Radio România Internațional

Tag: countries

  • January 14, 2022 UPDATE

    January 14, 2022 UPDATE

    ENERGY The
    Romanian government is planning an emergency order within the coalition formed
    by the National Liberal Party, the Social Democratic Party and the Democratic
    Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, to support the citizens affected by the
    rise in electricity and natural gas prices. This announcement was made by prime
    minister Nicolae Ciucă after a meeting of the three-party council for social
    dialogue. He said protection measures will expand beyond 1st April based on a
    special bill. Trade unions say electricity and natural gas prices should be
    capped at the level of December 2020, before deregulation, both at the
    producers’ end, and at the suppliers’ end, for at least another six months,
    even a year. They say the cap should be uniform for the population and small
    businesses.


    FOREIGN POLICY The EU hopes to convince the Russian president Vladimir Putin through
    dialogue to give up his intentions to attack Ukraine, but it is also preparing
    tough sanctions to discourage Russia, the EU foreign ministers convening in
    Brest, France concluded on Friday. According to Radio Romania’s correspondent
    in Paris, the French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, whose country is
    holding the rotating presidency of the EU Council, said Europeans are united
    and determined to make their voice heard. The EU foreign ministers are
    preparing sanctions against Moscow, and new talks on the matter are scheduled
    to take place in Brussels on January 24. Romania was represented in Brest by
    foreign minister Bogdan Aurescu who, according to the Foreign Ministry, pleaded
    for a number of elements that best reflect Romania’s interests. He said the
    EU’s partnership with NATO and the US must be clearly emphasised, and stressed
    the importance of presenting appropriately the current security situation in
    the Eastern Neighbourhood, including the Black Sea region.


    COVID-19 Romania reported on Friday almost 9,900 new Covid cases, 60% more than a
    week ago, as well as 30 deaths, including three recorded earlier. Some 450
    Covid patients are in intensive care. 230 outpatient centres are now available
    across the country for the persons infected with Covid to check their health
    condition and receive free antiviral medicine based on daytime hospitalisation,
    irrespective of whether they have health insurance. Health minister Alexandru
    Rafila says it is very important for patients to use these centres, unless they
    are in critical situation, thus lowering pressure on hospitals.


    LIST The National Committee for Emergency Situations updated the list of
    high COVID risk countries. All countries in the EU and the European Economic Area
    remain in the red tier, along with non-EU countries like Turkey, Israel and the
    US. South Africa, Brazil and India are no longer included in the red list. Among
    Romania’s neighbouring countries Serbia is on the yellow list, whereas Ukraine
    and the Republic of Moldova are now in the green tier. The new list takes
    effect on January 16.


    CULTURE DAY Romania’s National
    Culture Day is again celebrated this year through numerous concerts,
    performances, exhibitions, guided tours and workshops. We have a sacred
    duty. To honour our personalities, our works of art and our national
    heritage, said culture minister Lucian Romaşcanu, adding: I’m
    encouraging all Romanians, of all ages, to continue to respect their history,
    national identity and traditions, for they are the only visiting card that
    never loses its currency. National Culture Day has been celebrated for
    the last 12 years on 15th January, on the anniversary of the birth of national
    poet Mihai Eminescu. As part of the programme of events held this year, the
    Romanian Academy Friday hosted a special event attended by leading local
    cultural figures. (tr. A.M.P., C.M.)

  • July 18, 2021 UPDATE

    July 18, 2021 UPDATE

    COVID-19 The number of coronavirus infections in Romania remains low, with 44 new cases reported on Sunday out of 18,800 tests conducted in 24 hours. One new COVID-related death was also reported, and 30 patients are in intensive care. In related news, the European Commissioner for Health Stella Kyriakides, who was recently on a visit to Romania, urged the authorities to step up the vaccine rollout, to protect against the new coronavirus variants. Since 27 December 2020, when the vaccination campaign began in Romania, over 9.2 million vaccine doses have been given to more than 4.8 million people. Around 4.7 million people are fully vaccinated at present.



    RISK A new list of high epidemiological risk countries took effect in Romania on Sunday. Spain, Portugal and the Netherlands are on the red list, while Greece, one of the holiday destinations of choice for Romanians, is now in the yellow zone. On arriving in Romania, travellers who are fully vaccinated are not required to isolate, regardless of the country from which they come. All persons without a full vaccine travelling from a red-list country will have to follow the 14-day quarantine requirement, while those coming from a yellow-list country are only required to quarantine if they dont have a negative PCR test or proof of having recovered from the disease.



    AID The people in the parts of Alba County (central-western Romania) affected by flash floods may receive financial aid from the government as of Monday, the PM Florin Cîţu promised on Sunday. He visited the area affected by flooding, together with the interior minister Lucian Bode, and the defence minister Nicolae Ciucă. Record amounts of precipitations have been reported in the region over the past few days, with 223 litres of rainwater per square metre within 5 hours causing unprecedented flooding in that part of the country. Minister Bode emphasised that the most important thing is that there are no victims, and mentioned that nearly 300 people have been evacuated. Also according to the interior minister, over 120 homes were destroyed, national roads were obstructed and water supply disrupted. Meanwhile, private persons, volunteers and Red Cross representatives were involved in distributing water, food and other supplies.



