January 5, 2014 UPDATE
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România Internațional, 05.01.2014, 12:10
NASTASE– The High Court of Justice on Monday will issue a final ruling in the so-called “Zambaccian file”, in which former Romanian Prime Minister Adrian Nastase is accused of corruption, alongside his wife, Dana Nastase, accused of being an accessory to bribe-taking. The Nastase couple has received a three year suspended prison sentence for blackmail, but during the appeal, the prosecutors called for enforced sentences for the two, who have been acquitted for bribe taking. In the spring of 2013, the former Social Democrat Prime Minister was released on parole, after he spent in prison only nine months of a two-year imprisonment sentence he received in another file, in which he was accused of corruption. Nastase, who was prime minister between 2000 and 2004 had been accused of collecting funds for the 2004 election campaign, when he was the Social Democrats’ candidate in the presidential race.
POLL– Although elections for the European Parliament are scheduled for the month of May 2014, some 90% of the Romanian voters are unaware of this and a third of them don’t know the name of a Romanian MEP-an opinion poll made public on Saturday shows. Also, 63% of the respondents say they don’t know anything about the voting procedure in the EP elections. 78% of them do not know who the president of the European Commission is. The poll also shows that only 7% of the respondents are satisfied with the activity carried out by Romanian MEPs, whereas a quarter of them are not satisfied. The main reason evoked by those who are discontent about MEPs is the fact that they haven’t defended the Romanians’ rights. The poll was carried out over the phone, on January the 2nd and 3rd 2014, on 1,210 people, aged over 18. The error margin was of plus-minus 2.8%.
EPIPHANY– On January the 6th and 7th, over 11,000 policemen will ensure public order in Romania, on the occasion of the holy days of the Epiphany, St John the Baptist’s Day and Christmas according to the old Julian calendar. Some 200 religious masses, to be attended by approximately 150,000 people are expected to be given at national level. On Monday, Orthodox and Greek Catholic believers in Romania celebrate the Epiphany, the Baptism of Jesus Christ in the Jordan River. This, alongside St. John the Baptist’s Day on Tuesday, mark the end of the winter holy days. In another move, the Orthodox believers who observe the old, Julian calendar will celebrate Christmas. Romania is home to over one million Orthodox believers who observe the old calendar: ethnic Ukrainians, Russians, Armenians, Serbs, as well as a small number of Romanians. There is a 13-day difference between the Gregorian and Julian calendars.
THE VATICAN– Pope Francis announced on Sunday that he will pay a visit to the Holy Land, over May the 24th and 26th. The Holy Pontiff has said his trip will include three stages: Amman, Bethlehem and Jerusalem. The announcement on the trip is made 50 years since the historic visit to the region by Pope Paul VI, the first by a Pope to the Holy Land. We recall that following RRI’s traditional end-of-the-year poll conducted among its listeners, internet and social network users worldwide, Pope Francis has been designated “The Personality of the Year on RRI”, for the way in which he has deeply influenced the international scene, in such a short period of time.
EXTREME COLD-A wave of extreme cold is likely to hit the north-eastern regions of the US in the following days. Meteorologists warn that temperatures might drop below minus 30 degrees Celsius, and in some places they will plummet below minus 50 degrees. The authorities take specific measures for the population, especially children, to be protected as well as possible. Since the start of the year, the region has been swept by snowstorms, which claimed 16 lives. Air and road traffic have been disrupted, an increasing number of institutions have suspended their activity and many events have been cancelled. Also in Canada, a wave of cold hit most eastern regions of the country. In the Quebec region, temperatures read minus 44 degrees C. Over 100,000 households have been left without electricity, because of heavy snowfalls in the northeast of the country, in Labrador and Terra Nova.
SPORTS– FIFA President Joseph Blatter and UEFA President Michel Platini have said football has lost a legend, at the news of former Portuguese striker Eusebio’s death, on the night of Saturday to Sunday. Aged 71, Eusebio da Silva Ferreira was considered to be one of the best footballers of all time. Nicknamed “the Black Panther”, Eusebio, was born on January the 25th 1942 in Mozambique. He played for Benfica Lisabona for 15 years, scoring no less than 638 goals in 614 matches. Together with his team-mates from Benfica, Eusebio won Portugal’s championship 11 times, Portugal’s Cup 5 times and the European Cup in 1962. In token of homage to Eusebio, the Portuguese government has decreed three days of national mourning.
