School — Almost 3 million Romanian pupils and preschoolers will start school on Monday. Many changes mark the new school year. It will be structured into 5 modules, separated by 5 holidays. Mandatory tests are eliminated and the average mark obtained at the end of the secondary school is eliminated from the calculation of the admission-to-high-school average mark. Starting this year, end-of-module assessments are no longer mandatory, there will be only one average mark for each subject, and at the end of the year students can no longer be expelled. The Education Minister Sorin Cîmpeanu admitted that one of the problems of Romanian schools is the lack of fire safety certificates for many of them. Moreover, more than half of the educational units in the country, about 57%, do not have security services at the beginning of the school year.
Competition — The “George Enescu” International Competition begins today with the concert of the “George Enescu” Philharmonic, conducted by Ainars Rubikis and of soloists who won the 2020-2021 edition, at the Romanian Athenaeum in Bucharest. The event, which this year takes place under the motto Music of Hope, marks 64 years since the first edition, opened on September 4, 1958. This year, 34 young musicians from all over the world qualified for the semifinals of the competition, in the sections Cello, Violin and Piano. 22 orchestral and chamber works will enter the competition in the Composition Section, where an Originality Award will also be granted. The winning works will be announced on September 18.
Swimming — The Romanian swimmers David Popovici and Patrick Sebastian Dinu qualified for the 100 m freestyle final at the World Junior Championships in Lima (Peru). David Popovici reached the final with the best time of the semi-finals: 48.17 seconds. So far, at the Junior Swimming Championships in Lima, David Popovici has won the gold medal in the 200m freestyle, the gold medal in the mens 4x100m freestyle relay and the silver medal in the mixed 4x100m freestyle relay. Also in Lima, in the womens 50m backstroke, Rebecca Diaconescu ranked fourth in the final, and in the womens 50m freestyle, the Romanian Bianca Costea qualified for the final with the second time from the semifinals.
Air show — Today, the 12th edition of the Bucharest International Air Show – BIAS 2022 is taking place at Baneasa Airport. The air show, originally scheduled for Saturday, was postponed due to unfavorable weather conditions. Tens of thousands of spectators are expected at the biggest air show in Romania, which will include over ten hours of flight. The organizers announce that the event will include a show of supersonic military planes, parachuting, shows with gliders, with formations and individual acrobatic shows. BIAS is an air force show in which civil and military flying aces from Romania and other NATO member states delight the spectators with aerial acrobatics and elite demonstrations. The show also includes a display of aircraft on the ground. The famous Lithuanian pilot Jurgis Kairys, multiple world champion in aerobatics, who flies a Sukhoi, also participates in this years show.
Zaporozhe – The Zaporozhe nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine, occupied by the Russian forces, has “again lost its connection” to the power grid, the experts of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), who are on the site, announced in a statement on Saturday, AFP reports. According to the information provided by the Ukrainian authorities to the UN body, this incident occurred “after new bombings in the area”. However, the plant continues to operate thanks to a backup line, the IAEA states. We remind you that the plant was completely disconnected from the grid for the first time on August 25, when it was able to continue operating thanks to a backup generator. On Friday, a day after inspecting the nuclear plant, the IAEA director Rafael Grossi said “military operations are intensifying”, which “worries him a lot”. (LS)
