Tag: wounded

  • October 22, 2020

    October 22, 2020

    COVID-19 Romania reported on Thursday new record-high figures in terms of COVID-19 infections: 4,902 cases out of over 34,000 tests conducted, and 98 deaths. More than 10,354 people are hospitalised, 778 of them in intensive care. Since the start of the epidemic in Romania, the total number of cases has reached 196,004and the death toll stands at 6,163. The Government will amend the Quarantine Act today, in an emergency order, in view of preventing hospital overcrowding. Patients with mild forms of the disease and those without symptoms are to be treated at home, unless they suffer from previous conditions, the health minister Nelu Tătaru explained. The bill has been criticised by family physicians, who say examining patients at home is out of the question because physicians would be at risk.



    ELECTIONS Today is the deadline for entering candidacies for the parliamentary elections in Romania, due on December 6. The highest-ranking parties in polls have already submitted their lists of Bucharest candidates to the Municipal Election Bureau. Also today is the last day when Romanian citizens living abroad can register for postal voting. The head of the Permanent Electoral Authority, Constantin-Florin Mituleţu-Buică, says that in the context of the coronavirus pandemic, postal voting is a safe and comfortable option, which does not require traveling, costs and risks. President Klaus Iohannis said the parliamentary election is crucial, in that it represents the only democratic option that would enable a representative parliament to manage the current healthcare crisis.



    GOVERNMENT The Government is analysing in todays Cabinet meeting a draft order allowing parents to take days off from work if they need to stay at home with their children when schools are closed. The bill also stipulates support measures for employers and employees in the context of the ongoing pandemic. PM Ludovic Orban announced that also today the Bucharest Prefect Gheorghe Cojanu would be replaced. Cojanu has been criticised, including by president Klaus Iohannis, for his response when the COVID-19 infection rate in Bucharest moved over the 3 per thousand threshold. His replacement may be Traian Berbeceanu, a former police with the Organised Crime Division and currently the chief of staff of the interior minister Marcel Vela.



    MILITARY Two Romanian troops were wounded on Wednesday night in Afghanistan, during a patrol mission. According to the Defence Ministry, they are stable, under medical supervision at the hospital within the Kandahar Air Base. The 2 are members of 191st Golden Lions Force Protection Battalion, and were deployed to Afghanistan in August, for a 6-month mission. Romanian troops have been present in Afghanistan since 2003, one year before Romania was admitted into NATO. Nearly 30 Romanian servicemen have been killed in that country.



    AFGHANISTAN The situation in Afghanistan is discussed today by the NATO defence ministers as well, alongside the threat posed by Chinas and Russias space programmes, which may jeopardise NATO satellite communications. The Alliances secretary general Jens Stoltenberg explained that NATOs baseline requirements for national resilience have already been updated, including 5G and telecommunications, cyber threats, the security of supply chains, and the consequences of foreign ownership and control. Stoltenberg also voiced concern with Turkeys decision to purchase Russian S-400 defence systems, which cannot be integrated in the NATO system.



    FOOTBALL Romanias football champions CFR Cluj are playing tonight away from home against the Bulgarian side CSKA Sofia, in their first match in the Europa League Group A. Also today, in the same group, the Swiss side Young Boys Berna takes on AS Rome. Kicked out of the Champions League qualifiers into the Europa League, CFR Cluj is the last Romanian club to be playing in this years edition of the European football cups. (translated by: A.M. Popescu)

  • September 25, 2016 UPDATE

    September 25, 2016 UPDATE

    AFGHANISTAN – Four Romanian military were wounded in Afghanistan on Sunday, but their condition is stable, the Romanian Defence Ministry has announced. The four were members of the White Sharks Force Protection Battalion, deployed in Afghanistan this August. The troops were on a patrol mission in the province of Kandahar, when an improvised explosive device went off. After securing the area, the soldiers were given first aid and were taken to the military hospital at the Kandahar air base.



    MIGRATION – Romania is the second-largest contributor, after Germany, to FRONTEX missions, the Interior Minister Ioan-Dragoş Tudorache said at an international summit on “Migration along the Balkan Route held on Saturday in Vienna. In 2016, 365 Romanian border police took part in such missions. Until the end of the year, 14 border police troops will be part of a joint mission to support the Bulgarian authorities, in which EU countries have increased the resources deployed on Bulgarias land borders with Turkey and Serbia. On the sidelines of the meeting in Vienna, Minister Ioan-Dragoş Tudorache discussed with his Serbian counterpart Nebojsa Stefanovici aspects related to the cooperation on the common border with respect to migrant groups and to the need to implement the EU – Serbia readmission agreement. Bucharest reiterated its interest in organising joint Romanian-Serb border patrols as soon as possible. Attending the meeting in Vienna were EU member states and Western Balkan countries affected by the migration crisis over the past year, namely Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Germany, Greece, Macedonia, Serbia, Slovenia and Hungary. The German Chancellor Angela Merkel pleaded for stepping up efforts to curb illegal migration.



    PROTESTS – In Romania, penitentiary workers around the country will initiate protests on Monday, the head of a relevant trade union has announced. The demands include the improvement of working conditions, the employment of an adequate number of staff, addressing salary imbalances and the resignation of the Justice Minister, Raluca Pruna, accused of underperformance. The unionists claim the system needs another 8,000 employees.



    RadiRo – A classical music hit, Carmina Burana by Carl Orff, will be performed on Monday by the Romanian National Radio Orchestra conducted by Cristian Macelaru, as part of the Festival of Radio Orchestras – RadiRo. The Festival will come to an end on Saturday, October 1, and the concerts are also aired live in the European Broadcasting Union network and the Asia-Pacific platform of public and private broadcasters. The representative of the Asia-Pacific broadcasting union, Jawad Mottaghi, estimates that the event hosted by the Radio Concert Hall in Bucharest will reach hundreds of millions of listeners, given that the potential market in that region is 3.5 billion people. Currently at its third edition, RADIRO is the only large-scale European festival exclusively devoted to radio orchestras. It is organised by Radio Romania.



    SPORTS – The Romanian tennis player Monica Niculescu (55 WTA), was defeated in three sets by Spains Lara Arruabarrena (90 WTA), in the final of the tournament in Seoul on Sunday. In the semi-finals of the competition, Lara Arruabarrena had beaten another Romanian player, Patricia Ţig.