Radio România Internațional

Tag: strike in Paris

  • December 26, 2019 UPDATE

    December 26, 2019 UPDATE

    CHRISTMAS – Orthodox Christians on Thursday, on the
    second day of Christmas, celebrated the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. This
    old and important feast day is dedicated to the Virgin Mary, who brought Jesus
    Christ into the world, and was first celebrated 1,500 years ago. Christians in
    Romania have celebrated the Nativity of Jesus Christ this week.




    STATISTICS – Over 2 million foreigners visited
    Romania in the first 9 months of the year, spending some 1.15 billion euros,
    according to the National Statistics Institute. Half of them traveled for
    business, taking part in conferences, congresses, classes, trade fairs and
    exhibitions. Foreign tourists spend 50% of their money on accommodation,
    preferring units that offered included breakfast. Some 18% of the money was
    spent in restaurants and bars, while a little over 30% represented gifts and
    souvenirs. 80% of foreign tourists came to Romania by plane, 11% using their personal
    cars and 7% by bus and coach.




    MIGRANTS – The number of migrants who reached Italy in 2019 was
    half compared to 2018, the Italian Interior Ministry reports. Compared to 2017,
    the number of immigrants dropped by some 90%. Since the start of 2019, some
    11,500 immigrants reached Italy, mostly from Tunisia, Pakistan and the Ivory
    Coast. Italy is offering money and equipment to restore the effectiveness of
    the Libyan Coast Guard, in order to be able to intercept migrants trying to
    reach European shores. The number of arrivals in Italy is going down, yet
    critics argue this was made possible by violating human rights, considering
    immigrants locked in Libyan camps were exposed to severe abuses and torture.
    After the change of Government in Italy in 2018, the then Interior Minister and
    leader of the Lega Nord far-right Party, Matteo Salvini, introduced harsh
    anti-immigration policies. The new center-left Government that took office in
    September, has switched to a milder attitude towards rescue organizations,
    allowing ships saving migrants to dock.




    ACCIDENTS – A total of 44 road traffic accidents
    have occurred in the last couple of days in Romania, killing 19 people and
    gravely wounding another 33 people, the Romanian Police General Inspectorate
    reports. Traffic agents have seized 500 drivers’ licenses and approximately 90
    registration certificates. Although the number of people killed in traffic
    accidents has been on the wane in the last three years, Romania continues to
    rank 1st at EU level with the highest number of road traffic
    victims.




    FLU -The number of people who have the flu is low at present, with only
    isolated cases having been reported, the National Center for the Surveillance
    and Control of Communicable Diseases reports. Physicians warn vaccination
    remains the only effective weapon against the flu virus. The number of Romanians
    who have taken the flu vaccine this year is slightly higher than in 2018, when
    around 150 people died due to complications caused by the flu. A total of 33
    cases of flu virus infections were reported this winter season, with 1 person
    dying to the virus.




    COMMEMORATION – Entire communities in Asia on Thursday
    commemorated the 230,000 victims of the 2004 earthquake and ensuing tsunami in
    the Indian Ocean, marking 15 years since one of the biggest natural disasters,
    Reuters reports. On Christmas morning in 2004, a 9.1 Richter-scale earthquake
    occurred off the coast of Indonesia’s Aceh province, triggering a wave as high
    as 17.4 meters that swept coastal areas in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India,
    Thailand and another nine countries in the region. In the Aceh Indonesian
    province alone entire villages were wiped off the map, killing some 125,000
    people. More than 25,600 residential, commercial, government and school
    buildings now stand inside the high-risk area, which was almost completely
    wiped out in 2004.




    STRIKE IN PARIS – The strike against the reform of the
    pension system in France continued for the fourth consecutive week in Paris. On
    Christmas Day, surface and underground trains in Paris were canceled or
    delayed. On the second day of Christmas, on Thursday, traffic was disrupted,
    with one in two high-speed trains being cancelled and five subway lines being
    shut down. The Government in Paris, backed by the European Commission, says the
    reform of the pension system is necessary, trying to merge the country’s 42
    pension schemes into one, thus eliminating the regime of special pensions,
    especially those for public transport workers who can enjoy early retirement.
    Unions will stage wide-ranging protest actions on Saturday. Union
    representatives will meet with Government officials on January 7 for the first
    in a series of meetings that will take place before the bill is presented to
    the Council of Ministers on January 22.


