August 11, 2014
A roundup of domestic and international news
România Internațional, 11.08.2014, 12:00
The Christian Liberal Alliance, made up of the National Liberal Party and the Liberal Democratic Party, the main right wing parties in Romania, are to announce their candidate for November’s presidential elections later today. The leadership of the two parties will chose between liberal leader Klaus Hohannis and the liberal-democratic first-vice-president Catalin Predoiu, based on the results of the internal polls, as the alliance protocol stipulates. The favourite in the presidential race due this autumn is the head of the Social Democratic Party, the current Prime Minister Victor Ponta.
The EU has made an appeal to Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who on Sunday was elected president of Turkey, to play a role of reconciliation for the Turkish society. The President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso have stated that Turkey is a commercial partner to the EU, an accession candidate and a diplomatic ally. Erdogan was elected president from the first round, with 52% of the votes. He promised reconciliation and unity and showed willingness to renounce the authoritarian behavior he had been often criticized for. His “Justice and Development” party has won parliamentary elections three times. They also won the early elections of March 2014, despite the large scale protest movement back in May 2013.
Lots of political figures have urged Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki to give up office and leave the place to a personality that would enjoy consensus and help unite the Iraqi people in its fight against Islamist Jihadists. The US has called on Iraq to form a national union government. In another move, the Arab League and the EU have denounced the crimes against humanity committed by Jihadists in the north of Iraq. The Secretary General of the Arab League, Nabil al Arabi, has today called for the guilty ones to be brought to justice. The American forces have continued to strike Jihadists positions in the north of Iraq, to help the Kurdish forces in the region and to protect the US personnel.
A new 72 hour truce came into force at midnight in Gaza, to allow the Israeli and Palestinian negotiators, under Egypt’s brokerage, to reach a lasting peace and to put an end to the conflict. The Palestinian side calls for lifting the blockade and the region’s demilitarization. The clashes between Hamas and Israel have caused the death of some 2 thousand Palestinians, mostly civilians, and 64 Israeli soldiers, as well as material damage estimated at some 6 billion dollars.
Izvorul Muresului in central Romania is hosting until Friday the 12th Summer University for Romanians across the world. The theme this year is ‘European Romania and Romanians on the border of the EU and NATO”. Participating are over one hundred students, professors, representatives of Romanian communities in the country and abroad. Today the main topics of discussion are the Romanian communities in the neighbourhood and the Balkans, Romanian communities in Ukraine and Russia’s threats, and the situation of Romanians in Serbia.
Romania has won six gold and four silver medals at the 8th International Astronomy and Astrophisics Olympiad in Suceava, northern Romania. Our country was represented by two teams, made up of 10 competitors, and they all won medals. Over 300 competitors from 37 countries participated in the prestigious competiton, which has been hosted by countries such as Thailand, Indonesia, Iran, Poland, China, Brasil and Greece. In 2013 the Romanian pupils won five medals, two gold, two silver and one bronze.
Starting today, Romanian Simona Halep, aged 22, is the second best player in the world, after Serena Williams, according to the WTA classification. In May last year, Simona Halep was ranked only 64th and had won no WTA titles. In the meantime she has won 8 such titles, and has this year lost the Madrid and Roland Garros finals, both to Russian Maria Sharapova. This week Simona is playing in the second round of the Cincinnati tournament, with 2.5 million dollars in prize money. Also participating is another Romanian tennis player, Sorana Carstea, number 80 in the WTA classification, who will play the inaugural game against the Serbian athlete Ana Ivanovici.
