Scores of cities and institutions as well as many companies in Romania on Saturday night turned off the electric light for an hour in order to mark Earth Hour. 13 Romanian cities are vying in the Earth Hour capital contest, whose winner, the city that stands out through a series of varied activities with impact on the community and with the most original programme for the Saturday\u2019s Earth Hour event, will be made public on April the 13th. All throughout Romania, municipalities have turned off electric lighting in the main public institutions and largest buildings and have encouraged citizens to do the same in their households. Romania has been celebrating Earth Hour since 2009, two years after its first international celebration.<\/p>\n
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Victoria Nuland, Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs at the United States Department of State is in Chishinau for talks with officials in the Republic of Moldova, an ex-soviet country with a predominantly Romanian-speaking population. High on the agenda are foreign policy issues as well as US economic assistance. The visit comes after early this month a message of support was conveyed by US president Barack Obama to Moldovan Prime Minister Iurie Leanca. Victoria Nuland is accompanied by an official from the Defence Department and by the director for policy, planning and partnership of the United States European command. On March 25th, Romanian president Traian Basescu sent a letter to all the high officials in the European Council calling for the signing of the EU-Republic of Moldova association accord at the Council\u2019s meeting on May 27th. Romania\u2019s request has been reiterated by the head of the Romanian state in Bucharest during a meeting with the president of the European People\u2019s Party Joseph Daul.<\/p>\n
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US secretary of state John Kerry will tonight meet his Russian counterpart Serghei Lavrov in Paris for talks on the Ukrainian crisis. The meeting comes following a phone call between Russian president Vladimir Putin and US president Barak Obama. According to Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Serghei Riabkov, Moscow and Washington are participating in talks with the view to finding a solution to the crisis in Ukraine, but they haven\u2019t reached a common solution yet. On Saturday leaders of the Tartar community in Crimea stood for the autonomy of this Muslim community, following Russia\u2019s annexation of the peninsula. The 300 thousand Tartars account for 12 percent of Crimea\u2019s population.<\/p>\n
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A Romanian soldier was killed and five others wounded by an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan this morning. According to a communique of the Defence Ministry in Bucharest, the soldiers went on a joint patrol mission with the Afghan forces on the highway linking Kabul to Kandahar. Romania has so far lost 26 soldiers in various operation theatres. We recall that 1050 Romanian soldiers are still deployed to Afghanistan.<\/p>\n
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Romanian foreign minister Titus Corlatean and his Canadian counterpart John Baird are having talks in Bucharest on several topical issues such as the bilateral relations, cooperation inside NATO as well as the latest European and international developments. According to the Romanian Foreign Ministry the visit reflects Canada\u2019s appreciation of the active role Romania is playing in maintaining a climate of peace and security in the region against the background of the latest events taking place close to the European Union and NATO as well as the staunch support Romania gives to the European progress of the states in the Eastern Partnership including the Republic of Moldova.<\/p>\n
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As of today the Romanian minister delegate for the Romanians from all over the world in the Bucharest government, Bogdan Stanoevici is paying a formal visit to Spain. High on the agenda are talks with representatives of the Romanian associations in that country and with officials from the cities, where the Romanian community, which currently stands at a total of 700 thousand people, is significant. Stanoevici will also represent the Romanian government at the funeral of the former Spanish Premier Adolfo Suarez, head of the democratic government in Madrid in the late 70s, after the dictatorship of general Francisco Franco.<\/p>\n
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