Radio România Internațional

Tag: European Rowing Championships

  • April 27, 2024 UPDATE

    April 27, 2024 UPDATE

    PALM SUNDAY – On Sunday, Orthodox and Eastern-Catholic Christians in Romania are celebrating Palm Sunday, marking the entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem. According to tradition, on this day people bring willow branches to church to be blessed, which they then take back to their homes for protection. Willow branches are substitutes for the palm and olive branches the crowds brought to welcome Jesus into Jerusalem. This Sunday marks the start of the last week of Eastern Lent, when people prepare to celebrate the Resurrection of Christ, this year observed on May 5. Mass processions were held in several towns and villages in the country on Palm Sunday eve, and a traditional procession will be held on Sunday in Bucharest. Nearly 1.8 million Romanians celebrate their name day on this occasion.

     

     

    DEFICIT – Romania’s budget deficit has exceeded 2% of the GDP in the first three months of the year, according to data provided by the Finance Ministry. Spending was by approximately 7.4 billion EUR higher than revenues. Total revenues stood at a little over 26.5 billion EUR in the first quarter of the year, up by 16% compared to the same period of 2023, whereas spending stood at 33.7 billion EUR, up by 23% compared to last year. At the end of 2023, Romania’s budget deficit accounted for 5.68% of the GDP, by 0.08% less than in 2022.

     

     

    ENERGY – Romania has some of the lowest prices for electricity and natural gas at EU level. According to Eurostat, the prices for natural gas for household users were the third-lowest at community level, accounting for half of the EU average. For electricity, Romanians are paying 65% of the EU average. Household users in Hungary and Croatia have the lowest prices for natural gas, while the lowest prices for electricity are reported in Hungary, Bulgaria and Malta. Overall, the total value of energy bills for EU consumers went down in the second half of 2023, after the increase caused by the war in Ukraine.

     

     

    ELECTION – The Central Election Authority in Bucharest has announced mobile voting regulations ahead of the local and European Parliament elections to be held on June 9. Thus, voters who can’t cast their vote in person can submit a request to their local polling station and request a mobile ballot box be brought to their address, for both elections. Mobile voting is disallowed in polling stations abroad. The votes will be recorded on separate lists.

     

     

    GAUDEAMUS – The city of Cluj Napoca (northwest) is playing host to the Transylvania-Gaudeamus Book Fair, organized by Radio Romania. Having reached its 23rd edition, the fair this year has 85 publishers exhibiting their offers, including book launches, music and educational games. A few thousand volumes in Romanian and international or minority languages will be on display. Over 40 events are organized on the sidelines of the fair, book launches, panel discussions and book signings. The book fair will close on Sunday.

     

     

    ROWING – Romania on Saturday grabbed three medals at the European Rowing Championships in Szeged, Hungary. The gold went to the women’s pair made up of Gianina van Groningen and Ionela Cozmiuc. A silver medal was won by the women’s four-scull crew made up of Mădălina Bereş, Maria Lehaci, Magdalena Rusu and Amalia Bereş. Finally, Romania’s 8+1 men’s crew, made up of Mihăiţă Ţigănescu, Ciprian Tudosă, Constantin Adam, Mugurel Vasile Semciuc, Florin Arteni, Sergiu Bejan, Ştefan Berariu, Florin Lehaci and Adrian Munteanu grabbed bronze. On Sunday, Romania will be represented in the women’s single scull, men’s pair, men’s double-scull, women’s pair, men’s four-scull, women’s four-scull and women’s 8+1 events. Romania won 6 medals at the 2023 edition of the European Championships, hosted by Bled, Slovenia, 5 gold and 1 silver.

     

     

    TENNIS – Romanian tennis player Sorana Cîrstea on Saturday lost to Poland’s Iga Świątek, world no. 1, in the third round at the WTA 1000 Mutua Madrid Open in Spain. Ranked 30 in WTA standings, Cîrstea lost in straight sets, 6-1, 6-1. Świątek leads 4-0 head-to-head. On Sunday, Jaqueline Cristian will take on Danielle Collins of the USA in the third round, after ousting Barbora Krejcikova of Czechia in the second round, 2-6, 6-0, 6-2. (VP)

