Supreme Defence Council

Romania is set to participate in a set of ten projects included in the European Union's newly-created Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) defence fund, which was set up to enable closer military cooperation and integration between EU member states.

Romanian telecommunications minister Marius Bostan said on Monday that draft legislation to compel all pre-paid simcard purchasers to reveal their identities will be sent to parliament soon.

"It says that people purchasing pre-paid cards will have to submit their personal data to the authorities," Bostan said.

The first immigrants that Romania has agreed to take in at the EU's request will arrive in November, presidential adviser Leonard Orban, has said, although the government promptly declined to confirm this.

Thousands of Romanians protested in cities across the country on Saturday, calling on the government and parliament to find ways to better protect the country's forests against illegal loggers.

Over 3,000 people gathered in Bucharest, while thousands also demonstrated in the Transylvanian cities of Cluj and Brasov, and in Timisoara, Iasi and Galati.

"European governments that cooperated with the CIA's secret detention, interrogation and torture operations as part of the USA's global 'war on terror' must act urgently to bring those responsible to justice following a US Senate report containing new details," Amnesty International said in a briefing paper published on Monday.

Anyone buying a prepay card in Romania in future will have to submit their personal data, their name and ID number respectively, according to a bill adopted on Thursday by the Romanian government.

The aim is to allow Romania's intelligence services to identify prepay card holders, if a judge decides it is necessary.