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Romanian port operators shipped 8.6 million tonnes last year, and 6.3 million tonnes in the first five months of 2023, the Constanta Port authority told Reuters. The port handled 12.17 million tonnes of grains overall in the first five months, a 21% jump on the year. "There are premises that Constanta Port will see a new traffic record," the authority said. As a result, the port could be overwhelmed, even if Black Sea grain initiative is extended, according to Cezar Gheorghe of Romanian grain market consultancy AGRIColumn. The port has a storage capacity of 2 million tonnes, but flows need to be stringently separated for origin certification.

Persons: Cezar Gheorghe, Gheorghe, Luiza Ilie, Marek Strzelecki, Pavel Polityuk, David Evans Organizations: United, Constanta Port, Reuters, AGRIColumn, European Union, EU, Thomson Locations: BUCHAREST, Constanta, Romania, Ukraine, United Nations, Turkey, Romanian, Constanta Port, Moldova, Odessa, Istanbul, Russian, Suez, Western Ukraine, Bucharest, Europe, Warsaw

☆ Romania's Hidroelectrica tops $10 billion valuation in 'historic' IPO
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BUCHAREST, July 5 (Reuters) - Romanian energy producer Hidroelectrica's IPO has been priced at 104 lei ($22.87) per share, it said on Wednesday, implying a market capitalisation of $10.3 billion in what a government minister described as a "historic success." "We are happy to see the strong investor interest which has driven a successful outcome," said Chief Executive Bogdan Badea. The stock will start trading on July 12 on the Bucharest bourse. The government will retain its 80% holding in the country's largest energy producer, which has power capacity of 6.3 gigawatts from 182 hydroelectric plants. The performance of the shares once they start trading will be watched closely.

Persons: Bogdan Badea, Fondul Proprietatea, Franklin Templeton, Sebastian Burduja, Austria's Verbund, Luiza Ilie, Pablo Mayo, Alexandra Schwarz, David Goodman Organizations: Bucharest bourse, U.S, EU, Bucharest Stock Exchange, Romanian Energy, CAB Payments, Bankers, Vienna Stock Exchange, Pablo Mayo Cerqueiro, Thomson Locations: BUCHAREST, Romanian, Bucharest, London

☆ Influencer Andrew Tate to stay under house arrest, court rules
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BUCHAREST, June 23 (Reuters) - Internet personality Andrew Tate will remain under house arrest in Romania for another 30 days from the end of June pending trial on charges of human trafficking, a Bucharest court ruled on Friday. They are under house arrest pending an investigation into abuses against seven women whom prosecutors say were lured through false claims of relationships, accusations the suspects have denied. The four suspects were held in police custody from Dec. 29 until March 31 before a Bucharest court put them under house arrest, which prosecutors on Tuesday sought to extend. The court needs to approve preventative restrictive measures such as house arrest every 30 days. "We're not the first affluent wealthy men who have been unfairly attacked," Tate told reporters on Wednesday after the hearing.

Persons: Andrew Tate, Tate, Tristan, We're, Prosecutors, Luiza Ilie, Octav, Alan Charlish, Peter Graff Organizations: Thomson Locations: BUCHAREST, Romania, Bucharest, United States, Britain

☆ Exclusive: Romania mulling measures to protect farmers at Constanta port, source says
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] A view of the cereal terminal with grain silo in the Black Sea port of Constanta, Romania, May 11, 2022. The harvest season begins around July, when Ukraine's Black Sea grain corridor could collapse, and it typically runs until October. At its peak, Constanta port handled roughly 25 million tones of grain exports a year. Agritel estimates its wheat harvest at 8.76 million tonnes, while grain trade association Coceral sees it at 9.57 million tonnes and Romanian consultancy AGRIColumn at 10.5 million tonnes. By comparison, Romanian consultancy AGRIColumn expects Romania will have up to 21 million tonnes of grains and oilseeds available to export in the 2023/2024 season.

