April 6, 2018 UPDATE

The US announced fresh sanctions against thirty-eight Russian individuals and entities.

Newsroom, 06.04.2018, 19:41

OECD – Romanian Foreign Minister Teodor Melescanu said on Friday in Paris that his countrys accession to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is a way to stimulate domestic reforms. He also said that Romania’s joining OECD would be a natural evolution for this country, after having joined NATO and the EU. The statement was part of a speech that Teodor Melescanu delivered at the OECD meeting dedicated to Romania. Melescanu also held talks with the Organisations’ Secretary General Angel Gurria and with permanent representatives of the member states.

SECURITY MEASURES – Over 50,000 employees of the Romanian Interior Ministry have been mobilised to maintain public order, safety and security across the country at Easter. Gendarme and police troops will be chiefly deployed around churches and other religious institutions. 250 thousand people are expected to attend more than 700 public events that will take place in Romania in the next four days. Traffic police, equipped with more than 300 traffic radars and backed by helicopters, will be monitoring traffic on Romania’s motorways at Easter.

MEASLES — In Romania, the number of people who died of measles reached 46, authorities have announced. The last victim is a nine-month baby from Constanta, south-eastern Romania, who had not been vaccinated. According to the Public Health Institute, over 200 new cases have been reported in the past week alone, in 23 counties and the capital Bucharest. In the capital city 10 new cases have been confirmed.

CATALONIA – The former chief of Catalonia’s regional government, Charles Puigdemont, on Friday called on the government in Madrid to initiate dialogue and asked for the release of the separatists detained in Spain. Carles Puigdemont left a German jail on Friday after judges ordered his release on bail, as they mull his extradition to Spain on a corruption charge, while dropping the more serious charge of rebellion. Nine separatists, among whom six former members of the province’s government, are still in prison in Spain.

MIGRANTS – Romanian border police on Friday caught 79 asylum seekers while they were trying to leave the country illegally. The 41 men, 18 women and 20 minors were discovered in a truck driven by a Serbian, at a border checkpoint in north-western Romania. The foreign citizens are from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Turkey and China.

SANCTIONS – The US announced on Friday fresh sanctions against thirty-eight Russian individuals and entities accused mainly of taking part in Russia’s attacks against western democracies, France Press reports. Seven Russian oligarchs and their companies have been targeted as well as 17 senior government officials, a state-owned weapons trader and its subsidiary, a Russian bank. All those targeted will have their assets under US jurisdiction frozen. The US has taken these measures in response to Russia’s malign actions such as the annexation of Crimea, the incitement to violence in eastern Ukraine, the support of the Syrian government and its malicious cyber activities, France Press quoted a US official as saying. (Translated by Elena Enache)