Radio România Internațional

Tag: radio romania anniversary

  • 1 November, 2017 UPDATE

    1 November, 2017 UPDATE

    Radio Romania anniversary. Radio Romania turned 89 on Wednesday. The
    public radio service aired its first ever broadcast on 1st November
    1928. Radio Bucharest, as it was called back then, began with short broadcasts
    of several hours a day that included news, music and weather, and then
    gradually also more complex programmes. Today, Radio Romania is the most
    important media institution in Romania in terms of number of listeners, the
    various campaigns it gets involved in and the large-scale cultural projects it
    develops. Apart from its current affairs, cultural, music and village life
    channels, Radio Romania also includes regional and local stations and online
    stations for youth and children. Radio Romania also broadcasts abroad, its international
    programmes going back to the 1930s. Today, Radio Romania International
    broadcasts in 11 foreign languages, as well as Romanian and the Aromanian
    dialect.




    Conference.
    Over 600 people are participating in a 2-day conference of Francophone women that
    began in Bucharest on Wednesday. The conference is attended by officials from
    48 French-speaking countries. Talks focus on women’s rights and their access to
    the labour market as well as on their contribution to innovation and
    entrepreneurship. The Romanian President Klaus Iohannis said in the opening of
    the conference that the role of women in the economy is relevant for the
    present and the future. He also hailed the proposal on the creation, at the
    conference, of a network of Francophone women entrepreneurs. The participants
    have agreed that equal opportunities for men and women should begin with equal
    access to education. Rennie
    Yotova, thedirector of the Regional Centre of the Francophony
    for Central and Eastern Europe, emphasised the lack of legislation in the field
    of equal opportunities in many countries and the need for such legislation to
    be adopted. The conclusions of the Bucharest conference will be included in a
    Strategy of the Francophony for equal opportunities for men and women.




    Drills.
    Two Romanian military ships are joining the NATO maritime mine countermeasures
    group and will be participating between October 31 and November 14 in an
    operation meant to monitor maritime traffic in the Black Sea. The mission forms
    part of Romania’s commitments as a NATO member state. Romania’s King Ferdinand
    frigate will ensure the command of this group, which also includes the Lupu
    Dinescu minesweeper, alongside ships from Bulgaria and Turkey. According to the
    Romanian Navy forces, after the deterioration of the security situation in
    Romania’s eastern vicinity, the number of NATO military exercises and missions
    in the Black Sea has significantly increased starting in 2014.




    New York attack. President Klaus Iohannis has
    firmly condemned Tuesday’s attack in New York and reiterated Romania’s
    solidarity with the United States in these difficult times. He also said that
    Bucharest would act with every means available to fight terrorism, for which
    there is no justification. The foreign ministry has also condemned the attack
    and reaffirmed Romania’s firm commitments to contribute to the fight against
    international terrorism, which represents an inadmissible attack on the lives
    of innocent people. 8 persons were killed and 11 injured by a 29-year-old man
    from Uzbekistan who arrived in the United States in 2010. The attack was
    committed on behalf of the Islamic State terrorist group and had been prepared
    for several weeks, the local police said. US president Donald Trump said he
    would ask Congress to eliminate the diversity visa lottery programme, which was
    used by the attacker to emigrate to the US.




    Missile
    purchase.     The government is waiting for the approval of the Country’s
    Supreme Defence Council to adopt a bill on the purchase by Romania of the first
    Patriot missile system. According to the defence minister Mihai Fifor, the bill
    was to be adopted by the government on Wednesday and then sent to Parliament within
    the coming two weeks. Minister Fifor said this first system costs 764 million
    dollars and that the American side signed the letter of acceptance. The
    purchase of Patriot missiles is part of a project to modernise Romania’s
    antiaircraft defence. To this end, in the next 10 years, Romania will spend
    around 4 billion dollars on Patriot missiles.




    Spain. The
    former Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont, who was sacked by Madrid and who is
    currently in Brussels, has said he will not appear in Spain’s High Court on
    Thursday for fear he may be arrested, his lawyer said on Wednesday. The latter
    suggested he may be questioned in Belgium. Puigdemont and 13 other members of
    his cabinet have been summoned in court over the coming days following an
    announcement by the Spanish prosecutor’s office that they are being
    investigated for the role played in the adoption of Catalonia’s illegal
    declaration of independence. If Puigdemont fails to make an appearance on
    Thursday, an arrest warrant could be issued. Meanwhile, the Spanish government
    on Tuesday night approved a decree on calling early election in Catalonia on
    the 21st of December.



