Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has signalled new threats to the mass media sector in Romania and sent the Romanian authorities a protest letter against the mechanism that will place the public employees on furlough for a temporary period, namely during the state of emergency generated by the COVID-19 outbreak.

The Centre for Independent Journalism, CJI, an NGO that promotes media freedom and good practices in journalism, has raised concern that provisions enacted as part of the state of emergency to combat the spread of the coronavirus in Romania could hamper journalists' ability to inform the public.

It was a snowy day in December 1998 and Besnik Rustemi's family was waiting for their village of Slivove/Slivovo to come under fire.

Rustemi, then six years old, was playing in his neighbours' yard with a friend. Meanwhile, his new rubber boots were waiting for him in his bedroom, ready to be worn whenever his family decided it was time to flee.

The bombing is not over either, because Serbia does not want to impose sanctions on Russia and does not want to become a NATO member, and the West does not want to accept this kind of resistance, which is why Serbia is in this position, Alexander Noy, a left-wing MP in German Bundestag, tells Sputnik.

Romania supports the efforts of the European Union - which needs to get more involved, of its strategic partners and of the international community to de-escalate the situation in the Middle East, favor dialogue and seek sustainable solutions in the region, President Klaus Iohannis said on Thursday at the meeting with the diplomatic mission heads accredited in Bucharest.

Commemorations are being held on Wednesday to mark the 21st anniversary of the massacre by Serbian forces in the Kosovo village of Recak/Racak, when 44 people were killed.

The massacre was publicised by the chief of the OSCE ceasefire verification mission to Kosovo, William Walker, who visited the scene the following day and declared it a "crime against humanity".

Representatives of the opposition Petrit Vasili (left) and Oerd Bylykbashi announcing the agreement on Tuesday. Photo: Gent Shkullaku/LSA.

The move has been applauded by the country's US and European partners, and offers a potential boost to the country's chances to open membership negotiations with European Union.

Bucharest, Jan 12 /Agerpres/ - Fourteen Romanian gendarmes, who participated for almost 6 months in the NATO mission to advise Afghan public order and security forces, returned home on Sunday.

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) decided on Dec. 18 that Turkey will take over the chairmanship of its decision-making body in January.

Albanian Parliamentary Commission of Laws, on November 22, 2019. Photo: Gjergj Erebara/BIRN

On Thursday, Mark Marku, Dean of the Department of Journalism and Communications in the University of Tirana, told MPs debating the laws in the parliament's Commission on Media and Education that "nobody in his right mind could possibly support such laws".