Radio România Internațional

Tag: 4th of July

  • July 2, 2022

    July 2, 2022

    Weather — The plain areas of western, southern and eastern Romania will see another scorching day today. In these regions, a yellow code alert for heat and high thermal discomfort is in place, the maximum temperatures ranging from 33 and 36 degrees Celsius. The noon reading in Bucharest was 32 degrees C. Meteorologists also issued a code orange alert for unstable weather, with heavy storms and heavy rains being expected in the mountainous areas, in the north, center, south and locally east of Romania, valid until this evening. While the authorities in the counties most affected by the heat have set up tents, doctors point out that the elderly, those with various health conditions and children are the most exposed to fainting and sunstroke. In the fields of constructions and agriculture, which involves long-term activities in the scorching sun, people have a hard time coping with hot temperatures.



    July 4 – The United States remains Romanias closest military ally, just as NATO remains the main guarantor of peace and security for all its members, the Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă said on Friday evening. Attending the Party organized by the US Embassy in Bucharest on the occasion of the Independence Day, the Romanian PM welcomed the decision made by President Joe Biden to boost the presence of American troops in Romania. On the other hand, PM Ciucă said that the Romanian Government would continue to work with officials in Washington so that Romanias accession to the Visa Waiver program becomes possible as soon as possible. In his turn, the charge daffaires of the US Embassy in Bucharest, David Muniz, said that Romania leaves a positive mark on the world, recalling, among other things, the readiness of ordinary Romanians and of the authorities to provide humanitarian aid to neighboring Ukraine. David Muniz added that Romania was one of the strongest partners of the United States.



    Theater — Six personalities from the performing arts world receive, this evening, a star on the Star Alley – Aleea Celebrităţilor, as part of the International Theater Festival in Sibiu (center). The merit of two Romanians will be recognized: namely Ion Caramitru, one of the most important and appreciated theater and film actors in Romania, who passed away in September last year, and the cellist Götz Teutsch. Sasha Waltz, Claus Peymann, Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt and Krzysztof Warlikowski will also receive a star on the Star Alley. Sasha Waltz is one of the most respected choreographers of the moment, a dancer and director, a member of the Berlin Academy of Arts. The German Claus Peymann has directed numerous shows based on plays from the classical and contemporary repertoire, and Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt is a French-Belgian playwright, prose writer, novelist, screenwriter and director. His books are translated into 48 languages, and his plays are staged in over 50 countries. The Polish Krzysztof Warlikowski is the artistic director of the Nowy Theater in Warsaw. In 2021, he received the Golden Lion lifetime achievement award at the Venice Biennale.



    Tennis — Romania has only one representative left in the third round of the Grand Slam tournament at Wimbledon: Simona Halep (30 WTA), who meets, today, the Polish Magdalena Frech (92 WTA). In the doubles, the Romanian-Ukrainian pair Raluca Olaru / Nadia Kicenok qualified, on Friday, to the eighth finals, after defeating 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 the pair made up of the British Alicia Barnett and Olivia Nicholls.



    Via Transilvanica – The section of the Via Transilvanica road located in Hunedoara county, in the center of Romania, is open, today, to the public. A project initiated in 2018 by the Tășuleasa Social Association, Via Transilvanica is a tourist and pilgrimage route of over 1,000 kilometers that starts from Putna, in the northeast of the country, crosses Transylvania and ends up in Drobeta-Turnu Severin, in the southwest. Nature and sports enthusiasts can walk it partially or completely, with their backpacks on, or they can go by bike or on horseback, on country paths and roads. Via Transilvanica crosses 10 counties, highlighting the cultural, ethnic, historical and natural riches of Romania. (LS)

  • July 4, 2020

    July 4, 2020

    COVID-19 Ro — The Romanian government is working on a draft law which should allow the authorities to continue to isolate or quarantine the people infected with the new coronavirus, after the publishing of a Constitutional Court decision in the Official Gazette according to which patients can no longer be kept in hospital without their consent. The government is going to discuss the new law next week. For the moment, isolation and quarantine are no longer an obligation but a recommendation, and more and more hospitalized people have applied for being discharged. Still valid though is an article from the Criminal Code on thwarting the fight against diseases, and those who transmit the virus will have to assume the consequences of their acts, the authorities said. Doctors warn that infected people with little or no symptoms at all risk infecting other people if they do not observe isolation measures. The latest figures published by the Strategic Communication Group in Bucharest show more than 28 thousand cases of COVID-19 infection and 1,708 deaths. The number of Romanian citizens from abroad who have died of COVID-19 has reached 122.



    COVID-19 world — The number of confirmed cases of coronavirus around the world has exceeded 11.2 million, with the number of deaths nearing 530 thousand. As many as 6.4 million people have recovered from coronavius infection, shows the online platform Worldometers.info. The US continues to report an increased number of COVID-19 contaminations reaching a total number of 2.9 million cases. More than 132 thousand Americans have died from corona infection. At the same time, the EC on Friday gave its conditional approval for the use of antiviral Remdesivir in severe COVID-19 patients following an accelerated review process, making it the region’s first authorized therapy to treat the virus, AFP reports. “We will leave no stone unturned in our efforts to secure efficient treatments or vaccine against the coronavirus,” said Stella Kyriakides, EU Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, in a statement. In Latin America, Anvisa, the authority regulating the Brazilian medical system, approved, also on Friday, the start of clinical studies for a possible vaccine against the coronavirus developed by the Chinese company Sinovac. The announcement was made in the context in which Brazil has exceeded the threshold of 1.5 million cases of Covid-19 infection, being the second hardest hit country, after the US. More than 63,000 Brazilians have died from coronavirus infection.



