May 18, 2017

Romanian intelligence foils cyberattack; Romanian Senate Speaker attends Warsaw summit

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Newsroom, 18.05.2017, 13:45

CYBERATTACK- The cyberattack against the Foreign Ministry in Bucharest, countered last Friday, was a surgical strike against specific employees, according to Anton Rog, the head of the national cyberintelligence center of the Romanian Intelligence Service. According to him, such attacks are usually the act of a state agency. Previously, the RIS had said that, most likely, the attempt originated with the cybercrime group APT28/ Fancy Bear, identified with previous events of this kind. Also according to Rog, the event was different from the WannaCry ransomware attack last week, which has touched Romania too.

COMMISSIONER — European Commissioner for Competition, Margrethe Vestager, is on a visit to Romania, meeting the Prime Minister, Sorin Grindeanu. The visit comes after the EC passed new regulations on granting state aid, waiving the right of the EC to endorse state aid for ports and airports and certain cultural initiatives. The aim is to facilitate public investment, creating jobs and economic growth, without affecting competition. Commissioner Vestager said that Brussels wants to create an optimal context on the common market to encourage fair competition.

WARSAW — Romanian Speaker of the Senate Calin Popescu-Tariceanu is on a visit to Poland, attending the summit of heads of Parliament from Central and Eastern Europe. On the agenda are issues like regional security, development of infrastructure on the north-south axis, as well as the role of legislative assemblies in international politics. He will hold a speech on the importance of observing fundamental values for a modern identity, which Romania adopted when joining the EU in 2007, when he was Prime Minister.

TENNIS — Simona Halep, the Romanian tennis player now ranked 4th in the WTA, plays today against Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, ranked 17th, in the eighth finals of the Rome tournament, with 2.7 million USD at stake. This is their sixth face-off, with the Romanian winning every game. Halep has previously emerged victorious in Madrid. In the mens doubles, Florin Mergea, pairing up with Pakistani Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi, plays against the Polish-Brazilian pair Lukasz Kubot- Felipe Melo.

WASHINGTON — The US Department of Justice appointed former FBI director Robert Mueller as special prosecutor in the investigation on alleged ties between the Trump election campaign and Russia, according to the Guardian. This comes eight days after President Trump fired FBI Director James Comey. This new scandal comes shortly after the one involving the president allegedly conveying highly classified information to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

ATHENS — The Greek Parliament votes today on new austerity measures demanded by international lenders. Yesterday, a general strike was staged in Greece in transportation, public administration and health. Thousands took to the streets in Athens to protest proposed budget reforms. The country needs financing to pay its 7.5 billion Euro debt by July. The government promised it would slash pensions in 2019. PM Alexis Tsipras, who won the 2015 elections on promises he would end austerity, was forced a few months later to accept a new rescue plan negotiated with lenders in order to avoid insolvency.