  • August 13, 2022

    August 13, 2022


    Celebration. More than 200
    thousand tourists are expected, these days, on the Romanian coast at the Black
    Sea, to spend the mini-vacation occasioned by the Feast of the Assumption of Mary, on
    August 15, when the Romanian Navy Day will also be marked. The army
    ports of Constanta and Mangalia have opened their doors today, so locals and
    tourists can visit military ships, technical and armament exhibitions or stands
    presenting the educational offers of military educational institutions. On
    Monday, everyone’s attention will focus on the events organized to celebrate the
    navy. Thousands of people are expected to attend the parade of ships on the
    sea, in Constanţa, and a naval exercise in Mangalia, but also the seamanship
    competitions and games in the tourist ports of the two towns. In the evening, there will be music concerts
    and the spectacular torchlight retreat of the sailors, as well as fireworks.
    Until then, this weekend, the Romanians who chose to spend their mini-vacation
    at the seaside can benefit from a wide range of entertaining events, from theater and music evenings, opera and ballet
    performances to a pop-rock festival and a jazz festival organized outdoors .
    Throughout this period, 25,000 employees of the Ministry of the Interior -
    policemen, gendarmes or firefighters – are mobilized at national level to
    secure order and public safety.








    Firefighters. The Romanian
    firefighters stationed in France yesterday carried out their first mission in
    that country, where they intervened to limit the spread of a fire in
    residential buildings and acted to liquidate hidden outbreaks on an area of
    ​​more than two square kilometers. The operations were carried out by 19 of the
    77 Romanian military firefighters deployed in the southwest of the Hexagon. We
    recall that the support mission that Romania offers to the French authorities
    in the fight against wildfires takes place based on the request for
    international assistance formulated by the French Government through the
    European Civil Protection Mechanism.










    Rushdie. British writer
    Salman Rushdie was connected to a ventilator after he was stabbed yesterday in
    New York state by a man who was arrested. The 75-year-old writer’s agent told
    The New York Times that Salman Rushdie will probably lose an eye, the nerves in
    his arm were severed and he was stabbed in the liver. Salman Rushdie has
    written about 15 novels, stories for young people, short stories and essays.
    However, he became famous most likely due to his novel ‘The Satanic Verses’,
    from 1988. The book, considered blasphemy by many Muslims, triggered widespread
    protests, and the former supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini,
    called for the assassination of the writer and his editors. For decades, Salman
    Rushdie was forced to live in hiding and under police protection.








    Competitions. Romania has
    today won the gold medals in the women’s
    and the men’s double sculls events at the European Rowing Championships in
    Munich. Also today, the Romanian swimmer David Popovici, a world champion in
    100 and 200 m freestyle, is competing today in the 100 m freestyle final of the
    European Aquatics Championships in Rome. Last night he qualified with a time of
    46 sec / 98 hundredths, setting a new European record. The world best is held
    by the Brazilian Cesar Cielo Filho (46 sec / 91 hundredths), recorded in 2009. At
    the championships in Rome, Romania is represented by 11 athletes, competing in
    the swimming, diving and high diving events.






    Tennis. The Romanian
    tennis player Simona Halep qualified, yesterday, in the semifinals of the WTA
    1,000 tournament in Toronto, with over 2.5 million dollars in prize money. Halep (30 years old, 15 WTA) defeated the
    American player Cori Gauff 6-4, 7-6. In the penultimate act of the competition,
    she will also meet an American – Jessica Pegula. The two will face each other
    for the first time in the professional circuit. Simona Halep won the Canadian
    Open twice, which is played alternately in Montreal and Toronto, each time
    winning when the competition took place in Montreal (2016, 2018). She lost the
    2015 final in Toronto. (MI)







































































  • August 11, 2022

    August 11, 2022

    Drought. In Romania,
    wheat crops are affected by drought on an area of ​​over 180,000 hectares,
    while the total affected agricultural area has extended to almost 330,000
    hectares in two thirds of Romania’s counties, according to the data provided by
    the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. The relevant minister, Petre
    Daea, has announced that this year’s wheat production is 15% – 18% lower than
    that recorded in 2021. According to the minister, however, there is enough
    wheat to cover Romania’s internal needs, meaning 2.5 – 3 million tons, and to
    even ensure a surplus for export.







    Inflation. The annual inflation rate in Romania dropped to 14.96% in July this year, from 15.1% in June, the National Institute of Statistics has announced. Natural gas, oil, potatoes and fuel are at the top of the price hikes in July, followed by energy, plane tickets, flour and sorghum. Telephone services are the only ones that got slightly cheaper. According to the data presented on Tuesday by the governor of the Central Bank, Mugur Isărescu, the National Bank of Romania revised the inflation forecast for the end of this year to 13.9% and estimates an inflation of 7.5% for the end of next year.






