HOSTAGES – The Romanian
\nMinister of Foreign Affairs, Lumini\u0163a Odobescu, had a telephone conversation
\nwith her Egyptian counterpart, Sameh Shoukri, about the situation of the
\nRomanian citizens in Gaza who requested support for their evacuation. The
\nRomanian official appealed to the Egyptian authorities to treat with priority
\nthe evacuation requests of the Romanian citizens, when the Rafah border point
\nbecomes functional again. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is prepared to
\nprovide consular support for the safe evacuation of Romanian citizens and
\nfamily members who requested this, Luminita Odobescu said, and the Egyptian
\nofficial assured that the authorities in Cairo are paying special attention to
\nthe request. Luminita Odobescu mentioned that more than 260 Romanian citizens
\nand members of their families want to be evacuated from Gaza, and negotiations
\nare underway. Previously, the Romanian foreign minister had a conversation with
\nher Israeli counterpart, also approaching the situation of the six Romanians
\nwith dual citizenship held hostage in the Gaza Strip. The Embassy of Romania in
\nTel Aviv and the Consulate General of Romania in Haifa maintain contact with
\nthe Israeli authorities.<\/p>\n
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AID – The European
\nCommission will disburse an additional 25 mln EUR to Palestinians in Gaza, the
\nsecond such assistance package in the last month, which raises total aid to 100
\nmln EUR. Prior to the outbreak of the conflict between Israel and Hamas,
\nEuropean Commission assistance stood at 25 mln EUR. The European Union remains
\nthe largest donor to the Palestinians in terms of humanitarian aid. Commission
\nspokesman for humanitarian aid and crisis management, Balazs Ujvari, said the
\nassistance will be delivered to NGOs that cooperate with the European Union in
\nthis process. The assistance will consist in medicine, water and food. Two
\nweeks ago, the European Union organized a series of eight flights carrying
\nhumanitarian aid, six of which have already landed, delivering approximately
\n260 tons of aid. <\/p>\n
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ELECTION IN MOLDOVA – The acting mayor
\nof Chi\u0219in\u0103u, former Socialist Ion Ceban, one of the rivals of president Maia
\nSandu, has won the first leg of the local election in Chi\u0219in\u0103u, according to
\nresults made public by the Central Election Committee. Ceban grabbed 50.6% of
\nthe vote and was followed by the Action and Solidarity Party candidate, Lilian
\nCarp, withg 28% of the vote. At national level, PAS won most of the city halls
\nin 19 districts in the center and south of the Republic of Moldova, with a
\ntotal of 25.5% of the votes. Ranking second in the overall standings is the
\nParty of the Socialists in the Republic of Moldova of the former president Igor
\nDodon, which won 18.5% of the votes, mostly in the north. The National Alternative Movement, created
\naround Ion Ceban, won 7%, which is enough to meet the election threshold. PAS
\nspokesman Igor Grosu says Sunday’s election in the Republic of Moldova saw
\nunprecedented interference from the Russian Federation. The authorities accuse
\nMoscow of illegally funding parties, corrupting voters and candidates. The
\nChance Party, controlled by the wanted oligarch Ilan Shor, was declared
\nineligible on the eve of the election. <\/p>\n
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BANKS – Romania’s Prime
\nMinister, Marcel Ciolacu, on Monday discussed with representatives of the
\nRomanian Association of Banks about the new cap on cash payments. The Prime
\nMinister previously wrote on Facebook that it is unacceptable that banks should
\nincrease fees artificially. The Prime Minister wants to keep the measure in
\nplace and warns Romania ranks first at EU level in terms of tax evasion.
\nLimiting cash transactions should be reviewed as soon as possible, Senate
\nSpeaker Nicolae Ciuc\u0103 has said, adding that not all people are responsible for
\ntax evasion and have a right to use their money as they please. The limit on
\ntransactions operated with cash might be reviewed at coalition level. The
\nmeasure was supposed to take effect on November 11. In turn, the Competition
\nCouncil president, Bogdan Chiri\u021boiu, said that cash payments present two
\ndrawbacks: first, tax evasion, as they are more difficult to monitor and
\nsecond, procedures to make cash available are very costly. Bogdan Chiri\u021boiu
\nsaid there are countries in the EU that almost never use cash. (MI & VP)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A roundup of domestic and international news<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":105208,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[116298,33610,29368,116280],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-611958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash","tag-cap-on-cash-payments","tag-election-in-moldova","tag-financial-aid","tag-war-in-gaza"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n