Radio România Internațional

Tag: heatwave

  • August 26, 2024 UPDATE

    August 26, 2024 UPDATE

    TAXES – The government does not plan to increase taxes, but will focus on accelerating the digitalization of National Agency for Fiscal Administration (ANAF), increasing budget collection and reforming public expenditure. The announcement was made by Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, after Monday’s meeting with the Concordia Employers’ Confederation. He promised that, starting next year, there would be consultations with the business environment regarding the tax reform and that no decision would be made in this respect without discussions with the entrepreneurs. The representatives of the executive and those of the business environment also discussed the implementation of the e-Invoice, e-VAT, e-Transport systems, the RetuRO guarantee-return system, the preparation for the implementation of the European minimum wage, as well as the problems in the Romanian tourism.

     

    SURVEY – The candidates of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the National Liberal Party (PNL), Marcel Ciolacu and Nicolae Ciucă, respectively, would enter the second round of the presidential election in Romania, if elections were held next Sunday, according to the results of a CURS survey published on Sunday. Regarding the parliamentary elections, the PSD leads in the preferences of the electorate, followed by its ruling partner, the PNL. The survey, about which we talk in detail after the news, was conducted between August 6-22, on a sample of 1,067 respondents, with an error margin of plus/minus 3%.

     

    POLITICS – The PSD – PNL ruling coalition in Romania can work in the future as well, according to the Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, the leader of the Social Democrats. He believes the future government could be sworn in before Christmas, on December 23rd. In his opinion, despite the acid statements coming from both sides amid the launch of candidacies for the presidential election this fall, the current government in Bucharest will function until the general elections, scheduled for December 1st, Romania’s National Day. In this context, the prime minister said that he would like Romania’s budget for 2025 to be approved soon after that date, by the current Government and Parliament makeup. Ciolacu also said that, given the context, PSD sees no other ruling coalition in the future than the one with the National Liberal Party.

     

    DROUGHT – The Romanian government will discuss, this week, the first set of measures for the farmers affected by the drought. The agriculture minister Florin Barbu and the farmers’ representatives have recently discussed granting compensations for the damage caused by the drought and for a new package of measures to combat the effects of the drought, a package that the minister is going to present to the government members. The authorities are also considering the creation of a mechanism agreed with the Financial Supervisory Authority for state insurance of an area of ​​about 7 million hectares, with an insurance premium of 3,000 lei (600 Euros) for each hectare. Installing local irrigation systems and forest curtains is also considered.

     

    WEATHER – Almost all of Romania is in the grip of a heat wave and severe thermal discomfort, with weather alerts in place as temperatures rose to 38 degrees Celsius. In the northwest, center-west, partially in the east and south, there is a code yellow alert for heatwave and high thermal discomfort. The temperature-humidity index will exceed the critical threshold of 80 units. In the coming days, the heat wave will subside and the atmospheric instability will increase.

     

    VISAS – The US administration is to announce, on October 15, a decision regarding the visa waiver for Romanians, which would apply starting from 2025, Romanian government sources stated. During this period, the Romanian executive is carrying out the “We qualify Romania” campaign, which aims at including the country in the American Visa Waiver program and at exempting it from obtaining travel visas to the US. As part of the campaign, launched on July 18, Bucharest undertook to meet the technical criteria for joining the Visa Waiver by September 30, 2024, the date on which the American fiscal year ends. Among them is a refusal rate below 3% of US B1 and B2 visas for business and tourism granted to Romanian citizens during the fiscal year 2024. In this sense, the government, through the Foreign Ministry, urges as many Romanian citizens as possible to renew their US visa by September 30.

