April 19, 2014 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news.

România Internațional, 19.04.2014, 13:54

Patriarch Daniel of the Romanian Orthodox Church, in his Easter address, has urged the Orthodox faitful, to think of those in need and try to bring them some confort and joy and not to forget about the Romanians living abroad. Patriarch Daniel also mentions the fact that 2014 is, for the Romanian Orthodox Church, a commmemorative year of Saint Martyrs Brancoveanu. Saint Martyr Constantin Brancoveanu and his four sons were sentenced to death and beheaded by the Ottomans, in Constantinopole, in 1714, for not giving up their faith. In Russia, the country with the biggest number of Orthodox believers, Patriarch Kiril called on people to pray for peace in Ukraine.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrei Descita on Saturday announced that the Kiev government’s operations against pro-Russian militants in eastern Ukraine would be suspended during the Easter celebrations. Descita told the BBC that operations would be resumed after Easter if the rebels continued to seize publis buildings. The pro-Russian militants in eastern Ukraine are further refusing to leave the government institutions they seized, in spite of Thursday’s agreement in Geneva aimed at easing tensions in this country. The pro-Russian militants have refused to comply with the provisions of the accord agreed on by Russia, Ukraine, the EU and the US, providing for the disarmament of illegal armed groups and the official buildings’ evacuation, and called on the interim authorities in Kiev to resign. More Russian troops were dispatched on the Ukraine border in answer to the instability in this country, a spokesman for the Kremlin said on Saturday, a deviation from Moscow’s initial explanation that its troops were there for routine training.

Over 1000 American tourists aboard a cruise ship will arrive on Sunday in the Romanian Black Sea port of Constanta, in trying to avoid the Ukrainian port of Odessa, because of the tensions in the region. Another 40 cruise ships carrying American and German tourists, initially scheduled to reach Odessa this year, will be redirected towards Constanta. Although theyr will spend oly one day on Romanian soil, the guests can visit the tourists attarctions in Cosntanta or they can go for trips to the Danube Delta.

Romanian men’s national handball team, HCM Constanta, on Saturday in the Black Sea town of Constanta, defeated the Swedish side Lugi HF, counting towards the first leg of the quarterfinals of the EHF European Cup. The Romanians will play the away match next week, in Sweden. HCM Constanta stands big chances to qualify to the Final Four of the EHF Cup, to be held in Berlin.