October 6, UPDATE
Click here for a roundup of domestic and international news
Mihai Pelin, 06.10.2014, 20:17
Romanian Foreign Minister Titus Corlatean and his Czech counterpart Lubomir Zaoralek on Monday in Bucharest signed an accord between the two countries concerning war cemeteries. Under the agreement both countries will reciprocally tend for the graves of the Romanian and Czech fallen heroes. During the discussions, the two officials have also tackled issues related to the bilateral relation, topical issues on the European and international agenda as well as the situation in the Middle East. The latest developments in the Black Sea region have also been discussed, with the Romanian official reiterating Romania’s support for the countries that have signed the political and economic association agreement with the EU, namely the Republic of Moldova, Ukraine and Georgia.
According to data released by the National Statistics Institute (INS) a Romanian family spends two thirds of its monthly income on food, transport and on various utility bills. The same sources have revealed that a family in Romania allots less than 5% of its income on healthcare, while the sums for education and entertainment are even lower. The Romanians pay 10% on alcohol, cigarettes as well as on leisure time in pubs and restaurants. The same INS report says that Romanians spend on an average a little over 5% of their monthly income on clothes and footwear.
GERB, Bulgaria’s center-right party on Sunday won the country’s snap elections with 32 per cent of the votes. The Socialist Party that supported the outgoing government of technocrat Plamen Oresharsky got only 15 per cent of the votes, while its associate in the Government, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms, representing the Turkish minority, got 15 per cent of the votes, and is highly likely to outcome the Socialist Party, after the votes cast by Bulgarian citizens living in neighbouring Turkey are counted. Partial returns have revealed that four other political groups, center-right, nationalist or populist have cleared the 4 per cent electoral threshold and gained access to Parliament. The leader of GERB, former Prime Minister Boiko Borisov said he was prepared to form the government, provided the got the backing of a parliamentary majority.
The Nobel Committee in Stockholm on Monday announced the Nobel Prize in Medicine this year equally goes to researchers John O’Keefe (US-Great Britain), May-Britt Moser and Edvard Moser (Norway). The three have been rewarded for research in the field of neurology, namely for their discoveries of the cells making a positioning system in the brain. Last year’s recipients of the Nobel Prize in Medicine were American researchers James E. Rothman and Randy W. Schekman and Thomas Sudhof from Germany for their discoveries concerning the system regulating intracellular traffic. Awarding the Nobel Prize in medicine marks the debut of the Nobel season, scheduled to carry on this coming Tuesday with the Prize in Physics, Chemistry, Peace, Literature and Economy. Prizes are to be announced later this week. Awardees will each receive a gold medal and prize money worth around 1.1 million dollars. Prizes will be officially granted on December 10th.
Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs at the United States Department of State Victoria Nuland on Monday started a mini-European tour whose first leg is Ukraine. For three days running in Kiev Nuland will be holding talks with high-ranking government officials focusing on supporting the reform process in Ukraine, the stage of the conflict in Donbas and the US’ support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity. Victoria Nuland’s visit in Kiev comes against the backdrop of recent information on the breaking of a truce by the pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, according to Ukrainian press agency UNIAN. Since the beginning of the crisis, the USA has earmarked nearly 300 million dollars to the Ukrainian government; 100 million were for military support, but excluded lethal weapons. Mrs. Nuland’s European tour, mainly focusing on security issues, will also take her to Germany and Finland.
