A roundup of local and international news
The European Commission said on Wednesday that "whatever happens in Greece, the eurozone can weather it", while also confirming that it received a new proposal from Athens that will form the basis of negotiations. The Greek government, which defaulted on Tuesday on its 1.5 billion euro repayment, sent a letter to its international creditors, requesting a new funding agreement under the European Stability Mechanism. The request was analysed by the eurozone finance ministers, who decided to wait for the result of the referendum before holding new talks with Athens. As of July 1st, Greece no longer has access to international funds after five months of failed negotiations. Greece's prime minister Alexis Tsipras again called on the Greek people to vote NO in Sunday's referendum on the bailout terms.
The Romanian government on Wednesday approved the new timetable for the liberalisation of the price of natural gas produced domestically for individual consumers and thermal energy producers. The fees for private consumers rose by 6.5 lei (the equivalent of 1.4 euros) as of July 1st, to reach 60 lei megawatt/hour. This price rise was part of a calendar agreed with the European Commission. Under a new timetable spread out over three years, gas prices are to grow by 60 lei per year by 2020. Energy minister Andrei Gerea says the initial timeframe was much tougher on the population. As part of its 2011 agreements with the International Monetary Fund and the European Commission, Romania committed to gradually deregulate its natural gas prices. In another development, the minimum gross wage in Romania stands at around 233 euros (1,050 lei).
For two days, Bucharest played host to the Media 2020- Bringing Media to the Future Conference organised by Radio Romania together with the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union. This was the first major encounter between broadcasters in the Asia-Pacific region and Europe. The participants, important players in the media industry, experts, presidents of public broadcasters, presenters of digital platforms and important media figures in the European and Asia-Pacific broadcasting, focused on the way in which the media, in particular radio broadcasting, will develop in the next five years. Romania's foreign minister Bogdan Aurescu, who attended the conference, said the media "is often called the watch dog of democracy and in the present geopolitical context, especially in our close neighbourhoods, with security crises in many places but also with extremist tendencies rising, it is crucial that the press is aware of this important role."
In the first five months of the year, 3.1 million foreign nationals entered Romania, 12% more compared with the same period last year, according to a report by the National Statistics Institute published on Wednesday based on data provided by border check points. 93% of the foreign visitors came from Europe, 60% of whom from EU member countries. As regards the number of Romanian nationals travelling abroad, 5 million Romanian citizens were registered at border crossing points, 9% more than in the first five months of the year.
US president Barack Obama announced the formal restoration of diplomatic ties with Cuba after more than 50 years of tension, heralding "a new chapter" in US-Cuban relations. The two states severed diplomatic ties in 1961. Last December, US president Barack Obama and the Cuban leader Raul Castro announced the start of a historic process aimed at normalising ties between their countries. In May this year, the US formally dropped Cuba from a list of states sponsor of terrorism.
A record number of 137,000 immigrants crossed the Mediterranean in dangerous conditions in the first half of 2015, most of them fleeing from conflict in their countries. This accounts for an increase of 83% compared with the first half of 2014, the United Nations announced on Wednesday. Europe is facing an unprecedented crisis, warns the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. Most of the immigrants are escaping war, conflict and persecution. One third of the men, women and children who arrived in Greece and Italy by sea this year come from Syria, a country devastated by war since 2011. According to the United Nations, the number of people who died this year trying to cross the Mediterranean stands at 1,867, of whom 1,308 in April alone.
29th seed Irina Begu of Romania qualified to the third round at Wimbledon, after a three set victory against Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine. Another Romanian tennis player, Monica Niculescu, has made it to the second round, after winning against Monica Puig of Puerto Rico. There, she will meet the Slovakian player Iana Cepelova, no. 106 in the world, who pulled a surprising win against Romania's Simona Halep, the third seed at Wimbledon this year. Begu and Niculescu are the only Romanian players still in the single's competition. In the men's doubles, the Romanian-Dutch pair Horia Tecau and Jean-Julien Rojer, seeded fourth, qualified for the second round after 9 minutes of play as their rivals, Martin Klizan and Lukas Rosol withdrew from the tournament.
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