Persons: Olimpiu Gheorghiu, Coceral, AGRIColumn, Luiza Ilie, Louise Heavens Organizations: REUTERS, Union, United, Reuters, European Union, EU, Thomson Locations: Black, Constanta, Romania, BUCHAREST, Ukraine, United Nations, Turkey, Brussels, Kyiv, Romanian

☆ Romanian prosecutors send Andrew Tate to trial for human trafficking
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-20 | by ( Luiza Ilie | Thomson Reuters | Bucharest-Based General News Reporter Covering A Wide Range Of Romanian Topics Elections | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] Andrew Tate and Tristan Tate are escorted by police officers outside the headquarters of the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism in Bucharest (DIICOT) after being detained for 24 hours, in Bucharest, Romania, December 29, 2022. Inquam Photos/Octav Ganea via REUTERS/File... Read moreBUCHAREST, June 20 (Reuters) - Romanian prosecutors sent social media influencer Andrew Tate, his brother Tristan and two other suspects to trial on Tuesday on charges of human trafficking, rape and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women. The brothers, former kickboxers who have U.S. and British nationality, are the highest profile suspects to be sent to trial for human trafficking in Romania. "Im sure this case has absolutely nothing to do with stealing my wealth," Andrew Tate said on his Twitter account. Prosecutors have said the Tate brothers recruited their victims by seducing them and falsely claiming to want a relationship or marriage.

Persons: Andrew Tate, Tristan Tate, Ganea, Read, Tristan, Tate, Prosecutors, cryptocurrency, Luiza Ilie, Jason Hovet, Alexandra Hudson, Angus MacSwan Organizations: Terrorism, REUTERS, Prosecutors, U.S . State Department, Thomson Locations: Bucharest, Romania, BUCHAREST

☆ OMV Petrom makes largest crude oil discovery in decades
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BUCHAREST, June 13 (Reuters) - Romanian oil and gas group OMV Petrom (ROSNP.BX), majority-controlled by Austria's OMV (OMVV.VI), said on Tuesday it discovered new crude oil and natural gas deposits equal to about three quarters of its overall 2022 production. The deposits are the largest crude oil discovery OMV Petrom has made in decades, it said, and were found in southern Romania holding over 30 million barrerls of oil equivalent (boe) of recoverable resources. OMV Petrom has said it expected a decision around the middle of this year for the Neptun Deep gas project, estimated to cost around 4 billion euros ($4.32 billion). In May, Romanian lawmakers changed the law to enforce an additional tax on refined crude oil which applies to OMV Petrom. OMV Petrom shares were up 0.65% on the day on the Bucharest Stock Exchange by 1135 GMT.

Persons: Austria's OMV, Petrom, Cristian Hubati, Romgaz, OMV Petrom, Luiza Ilie, Jason Hovet, Alan Charlish Organizations: Bucharest Stock Exchange, Thomson Locations: BUCHAREST, Romania

☆ Romanian prosecutors change human trafficking charge against Andrew Tate
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BUCHAREST, June 13(Reuters) - Romanian prosecutors said on Tuesday that social media influencer Andrew Tate, his brother Tristan and two other suspects were being investigated for human trafficking in continued form, saying it was a more serious crime than separate counts of trafficking. The Tate brothers and two Romanian female suspects are under house arrest pending a criminal investigation for suspected human trafficking, rape and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women, accusations they have denied. Under Romanian legislation, prosecutors have filed charges against the four suspects, but the case is under investigation and has not yet gone to trial. On Tuesday, Romania's DIICOT anti-organised crime prosecuting unit notified the Tate brothers that the human trafficking charge had changed to trafficking in continued form, a DIICOT spokesperson said. Also on Tuesday, DIICOT prosecutors said they had opened a separate criminal investigation against a Romanian man close to the Tate brothers on allegations of human trafficking and forming a criminal crime group to sexually exploit seven women.

Persons: Andrew Tate, Tristan, Tate, Romania's, DIICOT, Vlad Obuzic, Luiza Ilie, Ed Osmond Organizations: Prosecutors, Tate, Thomson Locations: BUCHAREST, Bucharest, Romanian

Farmers in Poland and other eastern European countries who held out for higher prices have been hit by a perfect storm. A jump in exports from Brazil and Russia helped to drive global grain prices lower while the EU opened its borders to tariff-free Ukrainian grain imports in a show of solidarity after Russia blocked the country's Black Sea ports. After opening its borders to Ukrainian grain, Poland imported 2.08 million tonnes of maize and 579,315 tonnes of wheat last year, up from just 6,269 tonnes of maize and 3,033 tonnes of wheat in 2021. If the grain corridor due to expire this month were to collapse, Ukrainian farmers would have little option but to send all their grain exports through eastern Europe. European wheat prices hit post-harvest highs in October 2022 of more than 350 euros a tonne but since then prices have dropped to pre-invasion levels of about 235 euros.

