Radio România Internațional

Tag: airspace

  • January 17, 2025 UPDATE

    January 17, 2025 UPDATE

    FAIR Romania will be participating in the world’s biggest fair of bioproducts, BioFach 2025, due in Nurnberg, Germany, over February 11 and 14, the Bio-Romania Association announced on Friday. Bio-Romania is supported by the government through the Romanian Agency of Investment and Foreign Trade. According to the aforementioned association, Romania has been participating in BioFach for the past 20 years. As early as 1990, BioFach became the main meeting point of producers from the world over, offering the participants numerous network opportunities and also being an idea hub for all the main players in the field organic production.

     

    PROTESTS Thousands of police officers and employees from defence, public order and national security institutions, as well as reserve officers from all over Romania took to the streets of Bucharest on Friday. They called on the government to review an order that significantly reduced their incomes. The act scraps overtime pay and payments for days worked on weekends or public holidays. The protesters argue that the income of operational police officers will be severely affected, with decreases ranging between 200 and 400 Euros. Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu pledged on Friday that the issue of overtime pay in the field of public order would be regulated by Parliament in early February.

     

    RUSSIA The Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs firmly condemns the Russian forces’ irresponsible attacks that violate all the norms of international law, and emphasizes that Russia’s illegal and unprovoked aggression against Ukraine generates risks for the entire region. The statement was made as the monitoring and surveillance systems of Romania’s Defence Ministry Friday morning noted violations of Romanian airspace, in Tulcea county, after Russian forces resumed their drone attacks on civilian targets and port infrastructure in Ukraine. ‘Respect for sovereignty, security and peace are obligations that the Russian Federation violates systematically and without provocation. The persistent aggressive actions, the illegal occupation of some of the neighboring territories and the illegal full-scale war that Russia has been waging for almost 3 years against a sovereign neighbor are a persistent and serious threat not only to Ukraine but to the entire Black Sea region and NATO’s eastern flank,’ the foreign ministry says. The Foreign Ministry and the Defence Ministry also mention that they have been informing NATO in real time about the situations caused by these attacks, and remain in permanent contact with it.

     

    FLU Flu vaccination remains the easiest, safest and most effective protection method against seasonal diseases, Romanian doctors reiterate amid increases in the number of respiratory infections. Specialists emphasize that as the percentage of the vaccinated population increased, flu viruses spread in communities decreases. A National Institute for Public Health report shows that the number of people diagnosed with respiratory infections has doubled, with almost 91,000 cases reported in the last week. There are almost 600 patients diagnosed with clinical flu and over 200 for whom lab tests have confirmed infection with the flu virus, most of them in Bucharest, Cluj, Braşov, Constanţa, Alba and Galaţi. Five more people have died from the flu, bringing the death toll since the beginning of the season up to 9.

     

    TENNIS The Romanian tennis players Gabriela Ruse and Jaqueline Cristian, in separate pairs, qualified for the second round of the women’s doubles event at the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam tournament of the year, after winning their respective matches on Friday in Melbourne. Ruse and Ukraine’s Marta Kostiuk won against the Australians Destanee Aiuava and Maddison Inglis 6-4, 7-6 (7/2), and in the second round they will face strong opponents in Elise Mertens (Belgium) and Ellen Perez (Australia), seeded 6th. Jaqueline Cristian and her Italian partner Camilla Rosatello defeated Cristina Bucşa (Spain)/Iana Sizikova (Russia) 6-2, 6-7 (2/7), 6-4. Cristian and Rosatello will next face Leylah Fernandez (Canada) and Nadia Kicenok (Ukraine), seeded 16th. In another first-round match in the women’s doubles, Monica Niculescu and Sofia Kenin (US) were defeated by Miyu Kato (Japan)/Renata Zarazua (Mexico), 6-4, 6-4. In the men’s doubles, the Romanian-Argentine pair Victor Cornea/Mariano Navone was defeated in the second round by Germany’s Kevin Krawietz/Tim Puetz, 4-6, 6-1.

    (bill)

  • September 12, 2024

    September 12, 2024

    RCA Romania has the most expensive civil liability insurance for car owners, RCA, in the region, roughly 220 Euros, although compensations have dropped by 9% – representatives of the Confederation of Authorized Operators and Transporters, COTAR, say. According to them the average RCA prices in Bulgaria is around 100 Euros, in Hungary 98 Euros and in Poland 120. COTAR representatives are blaming the situation on the Financial Supervisory Authority, whose representatives say the institution cannot intervene on the RCA price, which is based upon statistical data regarding compensations and damages paid in road accidents in the past years and other risk criteria.

