US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her Romanian counterpart signed a historic pact establishing the first US military bases in a former Warsaw Pact country.
The US takeover of bases near the Black Sea -- putting US forces within closer striking distance of potential targets in the Middle East and Central Asia -- would help "take terrorists off the streets" and save lives around the world, Rice said on Tuesday.
She called Romania -- beset by allegations that it hosted a secret CIA prison -- "a strong friend with whom we share common values."
Rice, hailing Romania as one of the US' "best allies," signed the agreement with Romanian Foreign Minister Mihai Razvan Ungureanu.
"We have a great committed partner in Romania to make a more peaceful world," Rice said before a signing ceremony in the ornate Cotroceni Palace.
"This is a symbol of burgeoning and brightening relations," she said.
President Traian Basescu, meanwhile, denied allegations that Romania hosted a covert CIA detention center and said all facilities would be open to scrutiny to prove the ex-communist country has nothing to hide.
"There was no such thing," he said, calling allegations based on aircraft movements "baseless."
New York-based Human Rights Watch, citing flight records of planes it said had direct or indirect CIA links, has pointed to Romania's Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base as among suspicious sites that may have hosted a secret prison. Top Romanian officials and the Pentagon have denied it.
The air base is among several military installations over which the US will assume control under the agreement signed on Tuesday.
Other installations in the agreement include Babadag in the Black Sea inland region, Cincu in the mountains of central Romania and Smardan in eastern Romania, which will be used for all types of weapons training.
There will be 100 personnel based in Mihail Kogalniceanu, and up to 1,500 rotational troops will use the base at any one time, according to the US State Department. The bases will be small and rotational.
Russian legislation
Meanwhile, Rice yesterday expressed concern over restrictive draft Russian legislation regulating non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
"We hope the importance of NGOs to a stable, democratic environment would be understood by the Russian Federation," Rice said at a joint news conference in Kiev with Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko.
The bill on non-commercial organizations, which has been approved by the Kremlin-controlled Duma in the first of three required readings, would require local branches of foreign NGOs to reregister as de-facto Russian entities, subject to stricter financial and legal restrictions.
Critics say the bill is another step in the Kremlin's effort to tighten control over society following the abolition of popular elections for governors in Russia's far-flung regions, effective state takeover of television and an increasingly tame parliament.
Four people jailed in the landmark Hong Kong national security trial of "47 democrats" accused of conspiracy to commit subversion were freed today after more than four years behind bars, the second group to be released in a month. Among those freed was long-time political and LGBTQ activist Jimmy Sham (岑子杰), who also led one of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy groups, the Civil Human Rights Front, which disbanded in 2021. "Let me spend some time with my family," Sham said after arriving at his home in the Kowloon district of Jordan. "I don’t know how to plan ahead because, to me, it feels
The collapse of the Swiss Birch glacier serves as a chilling warning of the escalating dangers faced by communities worldwide living under the shadow of fragile ice, particularly in Asia, experts said. Footage of the collapse on Wednesday showed a huge cloud of ice and rubble hurtling down the mountainside into the hamlet of Blatten. Swiss Development Cooperation disaster risk reduction adviser Ali Neumann said that while the role of climate change in the case of Blatten “still needs to be investigated,” the wider impacts were clear on the cryosphere — the part of the world covered by frozen water. “Climate change and
Poland is set to hold a presidential runoff election today between two candidates offering starkly different visions for the country’s future. The winner would succeed Polish President Andrzej Duda, a conservative who is finishing his second and final term. The outcome would determine whether Poland embraces a nationalist populist trajectory or pivots more fully toward liberal, pro-European policies. An exit poll by Ipsos would be released when polls close today at 9pm local time, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. Final results are expected tomorrow. Whoever wins can be expected to either help or hinder the
DENIAL: Musk said that the ‘New York Times was lying their ass off,’ after it reported he used so much drugs that he developed bladder problems Elon Musk on Saturday denied a report that he used ketamine and other drugs extensively last year on the US presidential campaign trail. The New York Times on Friday reported that the billionaire adviser to US President Donald Trump used so much ketamine, a powerful anesthetic, that he developed bladder problems. The newspaper said the world’s richest person also took ecstasy and mushrooms, and traveled with a pill box last year, adding that it was not known whether Musk also took drugs while heading the so-called US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) after Trump took power in January. In a