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A30 world news
Diaranson 23 December 2020

Former banker named PM-designate after Romania election

left-leaning populist par- of this government to get the not muster support from
ty that won most votes at country as swiftly as possible more than half of lawmakers
a parliamentary election through the health crisis, in the assembly to be able to
earlier this month. with the least possible costs form a government.
for the Romanians, and to re- The PSD, which held power
President Klaus Iohannis cover the economy and get it before the current adminis-
named former banker Florin back on its feet.” tration, has faced accusations
Citu as the candidate to form Citu is from the ruling Na- of populism and corrup-
the next government at a tional Liberal Party (NLP) tion that triggered months
time when Romania is strug- whose leader and former PM of street protests before the
gling against the ongoing Ludovic Orban resigned in NLP took over a year ago.
coronavirus pandemic and its the wake of the Dec. 6 vote. Citu is now set to name
economic fallout. Citu is backed by two more Cabinet members who will
Citu said after the nomina- parties, giving him 244 law- need lawmakers’ approval to
tion that he will do every- makers in the two chambers take office. Citu’s coalition
thing in his power to form a of Romania’s 465-member also includes the progres-
stable government. parliament. sive USR-Plus alliance and
(AP) — Romania’s presi- minister-designate after “Romania is going through a The opposition Socialist a Hungarian minority party,
dent on Tuesday ap- three pro-Western cen- double crisis in this period, a Democratic Party (PSD) won both which have pledged to
pointed the outgoing fi- trist groups joined forces health one and an economic the most votes in the election push forward with economic
nance minister as prime to keep out of power a one,” he said. “It is the task — around 30%. But it could and social reforms.

Bosnian Serbs say icon given to Russian minister not stolen

(AP) — An Orthodox icon backed rebels have been tigation about its origin.
presented to Russia’s for- fighting Ukrainian troops in After more than a week’s si-
eign minister had not been a six-year conflict. Dozens of lence, Dodik’s office said in
stolen from the Ukraine, Serbs have fought alongside a statement that the icon was
the office of Bosnia’s Serb the pro-Russia rebels in the not stolen and that it not a
leader said Tuesday, amid conflict. piece of “cultural heritage or
an international diplo- The Ukrainian Embassy in national treasure.” It said it is
matic spat over its origins. Sarajevo has requested infor- “a church-blessed icon” that
mation on how the Bosnian ordinary Orthodox faithful
The presiding Serb member Serb leader came to possess keep in their homes.
of Bosnia’s three-member the icon, noting that the fail- The statement did not say
presidency, Milorad Dodik, ure to provide the informa- how Dodik came to possess
gifted the gilded icon to Rus- tion would mean Bosnia is the religious artwork or how
sia’s Foreign Minister Sergey supporting Russia’s “aggres- it was brought to Bosnia.
Lavrov when he visited Bos- sive policy and military ac- Instead, it condemned rival
nia on Dec. 14. tions” in eastern Ukraine. Bosnian politicians and me-
The icon, which was said to Russia’s foreign ministry said dia of spreading lies aiming to
be 300 years old, is believed Saturday it would return the harm Serb-Russian relations. two Orthodox nations,” the sian politician, also tested
to have originated from east- icon to the Bosnian Serbs for “Hideous lies cannot hurt the statement said. positive for the coronavirus
ern Ukraine, where Russia- an international police inves- brotherly ties between the Dodik, a staunch pro-Rus- on Tuesday.

Iran nuclear deal members urge Tehran return to compliance

(AP) — World powers Tehran insists it doesn’t want the purity to which it is al- obliged to follow the restric- that “the participants con-
that are part of a land- to do. lowed to enrich uranium. tions, arguing that the U.S. firmed their firm commit-
mark 2015 nuclear deal President-elect Joe Biden has German Foreign Ministry first violated the agreement, ment to the nuclear deal, as
with Iran urged Tehran on said he hopes to return the spokeswoman Maria Ade- known as the Joint Com- well as readiness to undertake
Wednesday to roll back vi- U.S. to the deal, which was bahr said Wednesday’s meet- prehensive Plan or Action, intensive diplomatic efforts
olations of the accord and negotiated while he was vice ing of political directors and or JCPOA, when President to ensure its full implemen-
return to full compliance president. deputy foreign ministers Donald Trump pulled out of tation.”
during a virtual meeting But complicating that, Iran would assess implementation the deal and imposed crip-
in Vienna, a German offi- is now in violation of most of the nuclear accord, and pling economic sanctions on The deal promises Iran eco-
cial said. major restrictions set out in that the European countries Iran. nomic incentives in exchange
the agreement, including the would demand Iran return to The Russian delegate to the for curbs on its nuclear pro-
The meeting came as the amount of enriched uranium full compliance. JCPOA, Mikhail Ulyanov, gram, but with the reinstate-
signatories to the agreement it is allowed to stockpile and Iran has said it is no longer tweeted after the meeting ment of American sanctions,
— Germany, France, Britain, the other nations have been
China and Russia — con- struggling to provide Iran the
tinue to try and keep it from assistance it seeks.
collapsing after the unilateral Despite Iran’s violations, the
withdrawal of the United International Atomic Energy
States in 2018. Agency has reported that
Tehran continues to give in-
The three European pow- spectors full access to its nu-
ers have expressed hope that clear sites — a key reason the
with the change of adminis- JCPOA member nations say
trations in Washington, the it is worth preserving.
U.S. could be brought back Delegates to Wednesday’s
into the deal, whose goal is to meeting agreed to hold fur-
prevent Iran from developing ther “informal” ministerial-
a nuclear bomb — something level talks on Dec. 21.