Radio România Internațional

Tag: intelligence

  • May 24, 2024

    May 24, 2024

     

    SALARIES Gross minimum wages will be raised to roughly EUR 740 as of July 1, and the facility granted to employers, under which EUR 40 of employees’ salaries are tax free will stay in place until the end of the year, the Romanian PM Marcel Ciolacu announced on Thursday, after a meeting of the three-party council comprising government, employers’ union and trade union officials. On the other hand, the government has increased the financial assistance for people with disabilities. As of July 1, the allowance for an adult with disabilities will be EUR 105, and the one for a child with severe disabilities will be EUR 92. According to official data, some 390,000 people will benefit from the increase. The government has also approved state aid for the national airline, Tarom, which the transport minister Sorin Grindeanu says is a major step for saving the company.

     

    JUDICIARY The former chief of operations for the Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI), Florian Coldea, was placed by the National Anti-Corruption Directorate under court supervision on bail. The same measure has been ordered with respect to ret. gen. Dumitru Dumbravă, the former head of the Service’s judicial service, and to the lawyer Doru Trăilă. The 3 are charged with influence peddling and money laundering, and are probed into following a complaint filed by the businessman Cătălin Hideg, who was sentenced to 4 years in prison in a European Public Prosecutor’s Office investigation into frauds involving EU funds. The businessman claims that Coldea and Dumbravă had asked him to pay EUR 600,000 using the lawyer Doru Trăilă as an go-between, in exchange for a suspended sentence in court.

     

    FESTIVAL Events devoted to the Days of Romanians Abroad begin in Bucharest today. The festival, organized every year on the last Sunday in May, has reached its 7th year. More than 500 Romanians in the diaspora and in communities in 34 countries are expected to attend. The celebrations bring together Romanian artists from the country and from abroad, as well as members of the business and academic communities of Romanians living abroad.

     

    MOLDOVA Romania continues to provide assistance to the Republic of Moldova in areas like electricity, the reconstruction of schools and university campuses and equipment for public order institutions. Under an order passed in Thursday’s Cabinet meeting, Romania will contribute over EUR 2 mln to the reconstruction of a student dorm in Cahul, in the south of Moldova. The decision is based on an agreement signed by the 2 governments in February 2022, concerning non-reimbursable financial aid of EUR 100 mln.

     

    VISIT Her Majesty Margareta, Custodian of the Crown, and his Royal Highness Prince Radu, Thursday visited the NATO Support and Procurement Agency in Luxembourg and met with Romanians working in that institution. On this occasion, Her Majesty Margareta mentioned that the visit to Luxembourg was intended to help support the Republic of Moldova in its EU accession efforts, while Prince Radu pointed out that the Romanian nation has embraced the values of the Western world. Prince Radu also voiced his satisfaction that the huge effort that Moldova is making “with such scarce means and such great vulnerability, but at the same time with so much dignity,” is acknowledged everywhere. Also on Thursday, the royal couple were received by his Royal Highness Henri, Grand Duke of Luxembourg for a private luncheon at the Grand Ducal Palace.

     

    TENNIS The Romanian tennis players Sorana Cîrstea, Ana Bogdan, Jaqueline Cristian and Irina Begu Thursday night found out their opponents in the first round of the Roland Garros tournament, the second Grand Slam of the year. Sorana Cîrstea, seeded 28, will take on Ana Blinkova (Russia), whom she defeated in 2020 in Dubai. Ana Bogdan plays against Elsa Jacquemot (France) in their first encounter in professional competitions. Jaqueline Cristian has a tough match ahead, against no. 10 in the world Jelena Ostapenko (Latvia). Jaqueline Cristian won her only match so far against the 2016 Roland Garros winner, in the round of 16 of the Sankt Petersburg tournament in 2021. Irina Begu will be facing a winner of the French Open’s qualifying matches. Two other Romanian players have a chance to win a main draw place: Gabriela Ruse and Cristina Dinu are playing in the last round of the qualifying series against Sara Errani (Italy) and Laura Pigossi (Brazil), respectively. (AMP)

  • Anti – deepfake regulations

    Anti – deepfake regulations

    Deepfake technology, which
    usesartificial
    intelligence to create false online content in order to deceive users, has been
    gaining ground in Romania as well recently. Videos are circulated, which allegedly
    feature public figures, but which are in fact images and speeches created by AI.
    Fake footage of president Klaus Iohannis, of the energy minister Sebastian
    Burduja, and of the central bank governor Mugur Isărescu has been already
    created and shared online.


