Radio România Internațional

Tag: Coast Guard

  • May 14, 2023 UPDATE

    May 14, 2023 UPDATE

    Commemoration — The wounds caused by communism will never be fully healed, and our duty is to cultivate, every day, the respect for democratic values, as well as for the historical truth, and to educate the younger generations in this sense. This message was conveyed on Sunday by the Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă on the occasion of the National Remembrance Day of Martyrs of Communist Prisons. “75 years ago, on the night of May 14/15, 1948, the communist authorities launched a vast repressive operation, marking the beginning of a long series of horrors. For almost half a century, Romania was in the darkness of totalitarianism, all the strongholds of democracy being destroyed, one by one” the prime minister said in his message. According to him, all this ordeal ended in December 1989, through blood sacrifice, when Romanians won the fight for freedom and democracy.



    Jobs – The number of jobs held in public institutions and authorities in Romania was, in March 2023, 1,277,054, 470 more compared to the previous month, 63.88% of which were in the central public administration, according to data published on the Finance Ministrys website. Out of the total of 815,788 employees in the central public administration, 600,805 worked in institutions fully financed from the state budget (plus 76 employees compared to February 2023). The largest number of occupied positions was recorded in the Education Ministry, respectively 295,367, the Interior Ministry – 125,184, the Defense Ministry – 71,989, the Finance Ministry – 24,695 and the Health Ministry – 18,202. In March, 461,266 people worked in the local public administration (plus 136), of whom 281,482 in institutions fully financed from local budgets (plus 434) and 179,784 in institutions fully or partially financed from own revenues (minus 166). The coalition government adopted, on Friday, the Emergency Ordinance on the reduction of public expenses, which, among other measures, stipulates, this year, the suspension of contests or exams for filling vacant or temporarily vacant positions, with the exception of unique jobs.



    Mission – A maritime vessel and two port surveillance and control sloops of the Romanian Coast Guard will participate, for two months, in the Mediterranean Sea, in an international Frontex mission to save human lives in danger. According to a Border Police General Inspectorate’s press release, submitted to the media on Sunday, they will carry out individual patrol, surveillance, search and rescue missions in the Mediterranean Sea, at the external maritime border of the European Union. The main objective of the joint operation, called THEMIS, is to support the Italian authorities in the surveillance and control of the Union’s maritime borders, as well as in the search and rescue of persons in distress at sea.



    Football – The national football team of Belarus will play in Hungary, behind closed doors, the June matches against Israel and Kosovo, from Group I of the EURO 2024 preliminaries, a group which also includes Romania – the Hungarian football federation announced, after UEFA ordered Belarus to play on neutral ground. Unlike Russia, excluded from UEFA competitions after the invasion of Ukraine, its ally Belarus was not suspended by the European football forum. Belarus started the EURO 2024 preliminaries with two defeats, against Switzerland (0-5, a match that took place in Serbia) and against Romania (1-2 in Bucharest). Winner of the match in Andora too, score 2-0, Romania is ranked 2nd in the group, after Switzerland, which has a better goal difference. The two top-ranking teams in each group qualify for the final tournament in Germany. Romania has participated in five editions of the European Championship, with the best performance being the quarter-final at EURO 2000.



    Berlin – The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, said on Sunday in Berlin that Ukraine and its Western supporters could make Russias defeat in the war in Ukraine “irreversible” as early as this year. He was received by President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Chancellor Olaf Scholz, during his first visit to Germany since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Volodymyr Zelensky thanked Berlin for its help and solidarity following Germanys announcement that it will supply Kiev with weaponry worth nearly three billion dollars. In turn, Olaf Scholz said that the new package is a strong indication of support for the fight against the Russian invasion, support that will continue as long as necessary. The Defense Ministry in Berlin specified that the aid will include anti-aircraft defense systems, battle tanks, infantry vehicles, artillery ammunition and hundreds of reconnaissance aerial vehicles. This is the largest package of weapons provided by Germany to strengthen the Ukrainian armed forces, since the start of the war by Russia. (LS)

  • August 21, 2017

    August 21, 2017

    VISIT French president, Emmanuel Macron, on Thursday will be paying a formal visit to Romania at the invitation of his Romanian counterpart Klaus Iohannis. The visit was agreed upon during the talks the two officials had on the sidelines of the European Council session in Brussels in June. On that occasion, president Iohannis voiced Romania’s determination to remaining France’s staunch partner and to supporting with France the process of kick-starting the European project. The talks between the two leaders are expected to be focussing on the development and deepening of the bilateral relation of the strategic partnership and also on the main topics on the international and European agendas. The economic issues to be tackled include boosting bilateral trade, including by diversifying cooperation fields. Against the background of the tradition and the cultural affinities between the two states the talks in Bucharest will also focus on cooperation during the cultural season Romania-France 2018 — 2019.



