October 11, 2014 UPDATE
A roundup of domestic and international news
România Internațional, 11.10.2014, 12:15
The European Commission is against the introduction of compulsory visas for the citizens of the US, Canada, Australia and Japan although these countries continue to require visas for the citizens of several EU member countries, Romania included. The EC claims that progress has been reported in the negotiations with the respective states outside the EU regarding visa reciprocity. Early this year the EC received complaints from Romania, Bulgaria, Poland, Cyprus and Croatia related to the compulsory visa requirements for their citizens who travel to such countries as the US, Canada, Japan and Australia. In another development Bucharest hails the decision of the Canadian authorities to include Romania on the list of designated countries of origin, which is an important step towards eliminating visas for the Romanians who travel to Canada. The countries included on this list are considered safe and democratic, countries that observe human rights and offer protection to refugees and asylum seekers.
The Romanian gymnast Larisa Iordache, who on Friday won the title of vice-champion in the all around event in the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships hosted by Nanning, China, will compete in the balance beam and floor events on Sunday. Aged 18, Larisa Iordache won the European title 5 times and a bronze medal in the team competition at the 2012 Olympic Games. At this year’s edition of the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships Romania’s team ranked 4th.
More than 20 thousand Kurds manifested peacefully on Saturday in the German city of Dusseldorf against the Islamic State Jihadists. At present they control more than one third of the Syrian town of Kobani, home to a majority Kurdish population, which caused a massive Kurdish population exodus to Turkey, France Press reports. Recently the city of Hamburg witnessed incidents between the Islamic and Kurdish militants, which left behind several people wounded. Germany is home to the largest Kurdish community in Europe, which numbers over one million Kurds. In another development the UN has warned that thousands of people are likely to be massacred in the Syrian town of Kobani if it falls in the hands of the Islamic State Jihadists. They are better armed than the Kurds who are defending the town of Kobani, and despite the air strikes by the US-led coalition, they could not be stopped. Turkish troops and tanks are positioned within striking distance of Kobani, but Ankara has so far refused to intervene and also stopped Syrian Kurds from crossing the border to help defend the town, despite pressure put by the Kurds and the US.
According to the latest World Health Organization report on the Ebola virus victims made public in Geneva, more than 4 thousand people have been killed by the virus. The report shows that 8,399 cases of virus contamination have been reported in 7 countries and 4,033 people have died. Over 2,300 victims have been reported in Liberia, 930 in Sierra Leone, almost 800 in Guinea, 8 in Nigeria and 1 in the US. Also one case of contamination has been reported in Spain and Senegal respectively. In Madrid the special inter-ministerial committee set up by the Spanish government to manage the situation created by the Ebola virus announced that another 3 people have been placed under observation, which brings the number of possible Ebola contaminations to 17. So far only one case of contamination has been confirmed in Spain.