  • November 2, 2016

    November 2, 2016

    Public sector pay rise. The budget-finance and labour
    committees of the Chamber of Deputies on Tuesday amended an ordinance on public
    sector pay rises to extend the rise to education and healthcare employees. The
    Chamber of Deputies will vote on the bill next week. The technocratic prime minister
    Dacian Ciolos said the salary rises and the elimination of a number of taxes
    recently proposed by Parliament ahead of the parliamentary elections of
    December 11th will have a great impact on the state budget.




    Radio Romania anniversary. On Tuesday, Radio Romania celebrated 88 years since its
    first broadcast. The anniversary comes after Parliament passed a new law
    according to which the public radio and television services will be funded
    exclusively from the state budget. The law, which is still to be signed by the
    president, has been criticised by civil society and media institutions from
    Romania and abroad, who have denounced its populist nature, given that it comes
    ahead of the parliamentary elections in December, and the risk for the two
    public stations to be subordinated to political interests.






    IMF report. The economic growth rate remains
    solid in much of Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe, credit will pick up
    again and inflationary pressures are still low, according to the International
    Monetary Fund’s autumn report. The shadow economy has been shrinking in all
    states in the region since 2005, in particular in Latvia, Lithuania and
    Romania, the IMF notes. The report also highlights the significant progress
    made by some states, including Romania, in reducing non-performing loans. With
    respect to consumer prices, the IMF estimates that Bulgaria and Romania will
    have some of the highest negative average annual inflation rates in the
    European Union, but that in Romania, consumer prices will return to positive
    values in 2017. The IMF also projects a minus 2% current account deficit in
    2016 and a minus 2.8% in 2017. In the case of the Romanian economy, the IMF
    expects a GDP growth of 5% in 2016 and of 3.8% in 2017, the highest economic
    growth rate in Europe.




    Military exercise. Romanian and
    American military are taking part in the Patriot Shock V exercise at the Capul
    Midia shooting range in south-eastern Romania. A battery of US Patriot missiles
    are participating for the first time in an exercise in Romania. This is an
    advanced surface-to-air defence system that can be used in the event of an
    attack with aircraft, ballistic missiles and cruise missiles and which,
    according to the Romanian defence ministry, can detect around 100 targets and
    guide up to nine missiles. The US and Romanian military will be testing the
    reaction speed in the event of a crisis. The two army detachments will test
    their response as part of a fictitious air defence scenario. Also for the first
    time, the F-16 aircraft recently purchased by Romania have taken part in the Scorpions
    Fury multinational exercise which comes to an end today at a shooting range in
    Cincu, in Brasov county, central Romania. 1,300 military from Canada, Germany,
    the Republic of Moldova and Romania have taken part, as well as 200 pieces of
    technical equipment and 13 Romanian Air Force planes.




    Republic of Moldova elections. The pro-Russian Socialist
    candidate Igor Dodon obtained 47.98% of the votes in the first round of the
    presidential elections in the Republic of Moldova, while the pro-European
    reformist Maia Sandu got 38.71% of the votes, according to the final results
    made public today. The second round is scheduled for November 13th,
    when around 3 million Moldovan voters will elect their president. This is the
    first time in the last 16 years that the president is elected by direct vote
    and not by Parliament. Commentators say the elections are of great political,
    as well as geopolitical importance. Dodon wishes to denounce Molodova’s
    integration and free-trade agreements with the European Union and his country’s
    joining the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, while Sandu stands
    for a reform of the state and European accession.




    Europa League football. Two Romanian
    football teams will play in the Europa League on Thursday. In Group E,
    champions Astra Giurgiu face the Czech side Viktoria Plzeň at home. AS Rome and Austria
    Vienna top the group, with 5 points each, followed by Astra with 3 points and
    Plzeň with 2. In Group L, vice-champions Steaua Bucharest play against FC
    Zurich away. In this group, Villareal lead with 5 points, followed by Osmanlıspor and Zurich,
    each with 4 points, and Steaua at the bottom of the ranking with 2 points. (Trans.: C. Mateescu)

  • November 1, 2015 UPDATE

    November 1, 2015 UPDATE

    Fire 30
    people were killed and more than 140 injured following a fire on Friday night
    at the Colectiv nightclub in Bucharest. Three of the injured died on Sunday.
    More than 30 people are in critical condition in the intensive care units of 13
    hospitals, with burns covering large parts of their bodies and smoke inhalation
    injuries. The General Prosecutor’s Office has started hearing the witnesses to
    the tragic accident.


