August 15, 2014
A roundup of Romanian and international news
România Internațional, 15.08.2014, 12:03
The Romanian President, Traian Basescu, has said that Romania is in technical recession after two consecutive quarters of economic downturn. He blames the recession on the supplementary taxes introduced, on the reduction of investments and the low rate of European funds absorption. He has also warned of Romania risking to go into economic recession once again, just like in 2010. The PM Victor Ponta has rejected the president’s statements regarding the country’s economy. In his opinion, statistical data only show a slowing down of the rate of economic growth, adding that in order to maintain the growth pace Romania should turn to the Asian and African markets, given the problems facing the euro zone. The statistical data made public on Thursday show that Romania’s GDP in the 2nd quarter of 2014 was 1% smaller than in the previous quarter, but as compared to the 2nd quarter of 2013, the economy reported a 1.4% growth. Analysts say the figures published by the national statistics institute should be correlated with those reported by other European states, considering that Romania is not running the risk of getting into recession.
Christians in Romania are celebrating on Friday the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. Hundreds of thousands of believers went to pilgrimage places such as the Nicula, Rohia and Hodoş-Bodrog monasteries and the Cacica Catholic church. Also today Romanians mark the Navy Day, as the Virgin Mary is considered the protector of seamen. Events devoted to the Navy Day are held in the Black Sea ports. The Navy day was first marked 112 years ago.
The Romanian tennis player Simona Halep, 2nd seeded in the world classification, will take on, for the 3rd time this year, the Russian player Maria Sharapova, on Friday evening, in the quarter finals of the WTA tournament in Cincinnati, which has prizes up for grabs worth 2,567,000 dollars. Halep defeated the Czech Lucie Safarova in the eighth finals while Sharapova defeated her conational Anastasia Pavliucenkova. Simona Halep lost all the 4 matches against Sharapova, including this year’s final in Roland Garros.
The EU foreign ministers gathered in an emergency meeting in Brussels, will try to coordinate their stands regarding the provision of weapons for the Kurdish fighters who oppose resistance to the jihadists in the Islamic State organization in the north of Iraq, France Press reports. The decision to provide weapons lies with each EU member state but the EU Council will decide the way in which to support the Kurds and the government in Baghdad, a European official pointed out. An agreement over encouraging the arming of the Kurdish forces would show the EU’s wish to strike a balance of forces in Iraq, in the context in which the US does not want to get involved in ground fighting against the jihadists.
India marks Independence Day today. August 15 is a national holiday in India commemorating the country’s independence from the UK in 1947. On August 15 1947, Jawaharlal Nehru, who had become the 1st PM of India on that day, raised the Indian national flag above the Lahore Gate of the Red Fort on Delhi. The holiday is observed throughout India with flag-hoisting ceremonies, parades and cultural events. The Indian embassy in Bucharest has also marked Independence Day.
