Radio România Internațional

Tag: Tehran

  • January 4, 2020

    January 4, 2020

    DUTY
    Over 21 thousand employees of the Romanian Interior Ministry were on duty in
    the first three days of this year to ensure citizen safety during the winter holidays, a
    ministry report reads. According to the same sources, no major events were
    reported at the 180 cultural-artistic events attended by almost 320 thousand
    people on New Year’s Eve. Police intervened in 73 hundred cases involving
    public order reported at the emergency number 112. Special attention was paid to preventing serious
    accidents and to streamlining road traffic to the most popular tourist resorts.
    Up to 1,500 road police were on duty on the most circulated thoroughfares, with
    around 270 radar speed guns, to safeguard the lives of drivers, passengers and
    pedestrians. A series of measures were implemented and 4 thousand border police
    were on duty at the country’s border checkpoints to streamline traffic and ease
    the access of the foreign tourists who had chosen Romania as a holiday
    destination and also of the Romanians who traveled abroad for the winter
    holidays.












    RECOMMENDATION The Foreign Ministry in Bucharest is recommending the Romanian
    citizens to avoid traveling to Iraq unless necessary, given the latest
    escalation of tensions in the Middle East. The Romanians already there are
    advised to avoid crowded places, where meetings or demonstrations are taking
    place. They should report their presence to the closest diplomatic mission or
    consulate in order to be contacted in emergency situations. The controversial
    Iranian general Qassem Soleimani killed in a US raid in Iraq yesterday is being
    buried today. The 62 year old general was considered the second in importance
    after leader Ali Khamenei. US president Donald Trump said that Soleimani’s
    killing was meant to stop a war not to start one, but according to the BBC ‘the
    killing marked a major escalation in tensions between Iran and the US’. Tehran has vowed revenge against the US for
    killing the general.








    BUSHFIRE Devastating bushfires in Australia have prompted the authorities to
    evacuate tens of thousands. The hot weather and strong winds have intensified the
    bushfires, which in some places have got out of control. Since early September
    when the fire started around five
    million hectares of land have burned, at least 19 people have been killed, and
    more than 1,400 homes have been destroyed.










    YO 35
    athletes will be representing Romania at the 2020 Youth Olympics due in
    Lausanne, Switzerland over January 9 and 22. According to a communiqué issued
    by the Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee the Romanian athletes will be
    competing in several disciplines, such as biathlon, bob-sleigh, ice hockey,
    speed skating, sledge, ski-jumping, alpine skiing, cross-country skiing and
    snowboarding. At the previous edition in Lillehammer, Norway, the first medals
    in the history of Romania’s participation in such an event went to Eduard
    Casaneanu, who walked away with gold from the ice-hockey event and Mihaela
    Hogas, who won bronze in the speed skating race.






    (translated by bill)

  • January 3, 2020 UPDATE

    January 3, 2020 UPDATE

    Visit – The Romanian President Klaus Iohannis will pay a working visit to the German State of Bavaria on Tuesday. He will meet with the State’s prime minister and president, the presidential administration announced. Also the Romanian president will participate in the meeting of the Bavarian government, will have talks with the Bavarian ministers about bilateral relations and European topical issues and he will also deliver a speech. Klaus Iohannis will participate in the annual meeting of the parliamentary group of this state in the Bundestag, the lower chamber of the German Parliament. On the occasion, Klaus Iohannis will present Romania’s view on the future of Europe.



    Tourism — Over 170,000 Romanian tourists spent the New Year’s Eve in the country, by 2.5% more than in the previous year, and they spent almost 44 million Euros, by 10% more as compared to 2019, show the estimates made by the Romanian Tourism Employers Federation. The most sought-after destinations were the mountain resorts on the Prahova Valley (in the south), the traditional areas of Bran Moeciu, Maramures (north), and Bukovina (northeast). According to the Tourism Employers Federation, the Romanians who chose to spend the winter holidays abroad could opt for destinations where they could practice winter sports such as Austria, France, Italy and Bulgaria, for city break packages to European cities as well as to Istanbul and Dubai or to exotic destinations like the Maldives, Singapore, Mauritius and Thailand. These tourists spent almost 6 million Euros for their winter holidays.



    Teheran — Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei appointed Esmail Qaani at the lead of the Quds Force in charge of external operations, after its commander, General Qassem Soleimani was killed in an American drone airstrike in Baghdad on Friday. The general and another pro-Iranian leader from Iraq died in the American airstrike ordered by President Donald Trump 3 days after the attack on the US Embassy in Bagdad. Ayatollah Khamenei and the Iranian president Hassan Rouhani promised to avenge Soleimani’s death. The American Embassy in Baghdad called on the American citizens to immediately leave Iraq and NATO officials announced they were closely monitoring the situation in the Middle East. Israel started to take preventive measures to protect itself from possible Iranian reprisals. The Romanian Foreign Ministry recommends the Romanian citizens to avoid traveling to Iraq given the escalating tensions in the region.



    Fire — Australia is getting ready for an intensification of the catastrophic bushfires which have been burning since September. High temperatures and strong winds are forecast for the weekend, creating further fire risk. The local authorities from several areas ordered the evacuation of 100 thousand people. So far at least 20 people have lost their lives and an area twice as large as Belgium has been burnt. A recent study shows that almost half a million animals have died in one Australian state alone, the most affected one. Scientists believe this season of bushfires, which has been more intense, longer and has occurred much earlier, is the consequence of climate change.(update by L. Simion)