Bucharest

Romania's Attorney General Augustin Lazar had a meeting with visiting State Minister for European Affairs of the German Federal Foreign Office Michael Roth, who voiced concern over recent amendments to Romania's criminal legislation.

President Klaus Iohannis on Wednesday welcomed Austria's Federal Minister for Europe, Integration and Foreign Affairs Karin Kneissl, with whom he discussed the consolidation and diversification of the bilateral cooperation on all levels, in the perspective of Austria and Romania successively holding the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, as well as cooperation on a regiona

The Romanian Muftiyat, which represents Muslims in the country, has cancelled its project to build a showpiece mosque in the capital, saying the costs were too high.

The Muftiyat has filed a request to the Ministry of Culture to return the property assigned for the planned mosque to the Romanian government, Mufti Iusuf Murat said.

"Changes to the criminal codes have raised concerns about possible negative impacts; we hope that Romania will address these concerns and that Romania intends to solicit international expertise from GRECO and the Venice Commission," Austria's Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl tells AGERPRES in a recent interview, urging Romania to consolidate considerable progress in combatting corruption

Most of the Romanians choose to travel in weekend to national destinations, mainly to visit as many places as possible and due to the lack of time, and not only because of financial reasons, a tourism consultant Traian Badulescu told AGERPRES.

Not less than four Romanian tennis players are among the seeded players at the BRD Bucharest Open (WTA) tournament, equipped with total prizes worth 226,750 US dollars, to start on Monday on the BNR Arenas in the Capital City: Mihaela Buzarnescu is 2nd seeded, Irina Begu, last edition's winner, is 3rd seeded, Sorana Cirstea is seed no. 5 and Ana Bogdan is seed no. 6.

We have witnessed a "remarkable boost" in our relation with France in the recent years, and Romania's strategic partnership with this country will be further strengthened, President Klaus Iohannis stated on Saturday, on the occasion of the reception of July 14, the National Day of France, in Bucharest.

Fitch Ratings on Friday affirmed the Bucharest municipality's long-term local and foreign currency issuer default ratings (IDRs) at "BBB-," with stable outlook, informs a press release of the financial assessment agency.

The agency also affirmed the short-term foreign currency IDR at "F3."

Minister of Foreign Affairs Teodor Melescanu discussed in Bucharest with the Special Representative of the European Union for Central Asia, Peter Burian, about the situation in Central Asia and the cooperation between the EU and this region.

Sofia is ranked 18th among 150 cities in the world with the fastest rise in prices of housing, according to an international report by the consulting company Knight Frank.