September 12, 2015
A roundup of domestic and international news
Newsroom, 12.09.2015, 12:00
Over 430 thousand immigrants and refugees crossed the Mediterranean as of January and as many as 2,750 lost their lives or are reported missing, the International Organization for Migration has announced. Almost 310 thousand immigrants reached Greece and 121 thousand Italy, shows the latest report made public by the Geneva-based international organization. Several European states firmly expressed their opposition to the policy of compulsory quotas promoted by Berlin and Brussels meant to integrate the uninterrupted flow of refugees that come to Europe. Budapest announced that, next week, the migrants who would try to illegally enter Hungary would be arrested. As of the beginning of the year, as many as 180 thousand people have entered Hungary crossing the border from Serbia. The Austrian railway administration temporarily suspended international passenger trains running between Hungary and Austria due to overcrowding of its network, against the backdrop of the flow of immigrants who want to reach Germany.
The US-led coalition targeted militants of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria with 27 air strikes, the American army officials announced on Friday. In Iraq the air strikes near Tuz, Ramadi, Mosul, Fallujah and other locations hit units of militant fighters as well as various fighting positions, checkpoints and other targets. In Syria 2 air strikes hit positions of the Islamic State near Al Hawl while another strike destroyed 2 excavators near Palmira. In another development, the US president Barack Obama said Friday that Russia’s strategy in Syria, meant to grant support to Bashar al-Assad’s regime was likely to fail. However Moscow denied having consolidated of its military presence in Syria. The Russian foreign minister, Serghei Lavrov, admitted, though, that Russian planes heading for Syria were also carrying military equipment besides the humanitarian aid sent to the region, as they had previously declared.
The governor of the Mecca region in Saudi Arabia ordered an investigation in the case of a crane crash into part of the Grand Mosque. As many as 100 people lost their lives in the crash and over 200 were wounded. Shortly before the accident the city was hit by a strong sand storm. The Mosque is surrounded by many cranes as works are under way to increase the area of the mosque to accommodate up to 2.2 million pilgrims at once.
The Romanian tennis player, Simona Halep, the world’s number 2, lost the semifinals of the US Open to Italian Flavia Pennetta. She said she was happy though that she managed to make it to the US Open semifinals for the first time and admitted that she could not manage her emotions in the semifinals.
Over 500 people from 24 countries are participating Saturday and Sunday in the 28th edition of the First Aid Festival held in Romania for the first time on the occasion of the World First Aid Day. The festival is held annually and gathers first aid teams of the Red Cross and the Red Crescent in Europe. The event is also being attended by the president of the Romanian Red Cross, her Royal Highness Princess Margareta of Romania.
