August 10, 2014
Click here for a roundup of domestic and international news
Ştefan Stoica, 10.08.2014, 14:04
Romanian rowers Lazar Dumitrescu and Victor Mihalachi on Sunday walked away with gold from the canoe doubles 1000-meter race of the World Kayak-Canoe Championships held in Moscow. The Romanians ended the race a boat ahead of runner-up Hungarian crew. The two Romanian rowers, who on Saturday won silver in the 500-meter race, have an impressive prize closet, which includes four gold medals, one silver and one bronze in world championships. They have also won 10 medals in European championships; three gold, three silver and four bronze.
US and British planes have dropped humanitarian aid supplies in northern Iraq, to help thousands of Yazidis who follow an ancient religion influenced by Zoroastrianism and fled their homes after the Islamic State group had issued an ultimatum to convert to Islam, pay a religious fine, flee their homes or face death. Leaders of the two states have emphasized that dropping supplies is not a long term solution and that a real solution must be found in order to a void a genocide. On Saturday, the US continued their air strikes against the Jihadists, who are threatening the autonomous Kurdish region. President Obama has said the bombardments will not solve the problems caused by the Jihadist onslaught.
Ukrainian artillery last night pounded the city of Donetsk, a stronghold of the pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine, France Press reports. More than 20 explosions were heard in the city’s central area. The Ukrainian army announced they continued their offensive in Donetsk shelling rebel positions. On Saturday, the self-proclaimed separatist ‘Prime Minister’ Aleksandr Zahatchenko said that Donetsk is surrounded and heading for a humanitarian disaster. According to him, the rebels are ready to negotiate a truce if the government troops cease their onslaught. Donetsk, the biggest city in the mining basin of Donbas has in the past weeks seen heavy clashes between the pro-Russian rebels and the Ukrainian government troops.
Leaders of the opposition National Liberal Party and the Liberal Democratic Party, are to convene in a joint session of the Christian-Liberal Alliance on Monday in order to designate their common candidate for the presidential election in November. According to the Alliance’s protocol, the candidate will be designated following a sociological survey. The main candidates are National-Liberal leader, Klaus Iohannis, who is currently the mayor of Sibiu, a city in central Romania, and Democrat-Liberal deputy president Catalin Predoiu. Out of the two candidates Iohannis has been credited with higher chances to defeat the current Social-Democratic Prime Minister Victor Ponta in the upcoming election.
Turkey will today see the first round of historic presidential election — the first when a president is elected through direct vote for a five-year mandate. The odds-on favourite is the current Premier Receep Tyyip Erdogan, who might win in the very first round. His opponents are the representatives of the main opposition parties, Ekmeleddin Ishanoglu and Kurdish leader Selahattin Demirtas. Conservative Prime Minister Erdogan has strengthened his position as a favourite in the presidential race upon the landslide victory of his Justice and Development Party AKP in the municipal election in March this year in spite of the ample protests in May 2013. Erdogan pledged to boost the prerogatives of the president by bringing more amendments to the Constitution, which could mean the passing to a Presidential system from a Parliamentary system instated by the founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in 1923.