     

    GRADUATES – More than 260 young Romanians graduated, on Monday, from the National Training School for Penitentiary Officers in Târgu Ocna (east). Attending the event, the Minister of Justice Alina Gorghiu has said that the graduates will work in various prisons in the country. She had previously announced that the penitentiary system in Romania has a deficit of about 3,000 jobs and that, in this sense, she will submit a memorandum to the Government. Also, the minister encouraged young people to enroll in the school in Târgu Ocna, which soon starts a new series of prison ward courses. She also said that salaries in the penitentiary system are good, having been increased this year. (EE)

  • July 28, 2024

    July 28, 2024

    OLYMPICS – Romanian swimmer David Popovici has qualified, earlier today, to the semi-finals of the 200 m freestyle at the Olympic Games in Paris, with the best time of the series, 1:45.65, one of only two under 1:46 in an event where a 1:95-second spread covered the top 19 swimmers. The semifinals are scheduled for this evening. Popovici (19 years old) was fourth in the 200 m freestyle final three years ago, at the Tokyo Olympics. The Romanians Ioana Vrînceanu and Roxana Anghel qualified to the semifinals of the women’s doubles event, after winning the second series. Romanian rowers Florin Arteni and Florin Lehaci also qualified for the semifinals of the men’s double sculls, after finishing second in the second round. Romanian Sabrina Maneca Voinea has the highest score on beam and floor in the qualifications of artistic gymnastics. In the team competition, Romania totaled 159.497 points, being overtaken by Britain with 160.830 points.

     

    SEINE – The heavy rainfall in Paris in the last few days has affected the quality of the Seine, forcing the organizers of the Olympic Games to cancel the training for the triathlon contest, scheduled for Sunday morning, on the river crossing the French capital. The Olympic triathlon, made up of three events, swimming 1.5 km, cycling 40 km and running 10 km, is the first event of the 2024 Olympic Games to be held on the Seine, before the open water swimming events, scheduled for the second week of the Games. Before swimming on Tuesday and Wednesday, the triathlon competitors have the opportunity to “get used” with the river, even if some have decided to continue training in the pool.

     

    WEATHER – The weather  in Romania will be hot into next week. Until Monday evening, a yellow code is also in place in this respect, valid for the south and southwest of the country. Temperatures are expected to rise up to 37 degrees Celsius, while on Monday highs can reach 39 degrees in the south, then, as of Tuesday, the weather will again enter a cooling process until the end of next week, when temperatures are expected to exceed again 35 degrees Celsius. Meteorologists also say that Romania should brace for a new heatwave in August, but the nights will no longer be tropical.

     

    CHECKS – Romanian border police officers have carried out, since the operationalization of the eDAC application until now, more than 557,000 checks to establish the legal status of persons and to prevent and combat possible illegal acts, the application being used including by the mobile teams in the field. The most recent case was reported two days ago, when, following checks carried out in the departure area, a team of the Henri Coandă International Airport  found a man who could not provide documents, declined his identity verbally and presented a photo, on his mobile phone, of a Pakistani passport. Following the checks carried out, it was established that the man was on Romanian soil illegally.

     

    CHILDREN – The total number of children in Romania who had both parents working abroad was, at the end of March 2024, 9,039, some 719 less compared to the the previous year, according to data supplied by the National Authority for the Protection of Children’s Rights and Adoption (ANPDCA). Also, the number of children with parents working abroad dropped to 61,007 at the end of March, from 64,936 on December 31, 2023.

     

    FUEL – The average price of a liter of gasoline in Romania increased by 5.1% compared to last month, and the average price of a liter of diesel increased by 4.7%. In Bucharest, a liter of standard gasoline is sold at prices between 7.35 lei and 7.49 lei, and a liter of standard diesel is between 7.44 lei and 7.57 lei (1 euro is the equivalent of around 5 lei). Romania is currently in third place in the European Union among the countries with the cheapest gasoline, after Bulgaria and Malta, and in fourth place in terms of the lowest diesel price, after Bulgaria, Lithuania and Malta.

