January 19, 2014 UPDATE
A roundup of domestic and international events.
România Internațional, 19.01.2014, 19:47
Romanian President Traian Basescu has said his country is unreservedly supporting the peace initiative put forth by the US Secretary of State John Kerry as regards Israel and the Palestinian territories. Basescu started an official visit in the region. He will meet with Israel’s president, Shimon Peres and the head of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas. The official program starts Monday morning in Jerusalem. The Romanian president’s agenda also includes meetings in Ramallah and Tel Aviv, with representatives of the Romanian communities. In a recent interview President Basescu has said the visit is mainly aimed at strengthening ties between Romania and Israel.
Syria’s head of state, Bashar al-Assad, might seek re-election at next year’s elections, alongside candidates from the opposition. He made this statement at a meeting with a Russian parliamentary delegation on Sunday, thus suggesting he had no intention of leaving political life. On Wednesday Syria will send a delegation to Geneva, at a conference organised by the United States and Russia, under the United Nations’ umbrella. The conference is aimed at putting an end to the conflict in Syria that killed over 130 people dead and turned millions into refugees.
At least two people were injured on Sunday in Kiev in the clashes between protesters and police. As many as 200,000 people took to the streets on Sunday, in protest at President Victor Yanukovici and his government, France Press reports. The protests were staged following the enforcement of a set of laws that restrict the citizens’ right to anti-governmental protests. The new laws, passed this week by Parliament and ratified by president Viktor Yanukovici, stipulate harsher penalties for protesters and even send them to prison for up to 5 years if they block official buildings. The High EU Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Catherine Ashton, has deemed the measures regrettable while the American Secretary of State John Kerry called them undemocratic. Kiev, on the other hand, through his Foreign Mnister Leonid Kojara, reacted to this criticism by calling it an interference with the countrys domestic affairs.
The Haiti-born Canadian pugilist Jean Pascal beat on points the Romanian-Canadian boxer Lucian Bute, in one of the biggest all-Canadian fights ever staged in Montreal. The non-title light-heavyweight fight lasted12 rounds, at the end of which Bute lost his NABF title. For Bute, who scored 31 victories in 32 matches in the professional category, this is the second defeat in his career, after the one in May 2012 when he lost the IBF super middleweight title to British Carl Froch.
