June 9, 2014
Click here for a roundup of domestic and international news
Valentin Țigău, 09.06.2014, 13:47
The film “The Old Time Village”, directed by Dumitru Budrală, won the Grand Prize in the second International Ethnographic Film Festival held on June 6th to 8th in Zlatna, central Romania. The award for best director was granted to Marcos Centeno Martin, for the Japanese-Spanish co-production “Ainu. Paths to Memory”. The Radio Romania International Excellence Award for music went to the South-African Andrew Aringhe, for his “African Roads,” while the award for most original promotion of cultural identity was given to the feature film “I’m not famous, but I am Aromanian,” directed by Toma Enache, the co-ordinator of the Aromanian Service of Radio Romania International.
Ukraine’s new president, Petro Poroshenko, has announced the priorities of his term in office, first of them being a solution to the situation in the east of the country. Kiev will sign the EU association documents and will solve, with support from Brussels, the issue of its debts and gas import contracts with Russia. In his inauguration address on Saturday, Poroshenko said the peace plan for Donbas includes an offer not to prosecute the pro-Russian militants who lay down arms, early regional elections in the east and a decentralisation of power to the regional administrations. The new president said the right to use Russian would be guaranteed, although Ukrainian should remain the sole official language in the country. Under the new Constitution of Ukraine, which is currently being drafted, the President will have reduced powers compared to the Parliament.
An unprecedented meeting took place at the Vatican on Saturday, when Pope Francis I invited the president of Israel, Shimon Peres, and the Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas for a joint prayer for peace in the Middle East. The service consisted in three parts, with prayers and meditations by Jews, Christians and Muslims. After the meeting, the two Middle East officials and Pope Francis planted an olive tree in the Vatican gardens, symbolising their common wish for peace.
The PM of Bulgaria, Plamen Oresharski, ordered that construction works on the South Stream gas pipeline be suspended until the procedure has been synchronised with Brussels. The decision was made further to criticism from the EU, and was announced after a meeting of the Bulgarian official with the US Senators John McCain, Ron Johnson and Christopher Murphy, who were on a visit to Sofia. The vice-president of the Foreign Relations Committee in the Russian Parliament, Leonid Kalashnikov, rated Bulgaria’s decision as a form of “energy blackmail.” South Stream is designed to carry Russian natural gas to western Europe, via Bulgaria, and by-passing Ukraine.
Violent clashes have been reported at the Karachi airport in Pakistan today. Witnesses quoted by the BBC said they heard strong blasts, just hours after the authorities announced having regained control over the airport. At least 23 people were killed in an attack claimed by the Pakistani Taliban.
