3 September, 2016
The Romanian foreign minister Lazar Comanescu attends an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers in Bratislava.
Newsroom, 03.09.2016, 12:00
European Union. The Romanian foreign minister Lazar Comanescu is today attending an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers in the Gymnich format held in Bratislava. Talks look at the recent developments in Turkey, the situation in Ukraine, with emphasis on the implementation of the Minsk agreements, and the global strategy for the EUs external and security policy. The EU foreign ministers will also hold talks with their counterparts from the EU candidate countries about counter-terrorism and ways to prevent and combat radicalisation.
Spain government. Spains parliament on Friday night rejected a new attempt by prime minister Mariano Rajoy to form a new government, making the possibility of fresh elections for the third time within a year increasingly likely, international news agencies note. Rajoy, the leader of the centre-right Peoples Party, obtained 170 votes in Parliament, but he needed a simple majority from Spains 350 MPs. Political parties have two months to reach a compromise before King Philip VI calls early elections. In this event, the vote would be held by the end of the year.
G20. US president Barack Obama arrived in China to attend the G20 summit that gets under way on Sunday in the south-eastern city of Hangzhou. Today, Obama will have talks with his counterpart Xi Jinping about trade, investments, the North-Korean nuclear case and the territorial disputes involving China. The G20 summit is Obamas last international conference as president of the United States.
Russia-Japan. Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe on Saturday called on Russian president Vladimir Putin to put an end to the 70 years of tensions between their countries and build a new era in bilateral relations. Abe, who attended an economic forum in Vladivostok, described as “abnormal” the absence of a peace treaty between Japan and Russia. Putin said it was extremely difficult to find a solution. The tension in the relations between the two countries is caused by a dispute over four islands in the Kuril archipelago that were incorporated into the former USSR at the end of World War II. The talks on the status of these volcanic islands, referred to as the Northern Territories by Japan, have reached a dead end after the annexation of the Crimean peninsula by Russia in March 2014, an action which Tokyo joined the West in condemning.
US Open. World no. 5 Simona Halep of Romania today faces the Hungarian player Timea Babos for a place in the fourth round at the US Open, the final Grand Slam tournament of the year worth over 22 million dollars in prize money. Earlier, the Romanian player Monica Niculescu lost in straight sets to Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark in the third round. In the mens doubles, the Romanian-Dutch pair Horia Tecau and Jean Julien Rojer today face the Croatia-New Zealand pair Mate Pavic and Michael Venus in the second round.
Football. Romanias football side face Montenegro on Sunday in their first match as part of the 2018 World Cup preliminaries. Group E also includes Poland, Denmark, Armenia and Kazakhstan. The match on Sunday is Romanias first with the German coach Cristoph Daum at the helm, the first foreign national to hold this position. He was appointed coach of the national team after the European Championships this summer, when Romania, coached at the time by Anghel Iordanescu, finished last in their group, with only one point, having drawn against Switzerland and lost to France and Albania. (Translated by: C. Mateescu)
