Radio România Internațional

Tag: european nations cup

  • 19 March, 2016 UPDATE

    19 March, 2016 UPDATE

    The Romanian foreign ministry says there
    is no justification for actions such as the suicide attack committed on Saturday in Istanbul. The ministry has also reiterated Romania’s firm commitment to
    combat all forms of terrorism and emphasised the need to intensify
    international efforts to fight this phenomenon. At least five people, including
    the attacker, were killed in the suicide bombing that took place on a busy
    shopping street in Istanbul. Three Israeli nationals and one Iranian were among
    the victims, according to hospital sources quoted by the Turkish media. A third
    of the 36 people wounded are foreign citizens, say Turkish officials.
    This is the fourth attack committed in Turkey this year and came only six days
    after 37 people were killed in an attack in Ankara claimed by a Kurdish
    militant group.




    FlyDubai on Saturday ruled out a criminal act was behind
    the crash of its passenger jet in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don.
    Airline officials will fly to Russia to work with local investigators to
    establish the cause of the crash that killed 62 people. Investigators say they
    are looking into the possibility of a technical failure or pilot error in
    difficult weather conditions. The plane crashed while attempting a second landing amid high winds, rain and poor
    visibility.




    The former president of Romania Traian Basescu
    confirmed on Friday that both he and his wife had applied for citizenship of
    the Republic of Moldova, an ex-Soviet state with a majority Romanian-speaking
    population. During his term in office, he said repeatedly that he would apply
    for the Moldovan passport when his term was over out of love and respect for
    the country and its people. His application is still being processed before
    being approved by the Moldovan president Nicolae Timofti. Although the legal
    deadline for a response to the application is one year, Traian Basescu’s
    request may be processed sooner, given his special status, the Moldovan
    president’s senior PR advisor Ana Samson told Radio Chisinau.




    Andrei Marius Gag of Romania on Saturday
    won the silver medal in the Shot Put at the World Indoor Championship in
    Portland, the United States, the first medal for Romania in an indoor event in
    the last 12 years. Another Romanian athlete, Tiberiu Useriu today won the 6633
    Arctic Ultra race. He covered 566 km of ice road in one week, battling
    temperatures of even minus 62 degrees Celsius. 12 competitors from around the
    world took part in the race this year, including three Romanians. Since 2007,
    the race has taken place in Canada in the Polar Circle area and is billed as
    the toughest foot race in the world.






    Romania lost to Georgia
    38:9 on Sunday in Tbilisi in the European Nations Cup in rugby. Romania thus
    finished the competition in the second place. Before meeting Georgia, Romania
    had won all their previous matches against Portugal, Spain, Russia and Germany.
    Last autumn, Romania, who are coached by Lynn Howells, took part in the Rugby
    World Cup hosted by England, where they defeated Canada and lost to France, Ireland
    and Italy.




    CSM
    Bucharest men’s handball side on Saturday defeated the Spanish side Helvetia
    Anaitasuna 27:24, in a home match as part of the EHF Cup Group D. CSM are now
    last but one in the group ahead of the Spanish side, with only theoretical chances
    of advancing into the competition. The French side Chambery top the group
    followed by the Swedish side Ystads.

  • 19 March 2016

    19 March 2016

    42 towns and cities from
    Romania join global Earth Hour celebrations today. Earth Hour is the world’s
    largest environmental event where people switch off their lights for one hour
    in a symbolic gesture to raise awareness of climate change. The government
    building, as well as the headquarters of ministries and public institutions in
    Bucharest will also go dark for one hour. More than 7,000 towns and cities from
    160 different countries around the world are taking part in Earth Hour this
    year. The event has been celebrated in Romania since 2009, two years after it
    started in Australia.




    A passenger jet operated by the FlyDubai budget airline
    crashed on Friday night in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, killing
    all 55 passengers and 7 crew on board, the Russian authorities have announced.
    The Boeing 737 aircraft coming from Dubai missed the runaway during its second
    attempt to land amid high winds, rain and poor visibility.




    At
    least four people were killed and 36 others wounded today in a bomb attack in
    central Istanbul. 12 foreign nations are among the wounded, according to the
    Turkish health ministry. The attack targeted the biggest pedestrian and
    shopping area on the city’s European side. Last Sunday, an attack in Ankara
    claimed by a Kurdish militant group killed 37 people.




    The former president of Romania Traian Basescu
    confirmed on Friday that both he and his wife had applied for citizenship of
    the Republic of Moldova, an ex-Soviet state with a majority Romanian-speaking
    population. During his term in office, he said repeatedly that he would apply
    for the Moldovan passport when his term was over out of love and respect for
    the country and its people. His application is still being processed before
    being approved by the Moldovan president Nicolae Timofti. Although the legal
    deadline for a response to the application is one year, Traian Basescu’s
    request may be processed sooner, given his special status, the Moldovan
    president’s senior PR advisor Ana Samson told Radio Chisinau.