     

    STRIKE The Foreign Ministry in Bucharest has issued heads-up for the Romanians traveling to Belgium that a 24-hour strike has been announced on the Charleroi Airport, which is expected to cripple the airport’s operational capabilities. A series of flights are being cancelled and passengers are advised to check online the lists posted by various airlines. According to a communiqué issued by the Foreign Ministry in Bucharest, Romania’s embassy in Brussels has made available a hot line for the Romanian citizens in difficult, special and emergency situations.

     

    HANDBALL The Romanian handball champions, Dinamo Bucharest, are making their debut tonight in the EHF Champions League in a match against the Danish vice-champions Fredericia HK. Dinamo was included in the Champions League’s Group A and it avoided the finalists of the recently ended season, the champion side Barcelona and the team which lost the finals Aalborg Handbold. The Romanian side will be up against Fuchse Berlin, Sporting Lisbon, Paris Saint-Germain Handball as well as Veszprem HC, presently coached by its former headcoach Xavi Pascual. In the women’s contests, Romania is being represented by three sides, which already played their first matches last weekend. The Romanian derby Gloria Bistrita versus CSM Bucharest ended 30-26 to Bistrita, while Rapid Bucharst secured a 32-27 home win against the double European champions Buducnost Podgorica.

     

    LAW Parliament in Bucharest on Wednesday tackled some law amendments aimed at enabling the army to annihilate the suspect drones entering Romania’s territory. The talks involved the participation of MPs and representatives of the Ministry of Defence. Romanian MPs believe that some legislative amendments are needed in order to improve the response capabilities when unauthorized or suspect drones are entering the Romanian airspace. The talks were held after several Russian drones had entered the Romanian airspace in the past year on their way to targets in the neighboring Ukraine.

     

    WEATHER In Romania’s northeastern and eastern regions temperatures are normal for this time of the year, whereas in the rest of the territory the weather is warm. Showers and thunderstorms are expected in most regions in the country’s east and north-east and on isolated areas in the north and center. The highs of the day are expected between 20 and 31 degrees Celsius with a noon reading in Bucharest of 21 degrees and a high of 29 degrees Celsius.

    (bill)

     

  • Drone alerts on the Eastern Flank

    Drone alerts on the Eastern Flank

    The terror campaign the Russian army is carrying out in Ukraine continued last weekend unabated. According to the Ukrainian Air Forces, Russia launched 67 long-range drones in a large-scale night attack against 11 Ukrainian regions. On their way to targets, these drones are also violating the air space of the countries neighboring Ukraine, as it happened again last nights. One of these Russian drones has crashed close to the town of Rezekne in eastern Latvia, 50 kilometers close to the borders of this NATO country with Belarus and Russia.

    Land troops and air surveillance devices belonging to Romania’s Ministry of National Defence have been deployed to conduct search operations in the regions close to Periprava, in Tulcea County, south-eastern Romania, where parts of the drones the Russians used to bomb Ukraine’s ports on the Danube have allegedly crashed.

    The Bucharest administration has announced that a Russian drone on Saturday night entered Romania’s airspace on its way to Ukrainian targets. In response two F-16 fighters had been ordered to take off to monitor the situation and the General Inspectorate for Emergency situations had issued heads-up in the counties of Tulcea and Constanta, in Romania’s south-east, against the risk of falling debris.

    On Sunday morning the Romanian Ministry of Defence briefed the allied structures over the situation created and conveyed a firm message of condemning these attacks mounted by the Russian Federation against elements of Ukrainian civil infrastructure, which the Romanian side considers ‘unjustified and in severe contradiction with international law’.

    A protest message has also been issued by the Romanian Foreign Ministry. The diplomacy in Bucharest said the radars of Romania’s armed forces had identified a drone, which violated the country’s airspace on its way to an Ukrainian target, and called for the cessation of Russia’s irresponsible escalation of the security situation.

    Romania’s Foreign Ministry has also called for the observance of the rule of law including in the case involving the inviolability of Romania’s airspace and has reiterated its vehement condemnation of these illegal attacks. Since the onset of the Russian invasion of that country in February 2022, Russian troops have launched thousands of missiles and long-range drones against various military and civil objectives causing numerous victims against the population. Following these attacks, a series of Russian drones fell on the Romanian territory mostly in unpopulated areas. In order to fight off such attacks, Romania has joined the countries that are donating to Ukraine some of their surface-to-air Patriot missiles.

    (bill)

  • Common defence of the European sky

    Common defence of the European sky

    The initiative of a joint air defence system has been championed by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz who sees it as “a security gain for all of Europe”. In a speech delivered in Prague in August, he said that such system would be more economical and efficient than national systems. The idea was welcomed especially by East European countries, which are concerned about a possible escalation of the conflict started by the Russian Federation in the neighbouring Ukraine.



    The European Sky Shield Initiative (ESSI) entered a new stage on Thursday, when 14 NATO countries, Romania included, and Finland signed a letter of intent with a view to carrying out this project. The signatory countries plan to first purchase Patriot medium-range defence systems produced by the United States, and then the Arrow 3 system, manufactured by Israel and the US, designed to neutralise longer-range threats such as intercontinental missiles and even satellites. Installing these systems in several countries would provide complete and efficient defence of the European airspace.



