WEATHER The weather remains extremely hot in almost the entire Romanian territory where meteorologists have issued a series of code yellow, orange and red alerts for extremely high temperatures and thermal discomfort. The most affected is the Timis County in western Romania, for which a code red alert has been issued. Temperatures there are expected to reach 39 degrees Celsius and the Temperature-Humidity index to go over the 80 unit threshold. An orange code alert has been issued for another ten counties in the country’s west and south, including the capital city Bucharest where the highs of the day are expected to reach 38 degrees Celsius. The noon reading in Bucharest was 31 degrees.
PARIS An icon of the French cinematography, Alain Delon, died today at his home in Douchy surrounded by his three children and his family. The actor was a star of the golden era of the French cinematography, and shot to fame with the parts he played in ‘The Samurai’ and ‘Borsalino’. Once described as the most beautiful man in the movies, Alain Delon starred in some of the best French productions of the 60s, such as ‘The Leopard’ and ‘Rocco and his Brothers’. From the 1990s his film appearances grew rare and although he appeared in more than 90 films during the course of his career, he won only one Cesar Award in 1985 for ‘Our story’ by Bertrand Blier. ‘Le Parisien’ called Delon ‘a legend of the cinema’ while ‘Liberation’ described him as ‘a leading figure of cinema, the actor with crazy charisma’. Alain Delon’s last major public appearance was to receive an honorary Palme d’Or at the Cannes film festival in 2019, when he delivered an emotional speech in which he appeared to bid farewell to cinema and his fans.
ATHENS The Romanian firefighters who had joined the efforts of putting out fires in Greece were given a new assignment on Saturday; they are monitoring two regions in Attica. According to a press release by the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations (IGSU), 16 firefighters with four fire engines have been deployed to Agia Kiriaki, while another 15-strong rescue team is getting ready to intervene in Rafina. Both teams are accompanied by Greek liaison officers, and according to IGSU, they are in stand-by, ready to intervene under the coordination of their Greek counterparts. The regions where the two Romanian teams have been deployed are known for being at higher risk of wildfires at this time of the year. Greece has applied for help from the European Union and is in a state of high alert after wildfires went out of control and have affected over 10 thousand hectares.
BOOKFAIR The Gaudeamus book fair staged by our radio station is going on in Sibiu, central Romania. On the fair’s last day, on Sunday, people were invited to visit its 15 pavilions located in the city’s historical center known as the Big Square, and check on the huge offer of books, games, music and other educational materials. The fair is being attended by the most renowned publishing houses in the country. Besides its varied and huge book offer displayed on over 40 stands, the fair also included a series of editorial events, book launches and autograph shows, which are also available online at gaudeamus.ro.
EXAMS Next week will be seeing the written exams of the second round of the Baccalaureate in Romania. On Monday students are to take exams in the Romanian language and Literature and in the following days in mathematics and history according to their chosen profile. The first results are to be listed on August 26th and the final ones after all applications have been solved, on August 30th. Over 33,600 students are to take their exams in this second round. Most of them, two thirds, are this year’s graduates. Over 78% of the students passed the baccalaureate exams in its summer session. The Ministry of Education plans to allow students to see their exam papers shortly after the grading so that they may decide whether to challenge results.
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