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☆ 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.

☆ Moldova and Romania vow to boost ties amid war in Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Inquam Photos/Octav Ganea via REUTERSBUCHAREST, March 1 (Reuters) - Moldova and Romania pledged on Wednesday to boost economic ties following Russia's invasion of neighbouring Ukraine, and Bucharest reiterated support for Chisinau's bid to join the European Union. Moldova has been hit hard by the economic fallout of the war in Ukraine, which borders both Moldova and Romania, and tensions with Russia have risen over the war in Ukraine and the tiny former Soviet republic's EU accession bid. Recean said talks also covered regional security and that Moldova, which is highly dependent on Russian gas, was considering signing long-term contracts on gas and electricity supplies from Romania. "Romania will firmly support Moldova's European agenda, economic recovery and strengthening its security," said Iohannis, whose country joined the EU in 2007. Recean said Moldova and Romania enjoyed a "special relationship" and that Romania's experience in joining the EU was helpful for Chisinau.

☆ Fact Check-Photographs show President Biden with ash on his forehead, not a bruise
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Photographs showing President Joe Biden with an Ash Wednesday smudge on his forehead are circulating with false claims that the mark is a bruise from allegedly falling down the stairs leaving Air Force One after landing in Poland. Biden can be seen with a bluish-black mark on his forehead in the images being shared across social media platforms (here), (here). The mark on Biden’s forehead is ash in the shape of a cross, which he received from a priest that day, Ash Wednesday, and not a bruise. Reuters has also previously debunked the claim that the person who fell down the stairs on Feb. 20 was Joe Biden (here). Biden’s forehead mark seen in photographs was ash applied for Ash Wednesday, not a bruise.

[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.

☆ U.S. unveils $2 billion in aid for Ukraine, sanctions and tariff hikes on Russia a year after invasion
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( Emma Kinery | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON – The United States authorized $2 billion in aid to Ukraine on the one-year anniversary of Russia's invasion Friday, and ramped up sanctions and tariffs on Moscow as it tries to bolster Kyiv's war effort. President Joe Biden met virtually with leaders of the G-7 and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday morning to mark the occasion, one year after the group first met to discuss aid. The Biden administration also announced it would sanction more than 200 individuals and entities tied to the Russian war effort, including by targeting the country's metals and mining sector. Biden has been adamant about showing the U.S.'s support for Ukraine as the war drags on into its second year. Earlier this month, Ukraine's prosecutor general, Andriy Kostin, said that regional authorities have logged more than 65,000 Russian war crimes since Moscow invaded Ukraine nearly a year ago.

☆ Czechs have sent 89 tanks, hundreds of pieces of heavy machinery to Ukraine -PM
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WARSAW, Feb 22 (Reuters) - The Czech Republic has supplied hundreds of pieces of heavy military equipment to Ukraine over the past year, including 89 tanks, and will continue supporting efforts to aid Kyiv, the country's prime minister said on Wednesday. The Czech Republic has been one of Kyiv's earliest and strongest backers. The U.S. embassy in Prague last week said the United States would provide $200 million to the Czech Republic for military upgrades and replacement of equipment sent to Ukraine. The Czech Republic has also agreed to repair Ukraine's armoured vehicles as part of it help to the country. "We will continue to support Ukraine's efforts to this end, as long as necessary," the countries' statement said.

WARSAW, Feb 22 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden will meet leaders of NATO's eastern flank on Wednesday to show support for their security after Moscow suspended a landmark nuclear arms control treaty. Hours earlier, Putin delivered lengthy remarks laden with criticism of the Western powers, blaming them for the war in Ukraine. At the meeting, Biden plans to reaffirm commitments over their security and discuss support for Ukraine before he returns to Washington. "Lithuania and other like-minded countries have several requests, which concern air defence, forward defence presence, air defence systems, and greater investments in the defence industry," Asta Skaisgiryte said. The former Soviet republic on Russia's doorstep joined NATO in 2004 and plans to host Biden in July for the security alliance's leaders' summit.

☆ Biden, Putin display their alliances with Ukraine war backdrop
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Washington is concerned Beijing could provide material support for Moscow's war in Ukraine, which began on Feb. 24 last year and has become the biggest land conflict in Europe since World War Two. Not just for Ukraine, but for the freedom of democracies throughout Europe and around the world," Biden said. In two speeches last September Putin indicated that he would, if needed, use nuclear weapons to defend Russia. "We have heard implicit threats to use nuclear weapons. The so-called tactical use of nuclear weapons is utterly unacceptable.

Biden said the West was never plotting to attack Russia and the invasion was Putin's choice. "It is a big mistake," Biden said of Putin's decision before his session with eastern European allies known as the Bucharest Nine. We will defend literally every inch of NATO, every inch of NATO," he said. The Kremlin says it regards NATO, which could soon expand to include Sweden and Finland, as an existential threat to Russia. It said the leaders looked forward to further strengthening unity and collective defense at a NATO summit in Vilnius in July.

