REVOLUTION TRIAL – The High Court of
\nCassation and Justice in Bucharest has set for today the first hearing in the
\nRevolution Case, where former President Ion Iliescu is being prosecuted for
\ncrimes against humanity. The indictment was sent to magistrates in April.
\nInvestigated in the same case are former deputy Prime Minister Gelu Voican
\nVoiculescu and the former head of the Military Aviation, General Iosif Rus.
\nAccording to prosecutors, against the backdrop of the poor relations between
\nRomania and the USSR after Prague, 1968, and as a result of the general state
\nof public unrest, a dissident group formed with the purpose of removing
\ndictator Nicolae Ceausescu from power, but which sought to maintain Romania in
\nthe Soviet sphere of influence. Prosecutors say this group was made up of
\ncivilians and military figures, both marginalized in some way by the former
\npresident. Its members belonged to the Ministry of Defense and the Directorate
\nof State Security, as well as to various civilian structures in the state.
\nProsecutors also claim the group surrounding Ion Iliescu acted to take over
\npolitical and military power in December 1989. Therefore the entire military
\npower of Romania, the Defense and Interior ministries, the State Security
\nDepartment, as well as the patriot guards acted on behalf of the National
\nSalvation Front Council and its leadership starting December 22, 1989. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
F-16 – Romania will be purchasing
\nanother 5 F-16 fighter jets from Portugal, a Government bill reads. The Defense
\nMinistry says the bill was submitted to Parliament to be debated and adopted as
\na top priority. Ministry officials claim the jets will have the same
\nconfiguration as the other 12 previously purchased by the Romanian Air Force.
\nThe Ministry believes this measure would involve the national defense industry
\nin the maintenance, repair works and modernization of the aircraft.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
US – ROMANIA RELATIONS – Romanian Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu has commended
\nUS Ambassador Hans Klemm for his entire activity in Bucharest and his
\nsubstantial and effective contribution to the development and advancement of
\nthe Strategic Partnership between the two states. Minister Aurescu and
\nAmbassador Klemm referred to consolidating cooperation in the field of civil
\nnuclear engineering and the security of 5G networks. At the same time, the
\nRomanian official reiterated our country’s legitimate interest in acceding to
\nthe Visa Waiver programme, expressing hope the decreasing visa refusal rate
\nduring Ambassador Klemm’s term in office is a positive trend that would
\ncontinue in the future as well. New-York-based lawyer Adrian Zuckerman is due
\nto replace Hans Klemm as US Ambassador to Bucharest. Zuckerman last week was
\nconfirmed by the US Senate. A fluent Romanian speaker, Adrian Zuckerman moved
\nto the United States with his family at the age of 10.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
CLIMATE CHANGE – Bucharest is today
\nplaying host to a climate action march. Held under the slogan Climate Action
\nDay, the march will be organized in another 11 cities in the country: T\u00e2rgu Jiu, Ia\u015fi, Timi\u015foara,
\nConstan\u0163a, Cluj-Napoca, Oradea, Sibiu, Bra\u015fov, Bac\u0103u, T\u00e2rgul Ocna and Craiova. Organizers
\nwant to raise awarenes over the effects of global warming. Some 1,000 people
\nattended the previous such march held on September 20 in Bucharest, and another
\n800 people took part in similar events in another eight cities in Romania. We
\nrecall this Thursday MEPs passed a resolution declaring a climate emergency,
\njust ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP25) scheduled for December
\n2-13 in Madrid.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
FOOTBALL – Romanian champions CFR Cluj on
\nThursday lost 1-nil to Lazio Rome in Europa League Group E. Celtic Glasgow of
\nScotland is top of the tables with 13 points, followed by CFR Cluj with 9
\npoints, Lazio Rome with 6 points and Rennes of France with 1 point. CFR will
\nnext take on Celtic Glasgow at home on December 12, with the Scottish side
\nhaving already secured qualification to the next phase. In other news from
\nfootball, this Saturday Bucharest hosts the 2020 European Championship draw.
\nRomania will host four matches next year, three in the group phase and one in
\nthe round of 16. Our national team didn’t move past the preliminaries, but
\nstill holds chances of qualifying, as it will play in the Nations League
\nplayoff scheduled for March next year. Romania will play Iceland on March 26,
\nand if it wins it will play the winner of the match pitting Bulgaria and
\nHungary in a match that will decide who will qualify to EURO 2020. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
HANDBALL – The Romanian women’s
\nhandball team is tomorrow playing Spain in the first match in Group C at the
\nWorld Cup hosted by Japan until December 15. Romania was drawn in Group C
\nalongside Senegal, Kazakhstan, Montenegro and Hungary. The top three teams will
\nadvance to the next phase. From 1957 to 2017, Romania has never missed a World
\nCup. Our country won silver in 2005 in Russia and bronze in 2015 in Denmark.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
(Translated by
\nV. Palcu)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A roundup of domestic and international news<\/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":[30355,35211,32760,30366,30974,29292,31134,30537,35212],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-103957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash","tag-cfr-cluj","tag-climate-action-march","tag-euro-2020","tag-europa-league","tag-f-16-fighter-jets","tag-hans-klemm","tag-revolution-case","tag-romania-us-relations","tag-world-handball-cup"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n