Newsflash, July 26
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Valentin Țigău, 26.07.2013, 00:00
Romania will withdraw the remainder of its military forces from Afghanistan by the end of 2014, with the exception of 200 military instructors that will help train Afghan security forces. The announcement was made during a press conference in Sibiu held by Prime Minister Victor Ponta and Defence Minister Mircea Dusa. At present Romania has a total of 1,600 military stationed in Afghanistan and plans to withdraw 500 of them by the end of 2013.
Over 700 employees with the petrochemical plant Oltchim Ramnicu Valcea in southern Romania will enter temporary unemployment between July 29th and September 8th, the company’s board has announced. They will cash in only 80% of their base salary. Trade unions have asked for the replacement of the plant’s board, whom they accuse of unjustified temporary redundancies and inability to boost the activity. Another 900 employees of the same plant were made redundant nine months ago. Oltchim was declared insolvent in January. Its privatization failed in 2012, when the auction’s winner proved unable to provide the amount he initially said he owned — 45 million euros.
The central Romanian town of Sighisoara is hosting as of Friday until Sunday the 21st edition of the Medieval Festival. Tournaments, parades, medieval fighting, theatre shows, medieval music concerts, films, book and costume shows as well as dance classes will be held for three days in-a-row. Theatre groups from Romania, France, Hungary and the Czech Republic are attending this year’s edition of the festival. Knightly orders from Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania will also participate in this festival, hosted by the only inhabited medieval fortress in southeastern Europe.
Three Romanian football sides, Petrolul Ploiesti, Pandurii Targu Jiu and Astra Giurgiu have qualified to the Europa League’s third preliminary round. Astra Giurgiu beat Omonia Nicosia from Cyprus while in Targu Jiu, the local side Pandurii outperformed Levadia Tallin. In turn, Petrolul Ploiesti pulled a victory against Vikingur Gota of the Foroe Islands. Romania’s Steaua Bucharest qualified to the Champions League’s third preliminary round after defeating the Macedonian side Vardar Skopje 2-1 in an away game on Tuesday. In the next round, Petrolul will play against the Dutch side Vitesse Arnhem, Pandurii will face Israel’s Hapoel Tel-Aviv while Astra will take on AS Trencin of Slovakia.
King Juan Carlos of Spain on Friday visited the survivors of the Wednesday’s train accident, committed to the University Hospital of Santiago de Compostela. Three days of national mourning have been declared in Spain following one of the worst train accidents in this country, that caused the death of 80 people. Media reports say the train may have been running at more than twice the speed limit around a curve when it derailed in the northwestern town of Santiago de Compostela. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has announced that two investigations are being carried out — one judicial, the other by the investigative commission for rail accidents.
Pope Francis continued, in Brazil, his first apostolic trip abroad, five months after his election. On Friday the Pontiff met with young prisoners at the St. Joaquin Archbishopric and re-enacted the Stations of the Cross at Copacabana Beach. On Thursday, the Pope criticised the plans of some Latin American states to legalise drugs and warned the youth over the danger of giving in to temptations such as money, power and success. As many as 1.5 million pilgrims defied the bad weather to meet the Pontiff on the Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro. Pope Francis came to Brazil on Monday, and until July 29th he will be presiding the World Youth Day, attended by some 1.5 billion young pilgrims from all over the world.
The Egyptian judiciary on Thursday ordered the pre-emtive arrest of former president Mohamed Morsi for a period of 15 days. Morsi is being charged for conspiring with Palestinian terrorist wing Hamas to kill Egyptian military, assault prisons and release prisoners during the popular uprising against president Hosni Mubarak in 2011. The announcement follows within hours after Morsi’s opponents and supporters announced large-scale manifestations. The head of the Egyptian military General Abdel Fatah al-Sisi has called on Egyptians to take to the streets in order to mandate the army to put an end to the string of violence. On the other hand, the Muslim Brotherhood, the most vocal supporters of Morsi, have announced they would continue their protests. At least 200 people were killed in the last two months during clashes between supporters and opponents of Mohamed Morsi.
The French judiciary has indicted former IMF director Dominique Strauss-Kahn and another 12 people for “aggravated pimping” in the so-called “Carlton, Lille” case. Strauss-Kahn has been prosecuted on March 26th, 2012 impeached for “aggravated organized procurement of prostitutes”, especially in parties held in Paris and Washington.