He suspended a nuclear arms control treaty on Tuesday, accusing Washington of turning the war into a global conflict by arming Ukraine. China and Russia struck a new "no limits" partnership just weeks before the invasion, and China's foreign minister Wang Yi was due to meet Putin on Wednesday. 'FIND A SOLUTION'U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Putin's suspension of the nuclear treaty was "deeply unfortunate and irresponsible". On Wednesday, Biden will meet leaders of the Bucharest Nine, NATO's eastern members that joined the alliance after years of Cold War domination by the then Soviet Union. Two civilians were wounded in a Russian missile strike on Wednesday on industrial facilities in Kharkhiv, the biggest city in eastern Ukraine, local officials said.

☆ Biden, after trip to Ukraine, in Poland to meet NATO allies
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( Nandita Bose | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Biden will meet Polish President Andrzej Duda to discuss collective efforts to support Ukraine and thank Poland for helping the United States and other countries facilitate deliveries of military and humanitarian assistance. In the evening, Biden will give a speech on how the United States has helped rally the world to support Ukraine as the war enters its second year with no end in sight. Before leaving Warsaw for Washington on Wednesday, Biden will meet leaders of the Bucharest Nine, the eastern flank NATO allies, to reaffirm unwavering support for their security. A year ago, Biden warned skeptical allies that a massive buildup of Russian troops along Ukraine's borders was the precursor to war. Since the beginning of the war, the United States has sent more than $24 billion in security assistance to help Ukraine.

☆ 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.

☆ As his beliefs have seeped into homes and classrooms, children as young as 11 think Andrew Tate is their 'god'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-29 | by ( Lindsay Dodgson | Bethany Dawson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

Insider spoke with teachers and parents about how Tate's beliefs are seeping into young boys' minds. Insider spoke with seven teachers who said Tate's words and beliefs have significantly impacted their students — some as young as 11 years old. Many young boys are drawn in by this promise of personal development. Mary McCarthy, a mother of four from Dublin, told Insider that Tate seems to have an "intoxicating" effect on her 14-year-old son. Speaking to the BBC, Nia Williams, a psychologist and academic, addressed why so many young boys get "sucked in" by Tate's image.

☆ 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.

☆ Finland says a 'time-out' is needed in talks with Turkey over Nordic NATO membership
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Natasha Turak | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Finland's Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto arrives for the meeting of the NATO Ministers of Foreign Affairs in Bucharest, Romania, on November 30, 2022. Finland is calling for a "time-out" in talks with Turkey over Finnish and Swedish accession to NATO, after a series of events between Turkey and Sweden spiked fresh tensions and acrimony. "A time-out is needed before we return to the three-way talks and see where we are when the dust has settled after the current situation, so no conclusions should be drawn yet ... I think there will be a break for a couple of weeks," Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto told Reuters in an interview published Tuesday. "Those who allow such blasphemy in front of our embassy can no longer expect our support for their NATO membership," Erdogan said.

Andrew Tate once called his sexually explicit webcam business a “total scam” and boasted on his website that he lured women in by getting them to fall in love with him. Romanian authorities arrested him, his brother and two women on suspicion of human trafficking, rape and forming an organized crime group, according to Reuters. The webcam business that Tate ran and openly spoke about is central to these charges, according to Romanian Authorities. Some of the allegations by Romanian authorities echo what Andrew Tate has said publicly about his webcam business. Earlier this month, Vice reported that Tate was arrested in 2015 in the U.K. on suspicion of sexual assault and physical abuse, citing statements from U.K. authorities and Tate himself.

☆ NATO deploys surveillance planes to Romania, to monitor Russian activity
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BUCHAREST, Jan 17 (Reuters) - A NATO surveillance plane arrived in Romania on Tuesday to bolster the military alliance's eastern flank and help monitor Russian military activity. NATO announced last week it would deploy the Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) surveillance planes to Bucharest, where they will start reconnaissance flights solely over NATO territory. "In the context of Russia's illegal war against Ukraine, NATO will monitor military activity on the eastern flank with the help of AWACS aircraft," Romanian Defence Minister Angel Tilvar said on Facebook. NATO has boosted its air presence in eastern Europe and the Baltics since Russia invaded Ukraine in February last year, using fighter jets, surveillance planes and tankers. The aircraft deployed to Romania belong to a fleet of 14 NATO surveillance aircraft usually based in Germany.

☆ Romania extradites suspected Hell's Angels leader to U.S. on drug charges
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BUCHAREST, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Romania has extradited the suspected leader of the country's Hell's Angels chapter to the United States to face charges of drug trafficking, money laundering and complicity in attempted murder, police said on Monday. Romanian media identified the man as the biker club's country branch leader, Marius Lazar, who is wanted for being a member of an international group of drug traffickers and for negotiating the attempted killing of two rivals. [1/3] Marius Lazar, former Hells Angels Motorcycle Club leader in Romania, is escorted by law enforcement officers while being extradited to the U.S., in Otopeni, Ilfov, Romania, January 16, 2023. Marshals with face coverings as he was led to a plane, according to a Reuters witness. Romanian police began investigating Hell's Angels members in 2020, they said, working with U.S.

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