    Romanian authorities have repeatedly warned against
    attempted online frauds using altered images and recordings. The minister for
    research, innovation and digitisation Bogdan Ivan says talks are held with major
    internet platforms and that a set of filters will be introduced, which would
    make posting fake AI-created content more difficult. He estimates that
    legislation introducing penalties for infringers will be in place by April.


    The Chamber of Deputies is already working on a bill
    in this respect. Fines of up to EUR 40,000 and even prison sentences of up to
    two years are being considered for those who produce and post deepfake material
    online or in other mass-media, without cautioning viewers that the material in
    question contains fictional situations.


    The bill was tabled by MPs from the Social Democratic
    Party, the National Liberal Party, the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians
    and other ethnic minorities. The Social-Democrat MP Robert Cazanciuc explained:


    Robert Cazanciuc: The bill does not prohibit the use of deepfake,
    but rather requires that the authors of such messages include a video or audio
    warning in their materials.


    In turn, the head of the Polytechnic University of
    Bucharest, Mihnea Costoiu, believes the regulation of AI usage is necessary:


    Mihnea Costoiu: I believe we need regulations concerning
    artificial intelligence, but what we must also take into account is that any regulation,
    or most regulations, may hinder its development to some extent.


    The main opposition parties, on the other hand, argue
    that the bill is not fully in line with relevant EU recommendations, and want
    the text reviewed in Parliament’s specialist committees. EU member states have
    unanimously approved a set of regulations concerning artificial intelligence,
    following intensive negotiations with regard to the balance between innovation
    and security. The deal, dubbed the AI Act, defines the world’s first rules for
    artificial intelligence, which must be safer and must comply with the
    fundamental rights recognised in the European Union. (AMP)

  • Solve for Tomorrow

    Solve for Tomorrow

    Attention-grabbing, as of late, has been Solve for Tomorrow, a competition
    focusing on involvement, determination, education responsibility, but also on the
    future high school students from across Romania, youngsters aged 16 to 18, try
    to build today, from one idea to the next. The competition has now reached its
    third edition, so it does have a tradition of its own, reason enough for us to speak
    with the representatives of the winning teams in 2022.


    Two high-school students with Bucharest’s Tudor Vianu National
    College, Cosmina Ene and Sânziana Grecu of the SurvEco team, 3rd placed
    at the end of the 3rd edition of the Solve for Tomorrow in 2022 told
    us the following.


    Cosmina Ene:

    We’re members of SurvEco, a team that came in 3rd
    as part of the 2nd edition of Solve for Tomorrow. Our project
    consisted in an autonomous drone using Artificial Intelligence, which overflies
    Bucharest and its outskirts, with the purpose of detecting illegal waste and
    its burning, because pollution in Bucharest is mainly caused by such illegal waste
    deposits.

    Sânziana Grecu:

    For us, the competition translated into a personal development
    process and opened up many paths for us, because we met people with whom we
    collaborated and to whom we wouldn’t have had access, normally.

    Cosmina Ene:

    We recommend all pupils who
    want to have fantastic experience ant who want to surpass themselves to
    participate in this year’s edition of the competition.


    The Solve for Tomorrow national competition organized by Samsung
    Electronics Romania in partnership with Junior Achievement Romania designated
    its winners based on the marks given by an interdisciplinary judging panel.


    Spacemind Kingdom, the team that came in 2nd , is made of
    three girls coordinated by a teacher with of the Jacques M. Elias Techological
    High School in Sascut, Aurelia Dascalu. Here is what one of the pupils, Andreea, told us.

    As part of the Solve for Tomorrow’s previous
    edition we won the 2nd prize with an educational application
    dedicated to women teenagers. We created a game by means of which they can
    develop their abilities and knowledge about the STEM system. Apart from this
    game, we also had a section enabling the girls to speak to personalities that
    had a strong bearing on these areas, through Artificial Intelligence. We started
    off from the idea that we need to encourage teenagers to encourage to work in
    this field despite the stereotypes that have been created. The competition
    helped us learn about design thinking, a concept that enabled us to develop the
    idea we started from, to a greater extent, we managed to discover ourselves, we
    developed new abilities, but, over and above anything else, we opened new
    horizons towards technology and towards what we really want to become.


