March 15, 2024 UPDATE
A roundup of local and international news.
Newsroom, 15.03.2024, 19:18
Energy drinks ban. The sale of energy drinks to minors is banned in Romania from Friday. Vendors are no longer allowed to sell these products to young people in Romania and offenders can get up to 6 thousand Euros in fines for selling these products in hospitals, schools or other places frequented by minors. The new amendments refer to drinks containing carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, caffeine and other compounds that stimulate the nervous system.
Food waste. Romanian president Klaus Iohannis on Friday signed into law a bill on the reduction of food waste. Products that are about to expire will therefore be cheaper and the procedure allowing NGOs to receive food that is not very perishable will be simplified. The law also provides for measures to channel animal products that cannot be consumed by humans to animal shelters and turning food waste into compost or biofuel. Businesses in the hospitality sector are obliged to clearly and visibly inform their customers that they can take their leftovers in a doggy bag with no additional charges and in proper packaging conditions.
Russia elections. Presidential elections have already kicked off in the Russian Far East and are due to end in the Kaliningrad enclave at the Baltic Sea on Sunday. Polling stations have been set up including in the occupied territories in Ukraine, as well as in the breakaway region of Transdniester, in spite of the rules imposed by the authorities in Chisinau who said Russian citizens can only vote at the embassy headquarters. Under the latest Constitutional amendments and in the absence of a real opponent, the incumbent president, Vladimir Putin, is set to win his fifth term in office, which would make him the longest-serving Russian leader, more than the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. Putin’s three rivals in the presidential race are opposing neither the invasion of Ukraine nor the anti-opposition reprisals. The authorities in Moscow have cautioned they will not tolerate any protest rally. The United States, NATO and the European Union have said the Russian elections cannot be considered free and fair and a spokesperson in Brussels said that recognising their outcome is up to on each member state.
Ukraine. The United States will continue to support Ukraine with military equipment, while at the same time working with Romania, the European Union and the Republic of Moldova to improve the infrastructure allowing the transit of Ukrainian products, US ambassador to Bucharest Kathleen Kavalec said on Friday. She said the US announced an additional package of weapons and equipment for Ukraine and promised to support the administration in Kyiv against Russian invaders. Kavalec visited the Siret border crossing point, on Romania’s northern border with Ukraine, together with the president of the Suceava county council Gheorghe Flutur and the governor of the Cernăuţi region in Ukraine, Ruslan Zaparaniuk. (CM)