    Andrei Marius Gag of Romania today won
    the silver medal in the Shot Put at the World Indoor Championship in Portland,
    the United States, the first medal for Romania in an indoor event in the last
    12 years. Another Romanian athlete, Tiberiu Useriu today won the 6633 Arctic
    Ultra race. He covered 566 km of ice road in one week, battling temperatures of
    even minus 62 degrees Celsius. 12 competitors from around the world took part
    in the race this year, including three Romanians. Since 2007, the race has
    taken place in Canada in the Polar Circle area and is billed as the toughest
    foot race in the world.






    Romania’s rugby team face
    Georgia today in Tbilisi in a match that will decide the winner of the European
    Nations Cup. Romania have won all their four matches so far, against Portugal,
    Spain, Russia and Germany. Last autumn, Romania, who are coached by Lynn
    Howells, took part in the Rugby World Cup hosted by England, where they beat
    Canada and lost to France, Ireland and Italy in the group stage.

    The Romanian women’s handball today face Uruguay in
    their second match at the Olympic qualification tournament in the Danish city
    of Aarhus. Romania are one step closer to the Olympic Games in Rio following
    their Friday win against host country Denmark. A bronze medallist at the World
    Handball Championships last year, Romania face Montenegro on Sunday in their
    final match. The two best-ranked teams out of the group’s four will qualify for
    the Rio Games in August.


    (Translated by: C. Mateescu)

  • 18 March, 2016 UPDATE

    18 March, 2016 UPDATE

    The leaders of the 28
    EU member states on Friday reached a crucial deal with Turkey over the migrant
    crisis, said the president of the European Council Donald Tusk. Under
    the scheme, all refugees and migrants arriving in Greece from Sunday will be
    returned to Turkey if their asylum application is rejected. Romania’s president
    Klaus Iohannis, who attended the talks in Brussels, has hailed the agreement and has expressed confidence that it will significantly reduce and even halt the flow
    of illegal migrants. He said the decisions taken on Friday do not contain
    additional migrant quotas for Romania.

    The Belgian police have confirmed the arrest
    of Salah Abdeslam, a key suspect in last November’s terrorist attacks in Paris, in which 130 people were killed. Abdeslam was arrested during an anti-terrorism
    raid in a Brussels district. Investigators confirmed that the man killed in a
    police operation on Tuesday in Brussels was also linked to the Paris attacks.
    11 persons have so far been charged in Belgium in connection with these
    attacks.

    The
    Romanian state might lose the preemptive rights for the purchase of Constantin
    Brancusi’s sculpture The Wisdom of the Earth if it fails to provide all of the
    11 million euros within 14 days, as agreed, the current owners of the sculpture
    have warned. Culture Minister Vlad Alexandrescu said on Thursday that the
    government would contribute 5 million euros, while the rest of the sum would be
    covered by public donations. Created in 1907, The Wisdom of the Earth was
    seized by the communist regime in 1957 and exhibited at the Museum of Art of
    Romania. In 2012, the sculpture was returned to the heirs of its original
    owner.




    The Romanian government will
    join public institutions and organisations across the world celebrating Earth
    Hour on Saturday. Lights will go out between 8.30 and 9.30 pm at the government
    headquarters, as well as in other public institutions. 42 towns and cities
    across Romania are taking part in this global event. Earth Hour was first
    celebrated nine years ago in Australia to warn about climate change. Since
    then, thousands of cities and communities around the world have joined the
    initiative.




    The products of a Romanian dairy
    factory believed to be contaminated with the E.coli bacteria have been
    withdrawn from the market, both in Romania and abroad, the head of the Romanian
    food safety agency Andrei Butaru said on Friday. The agriculture minister Achim Irimescu said the contamination
    was an accident and that all Romanian diary producers comply with the EU
    regulations in the field. These statements were made several days after Italian
    authorities issued an alert over a possible E.coli link to Romanian dairy
    products as a Romanian child living in Italy was hospitalised. In the last two
    months, three children from Arges county have died and many others were
    in hospital with serious digestive problems.






    Laura Codruta Kovesi, the chief prosecutor of
    the National Anticorruption Directorate told the public radio station that no form of technical surveillance was used in more than half of the cases prosecuted last
    year. She said the emergency order adopted by the government following a
    decision of the Constitution Court banning the use of phone tapping in criminal
    investigations was in line with the rule of law. Under the new government
    order, phone tapping will be conducted by the prosecutor’s offices, while
    the Romanian Intelligence Service is only authorised to carry out such
    surveillance in cases involving national security and terrorism.




    Romania’s rugby team face Georgia on
    Saturday in Tbilisi in a match that will decide the winner of the European
    Nations Cup. Romania have won all their four matches so far, against Portugal,
    Spain, Russia and Germany. Last autumn, Romania, who are coached by Lynn
    Howells, took part in the Rugby World Cup hosted by England, where they beat
    Canada and lost to France, Ireland and Italy in the group stage.

    (Translated by: C. Mateescu)