National Day parade. Bucharest hosted on Sunday
a final rehearsal for the National Day military parade on the 1st of
December. More than 3,000 military and experts from the defence and interior
ministries and the Romanian Intelligence Service, as well as 300 pieces of
technical equipment, will take part in Thursday’s parade in Bucharest. This
year’s parade is special, as it comes amidst the 100th anniversary
of Romania’s joining the First World War. Defence minister Mihnea Motoc
mentioned some of the novelties this year, including the presentation of the
F-16 Fighting Flacon multirole aircraft, the new combat uniform of the Romanian
Army, the protective gear of the special operations forces, and the MEDEVAC
medical evacuation vehicles. The Romanian troops will be joined at the parade
by their counterparts from a number of allied and partners states such as the
UK, Italy, Germany, the Republic of Moldova, Poland, Slovakia, Spain and the
US. National Day events will take place throughout the country and abroad,
including in theatres of operation. Military and religious ceremonies will be
held, as well as meetings with army veterans and war veterans and exhibitions
of combat equipment and weapons.
Supreme Defence Council meeting. The country’s
Supreme Defence Council will meet next Tuesday in Bucharest, the president’s
spokeswoman Madalina Dobrovolschi has announced. Talks will focus on the
measures taken by Romania to apply the sanctions adopted internationally for
the period October 2015 and September 2016. The Council will also discuss the
long and medium term strategy with respect to Romania’s relationship with the
Republic of Moldova, a neighbouring country with a majority Romanian-speaking
population. Other issues to be tackled include the plan for the deployment of
Romanian troops to foreign missions and operations in 2017 and the
implementation of the country’s national defence strategy for the 2015-2019
period.
Fidel Castro death. Cuba will observe 9 days of national
mourning in memory of Cuba’s revolutionary leader Fidel Castro, who died on
Friday at the age of 90. His funerals will take place on Sunday, 4th
of December, in Santiago de Cuba, in the south. The death of Fidel Castro, who
led Cuba for almost five decades, sparked mixed international reactions. US
president Barack Obama said history will record and judge his enormous impact
on Cuba, while president elect Donald Trump described Castro as a brutal
dictator. The president of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker said
that with Castro’s death, the world has lost a
man who was a hero for many and that his legacy will be judged by history.
The head of the European Parliament Martin Schulz wrote that the former Cuban
leader left a mark in the history of Cuba, Latin America and in
world politics. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Fidel Castro will
be remembered for advances in Cuba in the fields of education, literacy and
health. The Russian and Chinese presidents said their countries have lost a
good friend.
Accident. Eight Romanian nationals were injured in a road
accident on Saturday night near the Italian town of Porpetto in which a bus
carrying 36 people was involved. The injured were taken to three hospitals in
the region and are now recovering well. According to preliminary information,
the bus carrying the Romanians flipped over on a motorway near the border with
Slovenia. According to the foreign ministry in Bucharest, a team from the
Romanian General Consulate in Trieste travelled to the site of the accident to provide
assistance to the people involved in the crash. The Italian authorities have
begun an inquiry into the cause of the accident.
Award. The Romanian filmmaker Radu Jude has won the best director award
at the Mar del Plata International Film Festival in Argentina for his
production Scarred Hearts. In Jude’s words, the film is a personal
interpretation, rather than a conventional adaptation, of a novel of the same
title by the Romanian early 20th century writer Max Blecher. Scarred
Hearts is Radu Jude’s fourth feature film and has also earned him two special
prizes at the Locarno Film festival in Switzerland and a distinction at the
Haifa International Festival in Israel.
Handball. The
Romanian women’s handball side are today taking on Hungary in the finals of the
Carpati Trophy hosted by the north-western city of Cluj Napoca. This tournament
is the final test ahead of the European Championship to be hosted by Sweden
between the 4th and the 18th of December. Romania are in
Group D, together with Norway, Russia and Croatia. (Transl. by C. Mateescu)