    (Translated
    by V. Palcu)

  • December 26, 2019

    December 26, 2019

    CHRISTMAS – Orthodox Christians on Thursday, on the
    second day of Christmas, celebrated the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. This
    old and important feast day is dedicated to the Virgin Mary, who brought Jesus
    Christ into the world, and was first celebrated 1,500 years ago. Christians in
    Romania have celebrated the Nativity of Jesus Christ this week.




    MIGRANTS – The number of migrants who reached Italy in 2019 was
    half compared to 2018, the Italian Interior Ministry reports. Compared to 2017,
    the number of immigrants dropped by some 90%. Since the start of 2019, some
    11,500 immigrants reached Italy, mostly from Tunisia, Pakistan and the Ivory
    Coast. Italy is offering money and equipment to restore the effectiveness of
    the Libyan Coast Guard, in order to be able to intercept migrants trying to
    reach European shores. The number of arrivals in Italy is going down, yet
    critics argue this was made possible by violating human rights, considering
    immigrants locked in Libyan camps were exposed to severe abuses and torture.
    After the change of Government in Italy in 2018, the then Interior Minister and
    leader of the Lega Nord far-right Party, Matteo Salvini, introduced harsh
    anti-immigration policies. The new center-left Government that took office in
    September, has switched to a milder attitude towards rescue organizations,
    allowing ships saving migrants to dock.




    ACCIDENTS – A total of 44 road traffic accidents
    have occurred in the last couple of days in Romania, killing 19 people and
    gravely wounding another 33 people, the Romanian Police General Inspectorate reports.
    Traffic agents have seized 500 drivers’ licenses and approximately 90
    registration certificates. Although the number of people killed in traffic
    accidents has been on the wane in the last three years, Romania continues to
    rank 1st at EU level with the highest number of road traffic
    victims.




    FLU -The number of people who have the flu is low at present, with only
    isolated cases having been reported, the National Center for the Surveillance
    and Control of Communicable Diseases reports. Physicians warn vaccination
    remains the only effective weapon against the flu virus. The number of
    Romanians who have taken the flu vaccine this year is slightly higher than in
    2018, when around 150 people died due to complications caused by the flu. A
    total of 33 cases of flu virus infections were reported this winter season,
    with 1 person dying to the virus.




    COMMEMORATION – Entire communities in Asia on Thursday
    commemorated the 230,000 victims of the 2004 earthquake and ensuing tsunami in
    the Indian Ocean, marking 15 years since one of the biggest natural disasters,
    Reuters reports. On Christmas morning in 2004, a 9.1 Richter-scale earthquake
    occurred off the coast of Indonesia’s Aceh province, triggering a wave as high
    as 17.4 meters that swept coastal areas in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India,
    Thailand and another nine countries in the region. In the Aceh Indonesian province
    alone entire villages were wiped off the map, killing some 125,000 people. More
    than 25,600 residential, commercial, government and school buildings now stand
    inside the high-risk area, which was almost completely wiped out in 2004.




    STRIKE IN PARIS – The strike against the reform of the
    pension system in France continued for the fourth consecutive week in Paris. On
    Christmas Day, surface and underground trains in Paris were canceled or
    delayed. On the second day of Christmas, on Thursday, traffic was disrupted,
    with one in two high-speed trains being cancelled and five subway lines being
    shut down. The Government in Paris, backed by the European Commission, says the
    reform of the pension system is necessary, trying to merge
    the country’s 42 pension schemes into one, thus eliminating the regime of
    special pensions, especially those for public transport workers who can enjoy
    early retirement. Unions will stage wide-ranging protest actions on Saturday.
    Union representatives will meet with Government officials on January 7 for the
    first in a series of meetings that will take place before the bill is presented
    to the Council of Ministers on January 22.


