Western Orthodox,
\nGreek-Catholic and Catholic Christians celebrate Christmas Eve today in
\npreparation for the Nativity of Christ, one of the biggest Christian holidays.
\nIn Romania, which is a majority Orthodox country, children went carolling on
\nFriday night. Carollers symbolise the angels and the shepherds who were the
\nfirst to announce the birth of Jesus. They go from house to house and convey
\nwishes for the household, being rewarded with fruit, bagels, sweets or money by
\ntheir hosts. Today, priests go from house to house bearing an icon depicting
\nthe nativity of Christ and announcing his birth. Christmas is celebrated through special services held in churches and monasteries, as well as beautiful
\ntraditions and rich family meals. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The new
\npresident of the Republic of Moldova Igor Dodon on Friday night met the Russian
\ndeputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin who was due to attend Dodon’s swearing-in
\nceremony but whose flight was delayed because of the fog. According to Radio
\nChisinau, Rogozin told the Moldovan president that Vladimir Putin would meet
\nhim at the Kremlin on the 17th of January. Dodon had already
\nannounced that his first visit abroad would be to Moscow, where he would try to
\nrestore his country’s strategic partnership with the Russian Federation. As far
\nas his domestic policy is concerned, Dodon said he would be in opposition to the
\npro-European government in Chisinau and even try to dissolve Parliament and
\ncall early elections. One of his priorities is to ban organisations calling for
\nthe union of the Republic of Moldova with Romania. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The Romanian border police have caught ten Iraqi citizens, including
\nnine adults and one child, who were trying to cross the border illegally from
\nBulgaria to Romania through the green border, near Darabani, in the
\nsouth-east. The migrants were handed over to the Bulgarian border police for
\nfurther investigations. According to the Romanian authorities, the ten
\nmigrants, aged between 12 and 50, identified themselves as Iraqi and said they
\nwere planning to reach a country in Western Europe. They were carrying
\ndocuments showing they had applied for asylum in Bulgaria. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Princess Margaret, the Custodian of the Romanian Crown,
\nsent a Christmas message to the Romanians at home and abroad on behalf of her
\nfather, King Mihai I. She emphasised that the values her father has been
\npromoting all his life are more important today than at any other time in
\nhistory, namely kindness, loyalty, a sense of duty, love of country, competence
\nand restraint. Princess Margaret also said the events in Europe and the world
\nshow that democracy is facing a moment of instability and weakness, and that
\nprosperity does not automatically ensure balance and security. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The UN Security Council on Friday night passed a
\nresolution asking Israel to put an end to its illegal settlement building in
\nthe Palestinian territories, with the US abstaining from vote and thus refusing
\nto block the resolution. The Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu called the UN’s
\ndecision shameful and said his country would not abide by it. Jordan has
\ndescribed the UN vote as historic. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The Italian police have shot dead the Tunisian national
\nby the name of Anis Amri, the main suspect of Monday’s attack in Berlin, when a
\nlorry smashed into a crowded Christmas market killing 12 people and injuring
\n48. The Italian interior minister Marco Minniti said the man was shot during a fire exchange with the
\npolice in Milan. German investigators are now trying to assess whether the
\nTunisian attacker was part of a network and to find out how he managed to avoid
\ndeportation orders and why the authorities stopped his surveillance, although
\nhe was suspected of links with terrorist organisations. German chancellor
\nAngela Merkel said the authorities would tighten security measures in the wake
\nof the attack claimed by the Islamic State. (Trans. by: C. Mateescu)<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Western Orthodox, Greek-Catholic and Catholic Christians celebrate Christmas Eve.\/ Moldovas new president Igor Dodon to meet Russias Vladimir Putin on 17 January.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":113,"featured_media":75903,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[29671,29207,29007],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-101566","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash","tag-christmas","tag-migration","tag-republic-of-moldova"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n