    The 1st Prize went to The Green Team of the Eudoxiu
    Hurmuzachi National College in Rădăuți. The team developed the prototype of a
    hydroponic farming system that enables the cultivation of plants in a nutrients
    bed and an addition of vegetable oil that slow down water evaluation.

    Here is team leader Cosmin:


    Our purpose is that, in the future, we
    should practice farming according to hydroponic systems on an industrial scale.
    We still study the domain, one prototype after the next, but the way seems promising.
    We wouldn’t have reached this point had we not participated in the Solve for
    Tomorrow competition. As part of the competition, we met entrepreneurs of
    various walks of life who offered us their pieces of advice and guided us and we
    participated in design-thinking sessions. We recommend each and every youngster
    who has an idea to participate.


    Head of Communications Samsung Romania, Sabina Ştirb, told us the
    following:

    Solve for Tomorrow is a project Samsung
    Electronics Romania holds most dear, its third edition is launched today. It
    has collected more than 600 projects so far, from all over the country. Also,
    there is the global version of the Solve for Tomorrow, a project that took off
    13 years ago and in which 1.8 million pupils got involved, globally. Yet, apart
    from those figures, we mainly celebrate today are by all means pupils and
    teachers, mentors who work with the ideas that were registered for the
    competition.


    Here is what Junior Achievement Romania Educational director, Loredana Poenaru,
    told us:


    It is a project
    that dares pupils to put together their technology, education and creativity,
    so that they can develop solutions for the problems in communities, be they environment-related
    issues or educational circumstances that can be improved., education-wise, as regards
    long-lasting development, all these are domains children can consider if they
    want to develop their ideas. We’re now in the third edition. So far, we’ve had
    600 ideas that were registered in the previous editions, for each edition the
    second stage means selecting 25 of the best ideas that have been going through
    a development process, with design thinking underlying it, at once enabling
    youngsters to develop their ideas up to the stage of prototype, and further inviting
    them to consider the possibility of implementing those ideas. Apart from design thinking they get in touch with entrepreneurs,
    they can also learn how to give their ideas an entrepreneurial direction, they
    go through mentoring sessions and that is how things thus reach a feasible
    stage. At the end of the competition youngsters are attached to the projects they
    have been working on for so many months, so in the ensuing phases they should develop
    the need to take their projects further, to the implementation stage.


    The third edition of Solve for Tomorrow has kicked off already!

  • Les animaux sont-ils bêtes ? (I)

    Les animaux sont-ils bêtes ? (I)

    Plus précisément nous allons de la manière dont les animaux sont considérés par les humains. Il existe effectivement une longue histoire de linterprétation des comportements et des pensées animaux qui a évolué avec le temps. Cest ce que nous verrons avec notre invitée, Vinciane Despret, qui est philosophe et enseigne à lUniversité de Liège.




  • June 14, 2018

    June 14, 2018

    VISIT- Romanian Prime Minister Viorica Dancila today begins an official three-day visit to Lithuania and Estonia. She says the political dialogue with the representatives of these two EU member states will focus on the reconfiguration of close bilateral relations, based on a similar journey and common interests, related to European issues and the security of the eastern flank. A major objective is the European agenda and the preparation of Romania’s rotating presidency of the European Council. In the Lithuanian capital Vilnius, prime minister Dancila will have talks with her counterpart Saulius Skvernelis and the speaker of Parliament Viktoras Pranckietis. As for her trip to Estonia, it’s the first by a Romanian prime minister after the re-establishment of diplomatic ties with this Baltic state in 1991.



    INTELLIGENCE – Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis has proposed the Social Democratic deputy Petru-Gabriel Vlase for the office of Director of the Foreign Intelligence Service, according to a communiqué issued today by the presidential administration. Petru-Gabriel Valse is vice-president of the Chamber of Deputies, member of the defence, public order, and national security committee and member of the Joint Special Parliamentary Committee in charge with security legislation review. He is a graduate of higher education institutions in the field of national security and defence, and he has a PhD degree in military science and intelligence. Vlase would replace Mihai Razvan Ungureanu, who resigned in September 2016.