     

    RACE – Romanian pilot Simone Tempestini is in second place, out of over 100 crews, in the Rally di Roma Capitale, the fifth stage of the European Rally Championship (FIA ERC). Romania’s national rally champion eight times, Tempestini won stages 5 and 6, the latter being the longest of Saturday. Born in Italy to Italian parents, Tempestini has been living in Romania since he was 14 and became a Romanian citizen in 2016, the year he was also world junior champion. (EE)

  • THE WEEK IN REVIEW

    THE WEEK IN REVIEW

    Five NATO leaders, including the American president, Joe Biden, and the Romanian one, Klaus Iohannis, signed, at the allied summit in Washington, a statement in which they commit to deliver Patriot air defense systems to Ukraine. Kyiv will thus be able to use Patriot batteries donated by the United States, Germany and Romania, to which are added components provided by the Netherlands and a system donated by Italy. “We do all these things: we support Ukraine, we donate Patriot, we help Moldova, we also help others in the region, because we can, and because we think it’s right,” declared President Iohannis. According to him, Romania has transformed from a state that begged to receive help of any kind to a state that has the strength, energy, and capabilities to export security throughout the region. On a bilateral level, Klaus Iohannis and his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, signed, in Washington, a cooperation agreement in the field of security. It is a political document that systematizes the existing cooperation between the two countries in various fields and includes aspects related to Kyiv’s commitment to continue the necessary reforms on its European and Euro-Atlantic course, respect for the rights of national minorities, as well as cooperation in combating cross-border crime. Aid to Ukraine was the main item on the agenda of the NATO summit. “We intend to release a basic package of at least 40 billion euros for next year, and then maintain security assistance at a sustainable level, so that Ukraine wins,” the member countries pledged.

    Open protest, masked protest

    Internally, the week started with a less usual protest, organized by accountants and economists under the motto “No chaos in tax legislation”. In Bucharest and in other cities, the participants denounced the legislative acts and fiscal measures that they consider oppressive, because they would deeply affect every entrepreneur, economist, accountant, as well as taxpayers in Romania. The protesters say that the introduction of mechanisms such as e-Invoice or e-VAT, in fact, increases the bureaucracy. The accountants’ protest was announced in advance. Things were not the same at Otopeni International Airport, where dozens of internal and external flights of the national company TAROM were canceled after some of the pilots declared themselves unfit to fly. Later, it turned out to be a kind of masked strike, triggered untimely, which affected many passengers and caused new losses to the company. The flights resumed the next day, after TAROM’s management concluded an agreement on salary issues with the flight personnel. The European commissioner for transport, Adina Vălean, said that the problem at TAROM is not auspicious, given that the company benefits from state aid approved by the European Commission. TAROM suffers significant financial losses every year, and analysts question whether the state’s efforts to reorganize and save it are maybe futile.

    Transport problems

    Traffic on the DN7 Valea Oltului, a vital artery that runs through the Carpathians, and ensures the connection with the central-western sections of the highway, was closed for a month, during the day, for clearing works in order to build the Sibiu-Pitesti Highway, expected for over 3 decades. The restrictions give headaches to transporters, and not only them, and the effects did not take long to appear. Several traffic jams formed on the already overloaded DN1 between Ploiesti and Braşov. And that’s not all in terms of transport: the Giurgiu-Ruse Friendship Bridge over the Danube went into repair, on the Bulgarian side, for a period of two years, starting Wednesday. Romanian citizens are advised to use the other border crossing points with Bulgaria, a tourist destination for Romanians, but also a transit country for Greece and Turkey, two major destinations during the summer.

    A controversial ordinance

    On Thursday, the government modified the emergency ordinance regarding drug testing of drivers, after the normative act was intensely criticized by civil society. Drivers who are found positive in the test, or refuse it, have their license suspended, but they get it back in 3 days, if the forensic laboratories do not provide, during this time, the preliminary result of the blood tests. A non-governmental association requested the annulment of the ordinance regarding drug tests, because it would contain abusive provisions, such as the appearance of positive results even in the case of the consumption of common cold medicines.

    Heatwave over Romania

    Romanian meteorologists have issued, for the end of the week, the most extensive red heat code so far, which covers three quarters of the country’s territory. The weekend was preceded by five hot days, with temperatures that rose to 39 degrees and will be followed, according to forecasts, by another three days with extreme temperatures, which will exceed 40 degrees. The government asked the central and local authorities to be prepared to intervene effectively when needed.

