April 13, 2015 UPDATE
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Mihai Pelin, 13.04.2015, 12:17
Orthodox and Greek Catholic believers, including those in Romania, a country with an Orthodox majority, on Monday entered Shrovetide, which is the week that comes right after the Ressurection of Christ. It’s the first week in a period of festivities when religious services are held in churches with altar doors wide open to illustrate Christ’s open tomb. This period ends 50 days after Easter at the Pentecost.
The Foreign Ministry in Bucharest carries on the evacuation and repatriation of the Romanian citizens from war-torn Yemen. According to Foreign Ministry sources, another 10 Romanian citizens and a family member have been evacuated from Yemen. A first group of seven people has been evacuated with a plane belonging to the International Organisation for Migration while three other Romanians and a family member with Yemenite citizenship have been evacuated from Taiz to Saudi Arabia. 35 Romanian citizens and four family members have been evacuated from Yemen since the beginning of the crisis. Romanian diplomacy is cooperating with international organizations involved in evacuation procedures and with countries that are trying to evacuate their citizens from Yemen.
Romanian president Klaus Iohannis is expected to resume talks with Parliament parties after Easter due to end on April 13th. Iohannis said in early April that he wanted an assessment of the activity timetable set at the beginning of the legislative session in January. The latest president-Parliament consultations took place on January 28th, when talks mainly focused on improving the election process abroad, funding election campaigns and political parties and stepping up procedures on lifting Parliamentary immunity.
According to a Forbes ranking, which includes 50 Romanian women, whose influence goes beyond the institutions or the companies they are heading, the chief of the National Anticorruption Directorate, Laura Codruta Kovesi is Romania’s most influential woman. Next came the crown princess of Romania, Margareta and Ana Maria Mihaescu, head of the International Finance Corporation, the World Bank Investment Division. According to Forbes, the ranking includes a selection of 400 candidates from various domains and has been done in keeping with three criteria: financial power, influence and media coverage.
Romanian tennis player Simona Halep remains on the third position in WTA ranking published on Monday with 7571 points. First comes Serena Williams with 9981 points followed by Maria Sharapova with 7890. Another two Romanian tennis players advanced in WTA ranking; Irina Begu goes up from the 36th position to the 33rd position, while Monica Niculescu from the 62nd to the 61st position.
Romania will continue to grant Palestine assistance for development in 2015 as well, Romanian Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu said in Barcelona on Monday after talks with his Palestinian counterpart Riad al-Malki. The two officials reviewed the stage of bilateral relations with emphasis on the political dialogue and on implementing cooperation projects. Aurescu’s meeting with the Palestinian official took place during the EU ministerial conference with its southern partner countries. The event brought together the head of the European diplomacy, Federica Mogherini, the European commissioner for Regional Policy Johannes Hahn, EU Foreign Ministers and their counterparts from Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine and Tunisia.
Russian president Vladimir Putin on Monday lifted the embargo on delivering to Iran S-300 surface-to-air missiles. His predecessor, Dmitri Medvedev had cancelled a contract on selling this weapon to Iran in 2010. We recall the S-300 contract attracted a lot of heat from the Western countries and Israel, after the UN had imposed sanctions on Tehran due to its controversial nuclear programme. In 2007 Russia and Iran signed a contract for this very sophisticated weapon capable of intercepting planes and missiles and whose value stands at 800 million dollars. Following the ban on selling the missile, Iran appealed to the International Court of Arbitration in Geneva asking four billion dollars in damages from Moscow.
