Moldova

Justice Minister Victoria Iftode on Monday evening rejected a draft bill aimed at giving more electoral rights to Moldovan citizens living abroad.

The MPs behind the draft legislation wanted elections to be held over two consecutive days so that all Moldovan citizens can exercise their right to vote.

Moldovan Prime Minister Pavel Filip on Thursday said that compulsory military service will be gradually abolished by 2021, as Moldova makes the switch to a purely professional army.

Senator Christopher Coons on Tuesday tabled a draft resolution at the US Senate calling on Russia to fulfil the commitments it made at an OSCE summit in 1999 and pull its soldiers out of Moldova's breakaway region of Transnistria.

The resolution urges Russia to "withdraw its military forces and munitions from within the internationally recognised territory of Moldova".

Moldova will host on Friday and Saturday a gathering of conservative, anti-gay and anti-abortion Christian groups called the World Congress of Families under the auspices of pro-Russian President Igor Dodon.

Also, the event has the support of the benefit fund of Igor Dodon`s wife, Galina Dodon, an NGO which allegedly conducts some political driven social campaigns.

After Moldova's President, Igor Dodon, was involved in a car accident on Sunday, some pro-Russian Socialist deputies have claimed that he was the victim of a murder attempt.

"This was not an accident but a direct blow to the car. This is an attempt at murder!" Socialist deputy Vlad Batrincea wrote on Facebook.

Moldova's Prime Minister, Pavel Filip, and the Speaker of Parliament, Andrian Candu, both members of the ruling Democratic Party, on Thursday summoned the heads of the country's intelligence service for a hearing in parliament.

Moldova's breakaway region of Transnistria celebrated the 28th anniversary from its so-called independence on September 2, 1990, on Sunday.

The Moldovan authorities have authorised simultaneous protests in the Great National Assembly Square in Chisinau on Saturday for pro-Romanian Unionists and for pro-Russian Socialists members and sympathizers.

Moldova's main media NGOs on Tuesday signed a joint statement, condemning police actions that limited journalists' right to report on the protests organized on August 26 and 27.

The public protests were organized by the opposition Resistance Movement - ACUM and the pro-Russian Sor Party, which is allegedly working under the command of the ruling pro-EU Democratic Party.

Romania's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE) is carefully and concernedly following the developments in the situation created at the border between Romania and Moldova and asking, "in the spirit of dialogue and co-operation that characterises the relationship between the two countries" for explanations on why Romanian citizens were not allowed to cross the border.