    Encouraging debut in interclub football competitions

    After a good European performance by the Romanian national team, the fans’ attention moves to the club teams engaged in the continental competitions. The debut of the season was a successful one: the champion FCSB (Bucharest) outclassed the champion San Marino, Virtus, 7-1, on Tuesday, away, in the first leg of the first preliminary round of the Champions League. The holder of the Cup, Corvinul Hunedoara (center-west), defeated, also away, 4-0, the vice-champion and winner of the Hungarian Cup, Paksi, in the first leg of the first preliminary round of the Europa League. In the case of very likely qualifications, FCSB will meet Maccabi Tel Aviv, from Israel, in the preliminary second round, and Corvinul will face the Croatian team Rijeka.

  • July 12, 2024 UPDATE

    July 12, 2024 UPDATE

    WEATHER A code orange alert for extremely hot weather has been issued for Romania’s central, northern and south-eastern regions on Saturday and Sunday whereas the rest of the territory remains under a code red alert. This has been the most significant extreme-weather alert in Romania, where highs are expected to range between 37 and 41 degrees Celsius. The noon reading in Bucharest is expected to stay around 40 degrees. Local and national authorities have been making efforts to diminish the effects of the heatwave that has engulfed Romania. First aid points have been set up in towns and cities across the country in order to help the citizens affected by the extreme heat. The circulation of heavy vehicles has been restricted on motorways in the 28 counties that are presently facing extremely hot weather.

     

    DECREE The Romanian government had to amend an emergency decree on drug testing of drivers amid rising pressure from civil society. Unless the lab tests of biological samples are ready within 72 hours, drivers can have their licenses back. According to the authorities, all drivers are to take a drug test if road traffic agents have found illegal substances in their vehicle or in their possession. Should final lab tests turn positive, drivers will lose their licenses again and will bear the full consequences of the law.

     

    BEARS The Chamber of Deputies is to convene in an emergency session next week to endorse a number of legislative amendments regarding the bear population of Romania. According to one such proposal, some 500 bears that endanger human lives are expected to be shot. Romanian forests are home to some 8,000 bears, although their natural habitat can sustain only half this figure, former Environment Minister Tánczos Barna told Radio Romania. The rise in bear population and their ever-growing presence close to human settlements were submitted to public debate again after a young girl was tragically killed a couple of days ago in a popular hiking trail.

     

    WAGES The net average wages in Romania dropped to 1,025 Euros in May, roughly 10 Euros less compared to April, the National Institute for Statistics says. The gross average wage stood at 1,671 EUROS, 35 EUROS less than in April 2024. The highest average wages have been reported in the IT sector, including the provision of IT services – 2,250 EUROS, while the lowest average wages (550 Euros) have been reported in the clothing manufacturing industry.

    (bill)

  • Heat Wave in Romania

    Heat Wave in Romania

    A wave of heat has settled over Romania. It also affected Greece and Bulgaria, some of the most sought-after holiday destinations for Romanians. The heatwave has equally affected several western countries in recent days, including Spain, France, Great Britain and Belgium, as well as United States. In France, temperatures reached up to 43 degrees Celsius in some areas, exceeding the highest values ever recorded in June. In Spain, several fires have occurred that are wreaking havoc in the north, center and south, and tens of thousands of hectares of land have been burned to ashes. To blame is a wave of hot air coming from northern Africa. Temperatures are also increasing alarmingly in Romania.



    Meteorologists have announced that temperatures will exceed 35 degrees C starting in the western part of the country, after which the heatwave may extend to the southern areas, towards the end of the week, when temperatures of up to 40 degrees C are expected. Until Friday evening, an orange code alert for hot weather is in place for nine counties in the west, northwest and locally in the center of Romania, and a yellow one for the rest of the country. Bucharest is in for several scorching days, with temperatures reaching 36 degrees C. Thermal discomfort will be particularly high throughout the country, and the temperature-humidity index will exceed the critical threshold of 80 units. These high values are felt even more strongly by the human body and precautions must be taken, experts say.



