October 26, 2014
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România Internațional, 26.10.2014, 12:00
SNAP ELECTIONS — Ukraine is today hosting snap parliamentary elections, called by president Petro Poroshenko in order to put an end to the pro-Russian Government of former leader Viktor Yanukovych, ousted from power in February following mass street protests. The future structure of the Parliament will have 27 less seats, since today’s elections cannot be held in constituencies in Crimea, annexed by Russia, or in Luhansk and Donetsk in Eastern Ukraine, currently controlled by pro-Russian separatists. Opinion polls show pro-Western parties will dominate the new Parliament, with the Petro Poroshenko pro-presidential group favourite to grab some 30% of votes, followed by the nationalist Radical Party, led by Oleg Liashko, the Popular Front, led by current Prime Minister Arsenyi Yatsenyuk and Batkvishina, a group led by former Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko.
TENNIS — WTA 4th ranked Romanian tennis player Simona Halep is today playing Serena Williams of the United States in the Champions’ Tournament in Singapore. This is the first time a Romanian tennis player plays the finals of this competition. On Wednesday Halep grabbed a clear-cut win over Williams in a match counting towards the Red Group. For qualifying in the finals, Halep was awarded 890 WTA points and a 971 thousand dollar check.
WINTER TIME — Romania has switched to the official wintertime today under daylight saving time. This globally used time is aimed at effectively using natural light and reducing electricity consumption. Romania will revert to the official summer time in March. The method was first used during the Great War in 1916 in several countries in Europe and introduced in Romania in 1931.
FEAST DAY — The Romanian Orthodox Patriarch Daniel has delivered the Holy Mass marking the feast day of St. Demetrius of Thessaloniki alongside the Patriarch of Jerusalem Teophilos the 3rd. Yesterday the Patriarch of Jerusalem received the Romanian Star as a token of high recognition for his contribution to defending Christian values and consolidating relations with the Romanian Orthodox Church. His visit to Romania will end on Monday.
HEAVY RAINFALLS — At least one person was killed in the large-scale floods that hit south-eastern Bulgaria this weekend. Road traffic was disrupted in the north while an emergency alert has been called in two regions in the centre. Hundreds of households were cut off from the power grid. Greece too has been affected by flooding and strong wind, with severe damages reported in Athens and Thessaloniki.
RESPONSE — The Romanian Foreign Ministry has severely condemned the terrorist attack in the northern Peninsula of Sinai on October 24, which killed many Egyptian soldiers and wounded scores of others. The ministry expressed its solidarity with the efforts of the Egyptian authorities to combat terrorist activities. Egypt on Friday has declared a three-month state of emergency in Sinai, a hotbed of jihadist militants, after 30 soldiers were killed in a suicide bomb attack. Since Islamist president Mohamed Morsi was ousted in July 2013, Egypt has been the stage of a series of terrorist attacks against the security forces, despite the army’s offensive in the Sinai Peninsula.
VISIT — Romanian Minister for Romanians worldwide Bogdan Stanoevici is as of today on a three-day official visit to Italy, in Turin and Florence. According to the Romanian Foreign Ministry, Stanoevici will meet with representatives of the associative community and with the president of the Tuscany region Enrico Rossi and other local officials. On Friday and Saturday, Bogdan Stanoevici was in Austria where he met with representatives of the Romanian communities, visited the Romanian Orthodox parishes in Graz and Knitellfeld and met with Romanian artists in Vienna.
AGRICULTURE – Prime Minister Victor Ponta on Sunday told a televised show on the public station that in 2014 agriculture will remain, alongside the energy sector, one of the main engines of economic growth. Victor Ponta expressed support for Romania’s bio food sector, recalling that bulk exports are currently the largest threat facing this sector. The Prime Minister went on to say that the Government and the Agriculture Ministry plan on increasing financial support for both bio-food producers and processors.
