October 10, 2015
A roundup of domestic and international news.
Newsroom, 10.10.2015, 14:00
An IMF delegation will travel to Romania next week for talks with the Bucharest authorities on the country’s budget in 2016 and the prospect of another precautionary agreement with Romania. The visit takes place against the background of the IMF having recently revised upwards its economic forecast on Romania. Thus, the country’s GDP is estimated to go up by 3.4% this year and by 3.9% in 2016. Romania’s fourth consecutive agreement with the IMF expired last month. The precautionary agreement was worth 2 billion euros but the Bucharest authorities did not access the funds. Romanian Finance Minister, Eugen Teodorovici, has recently stated that the country will officially ask for another agreement to be signed with the IMF.
Radio Romania’s Children Choir, conducted by Voicu Popescu, is today holding a concert in Munich as part of a choral music festival entitled “Let the Peoples Sing”. Radio Romania’s Children Choir, that qualified to the final alongside 8 other competitors from all over the world will perform tomorrow as part of the “Children and Youth Choirs” category.
On Sunday the Social Democratic Party (PSD), the main party in the governing coalition in Romania will elect its president. More than 530 thousand members are expected to cast their vote. The only candidate to the party’s presidency is Liviu Dragnea, currently interim president of the party. He took over the presidency of PSD in July 2015, when Prime Minister Victor Ponta, the then party president, resigned his position as head of the party following the corruption scandal in which he is involved. The PM Victor Ponta has been prosecuted being accused of forgery, accessory to tax evasion and money laundering. After internal elections, the Social Democrats will meet in an extraordinary congress on October 18.
Two explosions at a peace rally in the Turkish capital Ankara have killed at least 30 people, and have injured another 130. The blasts took place near the citys central train station as people gathered for a march asking for an end to the conflict between the Turkish government and the Kurdish militant group the PKK. A ceasefire agreement between the two parties expired in July and there have been regular attacks from both sides since then. Over 120 members of the Turkish security forces and hundreds of Kurdish militants have been killed. The PKK is fighting for the territorial independence of the Kurds, who make up the fourth-largest ethnic group in the Middle East.
Presiding over a massive military parade in Phenian, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his country was “fully ready” to defend itself against any U.S. threat. In a celebration to mark the 70th anniversary of the ruling Workers Party, hundreds of troops marched across the country’s main square, which was festooned with national and party flags. The North Korean leader said the Workers Party members were a “source of miracle” as they turned the country into a socialist power, which was also independent and able to protect itself from military threat. Phenian already carried out three nuclear tests, in 2006, 2009 and 2013 and says it’s preparing for a fourth one, in spite of the international sanctions in place.