☆ Romanian prosecutors add charge against online personality Tristan Tate
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BUCHAREST, April 25(Reuters) - Romanian prosecutors said on Tuesday they are investigating online personality Tristan Tate on an additional charge of inciting others to violence in a case in which he and his more famous brother Andrew are accused of sexually exploiting women. On Monday, Romania's DIICOT anti-organised crime prosecuting unit notified Tristan Tate that an additional charge of inciting others to violence was added to his name, DIICOT spokesperson Ramona Bolla told Reuters. On Twitter, Tristan Tate said prosecutors were making up new charges without evidence. Under Romanian legislation, prosecutors have filed charges against the four suspects, but the case is under investigation and has not gone to trial. The spokesperson said the prosecutors were also looking into accusations of money laundering, but had not issued any related charges.

☆ World leaders are lining up to meet Xi Jinping. Should the US be worried?
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Simone Mccarthy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

Hong Kong CNN —Xi Jinping has had a busy couple of weeks. “(Chinese leaders) believe it’s time now for China to make its strategic plans,” said Li Mingjiang, an associate professor of international relations at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University. Beijing has watched uneasily as the war in Ukraine has driven the US and its European allies closer. When French President Emmanuel Macron arrived in Beijing last week, Xi drew comparisons between China and France: both “major countries with a tradition of independence,” Xi said, and “firm advocates for a multi-polar world” – or a world without a dominant superpower. But how Beijing navigates these initiatives, observers say, comes down to a bottom line that’s integrally related to Xi’s global ambitions and world view.

The Black Sea and its Ukrainian coast have been crucial theatres of war since Russia's invasion of Ukraine last year. "The Black Sea is instrumental for making the whole of Europe peaceful and future-oriented," Kuleba, speaking via video link, told a Black Sea security conference in the Romanian capital Bucharest. It's time to turn the Black Sea into what the Baltic Sea has become, a sea of NATO." The remarks were brushed aside in Moscow, where Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a briefing: "The Black Sea can never be a NATO sea." Romanian Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu said a strong NATO foothold in the Black Sea going forward was a "must."

☆ Romania aims to buy F-35 fighter planes to boost air defences
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BUCHAREST, April 11 (Reuters) - Romania aims to buy the latest generation U.S. F-35 fighter planes to boost its air defences, the country's supreme defence council (CSAT) said in a statement on Tuesday. The European Union and NATO state has raised defence spending to 2.5% of gross domestic product this year from 2%, in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Last year, President Klaus Iohannis said Romania was mulling acquiring F-35 planes, which are made by U.S. weapons maker Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N). In March, the defense ministry said Romania would buy Abrams tanks made by General Dynamics (GD.N), as part of wider defence acquisitions plans. In December, Romania's defence ministry signed a deal to acquire seven Watchkeeper X unmanned aircraft systems from Israeli defence electronics firm Elbit Systems (ESLT.TA) for roughly 1.89 billion lei ($418.02 million).

☆ Romanian farmers block borders in protest over Ukrainian grain imports
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BUCHAREST, April 7 (Reuters) - Thousands of farmers protested across Romania on Friday over the impact of Ukrainian grain imports on prices, blocking traffic and border checkpoints with tractors and trucks and urging the European Commission to intervene. Anger is rising among farmers in Central and Eastern Europe over a flood of cheap Ukrainian grain imports, exempt from customs fees until June 2024, which have hurt prices and sales of local producers. Across the country, thousands of farmers used tractors, trucks and other machinery to block roads and borders. It decided to hand out compensation worth 56.3 million euros to Polish, Bulgarian and Romanian farmers, with more to come. On Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he expected decisions to be announced in coming days and weeks to alleviate anger among Polish farmers.

