\n
<\/p>\n
WAR IN UKRAINE – Over 50 civilians,
\nincluding children, were evacuated from the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol,
\nafter the venue was sieged for weeks on end by Russian forces. The group of
\npeople was transferred to a location commonly agreed upon with the Russian
\nside, in the hope of reaching Kyiv-controlled territory, Ukrainian soldiers
\ntrapped inside claim. Moscow faced immense international pressure to allow
\ncivilians to evacuate, although all previous attempts to do so were
\nunsuccessful. The full occupation of the port-city is one of the Russian army’s
\nstrategic objectives. Holding Mariupol would help Russia occupy the entire
\nUkrainian southern coast, and would link the separatist region of Donbas to the
\nCrimean Peninsula, annexed by Russia in 2014. At the same time, Russia presses
\non its offense in Ukraine. President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Moscow of
\nseeking to wipe the entire region off the map. Meanwhile, French president
\nEmmanuel Macron has confirmed his willingness to provide certain security guarantees
\nto Ukraine. Macron talked to his Ukrainian counterpart over the phone on
\nSaturday. The French president expressed his readiness to work hard to restore
\nUkraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Poland too announced it would
\nbe willing to guarantee Ukraine’s security as part of a possible peace treaty
\nwith Russia. Also on Sunday, president Zelensky met in Kyiv with the the US
\nHouse of Representatives Speaker, Nancy Pelosi. We believe that we are
\nvisiting you to say thank you for your fight for freedom… Our commitment is
\nto be there for you until the fight is done, Pelosi told Zelensky,
\naccording to a video tweeted by the Ukrainian presidency. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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\n
\n
\n
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CYBER
\nATTACKS – The
\nRomanian Intelligence Service warns against possible ransomware attacks on a large
\nscale, targeting the email addresses of institutions in Romania. The Service
\nrecommended people not to click on links or attachments that are not usually
\naddressed to them or were sent by unknown sources. The same precautionary
\nmeasures are recommended in the case of text, WhatsApp, Signal or Telegram
\nmessages. A wave of cyber-attacks started in Romania on Friday, hackers
\ntargeting the website of the National Cyber Security Directorate, as well as
\nother public institutions and private organizations. The Romanian Service for
\nSpecial Telecommunications managed to block a few thousand attacks. Claimed by
\nthe Killnet network of hackers, the operation came in response to Romania’s
\nsupport for Ukraine. This month Killnet hackers attacked the websites of institutions
\nin a number of states as well as the EU and NATO. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
PARLIAMENT – The Senate and the Chamber of Deputies are
\nexpected to convene on May 3 in a joint plenary sitting. The agenda of the
\nmeeting includes a letter of president Klaus Iohannis, notifying Parliament he
\napproved NATO’s request to deploy armed forces in Romania. The two chambers of
\nParliament will also discuss a proposal to disband friendship groups with the
\nRussian Federation and the Republic of Belarus at Parliament level. Next week,
\nParliament is also expected to appoint new Constitutional Court judges. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
CONFERENCE – The Conference for
\nthe future of Europe, a broad citizen initiative launched a year ago, resulted
\nin over 300 proposals being tabled for the reform of the European Union. The
\nproposals were adopted on Saturday during a plenary sitting in the European
\nParliament. Drafted by over 50,000 participants, the proposals were uploaded on
\nan online platform available in 24 languages, which remains open until May 9.
\nDespite a late start in negotiations between the three European institutions -
\nthe European Union, the Council of the European Union and the European
\nParliament, as well as due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Conference completed
\nits activity before the end of France’s term at the helm of the Council of the
\nEuropean Union. Nearly a year since the launch ceremony hosted by Strasbourg,
\nthe Conference will officially end on May 9 in an event at the European
\nParliament, marking Europe Day The final report, which is expected to undergo
\ncertain changes in addition to the recommendations adopted on Saturday, will be
\nsubmitted to the presidents of the three European institutions, as well as to
\nFrench president, Emmanuel Macron. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
EUROSTAT – The pandemic has reduced
\nlife expectancy in most EU member states, the Eurostat reports. Compared to the
\nlevels of 2019, life expectancy in 2020 dropped by at least one year in nine EU
\nMember States – Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Spain, Italy, Lithuania,
\nPoland, Romania and Slovenia, and went up by a month in Denmark and Cyprus. In
\nRomania, life expectancy dropped by 1 year and 4 months. According to Eurostat
\ndata, Romanian men live on average until the age of 70, while women until the
\nage of 78. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
TENNIS – Romanian tennis
\nplayer Simona Halep has advanced to the round of 16 at the Mutua Madrid Open,
\ntotaling some $6.5 million in total prizes, after ousting Paula Badosa of Spain,
\nworld no. 2, in the round of 32. In the next round, Halep will take on Cori
\nGauff of the USA. A former world no. 1, Halep won the Madrid Open in 2016 and
\n2017 and played the final in 2014 and 2019. (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":[36696,29789,29594,29065,29232,36572],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-105883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash","tag-conference-on-the-future-of-europe","tag-cyber-attacks","tag-eurostat","tag-madrid-open","tag-parliament-session","tag-war-in-ukraine"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n