    BANKING – The top management of the National Bank of Romania submits today a new report on financial stability. It comes as the annual rate of inflation in May went above 5.4%, the highest in the last five years, with an exchange rate for the national currency around 4.66 lei per euro, rising deficits and rising public debt. The report analyzes the risks to financial stability and their gravity, as well as the domestic and international economic and financial context, the infrastructure and the regulatory framework. The previous document, issued late last year, revealed that there was no systemic financial risk, but that the plunging confidence of investors in emerging states was deemed a high risk, while rising macroeconomic tensions, personal debt were considered moderate risks.



    MOSCOW — The 21st edition of the World Football Championship kicks off in Russia today. It is the first edition of the championship hosted by a former communist bloc country. Proving their mettle in the final tournament are 32 national teams, while 11 cities across Russia will make the venues for the scheduled fixtures. The opening game will see Russia taking on Saudi Arabia. According to the correspondent of Radio Romania’s News and Current Affairs Channel in Moscow, Russia has invested tens of billions of dollars in the championship’s infrastructure, as well as a significant amount of political capital, hoping the event would bolster Russia’s image around the world. We recall Romania’s national team has failed to make it to the current edition of the World Cup. The World Championship held in France in 1998 was the last edition the national squad took part in.



    HANDBALL — Romanian national men’s handball team’s head-coach, Spaniard Xavier Pascual Fuertes, has amiably terminated his collaboration wit the Romanian handball federation on Wednesday, in the wake of the national team’s playoff fixture against Macedonia, counting towards the qualification for the 2019 edition of the World Championship. The Spanish coach stated he had taken the decision some time ago. We recall Xavier Pascual Fuertes signed a four-year contract with the Romanian Handball Federation, with the stated aim to have the national team qualify for the 2020 edition of the Olympic Games. We recall Romania has failed to make it to the 2019 edition of the World Championships although on Wednesday in Cluj, Romania defeated Macedonia, 26-25. However, our national squad went eight goals down from Macedonia in the first game, so on aggregate they were eliminated form the competition.


  • June 14, 2018

    June 14, 2018

    VISIT- Romanian Prime Minister Viorica Dancila today begins an official three-day visit to Lithuania and Estonia. She says the political dialogue with the representatives of these two EU member states will focus on the reconfiguration of close bilateral relations, based on a similar journey and common interests, related to European issues and the security of the eastern flank. A major objective is the European agenda and the preparation of Romania’s rotating presidency of the European Council. In the Lithuanian capital Vilnius, prime minister Dancila will have talks with her counterpart Saulius Skvernelis and the speaker of Parliament Viktoras Pranckietis. As for her trip to Estonia, it’s the first by a Romanian prime minister after the re-establishment of diplomatic ties with this Baltic state in 1991.



    INTELLIGENCE – Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis has proposed the Social Democratic deputy Petru-Gabriel Vlase for the office of Director of the Foreign Intelligence Service, according to a communiqué issued today by the presidential administration. Petru-Gabriel Valse is vice-president of the Chamber of Deputies, member of the defence, public order, and national security committee and member of the Joint Special Parliamentary Committee in charge with security legislation review. He is a graduate of higher education institutions in the field of national security and defence, and he has a PhD degree in military science and intelligence. Vlase would replace Mihai Razvan Ungureanu, who resigned in September 2016.



    BANKING – The top management of the National Bank of Romania submits today a new report on financial stability. It comes as the annual rate of inflation in May went above 5.4%, the highest in the last five years, with an exchange rate for the national currency around 4.66 lei per euro, rising deficits and rising public debt. The report analyzes the risks to financial stability and their gravity, as well as the domestic and international economic and financial context, the infrastructure and the regulatory framework. The previous document, issued late last year, revealed that there was no systemic financial risk, but that the plunging confidence of investors in emerging states was deemed a high risk, while rising macroeconomic tensions, personal debt were considered moderate risks.



    MOSCOW — The 21st edition of the World Football Championship kicks off in Russia today. It is the first edition of the championship hosted by a former communist bloc country. Proving their mettle in the final tournament are 32 national teams, while 11 cities across Russia will make the venues for the scheduled fixtures. The opening game will see Russia taking on Saudi Arabia. According to the correspondent of Radio Romania’s News and Current Affairs Channel in Moscow, Russia has invested tens of billions of dollars in the championship’s infrastructure, as well as a significant amount of political capital, hoping the event would bolster Russia’s image around the world. We recall Romania’s national team has failed to make it to the current edition of the World Cup. The World Championship held in France in 1998 was the last edition the national squad took part in.



