plahotniuc is the proposal of the Democratic
\nParty for the office of Prime Minister of the Republic of Moldova, Romania’s neighbor with a predominantly
\nRomanian-speaking population. Previously, the leader of the party, Marian Lupu, announced,
\nafter consultations with president Nicolae Timofti, the formation of a
\nparliamentary majority, which might give a new Government. He has stated that
\nthe new majority, which has 56 of the 101 votes in Parliament, includes the
\nDemocrats, the Liberals, part of the Liberal – Democrat group – members of the
\nformer pro-European government coalition – as well as several former Communist
\nMPs, traditionally pro-Russian, who have created a so-called ‘social democratic
\nplatform’. If a new Government is not endorsed by January 29th,
\npresident Timofti will be forced to dissolve Parliament and announce early
\nelections. <\/p>\n
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In Romania,
\nconsumption prices dropped in December 2015 as compared to the same month in
\n2014, so the annual inflation rate reached minus 0.9%, according to data released by
\nthe National Statistics Institute. In early 2015, the National Bank of Romania
\nestimated a 2.2% inflation rate, but the forecast has been adjusted with every
\nrevision, in keeping with the fiscal measures adopted by the Government, such
\nas lowering the VAT on foodstuffs, as of June 1st. This is the
\nsecond consecutive year when end-of- year inflation is below the minimum target
\nset by the Central Bank.<\/p>\n
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Romanian tennis player
\nSimona Halep, who ranks 2nd in the WTA classification, has today
\nqualified for the semifinals of the Sydney tournament, with 687,000 dollars in
\nprize money. She defeated the 11th ranked Czech player Karolina
\nPliskova 6-4, 7-5. Next, Simona will take on the Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova,
\nnumber 25 in the WTA rankings. In the direct matches with Kuznetova, Simona
\nHalep leads 3 to 2.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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Romania’s
\nnational water polo team is today playing against Italy, in group C of the
\nEuropean Championships in Belgrade. On Monday, the Romanian squad defeated
\nGeorgia 12-6. Also part of group C is Germany, which Romania will play against
\non Friday. The European Water Polo Championships are a useful rehearsal for the
\n2016 Olympic Games, and the winners will secure their participation in Rio, this
\nAugust. The other teams have the chance to take part in the pre-Olympic qualification
\ntournament, provided they are among the Euro 2016 top 10.<\/p>\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-100770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n