Radio România Internațional

Tag: Bogdan

January 8, 2024

LAWS Parliament is due to
convene for a new session in Bucharest on February 1. Until then, the Romanian
MPs are working on a couple of new legislative initiatives focusing, among
other things, on regulating gambling activities and curbing drug consumption.
The new amendments include several measures such as the relocation of casinos
and betting houses outside towns and cities, limiting gambling commercials and
banning these commercials near schools, parks or hospitals. According to the
initiators of the aforementioned bills, some of them introduced as early as
2022, the amendments come against the background of the latest expert warnings
on the younger generation’s alarmingly growing addiction to gambling and drug consumption
as well as their vulnerability to various advertising campaigns in the field.
Drug trafficking is punishable with up to 10-year jail sentences. Other draft
laws include the measure of banning the minors’ access to energy drinks and
limiting commercials to vape products and accessories.

TENNIS Romanian tennis
player Ana Bogdan on Monday qualified for the round of sixteen of the WTA 500
tournament in Adelaide, Australia with over 900 thousand dollars in prize
money. The Romanian secured a 6-3, 6-4 win against Katie Boulter of Britain.
Also on Monday the all-Romanian pair Ana Bogdan/Monica Niculescu was defeated
by the US-Dutch pair Asia Muhammad/Demi Schuurs 7-6, 6-4 in the doubles first
round.

INVESTMENT
According to data released by the National Institute for Statistics, in the first
nine months of 2023, Romania’s construction sector reported over 74 billion lei
worth of investment, which accounts for 62.6% out of the total investment in
the country’s economy. In the aforementioned period, investment in Romania’s
national economy stood at roughly 118.5 billion lei, a 14.4% rise as compared
to the period between January and September 2022.

SCHOOL Students have today
resumed classes in the third module of the school year here in Romania. The
next students’ holiday is to be decided by county inspectorates and most likely
will kick off on February 19th. In another development, against the
background of a new wave of respiratory infections, medical authorities are
urging parents not to send their children to school if they show any symptom of
a respiratory disease.

WEATHER The weather
gets cooler and cooler in almost all the Romanian regions and even snowfalls have
been reported in the mountains and some eastern regions. The snow layer is
expected to reach over 15-20 centimeters in the country’s north-eastern regions.
Mixed precipitations have been reported in the center, south and south-east and
the wind will intensify in Romania’s eastern and south-eastern regions. The
highs of the day are ranging between -7 and + 7 degrees Celsius.

(bill)

8 January 2024
Athlete of the Week

A couple of days ago the Italian city of Parma played
venue for a major women’s tennis tournament of the WTA 250 series. The main
draw of the clay tournament Parma Ladies Open, a competition with 200 thousand Euros
in prize money, included two Romanians, 3rd-seeded Irina Begu and 6th-seeded
Ana Bogdan. Bogdan made it to the semifinals and was awarded a prize of almost 9
thousand Euros.

Her performance in Parma has also pushed her 7 WTA notches up
to the 46th position, for the first time in her career. She has also got the
Athlete of the Week title, Radio Romania International awards weekly to the
best Romanian performance.

In Parma, Bogdan obtained a first two-set win, 6-1,
6-2, against Laura Pigossi of Brasil. Then she defeated Ana Schmiedlova of Slovakia
in three sets 6-2, 3-6, 6-3. Bogdan then met her compatriot Irina Begu in the
quarters whom she outperformed 6-2, 7-6. In the semifinals she managed a good
show against Mayar Sherif of Egypt who eventually won the game 6-4, 3-6, 6-4. Sherif
won the trophy after beating top seed Maria Sakkari of Greece in the finals.

Ana Bogdan was born on 25 November 1992, in Sinaia,
southern Romania, and turned professional in 2007. In 2009 she was second in
the junior world ranking. She made it to the 59th position in the WTA ranking in
June 2018. Her main performances had been two WTA semis in Florianopolis in
2016 and in Bucharest a year later. Since then she has had a constant ascension,
making it to the semis in Paris in May and in Portoroz, Slovenia, in September.

She played two finals, in Warsaw, in July where she lost and in Iasi, northern
Romania, in August where she won. Among the Romanian players she comes fourth after
9th-seeded Halep, Irina Begu on the 33rd position and
Sorana Cirstea who is presently ranking 39th in the WTA standings.

(bill)

4 October 2022
Athlete of the Week

A couple of days ago the Italian city of Parma played
venue for a major women’s tennis tournament of the WTA 250 series. The main
draw of the clay tournament Parma Ladies Open, a competition with 200 thousand Euros
in prize money, included two Romanians, 3rd-seeded Irina Begu and 6th-seeded
Ana Bogdan. Bogdan made it to the semifinals and was awarded a prize of almost 9
thousand Euros.

Her performance in Parma has also pushed her 7 WTA notches up
to the 46th position, for the first time in her career. She has also got the
Athlete of the Week title, Radio Romania International awards weekly to the
best Romanian performance.

In Parma, Bogdan obtained a first two-set win, 6-1,
6-2, against Laura Pigossi of Brasil. Then she defeated Ana Schmiedlova of Slovakia
in three sets 6-2, 3-6, 6-3. Bogdan then met her compatriot Irina Begu in the
quarters whom she outperformed 6-2, 7-6. In the semifinals she managed a good
show against Mayar Sherif of Egypt who eventually won the game 6-4, 3-6, 6-4. Sherif
won the trophy after beating top seed Maria Sakkari of Greece in the finals.

