LAW In Bucharest, the Offshore Bill is to be
\ndiscussed this week by the specialised committee of the Senate, the first
\nparliamentary chamber to vote on the act. The bill regulates the development of
\nthe natural gas reserves in the Black Sea, and stipulates that the Romanian
\nstate has pre-emptive rights to purchase these resources. The Senate is still
\nwaiting for the official opinion of the Economic and Social Council before
\ndiscussing the bill, for which the leaders of the ruling coalition have taken
\nresponsibility. The Senate’s vote is expected to take place in May.<\/p>\n
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REFUGEES The Romanian Border Police announced that
\nthe number of Ukrainian nationals that entered the country on Monday was 38.3%
\nhigher than on the previous day. According to a news release, 4,412 Ukrainian
\ncitizens entered Romania in 24 hours. Since the start of the crisis, over
\n786,000
\nUkrainian citizens have crossed the border into Romania. According to the
\nBorder Police, measures have been taken to reinforce border security.<\/p>\n
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HEALTH According to the latest official data, 321
\nCOVID-19 cases and 1 related fatality were reported in Romania in the past 24
\nhours. More than 1,200 patients are currently in hospitals, 221 of them in
\nintensive care. In other news, one case of acute severe hepatitis was reported
\nin Romania, in a 5 year old. On April 21, the WHO announced 169 cases of acute
\nhepatitis of unknown origin among young children worldwide. At least one child
\ndied and 17 needed liver transplants, the institution said. <\/p>\n
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MOLDOVA The president of
\nthe ex-Soviet Republic of Moldova, Maia Sandu, has called for a meeting of the Supreme
\nSecurity Council concerning the recent incidents in the pro-Russian separatist
\nregion of Transnistria, in the east of that country. Two blasts were reported today in Maiak, where
\ntwo communication towers in the radio and television centre were blown up. No
\nvictims have been reported. On Monday, the headquarters of the Security Service
\nin Tiraspol had been attacked with rocket launchers, and a shell was found near
\nthe building. The doors and windows of the office were broken, and so were the
\nwindows of nearby buildings. According to
\nMoldova’s Reintegration Policy Bureau, the goal
\nwas to create tension in the region, which has been out of the Moldovan
\nauthorities’ control since 1992, when an armed conflict that had killed
\nhundreds of locals was ended by the intervention of Russian troops supporting the secessionist rebels, less than a year after Chi\u0219in\u0103u had
\nproclaimed its independence. The ex-president of Russia Boris Yeltsin promised
\nto pull out the troops from Transnistria at the 1999 OSCE summit, but some 1,500
\nmilitary and substantial amounts of Russian weapons appear to still be there.<\/p>\n
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UKRAINE In its invasion of Ukraine, Russia has
\nincreased attacks on civilian targets, particularly railways, to prevent
\nUkrainian forces from receiving weapons from the West. At least 5 civilians
\nwere killed. Russian troops also destroyed 6 electricity generating units of
\nthe Ukrainian railways, and a weapons storage facility in Slovyansk. The
\nUkrainian forces withstood the attacks and said victims were reported, but did
\nnot provide any details.<\/p>\n
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AID NATO and EU foreign
\nministers convene today at the Ramstein US military base in Germany, to discuss
\nadditional military assistance for Ukraine. At the beginning of the conflict,
\nthe West hesitated to provide weapons to Ukraine for fear that the violence
\nwould spiral into a larger-scale war. This reluctance subsided, however, and
\ntoday’s talks will focus on how Kyiv could be supplied with the necessary
\nweapons not just to withstand the Russian attack in Donbas (east), but also to
\ncounter-attack. Previously, the Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov accused NATO
\nof involvement in a proxy war, and said the weapons delivered by the West to
\nUkraine will be legitimate targets. (AMP)<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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