January 7, 2024
A roundup of domestic and international news
Newsroom, 07.01.2024, 14:00
Saint John. Orthodox Christians and Greek Catholics celebrate, today, Saint John the Baptist, the last prophet of the Old Testament and the only one who knew the Messiah, whose coming he had prepared. The Jews recognized him as a prophet and would come to get baptized in the waters of the Jordan, to repent their sins. The meeting with Jesus also took place in Jordan. John introduced Jesus as the Messiah. Almost two million Romanians are celebrating their name today. Old-style Christians also celebrate Christmas on January 7th.
Israel. The US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, was received, on Sunday, in Amman by King Abdullah II of Jordan, who asked him to put pressure on Israel to obtain an immediate truce in the Gaza war against the terrorist group Hamas, FP reports. Blinken arrived in Jordan on Saturday night as part of a new tour of the Middle East in an attempt to prevent an escalation of the conflict. The Hashemite sovereign also emphasized the need to put an end to the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip. The king said that there will be no peace and stability in the region without a just settling of the Palestinian issue, based on the two-state solution, Palestinian and Israeli. From Jordan, Blinken will go to Qatar, the emirate that acted as a mediator between Israel and Hamas since the end of November. From there, the US official will travel to Abu Dhabi, to Saudi Arabia – on Monday – and then Israel. In another move, the Israeli army has announced that it has completed the destruction of the command structure of the terrorist group Hamas in the north of the Gaza Strip. The army spokesman said that Israel had killed about 8,000 militants in northern Gaza and that Israeli forces were now focusing on destroying Hamas in the south and center of the Strip.
Ukraine. Last night, Russia launched attacks with drones and three cruise missiles at Ukraine, the Ukrainian Air Force has announced today, adding that their air defense systems destroyed more than 20 of the drones. The Air Force reported that Russia attacked the south and east of Ukraine in particular, Reuters reports. The Japanese foreign minister, Yoko Kamikawa, is visiting Ukraine today, where he will meet his Ukrainian counterpart, Dmitro Kuleba, as well as other officials. Minister Kamikawa will once again confirm to the Ukrainian side that Japans consistent policies to support Ukraine remain unchanged even in the current difficult international situation, the press service of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, quoted by news agencies.
Handball. The Romanian womens handball champion, CSM Bucharest, takes on, today, the Montenegrin team Buducnost, in group A of the Champions League. CSM is in the fourth position, and the leader of the group is Gyor (Hungary). On Saturday, the other representative of Romania in the Champions League, Rapid Bucharest, was dramatically defeated by the Slovenian team Krim Mercator Ljubljana, 25-24, away from home, in Group B. Rapid is the penultimate in the group, and in first position is Esbjerg, from Denmark.
Weather. Precipitations have covered all regions of Romania. It is predominantly raining, but snow will soon take over many regions. A yellow code alert will be in place starting this evening, as meteorologists say there will be strong winds, snow falls and blizzard affecting in particular the east and southeast of the territory. During the night from Sunday to Monday and in the first part of Monday, in the east, south and southeast, there will be mainly rains that will turn into snow falls. Meteorologists have also announced that starting Monday the weather will cool significantly, so that on Tuesday the highs of the day will be negative, ranging from minus 8 to 0 degrees Celsius. Its currently raining in the capital Bucharest, the maximum of the day stood at 10 degrees Celsius. (MI)
