January 13, 2014 UPDATE
A roundup of domestic and international news
România Internațional, 13.01.2014, 19:20
The ruling Social Liberal Union on Monday decided in Bucharest to hold the referendum for the validation of constitutional changes at the same time with the elections for the European Parliament in May. The announcement was made by the two leaders of the Social Liberal Union, the Social Democrat Victor Ponta and the Liberal Crin Antonescu. Also decided at the meeting was the date of the presidential elections, set at the beginning of November, 45 days before the mandate of the current head of state expires. The Social Liberal Union also agreed to change the Election Law and return to the voting system based on lists in the case of deputies, whose maximum number will be 300. The alliance’s priorities in 2014 are the institutional reform, the Constitution revision and participation on common lists in the europarliamentary elections.
The inflation rate in Romania in 2013 was 1.55%, the lowest such rate reported in this country in the past 24 years. The value was almost one percentage smaller than the inflation rate target set by the National Bank of Romania, the National Statistics Institute announced on Monday. According to the institute, the drop in the inflation rate is due to a large extent to the good agricultural crops obtained in 2013, which led to a drop in the price of foodstuffs. The central bank board however anticipates that the inflation rate will grow in the coming months as the effects of last year’s good crops diminish.
The former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who died on Saturday, aged 85, was buried on Monday afternoon at his ranch in the Negev desert, in southern Israel, during a military ceremony. He wanted to be buried next to his late wife, Lily, who was born in Brasov, Romania. Family members and political personalities from Israel and abroad, such as the American vice-president Joe Biden, the former British Premier Tony Blair and the German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier paid their homage on Monday afternoon, in a ceremony held in front of the Israeli Parliament. Considered a hero in his country, Ariel Sharon was seen as a war criminal by Palestinians.
With three awards for best comedy, best leading role and best supportive role, the film “American Hustle”, directed by David O. Russell is the big winner of the 71st edition of the Golden Globes, held on Sunday evening in Los Angeles. “12 Years as a Slave” by Steve McQueen won the award for best film drama, while the Mexican Alfonso Cuaron is the best director of 2013 for his film “Gravity”.
The American Secretary of State, John Kerry, and his Russian counterpart, Seghei Lavrov, on Monday discussed in Paris the possibility of “localized ceasefires” in Syria ahead of the peace talks in Geneva due on January 22nd, France press reports. In a 3-party press conference held in Paris, Serghei Lavrov and the UN and the Arab League Special Envoy to Syria, Ladhkar Brahimi, have pleaded for the presence of Iran in the Geneva peace talks. The US has so far been opposed to Iran’s participation in this conference that will focus on discussing a political transition process in Syria in case president Bashar al-Assad steps down from power. As of March 2011 Syria has seen many uprisings that were violently repressed and clashes between insurgent groups of the opposition and the security services subordinated to Bashar al –Assad’s regime. According to the UN, more than 115 thousand people have so far been killed in Syria.