☆ Ukrainian dolphins find new home in Romanian aquarium
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BUCHAREST, April 6 (Reuters) - At the dolphinarium in the Black Sea port city of Constanta, Romanian and Ukrainian trainers are letting dolphins guide them despite language barriers. Last year, the dolphinarium took in four dolphins and three sea lions alongside their trainers and doctors fleeing the shelling in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. "Now we have more colleagues ... Ukrainian colleagues and Ukrainian dolphin colleagues," Romanian trainer Mona Mandrescu said at the edge of the pool after a mid-morning performance for hundreds of delighted school children. Romania is one out of some fourteen European Union states that have dolphinariums and captive sea animals. [1/4] Ukrainian dolphin trainer Sonia Chezghanova interacts with two dolphins at the Constanta Dolphinarium, where four dolphins and three sea lions from a destroyed aquarium in Ukraine found refuge, in Constanta, Romania, April 4, 2023.

☆ Ukrainian dolphin refugees delight Romanian kids
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Olimpiu GheorghiuBUCHAREST, April 6 (Reuters) - At the dolphinarium in the Black Sea port city of Constanta, Romanian and Ukrainian trainers are letting dolphins guide them despite language barriers. Last year, the dolphinarium took in four dolphins and three sea lions alongside their trainers and doctors fleeing the shelling in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. "Now we have more colleagues ... Ukrainian colleagues and Ukrainian dolphin colleagues," Romanian trainer Mona Mandrescu said at the edge of the pool after a mid-morning performance for hundreds of delighted school children. Romania is one out of some fourteen European Union states that have dolphinariums and captive sea animals. In Kharkiv, the local dolphinarium sought to move their dolphins and sea lions as soon as the shelling started last February.

☆ Exclusive: Romania lifts Eurobond issuance ceiling, could still downsize targets
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BUCHAREST, April 5 (Reuters) - Romania's Finance Ministry has raised its Eurobond issuance ceiling to account for indicative foreign debt plans worth 9.5 billion euros ($10.4 billion) from April until December 2024, treasury chief Stefan Nanu said. The ministry raised the maximum amount the ministry could borrow through its medium term note programme (MTN), a non-binding foreign debt issuance plan that allows debt managers to tap markets through standardised documents. The ministry sold foreign issues worth 55.6 billion euros during 2012-2023, nearly tapping out the MTN's current top value of 56 billion euros. The ministry has raised it by 6 billion euros, adding foreign issues worth 4.6 billion euros will mature this year and in 2024. "It is possible we will cut Eurobond issuance considering the way domestic funding goes."

[1/2] Andrew Tate and Tristan Tate are escorted by police officers outside the headquarters of the Bucharest Court of Appeal, in Bucharest, Romania, February 1, 2023. Inquam Photos/Octav Ganea via REUTERSBUCHAREST, March 31 (Reuters) - Social media personality Andrew Tate will be moved to house arrest on Friday evening after a Romanian court overturned prosecutors' request to keep him in police custody until late April, his lawyer said on Friday. Earlier this week, the same Bucharest court of appeals denied the Tate brothers' request to be released on bail. In previous rulings that extended their stay in police custody, judges have said the Tate brothers posed a flight risk and that their release could jeopardise the investigation. Prosecutors have said the Tate brothers recruited their alleged victims by seducing them and falsely claiming to want a relationship or marriage.

[1/3] Andrew Tate talks to media representatives while being loaded inside a van outside the headquarters of the Bucharest Court of Appel, in Bucharest, Romania, February 1, 2023. Transcriptions of the wiretapped calls are included in a previously unpublished court document, dated Feb. 21, compiled by Bucharest court officials and reviewed by Reuters. Asked if he thought Tate had been framed, he replied: "The justice system will decide, not politicians." Reuters couldn't independently verify the identity of the people in the wiretapped calls, or determine if any lobbying of politicians took place. The wiretapped calls offer a window into his multi-pronged attempts to defend himself while in detention, efforts that stretch beyond the courtroom into the realms of politics and social media.

☆ Romania investigates doctors suspected of reusing implants from dead patients
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BUCHAREST, Feb 18 (Reuters) - Romanian prosecutors said on Saturday they have opened a criminal investigation into five doctors suspected of reusing hundreds of medical implants extracted from dead patients. They said the unnamed doctor oversaw a network of four other physicians who provided him with cardiac implants extracted from deceased patients without prior approval from them or their families. Prosecutors allege the doctor performed 238 surgeries over seven years from 2017, illegally using implants extracted from dead patients or of unknown provenance and putting his patients at risk of serious complications or death. Romania's healthcare system, one of the least developed within the European Union, has been dogged by corruption, inefficiencies and politicised management. The state has built one hospital in the last three decades, spends the least on healthcare in the EU and tens of thousands of doctors and nurses have emigrated.

