January 25, UPDATE
A roundup of domestic and international news
România Internațional, 24.01.2015, 12:18
As many as six Romanian policemen are part of the Special Monitoring Mission of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) that has been sent to Ukraine. The mission has been commissioned with monitoring the security situation and the observance of human rights. The Romanian policemen will activate in the eastern Ukrainian regions of Doneţk, Lugansk and Dnipropetrovsk, the site of an armed conflict between government forces and pro-Russian rebels. Sunday was a day of national mourning in Ukraine, in memory of the over 30 civillians killed during Saturday’s rocket attacks on the Ukrainian city of Mariupol. The Romanian foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu has firmly condemned the attack.
A delegation of international lenders will come to Romania on Tuesday to assess, until February 10th, the economic reforms of the Bucharest Government. According to a communique of the International Monetary Fund, the economic evolutions triggered by the recent monetary offensive announced by the European Central Bank will also be discussed. The personal insolvency law and the crisis of Swiss franc loans affecting 75 thousand Romanians are also on the meeting’s agenda.
Over 4,000 citizens or residents of European states are fighting on the side of jihadist groups in Syria and Iraq, the Romanian Intelligence Service announced. Some of them reach these countries via Romania. Most of them come from families originating in Muslim countries, but among them are also young Christians converted to Islam. The Romanian Intelligence Service has emphasised that in spite of the fact that the security threat level in the country is low, there are premises for this phenomenon to grow.
A new labour code is in force as of Sunday in Romania. According to the document OK-ed by president Klaus Iohannis, the unpaid leave and the unmotivated absence from work will not be calculated as accumulated service, with the exception of the unpaid leave for professional training and the sick leave. Moreover, the duration of the sick leave will no longer affect the duration of the annual leave.
World number three Simona Halep of Romania on Sunday qualified to the quarterfinals of Australian Open. Halep has broken her hoodoo against Belgian Yanina Wickmayer with a 6-4, 6-2 win to sail into the quarterfinals. Another Romanian tennis player, Irina Begu, lost on Sunday to Canadian Eugenie Bouchard 6-1, 5-7, 6-2, in a fourth-round match. In the mixed doubles, the Romanian Horia Tecau and the Czech Lucie Hradecka lost to Chris Guccione of Australia and Andreja Klepac of Slovenia in the first round, while Romanian Florin Merge and Dutch Michaella Krajicek qualified Saturday for the eighth finals.
