Radio România Internațional

Tag: Eastbourne tournament

  • June 30, 2018

    June 30, 2018

    STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP — Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis on Friday reaffirmed our country’s determination to develop and expand its Strategic Partnership with the United States of America in a speech marking the anniversary of Independence Day, celebrated at the US Embassy in Bucharest. Cooperation between Romania and the US at political, military and security levels has reached an outstanding standard, the president argued, adding that action is further required to also consolidate economic relations. To that end Romania needs stability, predictability and a powerful and independent system, transparent and responsible governance that should observe the rule of law, President Iohannis said. In turn, US Ambassador to Bucharest Hans Klemm said the two countries will try to expand and consolidate the Strategic Partnership, and that cooperation in all fields will continue.



    PENSIONS — Prime Minister Viorica Dancila said public pensions will go up starting July 1. The pension point will go up by 10%, will the minimum pension will increase by 20%. The measure addresses over 5 million Romanians. Additionally, social allowances for people with disabilities will also go up. The Government has also adopted a measure aimed at implementing 8 strategic investment projects under private-public partnership. Among these projects there is the construction of two regional hospitals, a plant specialized in producing electric vehicles, a national blood and stem cells bank as well as a new tourist center in the Fagaras Mountains.



    EXTREME WEATHER — Romania is under orange and yellow codes against heavy rainfall and storms in place until Sunday morning. During the interval rainfall is expected to exceed normal limits, while reports of extreme weather instability, with electrical storms and strong winds are expected locally. Meteorologists say the weather phenomena are expected to engulf the whole country until the end of the warning interval. Highs will range between 19 and 29 degrees Celsius. Hydrologists have also issued warnings against floods for 19 counties.



    INTERVENTION — Over 20,000 firemen and gendarmes intervened to deal with the damages caused by the floods triggered by the heavy rainfall of the last three days in Romania, Interior Minister Carmen Dan announced on Saturday during an emergency meeting called at the ministry. There are cases where the population has been evacuated pre-emptively, with measures being taken to find temporary accommodation. Scores of national roads have been blocked due to the rain, while traffic has been diverted in the region. Several towns and villages were cut off from the power grid and hundreds of households have been flooded and are now isolated.



    DECISION — The European Council adopted the European Parliament’s decision to cut down the number of MPs from 751 to 705, following Brexit. Of the 73 seats currently held by British MPs, 43 will be preserved for future EU enlargements, while 27 will be redistributed to underrepresented countries. Romania will be granted an additional seat, raising the number of Romanian MEPs to 33. The decision highlights that the new redistribution of seats will be enforced only if Britain leaves the community bloc. Otherwise, the current structure will be kept in place until Brexit is finalized from a judicial point of view.



    TENNIS — The tennis pair made up of Irina Begu and Mihaela Buzarnescu is toadying playing the doubles finals at the WTA tournament in Eastbourne, the United Kingdom, totaling 850 thousand dollars in prize money. On Friday, the two players knocked out Nadia Kicenok of Ukraine and Ekaterina Makarova of Russia, 4-6, 6-0, 10-6. In the final match the Romanians will play Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada and Yifan Xu of China.



    2018 WORLD CUP — France is playing Argentina while Uruguay will take on Portugal in the first two matches counting towards the 2018 World Cup round of 16. France won Group C with 7 points in three matches. On the other hand, Argentina was ranked 2nd in Group D with 4 points in three matches.



    (Translated by V. Palcu)

  • June 29, 2018 UPDATE

    June 29, 2018 UPDATE

    AGREEMENT Romanian president Klaus Iohannis said on Friday in Brussels that Romania is successfully involved and well managing the inflow of refugees. According to Iohannis, Romania is not a destination country for migrants but a transit one and the number of refugees transiting it is reasonable and can be easily managed. After a series of tense debates on Thursday night in Brussels the EU leaders reached an agreement on migration. The Europeans have decided among other things to create platforms aimed at sending these migrants outside the EU in order to discourage further attempts to cross the Mediterranean. The participants have also agreed to extend with six months the sanctions against Russia, in response to its annexation of Crimea.



    REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA — The Central Electoral Authority in the Republic of Moldova, a former Soviet state with a predominantly Romanian speaking population announced on Friday that mayoral elections will again be held in the capital city, Chishinau. The decision comes after the US Department of State has criticized the “non-transparent ruling” issued by Moldova’s Supreme Court of Justice which invalidated the result of the mayoral elections of June 3, in Chishinau. According to the local press, the US diplomacy has warned in a communiqué that the move is a threat to democracy. Earlier, the EU foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, and the EU Commissioner for Enlargement, Johannes Hahn, have, in their turn, condemned the decision made by the Moldovan Court. The recent elections for the city hall of Chishinau were won by the pro-European candidate Andrei Nastase, the leader of the Dignity and Truth Platform. Nastase and his second round contender, Socialist Ion Ceban, made appeals to mobilize people to come to the polls on the day of the elections, which were considered to be “electoral agitation”.



    JUSTICE OVERHAUL — The Public Ministry has identified over 30 articles suspected of being unconstitutional, following an analysis of the changes to the Code of Criminal Procedure, Romania’s Prosecutor General, Augustin Lazăr, said on Friday. He said all these provisions had been brought to the attention of the relevant institutions to notify the Constitutional Court. He made these statements after on Thursday, 12 western embassies to Bucharest made an appeal to all sides involved in amending the Criminal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure to avoid changes which might weaken the rule of law or Romania’s capacity to fight against crime and corruption.



    DECISION The government in Bucharest has adopted a decision providing for the implementation of 8 strategic investment projects under private-public partnership. Among these projects there is the construction of two regional hospitals, a plant specialized in producing electric vehicles, a national blood and stem cells bank as well as a new tourist center in the Fagaras Mountains. In another development, Prime Minister Viorica Dancila has announced that pensions in the public system and state aid for the handicapped are to be raised as of July 1st. So the pension reference point will increase by 10% and the minimum pension by 20%. Over 5 million Romanians are expected to benefit the measure.



    WEATHER The National Meteorology Administration on Friday issued a code orange alert against heavy rain for 12 counties in the north and centre of Romania, valid until Saturday morning. A code yellow thunderstorm alert has been issued for most of the country as well, expected to last for brief periods of time. On Saturday, maximum temperatures are expected to reach 26-27 degrees Celsius. Almost three quarters of the country are under threat of flooding until July 1. One of the worst affected counties is Bacau, in the east.



    TENNIS — The all Romanian pair Irina Begu/ Mihaela Buzărnescu on Friday qualified to the finals of the Eastbourne tournament in the UK, with some 850,000 dollars in prize money up for grabs. In the semifinals they defeated the pair Nadia Kicenok (Ukraine) / Ekaterina Makarova (Russia), 2-1. In the finals, scheduled for Saturday, Begu and Buzărnescu will play against Gabriela Dabrowski (Canada) / Yifan Xu (China).



    HOLIDAY Orthodox and Catholic believers from the world over, including from Romania, on Friday celebrated Saints Peter and Paul, the most important apostles of Jesus Christ. They both founded Christian communities — Peter in Palestine and Rome, Paul in Anatolia and Greece. Both apostles died as martyrs in Rome, during the anti-Christian persecutions of emperor Nero. Their earthly remains are being kept in two churches built to their memory — St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican and St. Paul in southern Rome. Over 450 thousand Romanians are today celebrating their name day.


    (Translated by D. Bilt & D. Vijeu)