A roundup of local and international news.<\/p>\n
RULING \u2013 The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants on Thursday for Israel\u2019s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and the leader of the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, Al-Masri, known as Mohammad Deif. The Hague-based court\u2019s Pre-Trial Chamber rejected Israeli challenges to its jurisdiction and said there were sufficient grounds to believe that Netanyahu and Gallant committed war crimes and crimes against humanity by approving attacks on civilians in the Gaza Strip. The ICC also issued a warrant Thursday for the arrest of Muhammad Deif, Hamas’ military chief. Israel said in August that it had killed Deif but Hamas has not confirmed his death.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n ENERGY \u2013 The Bucharest Government on Friday adopted the national energy strategy for the next 10 years, with an extension until 2050. It aims at gradually shifting from coal-based production to natural gas-based production, which is less polluting, and, in the medium and long term, to nuclear energy. Three other economic strategies were also on the Government\u2019s agenda. The first is the Romanian industrialization strategy for the period 2024-2030. This involves the transition of Romanian industry towards clean energy. The second strategy is the one regarding non-energy mineral resources and aims to develop an integrated chain in the mining industry, from research, exploitation and development to processing. The third national strategy is the one for market surveillance. It is about a single market and the need, on the one hand, to guarantee the free movement of products in the European Union and, on the other hand, to make sure that these products meet quality standards.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n ELECTION\u00a0<\/strong>\u2013 The first round of the presidential election takes place in Romania on November 24. The second round is scheduled for December 8, and legislative elections are held on December 1. There are 13 candidates in the race for president, 10 supported by parties and 3 independents. There are 14 names on the ballots, but one of the candidates withdrew in favor of another. The authorities opened 950 polling stations for Romanians outside the borders, a record number. They can vote, in the first round of the presidential election, on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n TRACTORS \u2013 Small Romanian farms that own old and polluting tractors will be able to buy new ones by applying to the \u201cTractors Scrap\u201d program. The budget allocated to the project by the administration of the environmental fund is 500 million lei (the equivalent of about 100 million Euros). The registration of the companies from which farmers can purchase the tractors starts on Friday and can be done until November 28 at the latest. The vouchers acquired by farmers will cover between 65% and 80% of the purchase value, which should not exceed 55,000 Euros.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n TOURISM\u00a0<\/strong>\u2013 The autumn edition of the 2024 Romanian Tourism Fair opened on Thursday in Bucharest. Visitors have access to a wide range of promotional packages, exclusive discounts and holiday ideas for all tastes and budgets, the organizers say. More than 100 participating companies offer destinations from all over the world, and discounts on vacation packages during the fair are up to 50%. Among the participants are tour operators from Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Greece, Israel, Austria, Hungary, Egypt, Vietnam and Italy.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n EC\u00a0\u2013 The right-wing, centrist and social democratic parties in the European Parliament reached, on Wednesday evening, a political agreement to approve the new European Commission makeup. The Romanian Roxana M\u00eenzatu will thus become Executive Vice-president for People, Skills and Preparedness in the European Commission led by Ursula von der Leyen. The European Parliament will give its final vote on the new EC membership on November 27, in a plenary session in Strasbourg.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A roundup of local and international news. RULING \u2013 The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants on Thursday for Israel\u2019s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and the leader of the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, Al-Masri, known as Mohammad Deif. The Hague-based court\u2019s Pre-Trial Chamber rejected Israeli challenges to its jurisdiction and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":113,"featured_media":731769,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[29390,29487,30247,33523,29389,29229,32806],"coauthors":[116091],"class_list":["post-833025","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash","tag-benjamin-netanyahu","tag-ec","tag-elections","tag-gaza","tag-israel","tag-tourism","tag-war-crimes"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n