March 12, 2014
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Leyla Cheamil, 12.03.2014, 12:00
Out of the 11 wounded Ukrainians transported to Romania as part of a humanitarian mission on March the 1st, only one is still receiving treatment in a Bucharest hospital. We recall that 11 men wounded in conflicts in the neighboring country were brought to Bucharest as part of a humanitarian mission carried out in response to a request from the Ukrainian side. In another move, the Foreign Ministry in Bucharest has cautioned all the Romanian citizens, including journalists, to leave Crimea a.s.a.p and avoid traveling around the Ukrainian territory, particularly in the east and south of the country.
The Russian authorities are rejecting any talks with the Ukrainian side on the crisis in the former soviet republic, the interim president in Kiev, Oleksandr Turchynov has said. Ukraine’s interim Prime Minister Arseny Iateniuk is to have talks with the US president Barack Obama in Washington today. The visit comes ahead a referendum on Sunday on the independence of Crimea and its becoming part of the Russian Federation. Staged by the pro-Russian regional authorities in Crimea, the referendum is considered illegal by the West, but enjoys Moscow’s full support. The USA and EU have deemed the independence declaration adopted by Parliament in Crimea yesterday as illegitimate, while Moscow believes it complies with international laws. The Ukrainian crisis is being discussed today in Warsaw by the head of the Polish government, Donald Tusk and German chancellor Angela Merkel. The head of the German diplomacy Frank-Walter Steinmeier said that Europe didn’t want a confrontation with Moscow, but would have to react if Crimea became part of the Russian Federation.
The opposition Liberal-Democratic Party in Romania has announced its decision to make public a censure motion against the new government. However, the Liberal-democrats are presently lacking the number of votes to table the document. We recall the cabinet led by Social-Democrat Victor Ponta yesterday assumed responsibility before Parliament for the action programme in the next two years and a half. The present executive also includes the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, UDMR, who joined the alliance after the withdrawal of the Liberals amid disagreement with the Social Democrats. Besides the Social Democrats and UDMR, the alliance also includes the Conservative Party and the National Union for the Progress of Romania.
The best Romanian tennis player of the moment Simona Halep, number seven in the ATP ranking, has made it to the quarters of the Indian Wells tournament with roughly 6 million dollars in prize money. In the eight finals, the Romanian edged out Canadian Eugenie Bouchard, 6-2, 1-6, 6-4. Halep 22, the sixth favourite of the competition, will be playing Australian Casey Dellacqua. The show she has so far managed at Indian Wells has placed Simona on the sixth position in the world standings and good results in the following matches can allow her to advance another position in the rankings.
Romanian Foreign minister Titus Corlatean is today paying an official visit to Madrid for talks with his Spanish counterpart Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo and Senate speaker Pio Garcia-Escudero Marquez. High on the agenda are ways to step up two-way political dialogue, economic and trade cooperation, the situation of the Romanian community in Spain, the European parliamentary election in May, the European aspirations of the Republic of Moldova and the latest developments in Ukraine. In another move, Corlatean is participating in the inauguration of the new premises of the Consular Section of the Romanian Embassy in Madrid and the new headquarters of the Romanian Cultural Institute in Madrid.
