Radio România Internațional

Tag: policemen

  • January 18, 2025

    January 18, 2025

    Protests – Thousands of policemen and other employees from the fields of defense, public order and national security protested, on Friday, in Bucharest, against the provisions of the government ordinance to reduce the budget deficit, which came into force at the beginning of the month. They requested the Government to review the provisions of the aforementioned document, which significantly reduces their income by not paying overtime worked on weekends or public holidays. Thus the protesters say the incomes of operative police officers will be drastically affected, with decreases between 1,000 lei (€200) and 2,000 lei (€400). The PM Marcel Ciolacu said that the issue of paying overtime in the field of public order will be regulated with priority at the beginning of next month, in Parliament.

     

    Verdict – The magistrates of the High Court of Cassation and Justice in Bucharest on Friday rejected the appeals filed by the independent candidate Călin Georgescu in the case of the cancelation of last year’s presidential election. He had challenged a decision of the Bucharest Court of Appeal delivered at the end of December 2024, by which the judges rejected Georgescu’s request to cancel the three decisions of the Central Electoral Bureau, adopted after the Constitutional Court of Romania (CCR) decided to cancel the presidential election. Previously, Călin Georgescu, considered pro-Russian, declared that he challenged the decision of the CCR at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). He asks the ECHR to compel the Romanian state to organize the second round of the presidential election in which he and Elena Lasconi (USR) qualified. Based on documents declassified by the Supreme Council of National Defense (CSAT), CCR judges cited significant irregularities that affected the integrity of the electoral process and manipulated votes through social networks. Documents from the Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI), the Romanian Foreign Intelligence Service (SIE), the Interior Ministry (MAI) and the Special Telecommunications Service (STS) showed that Călin Georgescu would have benefited from the support of state and non-state actors to win. After the decision of the CCR, the Government established that the first round of the Romanian presidential election will be on May 4, and the second round on May 18. Romanians in the diaspora still have three days to vote, but on the last day, Sunday, the polling stations will close at 9 p.m., Romanian time, regardless of the local time zone.

     

    Tennis – The Romanian tennis player Jaqueline Cristian (83 WTA) was defeated by the German Eva Lys (128 WTA) score 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, on Saturday, in Melbourne, in the third round of the Australian Open tournament. The Romanian reached the third round of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time. In the doubles, the Romanians Gabriela Ruse and Jaqueline Cristian, in different pairs, qualified for the second round, after the victories obtained, on Friday, in Melbourne. Gabriela Ruse and the Ukrainian Marta Kostiuk defeated the Australian pair Destanee Aiuava and Maddison Inglis 6-4, 7-6, and in the second round they will have strong opponents, Elise Mertens (Belgium) and Ellen Perez (Australia), seeded 6th. Jaqueline Cristian and the Italian Camilla Rosatello defeated the pair Cristina Bucşa (Spain)/Iana Sizikova (Russia) 6-2, 6-7, 6-4. The next opponents for Cristian and Rosatello will be Leylah Fernandez (Canada) and Nadia Kicenok (Ukraine), 16th seeds.

     

    Fair – Romania will participate in the largest organic products fair in the world, BioFach 2025, which will take place in Nuremberg (Germany), between February 11-14, announced the Bio-Romania Association, supported by the Romanian Government through the Romanian Agency for Investments and Foreign Trade. According to the Association, Romania has been present for 20 years at this event dedicated to agriculture and ecological products. Since 1990, BioFach has become the essential meeting point for organic food producers worldwide, offering networking opportunities and a place where ideas can be exchanged between all actors in the value chain of the organic sector.

     

    US – The inauguration ceremony of the US President-Elect, Donald Trump, will be moved indoors, as the weather forecast for Monday in Washington indicates very low temperatures, the American press announces. Therefore, the swearing-in ceremony, which was supposed to take place on the steps of the Capitol, will take place inside the Capitol Rotunda, just as it was done at the ceremony for the second term of the former president Ronald Reagan. Donald Trump has told his supporters that they will be able to see the inauguration ceremony on screens located inside the Capital One Arena, a sports arena in Washington with a capacity of 20,000 people. The transition team announced that, on Monday, Donald Trump would again use his own Bible, and also the “Lincoln Bible”, a copy known by this name because it was the holy book used by the 16th president of the USA , Abraham Lincoln. The Republican leader also used these two copies when taking the oath for his first mandate, in 2017, the EFE agency reports. (LS)

     

  • December 16, 2021 UPDATE

    December 16, 2021 UPDATE


    COVID-19 Romania on Thursday reported 812 new Covid infections and 84 related fatalities, including 19 from an earlier date. The fortnightly incidence rate in Bucharest continues to drop, now standing at 0.77 cases per 1,000 inhabitants. Three new Omicron cases have been identified, with the total number reaching 11. The European Commission said it expects this new variant to become dominant in the European Union by mid-January. The Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said she was, however, confident that the Union has the strength and means to overcome the disease. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control warned that the rapid increase in Omicron cases is imminent and that vaccination alone will not prevent transmission. To reduce the burden on healthcare systems, the Centre has again called for a fast reintroduction and consolidation of the so-called non-pharmaceutical interventions.



