October 6 UPDATE
Click here for a roundup of dmestic and international news
Corina Cristea, 06.10.2013, 12:29
Romanian gymnast Larisa Iordache walked away with bronze from the floor event of the World Gymnastics Championship held in Anvers, Belgium. The Romanian also participated in the beam event without winning any medal. We recall that Ana Porgras won the world title in women’s competition in Rotterdam, the Netherlands in 2010, while Marian Dragulescu managed a double win in the men’s contests of vault and floor in London in 2009.
Two earthquakes of 5.5 and 2.7 Richter degrees took place on Sunday morning in Vrancea county, southeastern Romania. The first quake was felt in several cities across Romania, including Bucharest. No material damage was reported. Six earthquakes of up to 4 degrees on the Richter scale have rocked Romania since March this year. Over 30 tremors with the magnitude above 2.5 Richter degrees have reportedly taken place in Galati, eastern Romania, in the past two weeks.
The International Animation Film Festival Animest is underway in Bucharest, where productions by one of the world’s most reputed studios, Aardam will be screened. Until October 13th animation lovers will be able to watch various short reels and feature films, winners of numerous international awards, as well as videos and commercials that made history. The festival includes news conferences held by experts from the field as well as workshops. Established in 2006, Anim’est is the only festival in Romania exclusively devoted to animation productions and one of the largest in Europe.
Four ISAF soldiers were killed on Sunday in southern Afghanistan. According to NATO sources the four were killed by an improvised explosive device during a counter-terrorist operation. Taliban insurgents have become more active in southern Afghanistan as the ISAF contingent is to be pulled out by the end of 2014. Romania has about 1000 soldiers deployed to Afghanistan.
Somalia’s Prime Minister Abdi Farah Shirdon on Sunday confirmed that US soldiers had carried on a military operation in Somalia, explaining the Somali government is cooperating with international partners in fighting terrorism. According to France Press, the US has carried out special military operations in Somalia and Libya, capturing in Tripoli an al Qaeda leader suspected of involvement in the 1998 attacks against the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. US special forces o Saturday stormed an Islamist base of the Somali group Al-Shebab, linked to al Qaeda, which allegedly masterminded numerous terror attacks on African soil, the latest being the one against the Westgate trade center in Nairobi, which left scores of dead and wounded.
From Greece, the torch of the 2014 Olympics Games in Sochi next year has reached Moscow, the starting point for the torch relay. It will be carried over 65 thousand kilometers across 83 regions by 14 thousand people, the longest race in the history of the Olympics. The torch is to travel for 123 days and is due to reach the International Space Station also. It’s journey will end up on the Fist Olympic stadium in Sochi, which will host the 22nd edition of the Winter Olympics. This is the first Olympic Games organized in Russia after the 1980 Moscow Olympics.
Bucharest saw the sixth Sunday of protests against the controversial project of mining gold and silver in Rosia Montana, central Romania. Thousands of people took to the streets in downtown Bucharest to protest against the cyanide-based mining methods as well as against the shale gas exploitation. The protesters called for the withdrawal of the bill regulating the exploitation around Rosia Montana, for the cancellation of the contract with Canadian company Rosia Montana Gold Corporation, the banning of cyanide exploitation in Romania, for the introduction of Rosia Montana in the UNESCO heritage list and for sacking the four authors of the controversial bill.
