February 9, 2014
A look at the main stories in Romania today.
România Internațional, 09.02.2014, 13:26
The Romanian actress Olimpia Melinte has been nominated in the “revelation of the year” category of the prestigious Spanish Goya awards for her part in Manuel Martín Cuenca’s film Canibal. The awards gala is held today in Madrid. The international press has described Melinte as the director’s most important discovery and a good casting decision. She is 27 years old and comes from Iasi, in north-eastern Romania.
Swiss voters are taking part in a referendum on whether to restrict immigration to their country, especially from EU member states. According to commentators, the outcome of the referendum may affect Switzerland’s relationship with the European Union. With a population of 8 million people, Switzerland is not part of the Union, but has a number of bilateral agreements with the bloc. Following intense talks, it has agreed to open its labour market for Europeans. Brussels has warned that if Switzerland cancels the free movement agreement with the EU, all the other agreements are also at risk.
The Ukrainian opposition has called for a new wide-scale demonstration in Kiev today after a private meeting on Friday in Sochi between president Viktor Yanukovych and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. The protests in Ukraine started more than two months ago, when this country refused to sign an association agreement with the European Union, a decision which the opposition and a number of western leaders blame on pressure from Russia. In the meantime, Russia has promised to give Ukraine 15 billion dollars worth of aid and to reduce its gas price. In the past, Russia has been known to use its gas as a means to achieve its political goals.
An armed man opened fire on Sunday in an Orthodox cathedral on the Sakhalin island, off Russia’s eastern coast, killing two people and wounding another six. The incident occurred as Russian security forces are on alert for possible attacks during the Olympic Games in Sochi. No connection has been established however between Sunday’s attack and the Olympic Games. Almost a week ago, an armed teenager killed a teacher and a policeman and took a number of students hostage in the biggest incident of this kind at a Russian school.
Romania’s waterpolo team on Sunday defeated Turkey 10-6 to win the Mithat Hantal tournament in Istanbul. On Friday, the first day of the competition, Romania defeated France 11-10, while on Saturday they beat Belarus 16-7. In Vina del Mar, Chile, the Romanian-Austrian pair Florin Mergea and Oliver Marach won the doubles title of an ATP tennis tournament worth 420,000 dollars. In the final, they defeated the 2nd seed Columbian pair Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah.