    Doctors recommend people to drink a minimum of 2.5 liters of liquids per days during the scorching days, to eat more fresh fruits and vegetables and to avoid alcohol and drinks with a high caffeine content such as coffee, tea and cola. At the same time, people should avoid staying in the sun and walking outside between 11:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. In fact, people with various medical conditions are advised to stay in the house until the evening. And if they must go out, then they should wear sun hats, light-colored, loose clothes made of natural fibers. Outdoor activities such as sports and gardening should also be avoided.



    For the month of July, meteorologists in Romania have announced periods of heat alternating with periods of torrential rains, although rain will be scarce throughout the country. The UN has warned that the drought will be the next big problem facing humanity, and temperatures will reach shocking thresholds. The World Meteorological Organization urges the international community to adapt. And one of the ways to achieve this is to set up early warning systems and action plans. For its part, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicts that for a temperature increase of plus 1.5°C, the warm seasons will be longer and the cold seasons shorter. (LS)

  • 4 August, 2018

    4 August, 2018

    Politics. The National Council of
    the Liberal Party in opposition met on Saturday in Bucharest, with the
    president of the country Klaus Iohannis in attendance. The latter held a speech
    in which he attacked the ruling Social Democratic Party. He said the general
    situation in Romania is very bad and that normality must be reinstated. All
    opinion polls published in recent months show that 80% of Romanians believe the
    country is heading in the wrong direction, president Iohannis also said. He
    accused the Social Democrats’ leader Liviu Dragnea and his entourage of using
    the public office to advance their own agenda and escape justice. He also
    called on the Liberal Party to stay united and strong, saying a rational
    alternative is needed. The president’s attending the Liberals’ meeting comes
    amid conflicts within the party which the president tried to reconcile this
    week, when the invited the party leadership for talks. The Liberals’ meeting
    also features a presentation of the activity report of the party’s executive
    bureau and the criteria, the procedure and the calendar for the nomination of
    the party’s candidates to the European Parliament elections. A document called
    The Principles of Liberal Good Governance is also to be debated and adopted.




    Heatwave. Three
    people have died in Spain because of a heatwave that continues to affect
    western Europe, from north to south. The Romanian foreign ministry says the
    authorities from Spain, Portugal and Croatia have issued red and yellow code
    alerts for heat. In some regions in Greece and Portugal there is a high risk of
    fire. A reading of 45 degrees Celsius was recorded in Alvega, a Portuguese city
    located 150 km from the capital Lisbon. Scorching heat is also reported in
    Spain, with 40 degrees Celsius in Madrid and 42 in Seville. Greece says there
    is a high risk of fire on the islands in the north of the Aegean Sea, Central
    Greece and the Attica peninsula. The most devastating fires in recent decades
    caused the death of 88 people near Athens. A red code alert is in place in
    Croatia in several regions in the south and a yellow code in the Zagreb region,
    in the north-west. Very high temperatures have also been recorded in Austria,
    Italy, France, Britain, Holland and Belgium. In Sweden, which had the hottest
    July in the last 250 years, a glacier has melted. Meteorologists say new record
    high temperatures may be recorded over the news few days in Europe. The current
    record is 48 degrees Celsius in Greece in 1977.






    Gas. Romania’s ambassador to the United
    States George Maior had talks with the US Secretary of Energy Rick Perry about
    gas exploitation in the Black Sea and exports to other countries via the BRUA
    pipeline. Previously, Hungary unilaterally decided to shut down its section of
    the pipeline and no longer to invest in interconnection with Austria as initially
    planned. Maior and Perry also discussed other strategic projects in the Black
    Sea. George Maior said Romania has the historical, geographic, economic and
    strategic potential to become a regional energy hub. BRUA is considered to be a
    project that could be used to transport gas from the Black Sea to Austria and
    that could bring significant sums to Romania from both gas exploitation and
    transport and transit fees. The national company Transgaz began building the Romanian
    section of the pipeline two months ago.




