Radio România Internațional

Tag: US Vice-President Joe Biden

  • August 15, 2016 UPDATE

    August 15, 2016 UPDATE

    ASSUMPTION FEAST On Monday,
    Christian believers celebrated the Assumption of Mary, the oldest celebration
    of Virgin Mary. On this day, believers and pilgrims from all over the
    country go to churches and monasteries to pray. In the Christian faith, the
    Mother of God is the most revered after the Holy Trinity. She gave birth to the
    Son of God as a human being, and when she died she was taken up into Heaven.
    August 15th is also the Romanian Navy Day. To celebrate the occasion, Romania’s
    president Klaus Iohannis participated in the events held on the promenade of
    the Black Sea port-town of Constanta. In his speech, the president said that
    what’s happening in the Black Sea Area is no longer a local matter.
    Developments in this area have effects beyond its borders and implications for the Euro-Atlantic
    security, and the Black Sea is important from a strategic point of view. That
    is why Romania’s stand and its main security options are so decisive now, the
    president also said.




    SUMMER UNIVERSITY Representatives
    of the Romanian historical communities and the Diaspora took part on Monday in
    the Feast of the Assumption of Mary at the Monastery in Izvoru Muresului,
    dubbed the monastery of the Romanians around the world. According to the Bishop of Covasna and Harghita Andrei
    Moldovan, this monastery is an oasis of Romanian spirituality. Starting August
    15th, for a week, Harghita county in central Romania is playing host to the
    14th Izvoru Muresului Summer University. There are 100 participants, including
    representatives of the academic environment, of the main political parties, of
    Romanian communities in the country and
    around the borders. The theme of this year’s edition is The Romanian State and
    the Romanians on the Border of the EU and NATO. The participants will talk
    about inter-faith conflicts and xenophobic manifestations in Europe, the fight
    against human trafficking and the law on postal voting.






    LOCARNO The feature film
    Scarred Hearts by the Romanian director Radu Jude won the Special Jury Award at the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland.
    A post on the festival’s web page reads that the film was highly praised by
    international critics. This is Radu Jude’s fourth feature film. Last year he
    won the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival with Aferim!.






    DRILLS On Monday, Russia started tactical
    drills in the east of the Mediterranean, to test its military capacity to
    counterattack terrorist threats, the Russian Defense Ministry has announced.
    The participating ships are equipped with long-range Kalibr missiles, which
    were used to hit Jihadist strongholds in Syria in 2015. In the past months, Russia has strengthened its naval capacity in the east of the Mediterranean, as
    part of its intervention in Syria, where it is running an air-strike campaign in
    support for president Bashar al-Assad’s troops.




    VISIT The US Vice President
    Joe Biden is paying a two-day visit to Serbia and Kosovo. The White House has
    not given details about the agenda of talks, but the visit is taking place five
    months after the one paid to the White House by the former president of Kosovo,
    Mrs. Atifete Jahjaga, news agencies report. Back then, Vice President Biden stressed the US’s support for the
    dialogue with Serbia, facilitated by the EU, encouraging the Kosovo government
    to take steps forward in normalizing its relations with Serbia, 16 years after
    the NATO air intervention, which opened the door for the former province’s
    independence. On Thursday, the Serbian Parliament endorsed a new, populist
    government, headed by Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic, who promised to pursue
    Serbia’s EU integration, while at the same time maintaining close ties with
    Russia.






    FOOTBALL The Romanian
    football squad Steaua Bucharest will play against Manchester City on home turf
    on Tuesday, in a match counting for the first leg of the Champions League’s
    play-off. The return game is scheduled for august 24th in Manchester. If it
    manages to defeat Manchester, Steaua will qualify for the Champions League
    groups.








    TENNIS Romanian Simona Halep, ranked 3rd in
    the WTA classification, is taking part in the Cincinnati tournament, in the US,
    with 2.8 million dollars in prize money. She will start straight in the second
    round of the competition. Another Romanian player, Irina Begu, no. 24 in the
    WTA rankings, is also taking part in the tournament, but enters the competition
    in the first round. In 2015, Simona Halep played the Cincinnati final, but was
    defeated by Serena Williams. This tournament is the last before the famous US
    Open, the last Grand Slam of the year.

  • August 15, 2016

    August 15, 2016

    ASSUMPTION OF MARY Today Christian
    believers celebrate the Assumption of Mary, the oldest celebration devoted to
    Virgin Mary. On this day, believers and pilgrims from all over the country go
    to churches and monasteries to pray. In the Christian faith, the Mother of God
    is the most revered after the Holy Trinity. She gave birth to the Son of God as
    a human being, and whe she died she was taken up into Heaven. August 15th is
    also the day of the Romanian navy. To celebrate the occasion, Romania’s
    president Klaus Iohannis has participated in the events held on the promenade of
    the Black Sea port-town of Constanta. In his speech,
    the president said that what’s happening in the Black Sea Area is no longer a
    local matter. Developments in this area have effects beyond its borders and implications for the Euro-Atlantic
    security, and the Black Sea is important from a strategic point of view. That
    is why Romania’s stand and its main security options are so decisive now, the
    president also said.










    LOCARNO The feature film
    Scarred Hearts by the Romanian director Radu Jude won the Special Jury Award at the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland.
    A post on the festival’s web page reads that the film was highly praised by international
    critics. This is Radu Jude’s fourth feature film. Last year he won the Golden
    Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival with Aferim!.








