CHRISTMAS — For Orthodox and Catholic believers from the world over, including from Romania, a country with an Orthodox majority, Sunday was the first day of Christmas, the birth of Lord Jesus Christ, one of the most important Christian holidays. In Romania, Christmas is being marked through special events and religious services in churches and monasteries as well as through a series of beautiful traditions and rich meals with family members. In his Christmas address, Patriarch Daniel of the Romanian Orthodox Church has pointed out to the fact that desensitisation and ignoring the suffering of others is undermining the feeling of love inside families and society. The patriarch has conveyed a message that people should come together in prayer for all those suffering because of wars, persecutions and violence all over the world but also for the Romanians in the Disapora who had to live far from their families. In his Christmas message, Pope Francis has called on Catholics the world over to show compassion to the children suffering from wars and poverty.
ANNOUNCEMENT — Romania’s president Klaus Iohannis is expected to make public the name of the Prime Minister designate after Christmas. Iohannis made the statement following the talks he held on Wednesday and Thursday with representatives of the political parties who had made it to Parliament after the election on December 11th. The majority coalition, made up of the Social-Democrats (PSD) and the Alliance of the Democrats and Liberals in Romania (ALDE) has proposed the former Minister of Development, Social-Democrat Sevil Shhaideh, while the People’s Movement Party (PMP) has proposed Eugen Tomac. The National Liberals and the Save Romania Union (USR) said they would oppose the move and would not back a government formed around the PSD, whereas the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania (UDMR) has signed a Parliament cooperation agreement with the PSD-ALDE coalition.
CRASH — A Russian military plane with over 90 on board, mostly members of famous army choir Alexandrov, crashed into the Black sea on Sunday. No survivors have been reported from the TU 154 plane, which disappeared from radars almost 20 minutes after takeoff close to the resort of Sochi. The plane was flying to Syria to entertain the Russian troops there. Russian president Vladimir Putin has ordered the setting up of an investigation team led by Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev. Putin has also decreed Monday a day of national mourning for the victims.
LANGUAGE – The Romanian language has been replaced with the so-called Moldovan language on the webpage of the presidency of the Republic of Moldova (an ex-soviet Romanian-speaking country) after the country’s pro-Russian president Igor Dodon took over his mandate on Friday. Dodon repeatedly said in the past years that the country’s official language was the so-called Moldovan, although the Constitutional Court in Chisinau had ruled that the country’s official language was Romanian. Last week, Dodon lashed out at Romania’s decision to offer scholarships to young people from the Republic of Moldova, a move that he described as a policy aimed at Romanizing the Moldovans. In another development Dodon said he had scheduled a meeting with Russia’s president Vladimir Putin in Moscow on January 17th, his first visit abroad.