    Festival.
    Untold, the biggest electronic music festival in Romania is under way in the
    Transylvanian city of Cluj Napoca. The festival’s ten different stages feature
    250 acts over the course of four days, until Sunday. The main stage is twice as
    big as last year, measuring 80 metres in length and 31 metres in height. The
    line-up includes acts such as The Chainsmokers, Armin van Buuren, Tiesto,
    Tujamo and Afrojack. For the first time, the concerts are broadcast live on
    YouTube. Hundreds of thousands of people are expected in Cluj for the festival,
    including from abroad. More than 1,100 gendarme and police forces,
    fire-fighters and medical staff are ensuring public order and safety. Dozens of
    video surveillance cameras are in place.


    Tennis. The Romanian tennis player Mihaela Buzarnescu, world no. 24,
    today faces Belgium’s Elise Mertens, world no. 15, in the semifinals of the
    WTA tournament in San Jose, California, worth almost 800,000 dollars in prize
    money. Last time they met, in January, Mertens defeated Buzarnescu in the final
    of the Hobart tournament. The Romanian player has won 36 matches this year.
    This is her fifth singles semifinal after Hobart, Strasbourg, Prague and
    Bucharest. Buzarnescu also plays the doubles semifinals in San Jose, where she
    pairs up with Britain’s Heather Watson. The two will face the Ukrainian sisters
    Lyudmilaand Nadiya Kichenok.

  • August 10, 2017

    August 10, 2017

    VACCINATION – The College of Physicians in Romania has today launched an awareness raising campaign on the risk the population runs when choosing online unconventional information, instead of going to see a specialist doctor. Doctors draw attention to the fact that self-medication, based on online forum information and on social networks, can reduce the patients healing chances, because they may be diagnosed rather late. The campaign is launched in the context in which on Wednesday, the government approved a draft law introducing mandatory child vaccination. The state is funding and organising the process of vaccination in Romania, also providing efficient and safe vaccines.



    BORDER POLICE – The Romanian border police say there is an increase in the number of people trying to illegally cross the countrys borders, especially Romanias north-western frontier, with Hungary. The root cause is the shift of the flow of migrants from Serbia to Romania, after the anti-migrant fence on the Serbian-Hungarian border has been removed. According to the Romanian authorities, the number of people trying to illegally cross Romanias borders going abroad has increased 6 times, as compared to the first semester of 2016, most of them being Iraqi, Syrian, Turkish and Iranian nationals. Some 1,000 people trying to illegally cross the border have been stopped at the frontier, most of them in the western county of Arad, which is closer to the migrants centre in Timisoara, western Romania.



    VISIT – French President, Emmanuel Macron, will pay a visit to Romania on August 24, at the invitation of his counterpart Klaus Iohannis. Talks will focus on boosting and deepening bilateral relations under the Strategic Partnership, as well as on major issues on the European and international agenda. The visit was agreed upon during a bilateral meeting between the two heads of state on the sidelines of the European Council of June 23, when Emmanuel Macron accepted the proposal made by Klaus Iohannis to continue dialogue in Bucharest.



    WEATHER – The National Meteorology Administration has issued a code orange alert against heat and thermal discomfort valid today, for six counties in western Romania and another code yellow alert valid for 13 counties in the western half of the country. Sweltering temperatures are reported in lower areas in western Romania as well as in some places in the centre and the south, and the thermal-humidity comfort index reached and even exceeded the critical threshold of 80 units. Maximum temperatures will go up to 39 degrees Celsius. The noon reading in Bucharest was 32 degrees. Meteorologists say the heat wave will linger until the end of the week. Atmospheric instability will also be registered in the afternoon, in places, in the mountains, particularly in the northwest. Traffic has been restricted in the afternoon, in areas under code orange alert, for heavy trucks, weighing over 7.5 tons, with the exception of those carrying perishable goods. In another move, experts say Romania will increasingly be affected by drought in most regions, mainly due to sweltering temperatures in the absence of rainfalls. In early May, representatives of the Academy of Agricultural and Forestry Sciences in Bucharest said the recent weather phenomena have produced extensive damage to orchards and vineyards, some cultures being compromised to a large extent.

