FAMILY REFERENDUM<\/strong> – Nearly 19 million Romanian voters are invited this
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MOTION – The Chamber of Deputies on Monday will debate a simple
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HEARING – Monday, October 8, will see the first hearing in the case
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EUROPEAN
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THEATRE FESTIVAL – Theatre companies from six countries, world
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NOBEL PRIZE – The 2018 Nobel Prize awards season will come to a close on Monday, when
(Translated
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" For a roundup of domestic and international news, click here<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":113,"featured_media":75903,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[34006,34061,34062,34063,29348,30130,34064],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-103059","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash","tag-family-referendum","tag-danut-andrusca","tag-eugen-teodorovici","tag-european-week-of-regions","tag-nobel-prize","tag-simple-motion","tag-yiddish-theatre-festival"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\nweekend to vote on a proposed redefinition of the concept of family in the
\nConstitution. The initiators aim to define family as an institution based on
\nthe marriage of a man and a woman, rather than the marriage of spouses, as it
\nis at present. According to data released by the Central Electoral Bureau on
\nSunday, at 10 AM, some 7,24% of the total number of eligible voters had cast
\ntheir ballots so far, many of them in urban communities. The Romanians living
\nabroad can vote in 378 polls hosted by diplomatic missions, consular offices,
\ncultural institutes and other locations. Most polls abroad are in Italy, Spain,
\nthe Republic of Moldova, the USA, UK, France and Germany. The voting process
\nabroad will conclude on the US West Coast and in Canada on Monday morning,
\nRomanian time. The vote in the diaspora started on Friday night in Auckland,
\nNew Zealand and will take 58 hours to complete. Parliament has passed a bill
\nrephrasing the Constitutional definition of marriage, based on a citizen
\ninitiative signed by 3 million people. To pass, the referendum needs meet the
\n30% voter turnout threshold and 25% of votes cast have to be valid. <\/p>\n
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\nmotion filed by the National Liberal Party in opposition against Economy
\nMinister Danut Andrusca. The Liberals accuse Andrusca of deliberately
\ndestabilizing the country’s economy. Last week the Chamber voted against a
\nsimple motion the Liberals filed against Finance Minister Eugen Teodorovici,
\nwhom they accuse of failing to implement the taxing and budget strategy. The
\nopposition also calls for the elimination of the additional excise tax on fuel,
\nthe start of major investment projects and the allotment of 100% of tax
\nrevenues to local administration starting next year. Also this week the Senate
\ndismissed a simple motion against Transport Minister Lucian Sova, filed by the
\nNational Liberal Party and Save Romania Union. The opposition accuses Sova of
\npoor management of the road and rail transport networks. <\/p>\n
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\nwhere Social-Democrat leader and Chamber of Deputies Speaker Liviu Dragnea was
\nsentenced to three years and six months imprisonment in the court of first
\ninstance. In June, the High Court of Cassation and Justice handed Dragnea the
\nsentence for instigation to abuse of office. Anticorruption prosecutors say
\nLiviu Dragnea ordered the fictitious employment of two party members at the
\nSocial Assistance and Child Protection Directorate. The two were paid with
\ntaxpayer money, although they allegedly worked exclusively for the
\nSocial-Democratic Party. Liviu Dragnea denied the accusations. In 2016, Dragnea
\nwas handed a 2-year suspended prison sentence for attempted election fraud.
\nThis summer the High Court cancelled the ruling to suspend the prison sentence.<\/p>\n
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\nWEEK OF REGIONS – The 2018 edition of the European Week of Regions and Cities kicks off
\non Monday in Brussels, in the presence of European Commission president
\nJean-Claude Juncker, the European Commissioner for Regional Policy, Corina
\nCretu, the European Committee of the Regions president, Karl-Heinz Lambertsz
\nand European Parliament vice-president, Pavel Telicka. This year’s edition is a
\nspecial one, devoted to the European Commission’s cohesion policy proposal for
\nthe 2021-2027 period. Decision-makers and local, regional, national and
\nEuropean experts will take part in a series of debates as part of the most
\nimportant event devoted to cohesion policies at European level. <\/p>\n
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\nfamous klezmer bands and artists will meet in Bucharest over October 7-14 as
\npart of the third edition of the TES FEST International Yiddish Theatre
\nFestival. The event is organized by the Jewish State Theatre to mark 70 years
\nsince the institution was founded and 142 years since the first Yiddish
\nprofessional theatre was set up in Iasi, Romania, in 1876, by writer and artist
\nAbraham Goldfaden. Companies from the US, Israel, France, Moldova, Austria and
\nPoland are expected to attend. On the sidelines a series of related events,
\nsuch as workshops, meetings, film screenings and exhibitions about the history
\nand activity of the Jewish Theatre in Romania will also be held. <\/p>\n
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\nthe Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences will be awarded. On Friday,Congolese gynecologist Denis Mukwege, who treated sex violence victims in
\nhis home country, and Nadia Murad, a Kurdish human rights activist having survived
\nIslamic State sexual slavery, were awarded this year’s Nobel Peace Prize. The
\nNorwegian Nobel Committee explained the prize was awarded for their efforts to
\nend the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war. Both had a crucial
\ncontribution to raising awareness with respect to this type of war crimes and
\nin fighting them.<\/p>\n
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\nby V. Palcu)<\/p>\n