August 12, 2014
Click here for a roundup of domestic and international news
România Internațional, 12.08.2014, 12:14
Romanians from Around the World’s Summer University is underway in the central Romanian locality of Izvorul Muresului. Today is the day when the “ Three-Colored Flag’s Months” campaign is launched, with a three-colored, 150-meter long flag being unrolled as part of the campaign. The flag will travel to several cities, having Chisinau as its final destination. Yesterday, representatives of Romanians from River Timoc Valley in Serbia delivered a pointed warning over the dramatic condition of that community, stating there was no school or media in Romanian, Romanian priests were being harassed, while the aid coming from the Romanian state amounted to nothing. The Romanians from River Timoc Valley have demanded that Romania’s consul in Zaicear Iulian Nitu be recalled. The aforementioned Romanians have accused Nitu of running an anti-Romanian policy in the region. Romanians from Ukraine, whose community has dramatically dwindled, have also signaled problems related to the preservation of their own identity. Until this coming Friday, over one hundred students, teaching staff and representatives of the Diaspora are taking part in the 12th edition of the Romanians from Around the World’s Summer University. This year’s theme is ”European Romania and the Romanians along the European Union and NATO borders”.
Sweltering heat will be affecting Romania, as of today and for three days running, with maximum temperature readings standing at 37 degrees Celsius in the lower regions. The temperature-humidity index will exceed the 80 units critical threshold. The skies are changing in most of the regions. Overcast skies have been reported for northern Romania and the mountain regions, as well as rainfalls and thunderstorms for restricted areas. The noon reading in Bucharest stood at 31 degrees Celsius.
The Spanish Catholic missionary who in Liberia was infested with the Ebola virus has today died in a hospital in Madrid. He is the first European to have been killed by the virus, literally wreaking havoc in West Africa. The World Health Organization has today announced the commission of experts approved the use and dispatch of medicine which is still in its experimental stage, to the Ebola-infested counties. The WHO has also made public that so far the death toll has exceeded 1,000 people, while no less than 1,848 cases have been reported. The outbreak has been reported for four countries: Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria. The Liberian government has demanded that an experimental medicine coming from the USA be tested in the country, to contain the outbreak. No special treatment or vaccine have so far been capable or providing substantial cure for the Ebola virus.
Acting Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi, in for the outgoing controversial Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has been given the responsibility to form the new government, capable of getting the country out of the war against Jihadists. The USA and the European Union have hailed the appointment of a new prime minister, and urged that a new government be formed, capable of representing all social segments in Iraq. The European Union Ambassadors in an emergency meeting in Brussels will be holding talks focusing on fresh ways of providing humanitarian and military aid to the authorities in Kurdistan, a region in northern Iraq grappling with Jihadists from the Islamic State organization. The USA has announced they were delivering weapons to Kurdish forces opposing the Jihadists. The European Union, the USA and the Arab league have denounced the crimes against humanity perpetrated by the Jihadists.
The Romanian tennis player, 22-year old Simona Halep, a WTA 2nd-seed today in the second round of the Cincinnati tournament, a competition with 2 point four million dollars prize money up for grabs, will be facing WTA 54-seed Kirsten Flipkens from Belgium. In the inaugural match on Monday, WTA 80-seed Sorana Carstea was defeated by Ana Ivanovic from Serbia, 6-1, 7-5. In the men’s doubles, the pair made of the Romanian Horia Tecau and the Dutch Jean Julien Rojer has made headway into the eighth finals of the ATP World Tour Masters 1000, a tournament with more than 3 million dollars prize money at stake. Tecau and Rojer defeated Max Mirnyi of Belarus and Mikhail Luzhnyi from Russia, 7-6, 7-6. In the eighth finals, Teacau and Rojer will be taking on all-Spanish pair made of Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez, who did not play their fixture in the first round.
A 300-truck Russian convoy with humanitarian aid has been dispatched to eastern Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin specified the humanitarian aid mission has been initiated under the supervision of the International Red Cross Committee. NATO and the European Commission have warned Russia to refrain from using their humanitarian undertaking as an undercover mission for a prospective military operation in Ukraine. The Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council has urged civilians from Donetsk and Lugansk to leave the cities using the corridors created by Ukrainian army, as preparations are well under way for an assault against pro-Russian separatists in the region.
Indirect talks are underway in the Egyptian capital Cairo between Israeli and Palestinian negotiators, in order to find a long-term solution to the Gaza conflict, according to the BBC. Talks are being held against the backdrop of a fresh ceasefire agreement Israel and the Palestinian military movement Hamas agreed upon on Monday. In the past weeks, clashes between Israeli and Palestinians have claimed the lives of almost two thousand Palestinians, most of whom were civilians, and 64 Israeli military, also causing damages standing at around 6 billion dollars.