Today, on Holy Saturday of the Passion Week, Orthodox and Catholic believers from all over the world, including Romania – a mostly Orthodox country – continue their preparations for Easter. In Jerusalem, the service of the Holy Light is being held today, an Orthodox ritual during which the Greek Patriarch of Jerusalem comes out of the Holy Sepulchre church with two lit candles and shares the light with the crowds. A delegation of the Romanian Patriarchy is currently in Jerusalem to bring the Holy Light to the country and share it at midnight, during the Resurrection Service. <\/p>\n
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Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrei Descita has today announced that the Kiev government\u2019s operations against pro-Russian militants in eastern Ukraine will be suspended during Easter celebrations. Descita has told the BBC that operations will be resumed after Easter if the rebels continue to seize publis buildings.The pro-Russian militants in eastern Ukraine are further refusing to leave the government institutions they seized, in spite of Thursday\u2019s agreement in Geneva aimed at easing tensions in this country. The pro-Russian militants refuse to comply with the provisions of the accord agreed on by Russia, Ukraine, the EU and the US, providing for the disarmament of illegal armed groups and the official buildings\u2019 evacuation, and called on the interim authorities in Kiev to resign. On Friday, Ukraine\u2019s interim Prime Minister Arseni Iateniuk and President Alexandr Turcinov announced they are ready to implement a comprehensive constitutional reform likely to offer extensive prerogatives to the country\u2019s regions and grant the Russian language a special status. US Secretary of State John Kerry, whose country is skeptical about Moscow\u2019s intentions, called on Russia on Friday, during a phone conversation with his counterpart Serghei Lavrov, to fully and immediately\u2019 observe the accord in Geneva.<\/p>\n
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World famous writer, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, has today been incinerated in Mexico. Considered one of the most significant authors of the 20th century, Marquez was awarded a Nobel Prize for Literature in 1982. Political leaders, artists, writers and readers alike are mourning the death of the Columbian writer, who died on Thursday, aged 87, at his residence in Mexico. Three days of national mourning have been declared in Columbia. Marquez was a pioneer of a current named magic realism. His most popular novel is \u201cOne Hundred Years of Solitude\u201d, translated into 35 languages and released in over 30 million copies all over the world. <\/p>\n
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This weekend Bucharest plays host to the playoffs counting towards the 2014 Fed Cup Group II. The BNR tennis court will see Romania\u2019s national women team going up against Serbia. The Romanian team is made up of Simona Halep, ranked 5th in the WTA standings, Sorana Cirstea, ranked 27th, Monica Niculescu, ranked 33rd and Irina Begu, ranked 68th. Today Sorana Carstea plays against Ana Ivanovic while Simona Halep is up against Bojana Janovski.<\/p>\n
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A roundup of domestic and international events<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":49223,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-99361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n