Radio România Internațional

Tag: test match

  • November 20, 2016

    November 20, 2016

    ELECTIONS – The Romanian Foreign Ministry has made public its “Guidelines for Romanian voters abroad, intended for the Romanian citizens who live abroad and want to cast their ballots in the December 11 parliamentary election. The guidelines include information on the various categories of eligible voters, the voting process, the opening hours of polling stations, the documents required in order to be able to vote and instructions regarding the vote by mail procedure. The Romanian citizens in the diaspora who have not chosen to vote by mail will be able to choose from among the 417 polling stations abroad. The largest number of polling stations set up abroad are in Italy (70), and Spain (50), while another 35 will be opened in the Republic of Moldova. There are 111 polling stations more than in the parliamentary elections of 2012 and 123 more than in the presidential election of 2014. Two years ago, thousands of Romanians living abroad were unable to vote because of the flawed organisation of the presidential election.



    BOOK FAIR – The Gaudeamus International Book and Education Fair, organised in Bucharest by Radio Romania, comes to an end today, when the trophies of the 23rd edition are also presented. This years guest of honour is China. Hundreds of publishers have taken part in Gaudeamus, which featured over 850 events, from book launches to meetings with authors, debates, recitals and workshops. The highlights of the Fair have included so far volumes devoted to the Royal House of Romania, and events devoted to the Romanian film industry, attended by directors Cristian Mungiu and Radu Jude. The USA will be the guest of honour in next years Fair.



    REMEMBRANCE DAY – Several events are organised in Romania today to mark the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims, commemorated on the third Sunday of November every year, at the initiative of the UN. Last year nearly 1,900 people died and over 9,000 others were severely injured in road traffic accidents, the Romanian Police has reported. According to statistics, 1 in 5 car crashes takes place around the capital city Bucharest, with Covasna County reporting the smallest number of accidents. Most incidents involve a vehicle and a pedestrian, and 8 out of 10 have been reported in dry weather. The latest European report indicates that Romania ranks second in the EU, after Latvia, in terms of the number of deaths in road traffic accidents.



    YIDDISH FESTIVAL – The TES FEST kicks off in Bucharest today, and is scheduled to come to a close next Sunday. The event is intended to showcase and promote the Yiddish culture. Taking part in the festival are professional theatre companies and klezmer bands from Romania, the USA, Israel, France and Poland. Book launches and workshops will also be organised as part of the event. This first edition of TES FEST is organised by the Jewish State Theatre in Bucharest, which celebrates 140 years since the establishment of the first professional Yiddish theatre in the world, in the north-eastern Romanian city of Iaşi, in 1876, by writer and artist Avram Goldfaden. According to the organisers, the festival targets the general public of all ages, and aims to contribute to the understanding and acceptance of different cultures.



    RAIL CRASH – More than 100 people died in India as the Indore-Patna express train derailed on Saturday night, the Uttar Pradesh state police announced. Another 150 people were injured, the police say. The causes of the tragedy, which occurred while most passengers were asleep, are yet to be identified. AFP mentions that the Indian railway network, one of the largest in the world, has major safety problems, but remains the main means of transportation in the country. The worst railway accident in India was in 1981, when 800 people died after a train fell into a river.




    RUGBY – Romanias national rugby team Saturday night defeated Canada, 21-16, in a test match played on the ”Arcul de Triumf” stadium in Bucharest. It was the first match between the two teams since the memorable performance at the 2015 World Cup, when the Romanian team managed the greatest reversal of fortune in the history of that competition, winning 17-15 after having been led 0-15. Next Saturday, in the last test match of the year, Romania takes on Uruguay, on the same stadium in Bucharest.


    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

  • November 18, 2016 UPDATE

    November 18, 2016 UPDATE

    CURRENCY – The Romanian currency, the leu, further depreciated on Friday against the US dollar, to a new all-time low. The National Bank of Romania announced an exchange rate of 4.25 leu for the dollar. Economic analysts believe the evolution of the American currency will entail an increase in the prices of Romanian imports from outside the EU, including fuels.



