October 2, 2014

Click here for a roundup of domestic and interntional news

Bogdan Matei, 02.10.2014, 12:14

The presidential runoff due in November is officially starting this coming Friday, with the first ballot scheduled for November 2nd. The crucial ballot is to be held on November 16. As the current president Traian Basescu’s second term in office expires, according to the Constitution, 14 hopefuls have submitted their candidacies for Romania’s presidency. According to a voting intentions survey, the country’s current Prime Minister, Social Democrat Victor Ponta and the opposition’s right-of-center candidate of the Christian Liberal Alliance made of the National Liberal and the Liberal Democratic Parties, Klaus Johannis, are highly likely to remain in the second ballot of the presidential runoff. Among other presidential candidates are the Senate Speaker Calin Popescu Tariceanu, the leader of the ruling National Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania Kelemen Hunor, the independent MEP Monica Macovei and the head of the pro-presidential, opposition People’s Movement Party Elena Udrea.

French capital city Paris, as of today and for two weeks running, is the capital of the world automobile industry, once the Auto Salon opens in the city. The event is staged against the backdrop of a recovery of the European car market. At this year’s edition, the Romanian carmaker Dacia, which is owned by the French groupe Renault, will be launching the Stepway versions of the Lodgy and Docker models, as well as two absolute firsts, Duster Air and Sandero Black. Renault will also be presenting the fifth generation of the Espace minivan. Opel will officially unveil the new Corsa, while Volkswagen will display, among other models, its new Passat version. More than 70 carmakers are attending the Auto Salon in Paris.

The WTA 2-nd seed, the Romanian Simona Halep has today announced she is quitting the Beijing tennis tournament, because of her condition. The announcement has been made immediately after Simona Halep’s dramatic eighth finals 7-6, 5-7, 7-6 win against the German Andrea Petkovic, In the quarterfinals, Simona Halep would have proved her mettle against Ana Ivanovic from Serbia. Also today Simona Halep is scheduled to play in the tournament’s women doubles’ eighth finals, pairing up with another Romania, Raluca Olaru. The two will be taking on the all-Spanish pair made of Garbine Muguruza and Carla Suarez Navarro. In the quarterfinals of the Bejing tournament’s men’s doubles, the Romanian-Dutch pair made of Horia Tecau and Jean-Julien Rojer will be facing Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic and the American John Isner.

Jihadists of the Islamic State group this morning have advanced towards the Kurdish town of Kobane in Syria, lying at the border with Turkey, where thousand of Kurkish civilians still live. Storming the city triggered a large-scale exodus of the population, and at least one hundred thousand people crossed the border to seek refuge in Turkey. According to the Syrian Human rights observer, fight in the last 24 hours have been the deadliest since the beginning of the offensive. The Islamist radicals have advanced despite air raids carried out by the US-led international coalition made of sixty countries and international organizations. The Americans and their allies have also failed to halt Islamist fighters’ offensive in Iraq, a country where Jihadists advanced quite close to Iraqi capital..

Romania and Ukraine’s Prime Ministers Victor Ponta and Arseny Yatsenyuk, respectively, in Kiev today will be signing the border traffic agreement between the two countries. Accompanying Victor Ponta in Kiev is his Moldovan counterpart, pro-Western Iurie Leanca. The two will have a meeting with Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko. Ponta stated that in Kiev he will reiterate Romania’s support for the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine’s democratic endeavor and European integration efforts. We recall Romania is a NATO and European Union member state. Tonight, prime ministers Ponta, Leanca and Yatsenyuk will be watching the football match pitting Dinamo Kiev against Steaua Bucharest, counting towards the Europa League’s group stage.

Former Bosnian Serbs leader Radovan Karadzic today will be making his final plea before the International Court for Former Yugoslavia in the Hague. Self-defending Karadzic has denied all accusations, stating that the Serbian people is judged in the Hague. We recall Karadzic has been found guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity, perpetrated over 1992 and 1995 during the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The prosecutor’s office has called for a life sentence, and the court is likely to pronounce the sentence by the end of 2015. The trial in the case of Radovan Karadzic, who had been hiding for 13 years, lasted for five years. The war in Bosnia claimed the lives of around one hundred thousand people and left more than two million people homeless.

Romania’s football champion team Steaua Bucharest in the neighboring Ukraine today will be taking on Dinamo Kiev, in their second fixture counting towards the Europa League’s Group J. In their debut confrontation two weeks ago, Steaua thrashed Danish side Aalborg, 6-nil. Also on Thursday, in the competition’s Group D, Romania’ s vice champion team Astra Giurgiu on home turf will be taking on Red Bull Salzburg of Austria. We recall that in their first Europa League match away from home, Astra were trounced by Croatian side Dinamo Zagreb, 5-1.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel Wednesday night in a phone conversation with Russian president Vladimir Putin underscored Moscow; responsibility to have a ”moderating” influence over pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine, according to a German government press release. The AFP news agency stated that the document highlighted how important it was for the truce in Ukraine to be complied with. We recall that in Minsk in early September, the document was signed by Kiev, Moscow and the OSCE, whose main responsibility is to supervise the truce. Recently, Paris and Berlin have suggested to the OSCE that they supply drones, aimed at monitoring the implementation of the truce. Ten people Wednesday were killed in Donetsk bombings; we recall Donetsk is a separatist stronghold in eastern Ukraine. This is the most serious death toll among civilians in the last month of the truce.