    FLOODS The death toll of the devastating flooding in Germany reached 156 on Sunday, bringing the total number of deaths in Western Europe up to at least 183, AFP reports. In Germany, people have been urged to stay away from basements and underground garages and passage ways, and authorities warned that flooded roads are a danger to citizens. Chancellor Angela Merkel described the situation as a ‘national tragedy and promised state aid for reconstruction and repair works. These efforts are expected to cost several billion euros. In Austria, fire fighters are in standby in the regions of Salzburg and Tirol, while the town of Hallein is under water. ‘Unfortunately, the heavy rainfalls and storms have caused severe damage in several parts of Austria,’ PM Sebastian Kurz has tweeted.



    PESTICIDE Several batches of ice-cream have been recalled from the Romanian market. The products contained small amounts of a carcinogen. The European Commission decided that products containing the additive locust bean gum (E410) contaminated with ethylene oxide must be withdrawn from the EU market even if the pesticide is not detected. After 3 emergency meetings held on the 29 and 30 June and on 13 July, the Commission also decided that the products already purchased by consumers should be recalled.



    VISIT The president of the Republic of Moldova Maia Sandu will be on an official visit to Georgia on 19-20 July, MOLDPRES reports. The Moldovan president will attend an international conference in Batumi, entitled ‘Three states – one choice: Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine on the move. The event aims to improve cooperation between the 3 EU associated partners. In Batumi, Maia Sandu will have meetings with her Georgian counterpart Salome Zourabichvili, with the Ukrainian PM Volodimir Zelenski, and with the president of the European Council, Charles Michel.



    TENNIS Horia Tecău (Romania) / Kevin Krawietz (Germany) were defeated by Tim Puetz (Germany) / Michael Venus (New Zealand), 6-3, 6-7 (3), 10-8, on Sunday, in the doubles final of the Hamburg tennis tournament. Tecău and Krawietz played their 4th final, and the only title they won together was in June, in the Halle tournament. (tr. A.M. Popescu)

  • May 11, 2021

    May 11, 2021

    COVID-19 According to the latest updates, 620 new COVID-19 cases were reported in Romania in 24 hours, out of 11,000 tests conducted. Most cases occurred in Bucharest. The authorities also announced another 68 COVID-19 related deaths and 962 patients in intensive care. Meanwhile, the vaccine rollout continues, at a record high rate of over 100,000 jabs per day. Measures such as vaccination marathons and drive-through vaccination centres helped increase the number of people immunised every day, and so did the involvement of family physicians. Coordinator Valeriu Gheorghita said on the other hand that there is not enough scientific data to confirm the need for a third vaccine dose to cover possible viral mutations.



    ALERT The state of alert will be extended by another month as of Thursday, the government of Romania decided. Certain restrictions have been lifted, such as the ones concerning participation in religious processions or pilgrimages, while others, including in the hospitality sector, remain in place. Pilot cultural and sports events will be organised, attended by people who have got the vaccine or recovered from COVID in the past 3 months, as well as those who test negative for the disease.



    TRAVEL The National Committee on Emergency Situations updated the list of countries with high epidemiological risk for which quarantine is required upon entering Romanian territory. The number of countries in the list went up from 57 to 75. Countries like India, Nepal, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, Monaco and the United Arab Emirates are new on the list, joining the Netherlands, France, Germany and Hungary or summer tourist destinations like Greece, Croatia or the Maldives.



    EXERCISE The president of Romania Klaus Iohannis and his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda are attending today a multinational military exercise in Galaţi County in the east. The exercise takes place at the Smârdan base, and Poland takes part with the military forces it has deployed to Romania as part of the Allied matched forward presence in the eastern flank through the NATO multinational brigade stationed in Craiova. Justice Sword 21 is a tactical exercise aimed at testing the capacity of participating structures to implement planned actions and measures, as well as Romanias ability to provide support to the military forces and equipment that transit its territory.



    ATTACK At least 11 people, mostly children, were killed, and many others wounded by an unknown number of attackers in a school shooting in the Russian town of Kazan, some 725 km east of Moscow. The town is the capital of Tatarstan, an autonomous republic with mostly Muslim population. Russian media quoted by international news agencies speak about one or two teenage shooters. School shootings are uncommon in Russia. A similar incident was reported in 2018, in Crimea, annexed by Russia 4 years before, where a student killed 19 people and killed himself. In September 2004, some 325 people, mostly kids, were also killed after Russian special forces stormed a school in Belsan, North Ossetia, where pro-Chechen mercenaries were keeping over 1,000 hostages.



    TENSIONS The EU called for an immediate end to the clashes between Israeli and Palestinians. According to the EU, rocket strikes from Gaza strip against civilians in Israel are unacceptable and fuel escalation. The US also condemned “in the strongest terms the Hamas rocket attacks, calling them “an unacceptable escalation. The UK foreign secretary Dominic Raab also condemned the attacks and called for immediate de-escalation on both sides. Tensions have been reported in the region since the start of the Ramadan, the Muslim fasting and prayer month, with many Palestinians angry over the Israeli police restricting access to some sectors in Jerusalem. (tr. A.M. Popescu)