WAR IN UKRAINE – The fires at the
Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine occupied by the Russian
invasion forces fuel fears of a major nuclear disaster. International experts
are still waiting on the military forces on the ground to allow them to visit
the plant, whereas the Russians and the Ukrainians accuse each other of
launching artillery fire that might destroy the nuclear installations. The
governor of the Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Oleksandr Starukh, has urged the locals to
take iodine pills in the event of a radiation leak. 10 shells allegedly went
off close to an installation storing spent nuclear fuel and another 3 near a
building that houses fresh nuclear fuel. On the other hand, radiation levels
remain within normal limits.
REFUGEES – The Border Police General Inspectorate announced that some 538 thousand
people, both Romanian and foreign nationals, entered or left Romania on
Saturday using some 142 thousand transport vehicles. Some 14 thousand Ukrainian
citizens entered Romania on Saturday, up by 7.60% compared to the previous day.
Some 2.1 million Ukrainian citizens have entered Romania starting February 10,
two weeks before the start of the war in this country.
CRASHES
– A
light aircraft crashed on Sunday morning in Colibița lake
in northwestern Romania, carrying two people onboard, the Bistriţa-Năsăud County Inspectorate for
Emergency Situations announced. One of the victims is in a coma. On Saturday,
prosecutors with the Bucharest Court of Appeal opened an investigation into the
plane crash in Letca Veche, Giurgiu County in southern Romania, which killed
two people, a 54-year-old man who was piloting a small plane and a 27-year-old
woman, his relative. Their bodies were found carbonized by first responders.
The man had a vast piloting experience and seems to have attempted to
crash-land the plane. According to eye-witness reports, the plane had caught
fire before crashing. The cause of the crash might be a technical problem with
the aircraft’s engine.
POLO – The Romanian women’s polo team is today playing Greece in Group A at the
European Polo Championships underway in Split, Croatia. In the first match on
Saturday, Romania lost to Germany 10-15. Romania was drawn in a group alongside
the Netherlands, Croatia, Hungary, Greece and Germany. This is the first
presence for the Romanian women’s team at a European Polo Championship.
TENNIS – Romanian tennis
player Simona Halep is seeded 7th in the women’s singles at the US
Open and on Monday will take on Daria Snigur of Ukraine (WTA 125), who reached
the main draw after playing the preliminary rounds. A former world no. 1, Halep
last year reached the round of 16 at the US Open, while her best performance in
this competition was the 2015 semi-final. Irina Begu, WTA no. 34, will take on
Elise Mertens of Belgium (WTA 32) in the opening round. Mertens leads 3-0
head-to-head. Sorana Cîrstea, (WTA 38) will play Laura Siegemund (216 WTA).
Each player has previously won a match against their opponent. Gabriela Ruse
(102 WTA) will have a complicated match against Daria Saville of Australia (WTA
73). Finally, Jaqueline Cristian will return to the tennis court after a long
absence owing to a serious injury and will go up against the competition’s
second seed, Anett Kontaveit of Estonia. Another three Romanian tennis players,
Ana Bogdan, Alexandra Cadanțu-Ignatik and Gabriela Lee were knocked out in the
preliminaries. (VP)