August 31, 2014 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news

Warning: Trying to access array offset on null in /home/web/rri.ro/public/wp-content/themes/rri/template-parts/content.php on line 98
România Internațional, 31.08.2014, 12:10

The Romanian PM Victor Ponta is paying an official visit to China until September 3rd that will focus on consolidating economic relations. The talks will also tackle such issues as the stage of implementation of certain projects in the energy, infrastructure and agricultural fields agreed upon in November 2013 when the Chinese PM visited Bucharest.

Cultural events were organized simultaneously in Romania, the Republic of Moldova and the Romanian communities aboard to mark Sunday, August 31st, the Romanian Language Day. On the occasion the Romanian President Traian Basescu said the Romanian language was one of the fundamental symbols of national unity. The Romanian Language Day, established as a holiday by Romania’s Parliament last year, coincides with the Republic of Moldova’s national day.

The Romanian Parliament will resume activity on Monday after the summer holidays. High on the agenda of the Senate’s first meeting will be the draft laws on the tax amnesty for pensioners and mothers who received undue sums of money out of the civil servants’ fault. These were not adopted in the extraordinary session held on August 25th due to the lack of quorum. One of the priories of the Chamber of Deputies is the reduction by 5% of the social security contributions to be paid by employers, a draft law adopted by the Senate in the extraordinary session.

The EU on Sunday gave Russia a 1-week deadline to stop any action against Ukraine, unless it wanted further economic sanctions to be imposed on it. This was announced by the president of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, at the end of the extraordinary summit of the EU heads of state and government held in Brussels. Romania was represented at the summit by President Traian Basescu, who again condemned Russia’s military action against Ukraine. On the other hand, the European leaders appointed the Polish PM, Donald Tusk, as future president of the European Council, to succeed Herman Van Rompuy, while the Italian foreign minister Federica Mogherini will replace the current EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.

The pair made up of Romanian tennis player Horia Tecau and the Dutch Jean-Julien Rojer, seed no. 9, has qualified in the 8th finals of the male’s doubles of the US Open, the last Grand Slam tournament of the year. In the next round Horia Tecau and Jean-Julien Rojer will play against the Spanish pair David Marrero/ Fernando Verdasco, seed no. 7. On Saturday, in the women’s competition, Simona Halep was surprisingly eliminated in the 3rd round. Halep lost in 2 sets, 7-6, 6-2 the match against Croatian Mirjana Lucic-Baroni.

The Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said he agreed with putting an end to hostilities in the Gaza Strip due to regional threats. In an interview granted Saturday to the Israeli television he pointed out that the Israeli army could have continued the operations in the Gaza Strip but at present Israel is faced with other potential threats in the region such as the Islamic State in Jordan, Al Qaida in the Golan Heights and Hezbollah at the border with Lebanon. Israel and the Palestinian movement Hamas, that controls the Gaza Strip, on Tuesday reached a ceasefire agreement for an unlimited period of time, thus putting an end to 50 days of war, that killed more than 2 thousand Palestinians and 71 Israelis.

The American army has dropped humanitarian aid in the Shiite town of Amerli, in northern Iraq, which is being besieged by the Jihadist rebels of the Islamic State. According to the Pentagon, British, Australian and French aircraft joined in the US’s effort to deliver water, food and medicine to the people in northern Iraq. In parallel, the US army continued to strike the positions of the Islamic State Jihadists in Iraq. The operation is aimed at supporting the Kurdish and Iraqi troops and to protect crucial infrastructure, US staff and installations as well as the humanitarian efforts.