December 19, 2016 UPDATE 2
Berlin: A lorry ploughed into shoppers at a Christmas market in Berlin, killing 12 people and injuring almost 50 others.
Newsroom, 19.12.2016, 22:15
BREAKING NEWS – A lorry ploughed into shoppers at a Christmas market in Berlin, killing 12people and injuring over 50 others. According to the German local media, there are suspicions of a deliberate act. The German police confirmed the driver of the lorry has been arrested. Apparently, the co-driver has died in the incident.
PARLIAMENT –President Klaus Iohannis has announced that he will convene the new Parliament on Tuesday, and will hold talks with the parliamentary parties on Wednesday and Thursday. This week the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in Romania, which together hold 54% of the seats in the new parliament, will announce their proposal for the new prime minister. After the President has appointed the PM, the latter will have 10 days to put together a cabinet and the governing program, after which he is to request Parliament’s vote of confidence.
COOPERATION — Social-Democrat and ALDE leaders Liviu Dragnea and Calin Popescu Tariceanu and Daniel Constantin respectively signed the cooperation protocol between the two parties making up the governing coalition for development and democracy. The coalition will have three main objectives: ensuring sustainable economic growth and making new jobs available, observing citizens’ rights and liberties and increasing financial welfare and living standards. The governing program compiles the two parties’ election programs. The cooperation protocol also shows the two parties will nominate a single candidate for the position of Prime Minister. Liviu Dragnea said the president will be notified in a letter regarding the protocol and the fact that the two parties will come for consultations on Wednesday, when they are also expected to nominate a Prime Minister candidate.
COMMEMORATION – The western Romanian city of Timişoara on Monday commemorated the fourth day of the anti-communist revolution of December 1989, with a conference organised by the Romanian Academy. Twenty-seven years ago, protesters were killed and wounded, and on December 20, Timişoara became the first Romanian city free from communism. Sparked by the locals’ opposition to an abusive measure of the city authorities, the protests quickly spread across the country, culminating on December 22nd in Bucharest, when the protesters stormed the headquarters of the central committee of the Romanian communist party. This is when dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu and his wife attempted to flee by helicopter. They were caught and executed on December 25, after a summary trial. Over 1,000 people died and nearly 3,400 were wounded in the clashes, and Romania remains the only Eastern Bloc country where the communist regime was brought down through violence and the communist leaders were executed.
ASSASSINATION — The Russian ambassador to Ankara Andrey Karlov died on Monday in a hospital in the Turkish capital after being shot while attending a photo exhibition opening at the Contemporary Art Centre. According to the Turkish media, the attacker impersonated a member of the ambassador’s security detail. The attack comes ahead of Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoglu’s visit to Moscow, where he is expected to hold talks with his Russian and Iranian counterparts.
RSF — This year 57 journalists have been killed around the world, especially in countries affected by war, according to a report made public by Reporters without Borders, an NGO based in Paris. The largest number of deaths, 19, was reported in Syria, followed by Afghanistan, Mexico, Iraq and Yemen. Most journalists lost their lives in their own countries, and one-third of them were targeted by deliberate attacks. Apart from the 57 journalists, 9 bloggers and 8 media collaborators were assassinated. As for the journalists incarcerated or detained this year, their number has increased particularly because of the situation in Turkey, where more than 100 media workers are currently imprisoned.
UN — The UN Security Council passed a resolution calling for deploying UN observers in rebel-held eastern Aleppo. Observers will oversee the evacuation of civilians and combatants. The US ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, called on the immediate implementation of the resolution and for overseeing the evacuation from eastern Aleppo, currently host to tens of thousands of people. Some 50 children, blocked in an orphanage, were among to the first to be evacuated, BBC reports.
HANDBALL — Norway’s women’s team Sunday won the gold medal at the European Handball Championship in Sweden, after having defeated the Netherlands, 30-29 in the final. Norway thus won the 7th European champion title in 12 editions of this competition. In the match for the 3rd place, France beat Denmark, 25-22. Romania came out 5th in this edition of the European championship. The national team had a good performance overall, but failed to qualify into the semi-finals after losing the match against Denmark. In this competition the Romanian players defeated the Olympic champions Russia, as well as Hungary, Croatia and the Czech Republic, and lost a tightly contested match against the European and world champions, Norway.
(Translated by V. Palcu, updated by D. Vijeu)
