October 9, 2015
A roundup of domestic and international news
Newsroom, 09.10.2015, 12:01
The Rapid Reaction Force in Central and Eastern Europe will be doubled, to reach 40,000 strong, and the ultra-rapid response structure will be able to manage any threat within a maximum of 48 hours, the NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced at the NATO summit held in Brussels on Thursday. Also, the North-Atlantic Alliance decided the setting up of two additional command centres, in Slovakia and Hungary, adding to the existing ones in Romania, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland and Bulgaria. The tensions between Russia and NATO have grown higher after Russian fighters conducted air strikes on Syria, in support for Bashar al-Assads regime, claiming they were attacking Islamic State positions. The US and NATO have accused Russia of having attacked positions of the insurgents supported by the West. Since March 2011, Syria has been facing a growing number of violently repressed riots and a military conflict between the security services subordinated to Bashar al-Assad, the opposition forces and terrorist groups, including the Islamic State Sunni organization. The conflicts death toll has already exceeded 250,000.
Elections for the seat of Social Democratic Party President are due this Sunday. Over 530,000 party members are expected to the polls, to elect the new leader of the main party in the ruling coalition in Romania. The only candidate in the race is the current interim-president Liviu Dragnea. He took the reigns of the party in July 2015, when the former president and current Prime Minister of Romania, Victor Ponta, stepped down because of the corruption scandal he was involved in. The PM was prosecuted for forgery, accessory to tax evasion and money laundering. After the internal elections, the Social-Democrats will gather at the extraordinary party congress scheduled for October 18th.
Today is the Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust in Romania. 74 years ago, on October 9th, the regime led by Marshall Ion Antonescu, an ally to Nazi Germany, started deporting the Jews in eastern Romania to the occupied Soviet territories, an action that claimed over 250 thousand lives, according to statistics. Only 10% of the deported ones came back home. The “Elie Wiesel” National Institute for the Study of the Holocaust in Romania marks the event, as well as its 10th anniversary, through a conference titled The Intellectual Elite and the Memory of the Holocaust in Romania”. Yesterday in Bucharest, Romanias president Klaus Iohannis, the Speaker of the Israeli Parliament Yuli Yoel Edelstein, members of the Jewish Communities Federation in Romania and Holocaust survivors took part in a ceremony held at the Holocaust Victims Monument.
The Swedish Academy will today announce the winner of the Nobel Prize for Peace, the only one awarded by Norway, in keeping with the wish of the founder of these awards, Alfred Nobel. The nominees include German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who was recommended for her role in managing the refugee crisis in Europe, and Pope Francis, for his support in reestablishing the ties between the US and Cuba, the BBC reports. Last year, the prize went to the young Pakistani Malala Yousafzai, for her heroic fight through which she became a symbol of young womens right to education, and to the Indian Kailash Satyarthi, for the fight against child exploitation.
The EU has decided to add 400 million Euros to the fund earmarked for the management of the migrant crisis in Europe, Associated Press reports. The decision was made at Thursdays Justice and Home Affairs Council in Brussels. 300 million Euros are to be used to help the Syrian refugees who are currently in countries outside the EU, namely Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan. Also, some of the money will be used to set up 120 positions within three European agencies: FRONTEX – the European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the European Union, EASO – the agency for implementation of the Common European Asylum System and EUROPOL. Some 56 million Euros will be used for humanitarian aid.
Romanias national football squad on Thursday night were held to a one-all draw by the similar team of Finland. The game counted as Romanias last-but-one preliminary stage fixture ahead of EURO 2016. Finland had the lead for the most part of the game, and it was not until extra time that Romania managed to draw level, thus securing its runner-up position in the group, which entitles them to a straight qualification, one point ahead of Hungary. Northern Ireland has won the preliminary group. In order to book its ticket for Euro 2016, Romania is in dire need of a win in the match against Faeroe Island this coming Sunday, which is its last group stage fixture. In another move, Romanias national youth team in Luxembourg on Friday will be playing a game counting towards the preliminaries of the European Under-21 Championship, scheduled for 2017. In its previous group fixtures, Romania won the double-legged tie against Armenia and sustained a home defeat against Bulgaria.
On Sunday, Romanias national rugby team will play its last game at the World Cup hosted by England and Wales, against the Italian squad. A victory would secure them qualification to the 2019 World Championships in France. The Romanian rugby players, also known as The Oaks have lost to Ireland and France this year, but managed to defeat Canada, in a match in which they overturned a 15-point deficit, which is the biggest comeback in the World Cup history.