    Theater — The International Theater Festival in Sibiu (in central Romania), held online for the first time due to the pandemic, starts Saturday the series of free rebroadcasting of the shows and events of this year’s edition which unfolded between June 12 and 21. Rebroadcasting of the shows will take place over the period July-December, exclusively on the festival’s website (www.sibfest.ro/fits-online). The first shows rebroadcast on Saturday are ‘Magic tales’ and ‘The bull and the rabbit’ by Marian Ralea. Other shows that spectators can watch on Saturday are ‘After the battle’ by Pippo Delbono or the first part of the show ‘Brothers and Sisters’ directed by Lev Dodin. A fado music concert will be rebroadcast on Saturday evening.



    US — Romania’s response to all the major challenges of this period is solidarity, said President Klaus Iohannis at the reception party held to mark the US Independence Day at the American Embassy in Bucharest. Klaus Iohannis also said that Romania remained firmly committed to supporting a strong trans-Atlantic relation and pointed out that Romania would always be a strategic and stalwart ally of the US. The PM Ludovic Orban said that Bucharest would continue to strengthen its relationship with Washington and would continue to be the US’ trustworthy partner. Democracy, human rights and the rule of law are the pillars of trust on which Romania and the US have built their strategic partnership along the years, said the speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Marcel Ciolacu, in a message conveyed on the US Independence Day. Also the interim speaker of the Senate Robert Cazanciuc conveyed a message on the occasion, underlining the constant and privileged relationship between Romanian and the US, which is one of the main coordinates of Bucharest’s foreign policy in a period of accelerated changes. In turn, the US Ambassador to Bucharest, Adrian Zuckerman, underlined that Washington remained committed to helping improve the rule of law in Romania as well as to ensuring the country’s sovereignty and security. (tr. L. Simion)

  • July 4th in Romania

    July 4th in Romania

    This year, one day ahead of the already-traditional party, the US Embassy in Bucharest invited the Romanian public to the screening of the biopic “42: The Story of Jackie Robinson. The film tells the story of the great player who erased colour barriers in baseball, and the choice was not made randomly, as Ron Hawkins the Counsellor for Public Diplomacy at the U.S. Embassy in Bucharest has said baseball is a metaphor for democracy (…) anybody can play and everybody has to play by the same rules. The film screening in Bucharest enjoyed the participation of Sharon Robinson, the daughter of the legend-making Jackie Robinson, of three professional baseball players and of many high-school students, among others.



    Ron Hawkins: “Its the day that we celebrate the independence of the United States of America. And this year we are incredibly pleased to also celebrate the 70th anniversary of when Jackie Robinson broke the colour barrier in baseball. Now, think about that. I said 70 years ago, that is 1947, 8 years before the US got rid of segregation, 8 years before Rosa Parks. So, we are talking about the decade before Martin Luther King came on the scene. This is a major milestone in the civil rights movement, really ahead of the modern civil rights movement. And it was when America was starting to embrace its diversity. And thats what we are celebrating. We are celebrating diversity. We are also celebrating the fact that baseball is a great metaphor for democracy. As we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Strategic Partnership between the United States and Romania, its a great opportunity to use this metaphor: anybody can play and everybody has to play by the same rules. Baseball is democracy



    In his already traditional 4th of July message, the US ambassador to Bucharest, Hans Klemm has also dwelt on the importance of the Strategic Partnership and the US-Romanian relations:



    Hans Klemm: “We are celebrating the 241st anniversary of the Declaration of Independence by the United States of America. This year we are also marking the 20th anniversary of the Strategic Partnership between Romania and the United States. This partnership was recently strongly reaffirmed by President Trump and President Iohannis at the White House in Washington. Looking forward, the United States Embassy and I, well now work with our Romanian friends to strengthen the Strategic Partnership across every dimension. Our priorities remain to promote security, to promote democracy and the rule of law and to promote prosperity. Please join us in celebrating Americas Independence Day.



    As the US Ambassador to Bucharest, Hans Klemm, has said, earlier this month, on June 9th, Romanias President Klaus Iohannis met with US President Donald Trump at the White House. The main topics of discussion were the Romanian – US Strategic Partnership, the fight against corruption and terrorism, and the budget earmarked for defence.



    The two presidents said the Partnership must grow stronger and define bilateral relations, because it is important to both nations. According to Klaus Iohannis, the Partnership with the US has helped Romania become what it is today: a solid democracy, with a solid an sustainable economic growth, a country who’s been standing together with the US troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. Iohannis also underlined the fact that the Romanian – American relations and the trans-Atlantic ties are vital.



    Klaus Iohannis: Romania is a member of the European Union. And I think it’s the best interest of you, Mr. President, to have a strong European Union as a partner. This is vital for all of us. Our relationship, the transatlantic link is vital. The transatlantic link is not about diplomacy, about policy, its at the basis of our Western civilization. And together, we will make it stronger. Together, we will make it better, the Romanian President told Donald Trump. NATO and the European Union do not have to compete against each other. They have to work together. They have to work in such a manner as to produce synergetic effects. Make NATO stronger. Make Europe stronger. Make the United States of America stronger, the Romanian president also said.


    In turn, the US President Donald Trump hailed the relationship with Romania and stated that the Strategic Partnership covers many dimensions, including economic, military and cultural ties. The White House leader thanked the Romanian people for their support in combating terrorism.



    The conclusion of the meeting between the two heads of state was drawn by President Trump himself, who wrote on Facebook: Great honour to welcome President Klaus Iohannis to the White House. The future of Romania and Romania’s relationship with the United States is very, very bright.



    Happy 4th of July to all our American friends, wherever you may be!