    Ukraine. Prime Minister
    Nicolae Ciucă has stated that the Government of Romania has no data to justify
    the concern regarding the situation at the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant in
    neighboring Ukraine. He says that the authorities in Bucharest constantly
    monitor data related to the environment, and the state institutions have taken
    all measures to inform and protect the population in good time. The UN Security
    Council is convening urgently today to discuss the situation of the plant in
    Zaporizhzhya, which Kiev and Moscow accuse each other of having bombed. At
    least 14 people died from the bombings on Tuesday night in the area around the
    nuclear power plant, the largest of its kind in Europe. The G7 group of the
    most industrialized countries accused Moscow of endangering the Ukrainian
    region around the plant, occupied by Russian troops.

    Embargo. The European embargo on Russian coal has come into force, four months after it was adopted as part of the fifth package of sanctions against Moscow, at a time when the EU is facing strong tensions over its energy supply, France Presse reports. It is the first EU sanction to hit the Russian energy sector. Until last year, the EU would import 45% of its coal from Russia for 4 billion euros a year, and countries such as Germany and Poland, which used it for electricity production, were particularly dependent on it. In the context in which the annual European consumption of coal, a polluting fossil fuel, fell from 1,200 to 427 million tons between 1990 and 2020, the closure of numerous mines on the continent contributed to the increase of Europeans’ dependence on imports.






    Refugees. The number of
    Ukrainian citizens with employment contracts in Romania has reached almost
    6,500, according to the Minister of Labor, Marius Budai. More than 4,000
    contracts were registered after the start of the war. Most are in the
    manufacturing industry, followed by construction, hotels, restaurants and
    commerce. More than a quarter of Ukrainians, over 1,200, opted for jobs in
    Bucharest. On the other hand, the Border Police announced that, on Wednesday,
    about 13,500 Ukrainian citizens crossed the border into Romania. Since February
    10, before the conflict, until August 9, almost 1.9 million refugees entered
    the country, but most of them only transited Romania to other European
    countries.






    Motorway. Works are
    starting for the construction of the A7 Motorway, which will connect the cities
    of Ploieşti, in the south of Romania, and Paşcani, in the east. It is the
    largest investment of this kind financed by the NRRP in the European Union. A
    Romaian – Bulgarian joint venture is starting today the organization of the
    construction site on lot 2 of the 28 km- long Ploiesti-Buzau section, which
    should be ready in 20 months. Starting August 22, an Italian builder will be
    working on the first lot, out of a total of 13. Dubbed the Moldavian Motorway, A7
    will measure almost 440 kilometers.






    Rowing. Romania participates
    with 11 crews and 39 athletes in the European Rowing Championships in Munich.
    Among the tricolor athletes present at the competition in Germany are the
    Olympic champions Ancuța Bodnar and Simona Radiș, who will compete in the
    double sculls event. At the previous edition of the European Rowing
    Championships, Romania won six medals, two gold and four silver. Recently, at
    the Canoe Sprint World Championships in
    Halifax (Canada), Romanian Cătălin Chirilă became world champion in the canoe
    single 1,000-meter event and world vice-champion in the 500-meter race. In
    another development, the European Swimming Championships start today in Rome. 11 Romanian athletes will participate in
    swimming, diving and high diving events. In swimming, David Popovici, double
    world champion, is announced as the big favorite in the 100 m and 200 m
    freestyle races. (MI)



  • August 10, 2022 UPDATE

    August 10, 2022 UPDATE


    Loan. The Bucharest
    government approved, on Wednesday, a draft law on the ratification of the Loan
    Agreement between Romania and the International Bank for Reconstruction and
    Development (IBRD) worth 600 million euros and the Agreement on
    non-reimbursable financial assistance between Romania and the IBRD in the
    amount of 24 million dollars, the Government spokesperson Dan Cărbunaru has
    announced. The money will be used for the reforms provided for in the National
    Recovery and Resilience Plan and for the management of the current humanitarian
    crisis caused by the war in Ukraine, in the fields of health, education and social
    assistance. Also on Wednesday, the Executive approved the allocation from the
    intervention fund of 9.5 million lei (almost 2 million euros) for the emergency
    implementation of dredging operations in the Danube River and other specific
    works needed to manage the risk situation caused by drought.




