February 3, 2024

Click here for a roundup of local and world news

Newsroom, 03.02.2024, 13:55

AGREEMENT The PM
of Romania Marcel Ciolacu and the representatives of farmers and carriers
Friday reached an agreement ending the recent protests. On Monday, the PM’s
office will set up an inter-ministry committee tasked with identifying the best
solutions for the protesters’ demands. Farmers and carriers in Romania
protested for 3 weeks against high business costs, low prices for produce, the
import of cheap foodstuffs from Ukraine and the constraints introduced by the
EU as part of its climate change action.

COMMEMORATION A
ceremony commemorating the prominent politician Iuliu Maniu, a former prime
minister of Romania and leader of the National Christian-Democratic Party, was
held on Saturday at the Memorial for the victims of communism in Sighetu
Marmaţiei (north-west). Maniu died on the night of February 4 1953, in the political
prison in Sighet, where he was serving a life sentence for high treason
pronounced by the communist regime. His name was cleared under a Supreme Court
ruling in 1998, and a monument was erected in his honour in the Revolution
Square in Bucharest.

MOLDOVA Chişinău
extended an entry ban against the leader of the Romanian nationalist party AUR,
George Simion, by another 5 years. Under Moldova’s legislation, foreigners may
be declared undesirables if they have or if there are strong reasons to believe
they intend to conduct activities likely to endanger the country’s national
security or public order. According to the R. of Moldova, the Romanian
authorities have been notified in this respect, and George Simion challenged
the decision in court. The AUR leader was expelled from Moldova in 2018, with
an entry ban in place for a period of 5 years.

MIDDLE EAST The
US conducted scores of air raids against targets operated by Iran-controlled
groups in Iraq and Syria. The Pentagon said the raids were a response to the recent
drone attack by Iran-supported fighters, which killed 3 US troops at a military
base in Jordan, the BBC reports. Taking part in Friday’s raids were B1
long-range bombers, flying out of the US. Iran condemned the strikes, claiming
they violated the sovereignty of Syria and Iraq, AFP reports. In Bagdad, a
government spokesman announced the US strikes in western Iraq killed at least
16 people, including civilians. Meanwhile, the US state secretary Antony
Blinken will travel to Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar, Israel and the West Bank
between February 4-8, primarily to reach a deal securing the freeing of all the
Israeli hostages kept in Gaza following the Hamas terror attack of October 7.

TENNIS The
Romanian player Marius Copil takes on Stefanos Tsitsipas, no. 10 in the world,
in Athens today, in the first match between Romania and Greece in the playoffs
for the Davis Cup World Group I. The second singles match will be pitting Nicholas
David Ionel against Aristotelis Thanos. The doubles match and 2 other singles
games are scheduled for Sunday. Romania and Greece played twice against each
other in the Davis Cup before, with one win each. Previously in this year’s competition,
in the first round of the World Group I, Romania lost to Taiwan and Greece was
defeated by Slovakia. (AMP)