    (Translated
    by V. Palcu)

  • September 13, 2019 UPDATE

    September 13, 2019 UPDATE

    ELECTION – The Permanent Election Authority has
    drawn up and launched for public debate a draft of the guide setting the rules
    for the financing of the presidential election campaign. In another
    development, on Thursday, the Romanian government approved a draft order tabled
    by the Permanent Election Authority under which the registration term for the
    Romanian citizens living abroad as voters has been extended until Sunday,
    September 15th. Also, the diplomatic missions have until October 19 to propose to
    the Foreign Ministry the opening of new polling stations abroad. The first
    round of the presidential elections in Romania will be held on November 10 and the
    second one on November 24.






    MOLDOVA – Following the change of
    government in June 2019, the Republic of Moldova has moved resolutely
    forward with the implementation of key reforms to address the deterioration of
    democratic standards and the rule of law, in order to allow citizens to fully
    benefit from the EU-Moldova Association Agreement, the European Commission said
    in the Association Implementation Report published on
    Thursday. Commissioner for European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement
    Negotiations, Johannes Hahn, has said that in July 2019 the Commission already
    resumed budget support payments and also signed with the Government financing
    agreements on sustainable local development and rule of law that will allow for
    the implementation of programmes bringing tangible results to the people of
    Moldova. We are ready to further step up our financial support and advice in
    response to the Government’s robust reform agenda, Commissioner Hahn has also
    said.






    STRIKE – The city of Paris was paralyzed
    on Friday by a strike of the transport network (RATP) in protest
    over plans to reform the pension system. People have been advised to keep
    their travel to a minimum. The strike is the first in a series of actions
    planned in protest over the proposed reform of France’s pension
    system. The reforms would simplify the current system, with a
    standardized pension regime rather than the current 42 different ones.
    Transport workers, who have certain exemptions for early retirement, would be
    particularly affected by the changes. The pension regime specific to RATP
    workers allows train drivers and other staff that work underground to retire at
    52, a decade earlier than the normal legal retirement age for a full public
    pension.






    BREXIT – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday is meeting with
    European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker in Luxembourg to discuss
    Brexit. Johnson expressed his cautious optimism regarding a potential deal
    with the EU, saying enough progress has been reported in negotiations with
    Brussels. Boris Johnson is trying to renegotiate the Brexit deal struck by his
    predecessor before Britain’s scheduled withdrawal from the community bloc on
    October 31. On Thursday, European
    Parliament President David Sassoli said Britain has presented no new
    proposition on Brexit, but the EU is ready to delay the withdrawal again
    provided London has a good reason. The European Parliament must vote any
    agreement between the EU and Britain in order to take effect. Boris Johnson said
    his country will leave the EU with or without an agreement on October 31.






    ENESCU FESTIVAL – The Radio Hall in Bucharest on
    Friday evening venued a concert from the 21st Century Music Series of the
    George Enescu Festival. The George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by
    Peter Rundel climbed on stage. Also on Friday at the Romanian Athenaeum, the
    audience listened to Kremerata Baltica orchestra, made up of Latvian,
    Lithuanian and Estonian musicians, under the baton of violinist Gidon Kremer.
    The George Enescu International Festival is taking place between the August 31 and
    September 22, bringing together more than 2,500 of the world’s greatest
    musicians in 84 different concerts and recitals. Events as part of the festival
    are held in the capital Bucharest and other cities across Romania, as well as
    in Germany, France, Italy, Canada and the Republic of Moldova.




    TENNIS – Romanian tennis player Mihaela
    Buzarnescu on Friday advanced to the semifinals of the WTA tournament in
    Hiroshima, Japan, totaling 250,000 dollars in prize money. In the quarterfinals
    Buzarnescu ousted Alison van Uytvanck of Belgium, 6-4, 7-5. She will next play
    Nao Hibino of Japan. This is the best result for Buzarnescu this year, who is
    currently 135th ranked in WTA standings.


    (Translated by V.
    Palcu)