    G7. The G7 foreign ministers call on Russia to
    immediately transfer the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe,
    to Ukraine. The G7 communiqué reads that Ukrainian technicians at the plant
    must be able to perform their duties without threats and pressure, appreciating
    that, by exercising continuous control over the nuclear plant, Russia endangers
    the region. The situation in the area of ​​the plant remains tense. The
    Ukrainian authorities claim that the Russians bombed, at dawn, a locality that
    is on the bank of the Dnipro, right across the nuclear power plant, causing the
    death of 13 civilians. Also in the south of Ukraine, in the Kherson region,
    occupied by Russia, the Russian military began to evacuate families, fearing
    that the situation will worsen, especially since the Ukrainian army attacked
    two strategic bridges over the Dnieper. According to the Radio Romania
    correspondent, the Ukrainian regional administration of Kherson has announced that
    the Russian provisional administration of the region is speeding up
    preparations for the referendum on the region’s independence from Ukraine.




    Inflation. The National
    Bank of Romania has increased the inflation forecast for the end of this year
    to 13.9%, compared to 12.5% ​​as estimated in May. According to the Central
    Bank, after a flat period in the third quarter, inflation could take a downward
    trajectory, if the wholesale markets of energy and agri-food products relax.
    For next year, the NBR estimates an inflation rate of around 7.5%.






    Corruption. The mayor of Bucharest’s
    District 3, Robert Negoita and a number of employees with the mayor’s office
    have been indicted by the National Anti-Corruption Directorate (DNA) in a case
    related to a sanitation contract. Negoita is accused, among other things, of
    abuse of office. The damage was set by investigators at around 118
    million euros. The sanitation company is also being investigated.




    Covid-19. More than 7,300
    new cases of people infected with SARS-CoV-2 were registered in Romania in 24
    hours, after about 25,900 tests were taken, the Ministry of Health announced on
    Wednesday. 26 related deaths were also reported. Most new cases of COVID have
    been reported in Bucharest and in Timiş (west) and Cluj (north-west) counties.
    The infection rate over a period of 14 days, at national level, is 4.24 cases
    per one thousand inhabitants. The highest incidence is in Bucharest (9.46). In the
    specialized health units, the number of people hospitalized in the COVID-19
    wards stands at almost 4,000. 300 patients are treated in intensive care units.




    Rowing. Romania will
    participate with 11 crews and 39 athletes at the European Rowing Championships
    in Munich, which will take place from Thursday to Sunday. At last year’s
    European Rowing Championships in Varese, Italy, Romania won six medals, two
    gold and four silver. (MI)

































  • May 31, 2015 UPDATE

    May 31, 2015 UPDATE

    “Politicians are under a duty to find a solution for diaspora voting as soon as possible. This is a matter of respect, the President of Romania Klaus Iohannis said on Sunday in a message sent on the occasion of the Day of the Romanians living abroad, celebrated for the first time this year. The head of state assured the Romanians that he would always be the guarantor of their fundamental rights and liberties, and added that a project has been initiated regarding the establishment of a Consultative Council of the Romanian Diaspora. On the other hand, voting in the diaspora is the main topic of a motion of censure that the Liberal Opposition intends to table against the Government on June 5. In last years presidential election, thousands of Romanians living abroad were unable to cast their ballots because of the flawed organisation of polling stations.



    Starting on June 1, in Romania the value-added tax on foodstuffs is cut from 24 la 9%. The measure is also applicable to non-alcoholic beverages and food services. The authorities estimate that the impact on the state budget this year will be roughly 1.1 billion euro. So far only the VAT on bread and pastry products has been 9%, since September 2013. Analysts believe that in the short run the reduction of the VAT for foodstuffs will have a positive effect, encouraging consumption, which is the main driving force of the economy. In the long term however, they warn that prices may gradually go up, generated by possible rises in the costs of utilities and fuels.



    The President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, intends to have a meeting on Monday with the Ambassador of Russia to the EU, to get explanations with respect to the so-called “black list of Europeans whose access to Russia has been banned. According to Radio Romanias correspondent in Brussels, Martin Schulz described Moscows measure as unacceptable and said it further hinders the efforts for a constructive dialogue aimed at finding a peaceful and long term solution to the current geo-political crisis. The list includes 89 names of former heads of government, senior defence officials and MEPs who were critical of Russias policy regarding the Ukrainian crisis and of Russias annexation of Crimea. Five of the 89 black listed officials are Romanians. Bucharest said it would request explanations in this respect as well.



    Romania won two bronze medals at the European Rowing Championships after Sundays finals held in Poznan, Poland. In the womens double sculls final, the Romanians came out third, after Great Britain and the Netherlands. Romanias womens eight team also won third place, with the gold won by Russia and the silver by the Netherlands.