Ana Bogdan was born on 25 November 1992, in Sinaia,
southern Romania, and turned professional in 2007. In 2009 she was second in
the junior world ranking. She made it to the 59th position in the WTA ranking in
June 2018. Her main performances had been two WTA semis in Florianopolis in
2016 and in Bucharest a year later. Since then she has had a constant ascension,
making it to the semis in Paris in May and in Portoroz, Slovenia, in September.

She played two finals, in Warsaw, in July where she lost and in Iasi, northern
Romania, in August where she won. Among the Romanian players she comes fourth after
9th-seeded Halep, Irina Begu on the 33rd position and
Sorana Cirstea who is presently ranking 39th in the WTA standings.

(bill)

4 October 2022
Trade unions in Romania are taking action

As early as the first days of this year, a series of
workers from several professional categories took to the streets to protest the
way in which the present centre-to-right government is handling the issues
caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, which seriously affected Romania’s economy.

The protesters marched towards the government
buildings, various ministries and county prefectures to voice their discontent
and present their claims.

Cartel
Alfa,
one of Romania’s main trade union federation on January 14th kicked off a
series of protests due to last until February 28th.

In order to comply with the prevention measures
imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic, the protests are to unfold gradually and
besides street rallies they are to include a series of other measures, such as
petitions, requests and talks with MPs from all political parties. The
protesters’ main claims include, decent wages and equitable pensions,
high-quality public services, the resumption of collective negotiations, fair
duties and taxes and the correct implementation of legislation. Here is Cartel
Alfa leader Bogdan Hosu with details on the aforementioned protests.

Bogdan Hosu: ʺState
employees are disgruntled with their rights and salaries that have been frozen for
the year 2020 and with the fact that the pledged pay rise of 8% has been
cancelled, so they can no longer reach the envisaged parameters of the unique
budgetary pay law. Pensioners have also voiced dissatisfaction at the fact that
their pensions are being unfairly calculated. Those in the private sector are
also dissatisfied with the employers’ inability to provide the right pay rises
in keeping with the transfer of tax liability from the employer to the
employee.

In a letter entitled We All Have the Same Rights!
Cartel Alfa has reminded all the governing parties (PNL, USR-Plus and UDMR)
that the austerity policy instated by the present government is not part of the
pledges during the campaign for the elections on December 6th, and
the present economic and social background as well as the health crisis, which was
affecting Romania even before the elections, cannot justify such a quick shift
in public politics.

Trade unionists are aware that Romania, as the whole
world, is currently facing a large-scale health and economic crisis, but they
believe the country is in great need of balanced public policies made up
through a series of real talks with social partners so that the efforts and
costs may be fairly distributed.

Without any specific example, the country’s Deputy
Prime Minister Dan Barna says that part of the claims could be solved in the
coming period. In a Facebook post, Barna says that some claims can be tackled from
the viewpoint of an economy affected by crisis and a budget deficit, which
should stay around 7% of the GDP.

(bill)

20 January 2021
October 29, 2020 UPDATE

ATTACK France’s security alert status was raised to the highest
level after the terror attack in Nice, which left three people dead, the
country’s Prime Minister Jean Castex announced on Thursday. The Prime Minister
denounced the attack, which he described ‘as cowardly as it is barbaric’ adding
that the government’s response would be firm, implacable and immediate.
According to witnesses, the assailant repeatedly shouted Alahu Akbar (Allah is
great). The attack has shocked the entire nation in the eve of a fresh lockdown
for containing the Covid-19 pandemic and a couple of days ahead the Roman
Catholic All Saints holiday. It also comes two weeks after the beheading of a
French teacher who showed his students caricatures of Prophet Muhammad.

AWARD Romanian film ‘Contraindications’ directed by Lucia Chicos
has been awarded the third prize in the Cinefoundation
section of the Film Festival in Cannes, this year staged as a mini-edition
held on three days. 17 productions were vying for the big prize, which this
year went to Catdog, directed by Ashmita Guha of India. The second prize was
won by ‘My Fat Arse and I’ by Polish director Yelyzaveta Pysmak. Lucia Chicos
is a second year graduate student at the National University of Theatre and
Film in Bucharest and her film, ‘Contraindications’, is focusing on the
dialogue between a mother and her daughter at a tense moment in their
relationship.

SENTENCE The former Liberal President of the Bucharest Chamber of
Deputies, Bogdan Olteanu, on Thursday was sentenced to 5 years in prison for
influence peddling in a case in which he is accused of receiving one million
euro from a controversial businessman. The sentence is final. Olteanu led the
lower chamber of Parliament between 2006 and 2008, and in 2009 he was appointed
deputy governor of the National Bank. He resigned after being detained by
anti-corruption prosecutors in 2016, to be heard in the influence peddling
case.

COVID-19 A record number of 6,481 new cases of people infected
with SARS-CoV-2 have been registered in Romania in the last 24 hours, following
36,169 tests performed nationwide, the Strategic Communication Group has announced.
The number of deaths attributed to COVID-19 was 83, bringing the total number
of victims to 6,764. Since the beginning of the pandemic, 229,040 cases of
people infected with the new coronavirus have been confirmed in Romania, and
163,852 patients have been declared cured. 868 patients are admitted to
intensive care, 7 more than the previous day. The highest infection coefficients
per 1,000 inhabitants in the last 14 days are registered in the counties of
Cluj, Sălaj, Alba, in the capital Bucharest and in the counties of Timiş and
Harghita. These areas are subject to the red scenario that imposes additional
restrictions, such as wearing a mask in all open spaces. The good news comes
from abroad, where there have been no new cases of infection or death among
Romanians in the last 24 hours. So far, 6,851 Romanian nationals have fallen
ill and 126 have lost their lives abroad.

(bill)

29 October 2020