    HANDBALL — Romanian national men’s handball team’s head-coach, Spaniard Xavier Pascual Fuertes, has amiably terminated his collaboration wit the Romanian handball federation on Wednesday, in the wake of the national team’s playoff fixture against Macedonia, counting towards the qualification for the 2019 edition of the World Championship. The Spanish coach stated he had taken the decision some time ago. We recall Xavier Pascual Fuertes signed a four-year contract with the Romanian Handball Federation, with the stated aim to have the national team qualify for the 2020 edition of the Olympic Games. We recall Romania has failed to make it to the 2019 edition of the World Championships although on Wednesday in Cluj, Romania defeated Macedonia, 26-25. However, our national squad went eight goals down from Macedonia in the first game, so on aggregate they were eliminated form the competition.


  • January 26, 2017

    January 26, 2017

    BUDGET – Romanian PM Sorin Grindeanu announced that the draft budget bill for 2017 will be finalized in Friday’s government session, and sent to Parliament for debate right away. The head of the executive said that the budget includes all the measures provided for in the governing coalition platform. The largest portion of the budget is earmarked for transportation, agriculture, health and SME incentives. A lower portion of the budget as compared to 2016 goes to energy, education, regional development, as well as the ministries of the interior and foreign affairs, the Presidency, the chambers of Parliament, and the Foreign Intelligence Service. The budget bill is structures on the supposition of an economic growth of 5.2%, and a budget deficit of 2.96% of the GDP.



    ROMANIAN INTELLIGENCE – The Romanian Intelligence Service will issue an ethical conduct code for its employees, to be published in a few days in the National Registry, as announced by intelligence chief Eduard Hellvig. He explained that the document will clarify the possible incompatibilities facing an intelligence officer. The announcement comes after the leadership of the service was called to hearings in Parliament by the expert committee. At the end of the seven hour sitting, the head of domestic intelligence said that recently his institution was the target of unprecedented attacks, but that it would not be involved in power plays.



    MOLDOVA – The President of the Republic of Moldova, pro-Russian Socialist Igor Dodon, announced he would hold a referendum on amending the Constitution, which would enhance his prerogatives, allowing him to dissolve Parliament. The press and constitutional law experts say that Dodon, who was elected in November, is attempting to put in place a dictatorial regime, and is vying for total power. According to the Moldovan Constitution, the president does not have the right to introduce a referendum to amend the Constitution. Only citizens, the government, or a third of the chamber of deputies can do so.



    BLACK CUBE – Israeli citizen Ron Weiner received a definitive conviction from the Bucharest Court of Appeals after pleading guilty in the so-called Black Cube case, being sentenced to 2 years and 8 months in prison. He was convicted for harassing in March 2016 the head of the National Anti-Corruption Directorate, Laura Codruta Kovesi. In November 2016, another Israeli citizen involved in this case, David Geclowicz, got the same sentence, which got suspended. A third Israeli citizen involved in the case, Yossi Barkstein, managed to flee Romania, with an arrest warrant issued.



    PACE – Romanian Social Democratic Senator Titus Corlatean, former Minister of Foreign Affairs, was elected for a new term as head of the Middle East subcommittee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. The session was attended by Israeli and Palestinian delegations. According to the Senate in Bucharest, the participants stressed the need to continue the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, as well as the threat of international terrorism.



    MIGRATION- Romanian police, under the coordination of organized crime prosecutors, are carrying out raids at the houses of suspected human traffickers, a communiqué issued by the Romanian police says. The operation is being run in several Romanian counties, as well as the capital Bucharest. The investigation shows that between August and December last year, a criminal group specializing in the illegal transport of migrants on the Turkey-Romania-Hungary route brought to Romania over 100 illegal migrants from Syria, Turkey, Afghanistan and Morocco. Their final destination was Germany. Five transports of migrants have been discovered, and in one situation 42 people, included 18 minors, were hiding in a tanker. We recall that in the past months, the Romanian border police have been confronted with numerous illegal border crossing attempts at the countrys southern and western borders.