    TENNIS -
    Romanian woman tennis player Simona Halep, WTA no.2, has qualified to the round
    of sixteen of the Toronto tennis tournament, with over 2.4 million dollars in
    prize money up for grabs, after defeating Slovakia’s Magdalena
    Rybarikova (WTA no.33 WTA)    , in two sets. Halep, second seeded in the tournament and holder of the Rogers
    Cup (which she won in Montreal last year) will meet the Czech Barbora Strycova
    (31 years, WTA no. 26). In the doubles, also in Toronto, the Romanian Monica
    Niculescu and the Czech Barbora Krejcikova got eliminated in the round of
    sixteen by the all- Czech pair Lucie Safarova/Barbora Strycova.

  • August 7, 2017 UPDATE

    August 7, 2017 UPDATE

    VISIT – The French President, Emmanuel Macron, will pay a visit to Romania on August 24, at the invitation of his Romanian counterpart, Klaus Iohannis, the Presidential Administration announced on Monday. The agenda of talks will include ways to boost and deepen the bilateral relationship under the Strategic Partnership as well as major issues of European and international interest. The visit was agreed upon during a bilateral meeting between the two heads of state, on the sidelines of the European Council of June 23, when Emmanuel Macron accepted the invitation extended by Klaus Iohannis to continue their dialogue in Bucharest, the Presidential Administration also says.



    PARLIAMENTARY SESSION – Parliament will meet in an extraordinary session in Bucharest on Tuesday to vote on some emergency ordinances issued by the government last week. The emergency ordinances provide, among others, for increasing pensions only by adjusting them to the inflation rate, and for increasing the salaries of some Interior Ministry personnel. The government has also decided to establish a ceiling of some 1,900 Euro per month for the child rearing indemnity, as of September.



    SALARIES – The National Institute of Statistics released new data on Monday. Gross average wages went up by 0.8% in June, as compared to the previous month, up to almost 730 Euro, with net average salaries reaching 520 Euro. The highest wages are still in the IT and telecom industries, about 1,300 Euro, while the lowest are still in the hospitality industry, around 300 Euro. Data for May and June indicate that the increase in income was due to rainfall revenue.



    ANONIMUL FESTIVAL – The 14th ANONIMUL International Film Festival kick-started in the small town of Sfantu Gheorghe, in the Danube Delta on Monday. The special guest of the festival this year is the Mexican director Michel Franco, whose film “April’s Daughter earned him the “Un Certain Regard Award at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival. The one-week festival will end with an award gala, with the awards been established based on the public’s vote.



    UNTOLD FESTIVAL– The UNTOLD electronic music festival in Cluj, the biggest in the country, came to a close on Monday. The event is estimated to have gathered the largest audience since its inception in 2015. Around 200 Romanian and foreign artists performed on the 10 stages, the largest of which is 100 meters long and over 35 meters high. The festival was designated the best European festival at its first edition. In 2016, it had an audience of 300,000.



    TENNIS – Romanian tennis player Simona Halep, WTA no.2, has been designated top second seed in the WTA tournament in Toronto, Canada, with 2.4 million dollars in prize money up for grabs. Halep goes straight to the second round, where she will meet the winner of the game between the American player Madison Keys, WTA no. 21, and Croatias Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, WTA no. 30. No less than five Romanian players feature in the qualifiers, Irina Begu, Sorana Cîrstea, Monica Niculescu, Ana Bogdan and Patricia Ţig.


    .


    HEATWAVE –A code yellow alert against thunderstorms, torrential rain and hail has been issued for central, eastern and northern Romania, as well as for mountainous and hilly areas. The alert is valid until Wednesday. Rainwater may exceed 20 l/square meter in places, and even 40 l/square meter. The temperature-humidity comfort index will still be close to the critical threshold of 80 units in places, in the south of the country. Maximum temperatures will range between 24 and 36 degrees Celsius.