REFUGEES – The number of Ukrainian nationals who
\ncrossed the border into Romania went up 30% on Wednesday compared to the
\nprevious day, reads a news release issued by the Romanian Border Police. As
\nmany as 8,635 Ukrainian citizens entered Romania in 24 hours, coming from
\nUkraine or the R. of Moldova. Since the start of the crisis over 2 months ago,
\nover 800,000 Ukrainians have come into Romania. Meanwhile, the UN Refugee
\nAgency (UNHCR) announced in a conference in Geneva that over 8 million
\nUkrainians may leave their country. According to the UNHCR spokesperson Shabia
\nMantoo, the Agency and its partners intend to raise 1.85 billion USD to support
\nan estimated 8.3 million refugees in Hungary, the Republic of Moldova, Poland,
\nRomania and Slovakia, as well as in other countries in the region, including
\nBelarus, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic. <\/p>\n
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\n<\/p>\n
\n
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UKRAINE – The authorities in Ukraine
\nare hopeful about the future, despite the current difficulties, Romanian Senate
\nSpeaker, Florin C\u00ee\u021bu, said upon his return from Kyiv. Florin C\u00ee\u021bu visited the
\nUkrainian capital to attend the first congress of local authorities held since
\nthe start of the Russian invasion. Florin C\u00ee\u021bu said talks focused primarily on
\nreconstruction. Ukraine needs support for this effort, and it is clear the
\ncountry needs further assistance in order to defend itself, the Romanian
\nofficial pointed out. <\/p>\n
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\n
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TROOPS – The Romanian defence ministry announced that the Romanian
\nArmy currently has no troops deployed in the Republic of Moldova to take part
\nin drills or other joint training programmes. The statement comes after a
\nRussian-language publication released fake news according to which Romania
\nplans to attack Transnistria with NATO support, and then to annex the
\nRepublic of Moldova, and claimed that Romanian troops have already been
\ndeployed to the neighboring country. Disinformation on Russian channels follows
\na number of attacks by unknown perpetrators, which took place in the past few
\ndays in Transnistria, a pro-Russian breakaway region in the east of the
\nRepublic of Moldova. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
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GOVERNMENT – The government on Thursday passed an
\nemergency decree allowing economic operators on the Romanian Black Seacoast to
\nsign contracts for renting and operating the newly created beach areas. In this
\ncontext, the Minister of Tourism and Entrepreneurship, Constantin-Daniel
\nCadariu, announced that over 100 hotels will open their doors to guests for the
\nMay 1 mini-holiday, which have already booked approximately 80% of their units.
\nAlso on Thursday, the government passed another emergency decree implementing
\nthe provisions of the Omnibus Directive, whereby Romanian consumers will
\nbenefit from the same rights and protection as European citizens. The
\ngovernment also passed a draft law for the recognition of babysitters as a
\nprofessional category of workers providing families with child day-care and
\nmonitoring services. Additionally, the government approved the setup,
\norganization and functioning of the cross-ministry committee on climate change,
\nwhich will be coordinated by Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuc\u0103. <\/p>\n
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\n
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NATURAL GAS – The European Union
\ntold Russia it would not give in to blackmail, after Moscow discontinued
\nnatural gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria, which had refused to pay for
\nnatural gas in rubles. The European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen
\nsaid the Union had other options to make up for the suspended deliveries, and
\nwarned member states not to breach the sanctions imposed by the EU after
\nRussia’s invasion of Ukraine. We have to guarantee alternative supplies and the
\nbest possible storage levels across the EU, Von der Leyen explained. EU member
\nstates have implemented emergency plans for such a scenario and we have worked
\ntogether in coordination and solidarity, the EU official added. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
TENNIS – Romanian tennis player Simona Halep on
\nThursday ousted Shuai Zhang of China in the opening round at the Mutua Madrid
\nOpen. Sorana C\u00eerstea however lost to Nuria Parrizas Diaz of Spain, while Irina
\nBegu was defeated by Belinda Bencic of Switzerland. The Madrid Open takes place
\nbetween April 28 and May 7. Simona Halep won the 2016 and 2017 editions. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
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RUGBY -
\nRomania’s rugby team has qualified to the 2023 World Cup in France after Spain
\nwas disqualified for using an ineligible player in two matches held as part of
\nthe 2021-2022 Rugby Europe Championship. World Rugby had previously opened an
\ninvestigation following a query submitted by Romania, after finishing the Group
\nin 3rd place. We recall Romania too was disqualified from the 2019
\nWorld Cup for using an ineligible player.
\n(AMP
\n& VP)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A roundup of domestic and international news<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":113,"featured_media":105208,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[35391,31760,34724,36683,29992,36682,36583],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-105877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash","tag-florin-citu","tag-government-decrees","tag-mutua-madrid-open","tag-natural-gas-supplies","tag-romanias-rugby-team","tag-romanian-troops-in-moldova","tag-ukrainian-refugees"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n