Romania scraps decree decriminalizing graft as mass protests persist

By Radu-Sorin Marinas BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Romania's Social Democrat government on Sunday annulled a decree that would decriminalize some graft offences, an embarrassing u-turn for the country's new prime minister in the face of week-long mass protests and international rebuke. The government also declassified the transcript of debates during Tuesday's cabinet meeting when the decree that would have shielded dozens of politicians from prosecution was approved. It said the decree was a bid to relieve pressure on the prison system but Romanians were furious, holding the biggest mass protests in the country since 1989, when the Communist regime of Nicolae Ceausescu was ousted in a bloody revolution.