November 4, 2013
Click here for a roundup of domestic and international news
Ştefan Stoica, 04.11.2013, 12:04
UNIONS – Members of the Federation of Trade Unions in Education carry on their protests in Bucharest today. They are picketing the Parliament Palace, asking that MPs earmark 6% of the GDP to the education system. The unionists also want the National Education Law to be amended, a special law on salaries in public education, and the elimination of bureaucracy and political influences from the education sector. The unionists have announced that unless their demands are met, their protests may go as far as to freezing the school year.
ROSIA MONTANA – Thousands of people protested last night in Bucharest and other Romanian cities, for the tenth Sunday in a row, against the mining project in Rosia Montana, central Romania. The protesters want the bill regulating the gold mining works scrapped, the use of cyanide prohibited and the inclusion of Rosia Montana in the UNESCO heritage. A special parliamentary commission is to present a report on the gold mining plans by November 10th.
FINANCES – A joint mission of the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the European Commission carries on in Bucharest the talks on the new stand-by agreement signed with Romania. Today the representatives of the international lenders are meeting officials of the Fiscal Council and the Bucharest Stock Exchange. The draft budget law, analysed by Romanian and international experts, will be discussed by the Cabinet on Wednesday. The bill stipulates an adjustment of pensions and the increase of salaries for public-sector employees with low incomes, and does not include any tax increases.
NATO – Elements of the anti-missile shield, including intercepting missiles, will be brought to the Devesalu military base in southern Romania in 2014, the Romanian state secretary with the Foreign Ministry Bogdan Aurescu has announced. He also said that intercepting missile tests will not be held in Romania. Romania agreed to the installation of this facility, where some 200 American troops and experts will be stationed, as part of the American anti-missile shield in Europe. The Deveselu base will be operational as of 2015. Poland and Turkey will also host elements of the NATO anti-missile system, which will be completed in 2020-2022.
EGYPT – The trial of Egypt’s former president, Mohammed Morsi, has started in Cairo today. Egypt’s first democratically elected president has been held by the military at a secret location since his ousting in July, further to mass protests. Another 14 leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist organisation that backed Morsi, are also on trial. They are all facing charges of inciting the killing of protesters, during the clashes in front of the presidential palace, last December. After he was deposed, over one thousand people, mostly pro-Morsi protesters, were killed, and close to two thousand Islamists were arrested.
SPORTS – Romanian tennis player Simona Halep, aged 22, has concluded the WTA season with a victory in the Tournament of Champions in Sofia, with 750,000 US dollars in prize money. In Sunday’s final she outplayed Australian Samantha Stosur, 2-6, 6-2, 6-2. Halep got 375 WTA points and 270,000 US dollars. Simona, who has won five tournaments this year, goes up to the 11th position in the WTA ranking, the best in her career so far. The only Romanian players in the WTA top 10 were Virginia Ruzici (ranking 8th in 1979) and Irina Spîrlea (7th, in 1997).
