October 4, UPDATE
A roundup of domestic and international news
România Internațional, 04.10.2014, 12:10
The Romanian Foreign Ministry on Saturday firmly condemned the brutal assassination of the British Alan Henning by the Islamic State terrorist group and stressed the need for the guilty ones to be brought to justice. The group has claimed the beheading of the 47 year old aid worker taken hostage in Syria in December, in retaliation for the British air strikes against Islamic State militants in Iraq. In London, Prime Minister David Cameron has stated that Great Britain will do everything it can to find out where the hostages are and to defeat the jihadist movement. Before killing Alan Henning, Islamic State militants killed another three western hostages, two US journalists and one British aid worker. A French citizen was killed in a similar way in Algeria, by a group affiliated to the Islamic State organization.
The 14 candidates for the seat of president of Romania are now in full election campaign, which started on Thursday midnight and will end on November 1st. The first ballot will be held on November 2nd, and the other one on November 16th. 294 polling stations will be organized for the Romanians living abroad, hosted by Romania’s diplomatic and consular missions, theatres of operations in Afghanistan and other locations that ensure proper conditions for Romanian citizens to cast their votes.
Early parliamentary elections are to be held in Bulgaria on Sunday, following the resignation of the government this summer. According to polls, the GERB cetre-right party is very likely to win the election. Bulgaria lags behind many countries in region, including Romania, together with which it joined the EU in 2007, because its officials have never managed to fight corruption or organized crime. In another development, parliamentary elections were held in Latvia on Saturday, against the worrying background of Russia’s aggression towards Ukraine. Suspecting the Kremlin of wanting to regain authority in the territory of the former USSR, the Baltic countries are afraid they would be destabilized, especially since two of them, namely Lithuania and Estonia, are home to two large Russian speaking communities.
According to the IMF General Director Christine Lagarde, world economy develops at a slower pace than estimated. The reasons for such a mediocre development are the issues confronting the Euro Zone and Japan. Funds earmarked for public investments are getting smaller in the developed countries, which are trying to reduce their deficits. Lower investments reflect upon infrastructure, which is getting older, Christine Lagarde has explained. Against the background of lower inflation and a high level of unemployment, the drop in consumption and investment will slow down economic growth even more, the IMF Director has warned.
The Paris Motor Show opened its doors on Saturday, against a timid recovery of the European automotive market. Attending the prestigious event are some 70 car makers. The Romanian Dacia, owned by the French group Renault, is this year launching the Stepway versions of Lodgy and Docker, as well as two firsts, Duster Air and Sandero Black Touch. Renault is also presenting the fifth generation of Espace, Opel has come up with a new Corsa, and Volkswagen is proud of its new Passat. Although car sales have gone up a little in 2014, after the decline in the past years, the number of new cars registered this year is 20% lower than the peak reached in 2007.
‘Boxtroli’, by the US directors Anthony Stacchi and Graham Annable on Friday opened in Bucharest the 9th Anim’est International Film Festival, running until October 12th. A record number of films have registered for this year’s edition, namely 1 thousand 260 from 60 countries, including 18 Romanian productions. 55 films will run for the Grand Trophy to be awarded at the end of the short reel competition. The special guest of this year’s festival is Denmark, which has one of the most prestigious films of animation in the world.