    SUMMER UNIVERSITY The County
    of Harghita, in central Romania, is hosting the 14th Izvoru
    Muresului Summer University. The theme this year is The Romanian State and
    Romanians on the border of the EU and NATO. There are 100 participants,
    including representatives of the academic environment, of the main political
    parties, of Romanian community associations and foundations.








    VISIT The US Vice President
    Joe Biden is paying a two-day visit to Serbia and Kosovo. The White House has
    not given details about the agenda of talks, but the visit is taking place five
    months after the one paid to the White House by the former president of Kosovo,
    Mrs. Atifete Jahjaga, news agencies report. Back then, Vice President Biden stressed the US’s support for the
    dialogue with Serbia, facilitated by the EU, encouraging the Kosovo government
    to take steps forward in normalizing its relations with Serbia, 16 years after
    the NATO air intervention, which opened the door for the former province’s
    independence. On Thursday, the Serbian Parliament endorsed a new, populist government,
    headed by Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic, who promised to pursue Serbia’s EU
    integration, while at the same time maintaining close ties with Russia.






    RIO The
    Olympic Games continue in Rio, with Romanian athletes competing in artistic gymnastics and athletics. Marian
    Oprea, Olympic vice-champion in Athens in 2004, will attempt qualification for
    the men’s triple jump final. Catalina Ponor is fighting for gold in women’s
    beam event and Marian Dragulescu in men’s vault. On Sunday, Romania’s national
    women’s handball team lost to Norway 28-27, thus failing to qualify for the
    quarter finals. So far, Romania has won four medals at the Olympic Games in Rio. The epee team made up of Ana Maria
    Popescu, Simona Gherman, Simona Pop and Loredana Dinu won gold, tennis players
    Florin Mergea and Horia Tecau won silver in the men’s doubles, Gabriel
    Sincraian got bronze in weight lifting and
    so did the women’s coxed eight.










    TENNIS Romanian Simona Halep, ranked 3rd in
    the WTA classification, is taking part in the Cincinnati tournament, in the US,
    with 2.8 million dollars in prize money. She will start straight in the second
    round of the competition. Another Romanian player, Irina Begu, no. 24 in the
    WTA rankings, is also taking part in the tournament, but enters the competition
    in the first round. In 2015, Simona Halep played the Cincinnati final, but was
    defeated by Serena Williams. This tournament is the last before the famous US
    Open, the last Grand Slam of the year.

  • January 24, 2016

    January 24, 2016

    Romanians celebrate 157 years since the Union of the Romanian Principalities. Taking part in the celebrations held in the northeastern Romanian city of Iasi are President Klaus Iohannis and Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos. On this occasion, President Iohannis called on the political class to do its best to meet the citizens’ expectations and restore people’s confidence in Romanian politicians. On the 24th of January, 1859, Alexandru Ioan Cuza, who had been elected ruler of Moldavia a week earlier, was unanimously elected sovereign of Wallachia and proclaimed ruler of the United Principalities. Three years later, on January 24, 1862, the union was recognized internationally and the state received the name of Romania. Cuza’s reforms laid the institutional foundation of modern Romania. In 1918, the establishment of the nation state was completed by the union with Bessarabia, Bukovina and Transylvania, the historical provinces with predominantly Romanian speaking population. However, Romania lost Bessarabia and Bukovina after WW2.




    The US and Turkey are prepared to seek a military solution against so-called Islamic State if a political agreement in Syria proves impossible, US Vice-President Joe Biden has said. The latest round of Syria peace talks are planned to begin on Monday in Geneva, but they are being held up by disagreements over representation and the agenda. Syrian armed rebel groups have said they held the Syrian government and Russia responsible for any failure of peace talks while the Saudi-backed Syrian opposition ruled out even indirect negotiations unless Damascus took steps including a halt to Russian air strikes. At the request of Damascus, Moscow has been taking part in the military campaign in Syria for several months now, and, although it claims its main target is Islamic State, Russia has been accused of bombarding positions of the moderate rebels supported by monarchies in the Gulf area, Turkey and the Western powers.




    The Prime Minister of the Republic of Moldova, Pavel Filip, will pay a visit to Bucharest on January 26, to meet with his Romanian counterpart Dacian Ciolos, the Chisinau Government announced. The two officials will discuss about the actions to be taken by the two governments in order to boost the implementation of the initiatives and projects previously agreed on by Chisinau and Bucharest. Also tackled will be the agenda of reforms set under the Moldova EU Association Agreement. This is Pavel Filip’s first official visit as prime minister, against the background of protests against the new government in the capital Chisinau. Unhappy with their politicians’ corruption and lack of efficiency, thousands of protesters took Parliament by storm right after the new government had been sworn in, asking for early elections.




    Romanian tennis player Simona Halep, number 2 in the world, is to have an operation on her nose and will skip next weeks Fed Cup match against the Czech Republic and tournaments in Dubai and Doha,. “The last six weeks have been extremely difficult for me, as I’ve been dealing with infections in my stomach, nose and ear. Under doctors advice, I will undergo surgery to fix the on-going problem,” she said in a post on her Facebook page. The Romanian tennis player had an illness-plagued start to the year, which ended with a first-round exit from the Australian Open.




    Romania continues to be under a yellow code alert for frost except for 5 counties in the west and northwest. The lowest temperatures will range from minus 20 degree C to minus 15 degrees C. On isolated areas temperatures will drop down to minus 28 degrees C. As of Sunday snowfalls are present in the west, north and northwest of the country. Maximum, temperatures will stand at minus 2 degrees C.



    (Translated by Elena Enache)