    Costs would also be smaller for each participating country, NATO Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoana said in Brussels: “It aims to enable European allies to procure these much needed capabilities better and faster, and to optimize their costs. It should also bring synergy among allies with similar urgent requirements, covering the full spectrum of the air and missile defence needs. It should promote interoperability and their integration with each other and with NATO’s integrated air and missile defence. It is an important effort to generate more resources and to ensure that the needed capabilities are procured and deployed quickly.”



    The new assets, “fully interoperable and seamlessly integrated within the NATO air and missile defence, would significantly enhance our ability to defend the Alliance from all air and missile threats,” Mircea Geoana explained. The signing of the letter of intent by Romania, alongside Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Slovakia, Slovenia, the United Kingdom and Finland will facilitate further procedures. Any other state may join the European Sky Shield Initiative, as the project takes shape. (EE)

  • October 6, 2020

    October 6, 2020

    COVID-19 On Tuesday in Romania record-high figures were reported both in terms of the number of deaths (73) and patients taken in intensive care in the last 24 hours (608). 2, 121 new infection cases were also reported, taking the total number of confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic to nearly 140,000. Some 110,000 of them have recovered. Romanian authorities announce new restrictions in localities with more that 1.5 cases per thousand capita in the past 14 days. The National Committee for Emergency Situations last night requested county committees to look at the local situation and introduce additional containment measures, such as banning private events or closing restaurants. Restrictions will also be introduced for travelers coming from countries with more coronavirus cases than Romania.



    INDUSTRY The Romanian airspace company Romaero received from the American firm Raytheon a first order for components for Patriot anti-missile systems, more specifically for parts that will be included in the construction of the Patriot radar. After this first order has been completed, the Romanian company will have a chance to receive subsequent orders from all the 17 countries that own Patriot systems. Romaero is the second Romanian company to receive orders for parts and pieces, after Aerostar Bacău in 2019.



    DEFENCE Romanias Supreme Defence Council is holding an online meeting today, chaired by president Klaus Iohannis, to look at defence and national security issues. The agenda includes topics like such as a strategic defence analysis, the White Paper on Defence, the implementation plan for the national defence strategy 2020 – 2024. The last meeting of the Council was held in late May. PM Ludovic Orban, deputy chairman of the Council, requested a COVID-19 test on Monday, after he was recently on a TV set with a person who tested positive for the virus. The Government subsequently announced that the test was negative, but that the PM will stay in quarantine until Thursday, working without physical contact with any other individuals. Ludovic Orban will be tested again on Thursday.



    EUROSTAT Romania has imported face masks worth 272 million euros in the first half of 2020, according to data made public by Eurostat today. In the first 6 months of the year compared to 2019, the EUs face masks imports rose 1,800%, from 800 million euro to 14 billion euro. Data per capita point to substantial differences between member states. Luxembourg, which distributes face masks under a governmental policy, has imported by far the largest number of such products per capital in the EU (121 euro per capita). Next come Belgium, Germany and France, the only countries with imports above 50 euro per capita. At the opposite pole, imports were under 10 euro per capita in Cyprus, Poland, Sweden, Croatia, Greece and Bulgaria. Romania is ranked in the lower half of the list, with face masks imports amounting to 14 euro per inhabitant.



    NOBEL Scientists Roger Penrose (UK),
    Reinhard Genzel (Germany) and Andrea Ghez (USA) were awarded on Tuesday the Nobel
    Prize for physics for their discoveries related to black holes. On Monday, researchers Harvey J. Alter, Michael Houghton and Charles M. Rice were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for 2020, for the discovery of the Hepatitis C virus. The recipients of the Nobel Prize for chemistry, literature and peace will also be announced this week. The winner of the Nobel Prize for Economy will be made public on October 12. With the latter’s exception, the other Nobel Prizes were created by the Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel (1833-1896), the inventor of the dynamite. In 2020, each Nobel Prize will be accompanied by a $1.1 million check, which is more than in previous years. The Nobel Awards organisers have announced that, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the prize recipients will most likely receive their awards in their home countries, without having to attend an award ceremony in Stockholm.



    PANDEMIC The total number of COVID-19 cases worldwide is over 35.7 million, with over 1 million deaths, according to worldometers updates. The US president Donald Trump returned to the White House, after receiving treatment for the virus. He urged people, in a video message, not to be scared or overwhelmed by this disease. The US remains the country with the largest number of cases and deaths in the world. Record-high figures are also reported in a growing number of European countries, and additional protection measures are introduced across the continent. The Czech Republic and Slovakia reintroduced a state of emergency on Monday. (translated by: A.M. Popescu)