    AWARD – The President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, received in Kerkrade, the Netherlands on Friday the Martin Buber medal granted by the Euriade foundation, an NGO promoting the education of youth in the spirit of European values. The award is handed every year to personalities whose public and private work contributes to the development of friendly communities relying on humanist values, through genuine dialogue, openness, responsibility and respect for the others. Prior to the ceremony in Kerkrade, the head of state had meetings with over 100 young people from various countries, taking part in the International Festival of Dialogue, currently under way in the Meuse-Rhine Euroregion, a region on the borders of Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands. The award has been granted every year since 2002. Queen Silvia of Sweden, Mikhail Gorbachev, Gary Kasparov and Helmut Schmidt are some of the personalities who have received this award over the years.



    MOLDOVA – The Central Electoral Committee in Chisinau Friday night announced the official results of the presidential election in the Republic of Moldova, won by the pro-Russian Socialist Igor Dodon with 52% of the votes. The Committee dismissed the over 170 objections submitted by Dodons challenger, the pro-European reformer Maia Sandu, who claimed there had been many irregularities and requested that the election be invalidated. The Committee also rejected the more than 3,000 complaints filed by Moldovan citizens living abroad, who claimed their constitutional right to vote had been violated. According to the head of the Central Electoral Committee, Alina Rusu, quoted by Radio Romania correspondents, the respective irregularities were minor and could not have influenced the outcome of the election. Also on Friday, Dodon resigned as president of the Socialist Party, whose leadership will be taken over by the chief of the Socialist group in Parliament, Zinaida Greceanîi, a former PM during the communist rule.



    BOOK FAIR – Hundreds of visitors of the Gaudeamus International Book Fair organised by Radio Romania and under way in Bucharest attended on Friday book launches, cultural events, debates, recitals, workshops and meetings with authors. The list of books launched on Friday includes “The Colour of Paradise by the contemporary Chinese poet Jidi Majia and “The Wedding by the Romanian writer and journalist of Polish descent Gabriel Klimowicz. Radio Romanias stand had a programme dedicated to children. The fair, which comes to an end on Sunday, brings together hundreds of publishers and more than 850 events. This years guest of honour is China. Gaudeamus is organised by Radio Romania, the only public radio station in the world to initiate and develop a programme of such magnitude to support print culture.



    HEALTH – Romania ranks second in the EU, after Greece, in terms of antibiotic use per capita. In average, 600,000 Romanians receive antibiotic prescriptions every day, according to the latest report of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. This reflects in the high level of antibiotic-resistant bacteria occurrence, warns the president of the Romanian Microbiology Association, doctor Alexandru Rafila. The absence of measures to combat antibiotic resistance might cause up to 10 million annual deaths by infection with multi-resistant germs by 2050, reads a forecast by the World Health Organisation.



    US PRESIDENT – EU leaders and the US President Barak Obama Friday pleaded for preserving trans-Atlantic cooperation within NATO. According to a news release issued by the White House, Obama and his host, the German Chancellor Angela Merkel, alongside the President of France François Hollande and the Prime Ministers of UK Theresa May, of Spain Mariano Rajoy, and of Italy Matteo Renzi, also agreed to maintain sanctions against Russia. Germany is the second country, after Greece, that Obama visited as part of his last trip to Europe as President of the USA, amid concerns that his successor, the right-wing populist Donald Trump, would be a threat to democracy. After Germany, Obama is traveling to Peru, to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit. Trump is to take office on January 20.



    RUGBY – Romanias national rugby team is playing a friendly game in Bucharest on Saturday night against Canada. The two teams also played last year, at the World Cup in England, where the Romanians managed the most spectacular reversal of fortune in the history of the competition, winning 17-15, after 0-15 on 52 minutes. This is the second test match played this month by the Romanian rugby team, which last week defeated the US, at home, 23-10. The series of test matches in Bucharest concludes on November 26, when Romania plays Uruguay.


    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)