Click here for a roundup of domestic and international news
LAW Romanian president Klaus Iohannis on Thursday promulgated a law, which abrogates the compensatory appeal endorsed by the Chamber of Deputies, as a decision-making forum on December 4th. The controversial law endorsed by the former Social Democratic government allowed for the release of thousands of convicts. Some of those, serving sentences for serious crimes have reoffended. Justice Minister Catalin Predoiu has recently explained that the flawed text of the law put Romanian citizens at risk. He added that the ministry he leads had drawn up a draft law with measures to be applied in penitentiaries across Romania, whose precarious state sparked off a lot of complaints to the European Court of Human Rights. The authorities are chiefly interested in improving detention conditions.
IMPEACHMENT President Donald Trump has become the third president of the United States to be impeached when the House of Representatives charged him with abuse of power for personal gain a move that paves the way for a trial in the Senate, AFP reports. Only two other presidents were impeached, Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1998. The Democrats believe that Trump is guilty of pressing his Ukrainian counterpart to launch investigation into political rival Joe Biden. President Trump has also been accused of obstructing Congress by refusing to allow his aides to testify in an inquiry and for failing to provide documents to House investigators.
CELEBRATION The European Parliament is marking today 30 years since the anti-communist revolution in Romania. The European Parliament in Strasbourg has recognized that the sacrifice of the peaceful protesters of that time paved the way for Romania's transition towards democracy. 1142 people lost their lives, over 3000 were severely wounded while other several hundred were imprisoned and tortured. The MEPs are expected to recommend the Romanian authorities to step up efforts to find out the truth about the events 30 years ago. Events commemorating the heroes of the 1989 revolution are continuing all over the country. Three decades ago, workers in factories in Timisoara, western Romania, went on a strike and created the first anti-communist organization shortly before the fall of the country's ruthless dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. December 19th was the day when the communist authorities tried to hide any evidence of the bloody repression of the peaceful demonstrations against the regime.
TRAFFIC The Romanian authorities have taken additional measures to ease traffic at the border checkpoints during the winter holidays when a significant increase in the number of tourists is expected especially at the border with the Schengen zone. In order to avoid traffic jams, border police resorted to additional measures aimed at maximizing the traffic capacity of any border check point. Over 42 hundred police troops are presently involved in surveillance and control activities at the country's borders, sources with the Romanian border police have announced.
(translated by bill)
Useful Links
Copyright © . All rights reserved