    In a message posted on Facebook on Sunday evening, president
    Klaus Iohannis said the fire had been a terrible tragedy. There are moments
    when a nation comes together, shows its solidarity and, in the end, its
    strength. Today we are all able to show that we care and that we are united,
    he added, while also praising the doctors who came to the hospitals in their
    free time and the thousands of citizens who have donated blood. President
    Iohannis also said that corruption that kills should no longer be tolerated.
    Earlier he asked the bodies in charge of the investigation into the fire to be
    firm, efficient and quick.The government has
    declared three days of national mourning on the 31st of October and
    the 1st and 2nd of November.





    On Sunday afternoon, around 12,000 people took
    part in a march of silence in Bucharest in memory of the victims. The Romanian
    Radio Broadcasting Corporation has also expressed its sympathy for and solidarity
    with the families and friends of the people who died in the fire. We are
    profoundly grieved and our thoughts will always be with those who suffered from
    the tragic accident, writes a statement from the Romanian Radio Broadcasting
    Corporation.




    Plane crash Egyptian
    president Abdel Fattah
    al-Sissi said an investigation into the causes of the Russian plane crash in
    Egypt’s Sinai peninsula, in which 224 people were killed, could take months. On
    Sunday, Russia declared a day of national mourning for the victims. The
    Islamic State jihadist group claimed responsibility for the crash, saying it
    brought down the plane in response to Russia’s intervention in Syria, but
    Moscow has rejected the claim. Aeronautics experts are also sceptical about
    this possibility. Air France, Lufthansa and Emirates say they have temporarily
    stopped flying over the Sinai area for security reasons.




    Turkey elections The
    Islamic-conservative Justice and Development Party (AKP) of president Recep
    Tayip Erdogan has won Sunday’s early parliamentary elections in Turkey. The
    party won more than 50% of the votes and looks likely to regain the absolute
    majority it lost at the previous elections five months ago. The Republican People’s
    Party comes second, with more than 20% of the votes, followed by the
    pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party and the Nationalist Action Party, each with a little over 10%.

    Anniversary 87 years ago, at 5 pm on the 1st of November 1928, the Radiotelephonic Broadcasting Company went on air for the first time. The opening words belonged to the then president of the company, the physicist Dragomir Hurmuzescu. Today, Radio Romania is the largest media outlet in this country in terms of daily number of listeners to its different stations, as well as the many campaigns it has been involved in and the large-scale cultural projects it has developed.




    Travel Romania participates in the
    World Travel Market 2015 held in London between the 2nd and the 5th
    of November. Considered the second important travel fair in the world, it
    brings together over 50,000 professionals from more than 180 different
    countries. Romania’s stand occupies 308 square metres.




    Gymnastics The Romanian gymnast Marian Dragulescu
    on Sunday won the silver medal in the men’s vault at the World Championships in
    Glasgow. This is Romania’s second medal in Scotland after Thursday’s bronze. At
    almost 35, Dragulescu is the most successful male gymnast in Romania, with
    eight world and nine European titles. In the Olympic Games, he is the holder of
    one silver medal in the floor event and two bronze medals in the vault and team
    finals, all of which he won at the Athens Games in 2004. The Romanian men’s and
    women’s teams both failed to qualify for the finals and thus secure a spot at
    next year’s Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. They have one more chance to
    qualify for the Games by competing in a pre-Olympic test event in April 2016.

    Tennis Romania’s Simona Halep will finish the year
    at no. 2 in the WTA ranking, after Serena Williams. Despite her Thursday exit
    from the WTA Finals, Halep has improved on her 2014 record, moving up one
    position in the world ranking. This is an exceptional achievement, given that
    the only other Romanian player to make it to the top 10 was Irina Sparlea in
    1997, when she became world no. 8. Aged 24, Simona Halep has 11 WTA titles to
    her record, three of which she won this year, in Shenzen, China, Indian Wells,
    in the US, and Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates.