October 12, 2013 UPDATE
Click here for a roundup of domestic and international news.
Roxana Vasile, 12.10.2013, 18:44
The Romanian authorities don’t have any information indicative of the fact that CIA detention or drop-off centres have ever existed on Romanian territory or that the Romanian airports have been used by the US agency to carry or detain prisoners suspected of terrorism. The announcement has been made by the Romanian Foreign Ministry, which took note of the Resolution adopted by the European Parliament on the alleged use of European countries by the CIA for the transport and illegal detention of prisoners. As regards the appeal launched to Romania and 12 other EU member states to start an independent, unbiased, extensive and efficient inquiry, the Romanian Foreign Ministry makes clear that such measures have already been taken. The Romanian authorities recall that Romania has already made a thorough and extremely transparent investigation.
The Romanian special parliamentary committee set up to analyse the controversial gold exploitation project at Rosia Montana has completed the series of hearings and is expected to draft a report by Friday, which is to be debated in a plenary session by Parliament. For three weeks now, the aforementioned parliamentary committee has heard members of the government, representatives of the Canadian investor and of civil society. We recall that thousands of people have recently protested in the University Square in Bucharest and in many cities across Romania against the cyanide-based exploitation of gold in the Apuseni Mountains, whereas the miners in the area have expressed their support for the project.
A new earthquake with the epicentre in the region of Vrancea, eastern Romania was registered on Saturday, at noon. The tremor measured 3.5 degrees on Richter’s scale. It hits Vrancea just a week after a quake measuring 5.5 degrees rocked the same area, being felt as far as Bucharest, northern Bulgaria and the Republic of Moldova. Since March, Vrancea has been rocked by six quakes with a magnitude of over 4 degrees, that is almost one per month. In another move, the neighbouring Galati county has been rocked by over 30 quakes with a magnitude of over 2.5 degrees on Richter’s scale, since September the 23rd.
Romania is represented for the first time in the leading board of the NATO PA. MP Gabriel Vlase, on Saturday was elected vice-president of this body, during the proceedings of the annual meeting, held in Croatia. Gabriel Vlase said his being elected by vote shows that our country is a trustworthy partner for the other NATO member states. NATO PA, was set up in 1955 and has 257 members (MPs from the 28 NATO member states) and 66 delegates (with no right to vote, MPs from the 14 associated countries, among which Russia and the Republic of Moldova.
The UN Security Council has authorised the creation of a joint mission of the UN and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, OPCW, in an effort to eliminate Syria’s chemical weapon stockpile. Early this week, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has recommended the creation of an approximately 100 people strong mission, headquartered in Damascus and having a base in Cyprus, in charge of destroying Syria’s chemical weapons by June the 30th 2014. A team of UN and OPCW experts has already been present in Syria since October the 1st. OPCW, set up in 1997 and headquartered in the Hague, on Friday got the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize. The Romanian Foreign Ministry has hailed the decision by the Norwegian Nobel Committee and the active role played by OPCW.
At least three people, among whom two Afghan policemen were killed in Jalalabad, the largest city in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday. FP recalls car bombings and suicide bombings are the most frequently used method by Taliban fundamentalists, who are carrying out the most extensive insurgency since they were removed from power in 2001, by a US-led international coalition. The car bombing comes just one day after US Secretary of State, John Kerry, arrived in Kabul, on a two-day surprise visit. Kerry is trying to take out of the deadlock the difficult negotiations with Afghan president Hamid Karzai, on the issue of maintaining US troops in Afghanistan post 2014 and following the withdrawal of the 87 thousand NATO military from Afghanistan.
