ESPIONAGE Prosecutors with the Directorate Investigating Organised
\nCrime and Terrorism Offences (DIICOT) have indicted 4 Romanian and foreign
\nnationals as part of an espionage inquiry targeting the Serbian company NIS
\nPetrol, a subsidiary of the Russian energy giant Gazprom. Prosecutors have
\nordered searches in Bucharest and Timi\u0219oara, both at the company headquarters, and
\nat the homes of a number of employees, confiscating documents and data storage devices.
\nThe four are accused of having traded classified information and of
\nfacilitating the unauthorised transfer of data concerning Romania’s mineral reserves,
\nprosecutors say. In 2009, Gazprom bought the majority stake in NIS under an
\nagreement signed by Belgrade and Moscow.<\/p>\n
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\n
<\/p>\n
ECONOMY Romania’s economy
\nis expected to grow by 4.6% this year, the World Bank announced on Tuesday. The
\nestimate is better than the one made public in June, when the figure only
\nstood at 2.9%. The improvement is based on robust private consumption and early
\nsigns that investments would pick up, but the outlook depends on the
\ndevelopments in Ukraine and their impact on the European economy on the whole,
\nthe institution says.<\/p>\n
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\n
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MOTION USR Deputies, in opposition, together with MPs from the Force
\nof the Right, have tabled a simple motion in the Chamber of Deputies against
\nthe interior minister Lucian Bode, whom they accuse of incompetence and
\nprotecting party interests. The USR leader C\u0103t\u0103lin Drul\u0103 says Bode must answer,
\namong other things, to allegations that the Romanian Police purchased new cars
\nthrough public procurement procedures that favoured companies linked to the Liberal
\nParty. Bode is also criticised for failing to reach a number of targets,
\nincluding the electronic monitoring of offenders and the interior
\nministry reform. The motion will be discussed and voted on next Tuesday.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
LEGISLATION A draft law regulating the judge and prosecutor
\nprofessions was endorsed on Tuesday in the Chamber of Deputies. The bill had
\npassed all the required stages of the legislative process, including the approval
\nof the Higher Council of Magistrates, the justice minister C\u0103t\u0103lin Predoiu said.
\nThe act was criticised however by the USR and AUR parties, in opposition. The
\ndecision-making body in this case is the Senate. The bill is the 3rd
\nnormative act in a law package regulating the judiciary, next to one on the
\nHigher Council of Magistrates and the organisation of courts, which have
\nalready been endorsed by the Chamber of Deputies.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
FUNDING Romania may get about EUR 1.5 billion for energy
\nindependence projects and for fighting energy poverty, following the
\nendorsement of the REpowerEU plan by the Economic and Financial Council in
\nLuxembourg. Romania is the 6th EU member state to benefit from the
\nnew funding, said the finance minister Adrian C\u00e2ciu. He explained that during
\nnegotiations the funding earmarked for Romania practically doubled compared to
\nthe original proposal made by the European Commission this May.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\nNOBEL The Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to
\nAlain Aspect (France), John F. Clauser (USA) and Anton Zeillinger (Austria) for
\ntheir revolutionary experiments with entangled photons, establishing the
\nviolation of Bell inequalities and pioneering quantum information science.
\nTheir findings have laid the foundation for a new era of quantum technology. (AMP)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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