Politicians

Siegfried Muresan and Adina Valean are the picks of the Orban Government for Romania's European Commissioner.      The announcement was made Wednesday by Prime Minister Ludovic Orban, and the decision was made at a Government meeting also attended by President Klaus Iohannis.

Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias on Wednesday expressed hope that the meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov will mark the start of a new chapter of Greece's bilateral relations with Russia.

French President Emmanuel Macron and Chinese President Xi Jinping on Nov. 6 issued a joint statement reaffirming their strong support for the "irreversible" Paris Agreement on climate change, from which the U.S. announced its exit this week.

Senator Bob Menendez, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has called on US President Donald Trump to cancel any invitation to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to the White House until he commits himself to upholding democratic values.

Social Democratic Party (PSD) Chairwoman Viorica Dancila, the Social Democrats candidate in the presidential election, says President Klaus Iohannis exerted "a form of pressure" placing him "in a conflict of interest situation" through his presence and statements made at the mandate takeover ceremonies at the Justice (MJ) and Interior Ministry (MAI).

Athens is keen to strengthen bilateral ties with Moscow, Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias has said, while expressing Greece's backing of initiatives aimed at improving strained ties between the European Union and Russia.

Members of the Association of Victims and Witnesses of Genocide and their supporters gathered on Tuesday in front of the Swedish embassy in Sarajevo to protest against the decision last month by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to award the Nobel Prize for literature to author Peter Handke, who took a pro-Serb stance during wartime.

The first news the prime minister heard when he got off the plane following a trip to Berlin on Tuesday, 30 August, was that 13 boats had reached the shores of northeastern Lesvos. En masse and in an organized manner, 530 migrants and refugees had arrived on the island, ramping up the already considerable pressure on the authorities and the local community.

French and Chinese presidents will sign a document stressing the "irreversibility" of the Paris Climate Agreement, the Elysee Palace reports.

The two will sign the document on Wednesday when a personal meeting is scheduled.

Emmanuel Macron is in Shanghai, for the city's largest trade show. The President of China will also be there to open the fair with a speech.

The members of the Government headed by Ludovic Orban on Monday took the oath of office at the Cotroceni Presidential Palace before President Klaus Iohannis.