December 26, 2013 UPDATE
Click here for a roundup of domestic and international news
Ştefan Stoica, 26.12.2013, 12:00
Orthodox and Greek-Catholics from all over the world including from Romania On Thursday, the second Christmas Day, celebrated the Synaxis of the Most Holy Mother of God — the oldest festivity to honor Virgin Mary. Also on Thursday Orthodox believers in Romania paid homage to St. Nicodemus of Tismana who erected the first monasteries in Wallachia back in the 14th century. In his Christmas message, Daniel, the Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church spoke about the Christian family and about the joy of having children. He urged believers to become more responsible. At the Vatican, Pope Francisc pleaded for the end of wars, denouncing any kind of violence, human trafficking and child exploitation. Pope Francisc has urged everyone to look for peace and care for others.
2013 was a boom year for green farming in Romania and prospects are even more optimistic for the year to come, shows a report published by the Association of Green farmers in Romania, called Bio Romania. Next year, members of the aforementioned association intend to display their products on a surface of four hundred square meters at the BioFach Nuremberg, the world’s largest fair of organic farming. According to the same communiqué, Romania was designated the country of the year at BioFach. Bio Romania has so far participated in the most prestigious world fairs, promoting Romania’s biofarming techniques at BioFach Nuremberg, BioFach Baltimore, Anuga, World Food Moscow or MENOPE in Dubai.
Europeans have become more optimistic when it comes to their economic situation, shows the latest Eurobarometer poll published in Brussels. 43% of the interviewees believe the EU is on the right track to get out of the crisis and face global challenges. In another move, the number of Europeans who believe the impact of the present economic crisis upon the labour force has reached its climax, has risen by 4%, from 36% in spring to 40% at present. The poll shows there are many pending problems, such as the unemployment rate, the economic recovery, the inflation rate and the public debt. 40% of Europe’s citizens see inflation as their main personal concern.
On Friday, Russia is to host an international conference on neutralizing Syria’s chemical arsenal. The event will bring together experts from Russia, the United States, Syria, the UN and from the Organisation for Prohibiting Chemical Weapons. Against the background of international pressure and fearing a foreign military intervention, the regime in Syria accepted the destruction of its chemical arsenal. In another move, the EU on Wednesday condemned the bombing campaign launched by the Syrian regime against the civilians in Aleppo. Catherine Ashton, head of the European diplomacy has made an appeal for the immediate cessation of violence, calling on all sides to comply with the agreement on participating in the peace conference in Geneva on January 22nd, which is expected to give an impetus to the process of finding a peaceful solution to the conflict. Since March 2011, Syria has been confronted with revolts, brutally repressed by government troops, as well as clashes between the inssurgents and troops loyal to incumbent president Bashar al-Assad.
The Republic of Moldova’s main gas supplier Moldova Gaz and Russian giant Gazprom completed in Moscow negotiations on a gas delivery contract for the next year, the minister of the economy in Chisinau Valeriu Lazar announced on Thursday. So the Moldovans will pay 365 dollars per one thousand cubic meters of gas, ten dollars less than the current price. The previous contract on Russian gas supplies to the former soviet republic, with a Romanian-speaking majority, expired as early as 2011 and Moscow had conditioned the conclusion of a new contract on Moldova’s scrapping its plans of joining the European energy grids. Works on the Iasi-Ungheni pipeline, aimed at facilitating gas-deliveries from Romania commenced in August.
Hundreds took to the streets of Kiev on Thursday calling for the resignation of Ukrainian interior minister Vitali Zaharcenko, after the arrest of an opposition journalist who had written a report on Zaharcenko’s fortune. The attack on the journalist has again sparked off protests in Ukraine, which diminished of late, Reuters reports. Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko has made an appeal from prison calling to more protests. The EU and the United States have condemned the violence against the journalist, which they deemed as unacceptable. The incident comes against the political unrest in Ukraine, after the government led by Viktor Yanukovych refused to endorse the country’s association agreement with the EU.