☆ Romania detects suspicious weather balloon in its airspace, ministry says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BUCHAREST, Feb 14 (Reuters) - The Romanian Air Force's surveillance system detected an aerial object that looked like a weather balloon flying in the country's airspace, the defence ministry said on Tuesday. Two MiG 21 LanceR jets were scrambled to the area in southeast Romania 10 minutes after the sighting but could not confirm the object's presence, the ministry said, adding the balloon was flying at an altitude of 11,000 metres. The sighting in Romania comes amidst a diplomatic spat between the United States and China after the U.S. shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon on Feb. 4. The defence ministry said the crews of the aircraft stayed in the area for 30 minutes before returning to base after not getting visual, or radar confirmation, of the target. The sighting in Romania also occurred on the same day that Moldova, which borders Romania and Ukraine, briefly closed its air space for undisclosed safety reasons, although the Romanian ministry did not link the events in its statement.

Internet celebrity Andrew Tate had offered her a new life. British-American Andrew Tate, 36, who's been based mainly in Romania since 2017, and his 34-year-old brother have denied all the allegations against them. Spokesperson Sue Beeby told Reuters that Andrew Tate "has never had" a creator account or received payments. In a separate YouTube video aimed at men who want to make money by putting women on OnlyFans, Tate called the platform "the greatest hustle in the world". The pair threatened to beat the women up if they did not do their job, according to the court document.

☆ Ex-kickboxer Andrew Tate says Romanian prosecutors have no evidence against him
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Prosecutors have said the Tate brothers recruited their victims by seducing them and falsely claiming to want a relationship or marriage. They also said Andrew Tate, a former professional kickboxer who holds U.S. and British nationality, raped one of the victims in March last year, which he had denied. Asked whether he has hurt women, Tate said: "Of course not." "There is no evidence against me," Tristan Tate told reporters on Wednesday. Andrew Tate gained mainstream notoriety for misogynistic remarks that got him banned from all major social media platforms, although his Twitter account was reinstated in November after Elon Musk acquired the social media giant.

☆ Former kickboxer Tate to remain in custody pending probe -Romanian court
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

BUCHAREST, Jan 10 (Reuters) - Divisive internet personality Andrew Tate will remain in police custody for the full 30 days he was remanded to alongside his brother and two other suspects pending a criminal investigation for human trafficking, a Romanian court ruled late on Tuesday. Tate, his brother Tristan and two Romanian female suspects were detained by Romanian anti-organised crime prosecutors on Dec. 29 on charges of forming an organised crime group to sexually exploit six women. They have denied wrongdoing through an attorney and have challenged the arrest warrant. On Tuesday, the Bucharest court of appeals said it rejected the challenge. Reporting by Luiza Ilie and Octav Ganea; Editing by Leslie AdlerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

The Romanian central bank said slower economic growth and cheaper energy would help bring inflation down to single digits this year from over 16% now, earlier than previously forecast. "So the main question is when inflation in the region will fall enough that central banks will be willing to start normalising monetary conditions." Inflation is still expected to rise in early 2023 in some central European countries, based on central bank forecasts, before returning to single-digit territory by year-end. "This will help to improve external positions and lower inflation pressures in Central and Eastern Europe." "Given the dovish bias around the growth-inflation trade-off at Poland's central bank, we think the risk of premature policy easing is greatest there."

☆ Romanian court to rule on ex-kickboxer Tate's challenge to detention
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

BUCHAREST, Jan 10 (Reuters) - A Romanian court is due to rule on Tuesday on a challenge filed by Andrew Tate, an internet personality notorious for hate speech, against his 30-day arrest for alleged human trafficking and formation of an organised crime group to exploit six women. Tate, his brother Tristan and two Romanian female suspects were detained by Romanian anti-organised crime prosecutors on Dec. 29 pending a criminal investigation. Prosecutors have said the Tate brothers recruited their victims by seducing them and falsely claiming to want a relationship. Should the court uphold the arrest warrant and the investigation need more time, prosecutors can seek approval for further extensions of up to 180 days of detention under Romanian law. Tate said, adding his business started with two girlfriends and peaked with 75 women working for him and earning $600,000 a month.

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