December 7, 2016
6.4 magnitude quake hits Aceh/Angela Merkel reelected leader of CDU/ Brussels meeting of foreign ministers of NATO members
Newsroom, 07.12.2016, 12:00
CONSTITUTIONAL COURT — Romania’s Constitutional Court will decide on December 14 in relation to the notifications filed by the National Liberal Party and the technocratic government regarding the law that changes the ordinance on the salaries of personnel paid from public funds. The plenum of the Chamber of Deputies passed the law on November 7, with the amendments proposed by the expert’s committees, which provide for pay rises by 15% in the education and healthcare systems. The PM Dacian Cioloş subsequently announced that the government had to ask for a constitutionality check of the law passed by Parliament, and not of the emergency ordinance.
BRUSSELS — The situation in Ukraine and the latest developments in Afghanistan are the main topics of discussion on the agenda of today’s meeting in Brussels of the foreign ministers of the NATO member states. According to Radio Romania’s correspondent, NATO will reiterate its support for Kiev. On Tuesday, the American Secretary of State, John Kerry, insisted that the allies would never recognize the illegal annexation of Crimea and would refuse to acknowledge Russia’s aggressive actions in the east of Ukraine.
BERLIN — The German chancellor Angela Merkel was reelected, Tuesday, leader of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) and she also made official her candidacy for a 4th term in office as chancellor. Merkel obtained 89.5% of the votes of the CDU members, a percentage accounting for her worst result in 16 years of leading the party. Merkel’s popularity was eroded by the immigration policies she promoted and the poor results obtained in the latest regional elections. In a speech delivered ahead of the elections, Angela Merkel promised that tough laws on immigration would be implemented and that fast deportations would be operated. The chancellor said the German laws would prevail over codes of honor, family or tribal rules, including over the Sharia, the Islamic law, and that fines would be set up for the failure to observe the steps for integration into the German society. Germany will have general elections in 2017. In 2015 it received more than one million immigrants and asylum seekers, news agencies report.
HANDBALL — Romania’s national women’s handball team is taking on, today, Olympic champion Russia, in their second match in Group D of the European Championship hosted by Sweden. In the first match the Romanians lost 21-23 to Norway, European champions and current world champions. In their last match Romania’s handballers will play against Croatia. The three best-ranked teams will qualify to the next stage of the tournament. Romania’s national team is coached by the Spanish Ambros Martin who last month replaced the Swedish Tomas Ryde who led the Romanians to victory at the 2015 World Championship hosted by Denmark where they won bronze.
JAKARTA — As many as 100 people have died and several hundreds have been injured, and tens of buildings have collapsed in Indonesia following a 6.4 magnitude quake that hit the province of Aceh, in the north. The earthquake occurred in the morning at a depth of 8 kms. No tsunami alert has been issued. The province of Aceh was seriously damaged in 2004 following a 9.2 magnitude quake that was followed by a tsunami. 120,000 people died in that natural disaster. (translation by L. Simion)
