January 11, 2020

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 11.01.2020, 14:00

EARLY ELECTIONS – Prime Minister and leader of
the National Liberal Party, Ludovic Orban, announced following Friday’s talks
with President Klaus Iohannis that they reached an agreement to kick off
procedures to organize early elections. The Prime Minister said a special task
force will be set up to negotiate with parties to rally their support. Ludovic
Orban said the Social-Democratic Party, which holds a fragile majority in
Parliament, is hindering the legislative process, the only solution being the
organization of early elections at a date close to the local elections slated
for May. In another development, the Social-Democrats said they might call for
a no-confidence vote against the Government, saying the idea of early elections
would plunge Romania into a superficial political crisis. In turn, the Save
Romania Union-PLUS Alliance believes early elections might represent the best
solution at present.

CRASH -
On Saturday Iran admitted it accidentally shot down the Ukrainian Airlines
passenger jet. Due to a human error, the army launched missiles against the
aircraft. Iranian President Hasan Rouhani expressed his deep regret over the
incident which he labeled a great tragedy and an unforgivable error. Ukrainian
President Volodimir Zelenski said the culprits must be held accountable as
compensation to the victims’ families. In turn, Canadian Prime Minister Justin
Trudeau called for justice to be served to the victims’ families. We recall a
Ukrainian airliner crashed on Wednesday shortly after taking off from Teheran
airport, hours after Iran launched a missile attack on two US military bases in
Iraq. The plane was bound for Canada via Kiev, with most of the passengers on
the manifest due to disembark in the Ukrainian capital city. All the 176 people
onboard were killed. Initially the Iranian Civil Aviation Organization said the
plane was old and had undergone its last technical inspection on Monday,
reporting technical problems shortly after takeoff.

ROMAN-CATHOLIC CHURCH – As of Saturday Aurel Perca
(aged 68) has become the new Roman-Catholic Archbishop of Bucharest. To mark
this event a solemn mass was officiated at the St. Joseph Roman-Catholic
cathedral in the capital city, attended by thousands of faithful and over 200
priests, two cardinals, 24 Catholic bishops, civil and political authorities,
representatives of the diplomatic corps and knights of the Sovereign Military
Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta. Aurel
Perca was appointed Archbishop of Bucharest by Pope Francis after Ioan Robu
turned 75, the canonical age of retirement under the laws of the Catholic
Church. Previously Perca served as auxiliary bishop of Iasi. He was ordained in
1979 and named bishop in 1999. Ioan Robu will become an emeritus metropolitan
archbishop.

OMAN – Romania’s President Klaus
Iohannis on Saturday conveyed his condolences for the death of Oman’s Sultan,
Qaboos bin Said al-Said. Haitham bin Tariq al-Said, Qaboos’s cousin, was sworn
in on Saturday as the new sovereign leader of Oman, the Government in Muscat
has announced. Oman’s Royal Family decided to open the letter where Qaboos
designated his successor. The Constitution of Oman stipulates that the Royal
Family can appoint a successor of its own within three days of the throne
falling vacant. Sultan Qaboos of Oman passed away on Friday, aged 79, after
nearly half a century of rule. Supported by Western powers, Qaboos ascended to
the throne in 1970, at the end of a bloodless coup, assisted by Great Britain.
The new Sultan, Haitahm bin Tariq, aged 65, a sports enthusiast, served as
deputy secretary of state in the Foreign Ministry before becoming Minister of
Heritage and Culture in the mid-90s. In the 1980s Haitham bin Tariq became the
first president of Oman’s Football Federation.

TENNIS – Romanian tennis player Simona
Halep will play Germany’s Angelique Kerber in a demonstrative doubles match
featuring other special guests on Sunday in Adelaide, organizers of the WTA
tournament say. The match will be part of the event called The Adelaide
International Rally for Resilience, meant to raise funds to support the
victims of the wildfires in Australia. 27 people were killed in the raging
bushfires and 63,000 square kilometers burned to the ground. World no. 3,
Simona Halep is seeded 2nd in the Adelaide tournament, also
featuring the WTA leader Ashleigh Barty, Czech player Petra Kvitova (WTA no.
7), Belinda Bencic of Switzerland (WTA no. 8) and Kiki Bertens of the
Netherlands (9 WTA). Halep is now training with her coach, Darren Cahill in
Adelaide.

(Translated by V. Palcu)