    PROTEST Romanian policemen from the Europol trade union on Thursday staged a protest rally in front of the Interior Ministry in Bucharest. They are denouncing the executive for not getting involved in the salary law adding they havent received a pay rise since 2007. Trade union leaders have cautioned that unless they get a positive answer to their claims, policemen will not accept to enforce the interdictions imposed by the pandemic. Sanitas, a trade union federation in the medical sector, has also called on the government to give up the idea of freezing salaries in state enterprises.



    POLL The Army, the Romanian Academy and the Church are coming first in a poll on the institutions most trusted by the Romanians – says the Religious Life Barometer in December this year. The survey has been conducted by the Institute for Political Sciences and International Relations of the Romanian Academy jointly with the Sociological Research Center LARICS. According to it, 67% of the Romanians trust the army and 65% the Academy. Over 62% have confidence in the Church. Next come the city halls of the respondents and the police. Only 20% of the respondents say they trust the media while 15% in the presidency. Last in the ranking come the political parties with 9%.



    EVENTS The 32nd anniversary of the start of the Romanian anti-communist revolution of 1989 was being marked on Thursday in Timişoara, the city in western Romania where the uprising began. An open door event was held at the Revolution Memorial and pupils from 15 schools laid flowers at the monuments of those killed in the revolution. Other commemorative events included the screening of a film called “Remember 89” and a rally held under the motto Heroes Never Die. The day ended with a folk concert and a midnight church service. December 17th is going to be a mourning day in Timişoara. The anti-communist uprising that would go on to spread across the country and lead to the fall of the communist regime began in this city on 16th December 1989, when a group of demonstrators blocked traffic and then marched to the city centre chanting anti-regime slogans. The first arrests were made and the following day the army opened fire on the protesters.


    (bill)


  • May 27, 2021 update

    May 27, 2021 update

    MEASURES The government in Bucharest on
    Thursday endorsed new relaxation measures to come into effect as of June 1st.
    Private parties with a limited number of people are to be allowed, while sports
    fans will be permitted to attend their favourite sporting events. Clubs and
    discotheques will open and so will children playgrounds and indoor swimming
    pools. The number of people allowed is still limited but can be higher if all
    the participants are vaccinated. Indoor cultural activities can be attended by
    1,000 people at the most. In order for these activities to become possible the
    infection rate in their area must stay under 3 per thousand. Face covering is
    no longer mandatory in offices with maximum 5 people, if they are all
    vaccinated. According to government sources, vaccinated people, those who had
    the disease 90 days before their entry and those who can produce a negative PCR
    test are allowed on the Romanian territory. Children under 16 who have tested
    negative can also enter the country.






    PROTEST Romanian policemen took to the streets of Bucharest on
    Thursday to protest the government’s social and pay policies. Over 100 trade
    unionists, members of the National Federation of Policemen and Contractors
    convened in capital Bucharest for a two-hour protest in front of the government
    building. The protesters denounced the freezing of pensions and salaries, the
    cutting of holiday gift vouchers, the dropping standard of living, the lack of
    personnel, the price hikes and the management crisis the institution is
    presently facing. The policemen have pledged to stage more protests until the
    government starts considering their claims.

    VACCINE Romanian prime minister Florin Cîţu on Thursday attended the
    launch of a public information campaign on anti-Covid vaccination. Comprising
    of 11 different ads targeting different categories of public, the campaign is
    based on the idea of vaccination as a form of solidarity and a way for the
    whole society to return to normalcy. Since the start of the vaccine rollout in Romania in late
    December last year, more than 4.2 million people received at least one dose of
    the Covid vaccine, while over 3.3 million people are fully vaccinated. Today, Romania
    recorded 307 new infections and 39 new fatalities, while almost 500 Covid
    patients are in intensive care.






    TENNIS
    Romania’s Sorana Cirstea has outperformed Shuai Zhang of China 6-2, 6-1 in the
    round of last 16 of the Strasbourg tennis tournament. The match, which was
    initially scheduled for yesterday, was postponed because of unfavourable
    weather. The only match the two played was in 2008 in Cuneo, in Italy, which
    the Romanian won. Cirstea reached the round of last 16 after winning against
    Venus Williams in three sets, which is the first time Cirstea ever defeated the
    American player.

    (bill)