    MIGRANTS Romanian Coast Guard last night intercepted in the Black Sea a small boat carrying about 50 clandestine migrants. According to the authorities their nationality will be verified at the Navy base in Mangalia, southeastern Romania. At the end of last week a motor-yacht under Turkish flag with 69 migrants on board was also intercepted by a Coast Guard vessel in Romania’s territorial waters.



    ISIS The driver of the van that killed 13 people in Barcelona last week has been identified, the Catalan police have announced. The name of the 22-year-old Moroccan Younes Abouyaaquoub has been made known to all the police forces in Europe. Hours after the attack in Barcelona, police shot dead five terrorists while trying to launch an attack in the resort of Cambrils. The masterminds of the two attacks, claimed by ISIS, were part of a Jihadi cell of 12 people. 14 people were killed and more than 100 wounded in the attacks in Barcelona and Cambrils.




    TENNIS Romania’s best tennis player Simona Halep was trounced by Spanish challenger Garbine Muguruza 6-1, 6-0 in the finals of the WTA tournament in Cincinnati with over two million and a half dollars in prize money. Halep, the world’s second best tennis player has for the third time missed the chance of becoming WTA number one. We recall the Romanian player lost the Roland Garros finals to Jelena Ostapenko and the quarters in Wimbledon to Johanna Konta. Simona also lost the finals in Cincinnati to Serena Williams in 2015 and was stopped in her tracks last year in the semis by Angelique Kerber.





  • August 13, 2017 UPDATE

    August 13, 2017 UPDATE

    WEATHER In the following hours Romania will have weather, which is normal for this time of the year with highs ranging from 23 to 33 degrees Celsius. The sky will become temporarily overcast in the south, east and central Romania, regions which can also see downpours and thunderstorms. In the past days Romania was affected by extremely hot weather with the discomfort index going well above 80. In the country’s western and southwestern regions the hot weather was replaced by heavy downpours, thunder and hailstorms on isolated areas.



    FILM Marita, a feature film directed by Cristi Iftime has reaped the ANONIMUL award this year. Saturday night saw the award ceremony that closed the 14th edition of the ANONIMUL International Independent Film Festival hosted for a week by Sfantu Gheorghe, a town in the Danube Delta. The prize for the best foreign short reel went to STATE OF EMERGENCY MOTHERFUCKER, a film by Belgian director Sebastien Petretti. The best Romanian short reel was declared Written/Unwritten, directed by Adrian Silisteanu. Mexican director Michel Franco, the festival’s special invitee, was also awarded a prize for his contribution to the world cinematography.



    RADIO Until August 16th, the seaside resort of Mamaia, on the Romanian Black Sea coast will be seeing the 100th edition of the Gaudeamus Book Fair, an event staged by Radio Romania, which this summer also celebrates 50 years from the first Radio Holidays broadcasts. From its early days, Radio Holidays aired programmes in English, German, French and Russian, programmes made by the RRI editors. The double anniversary in 2017 is marked through a series of free open-air concerts given by Radio Romania’s orchestras. Hundreds of Romanian and foreign tourists on Saturday attended the opening ceremony of the Gaudeamus Book Fair, which includes scores of editorial and on-line events as well as numerous contests.



    NAVY DAY Until August 15th, Romania will be seeing over 200 religious, cultural and military ceremonies devoted to Navy Day, celebrated on the same day with the Dormition of the Mother of God, protector of the sailors. The most anticipated event is the Romanian Navy drill in Constanta, Romania’s largest port at the Black Sea. The events on Tuesday in front of the Navy Command in Constanta will also be attended by Romanian president Klaus Iohannis. Over 200 thousand tourists are spending this mini-holiday on the Romanian Black Sea coast. The first three resorts most popular with the Romanian tourists are Mamaia, Vama Veche and Eforie. The Romanian authorities have taken a series of measures for this mini-holiday by deploying 24 thousand police and gendarme troops to ensure the public order and the safety of road traffic on motorways to the seaside and mountain resorts.



    BOAT A ship under Turkish flag with 69 clandestine migrants of Iraqi nationality on board was intercepted by a coast-guard boat in Romania’s territorial waters of the Black Sea on Saturday. According to a spokesperson for the Coast Guard, investigations have revealed that the vessel was carrying 69 people, including 29 minors as well as a Cypriot and Bulgarian citizen involved in the migrants-trafficking business. The Coast Guard boat has escorted the ship to a port facility in Mangalia. Police investigations in this case are to continue.