June 14, 2024
A roundup of local and international news.
Newsroom, 14.06.2024, 13:55
WEATHER – The weather is cooling down in the upcoming days in the south and southeast of Romania, so that the thermal values get close to the normal ones for this time of the year, across the country. On Thursday evening, torrential rain, storms and hail caused significant damage in several counties in the south and west of the country, for which red and orange code alerts were in place. A weather alert was also issued for the capital Bucharest and for Ilfov county. The severe weather also disrupted traffic at the Otopeni Airport, where some flights had to be redirected. A number of national roads were blocked by trees that fell down on the road due to the strong wind. In rural areas, the hail destroyed hundreds of hectares of wheat and barley that were close to being harvested, as well as other types of crops.
DECISIONS – The agreement reached on Thursday, at the G7 summit, regarding the use of Russian assets to help Kyiv, shows Russian President Vladimir Putin that ‘we are not backing down’, US President Joe Biden said, France Presse reports. The leaders of the G7 states, gathered in Italy, reached a political agreement on the use of the amounts resulted from the frozen Russian assets as guarantees for unlocking a 50-billion dollar loan destined for Ukraine.
DEFENSE – The Romanian Minister of Defense, Angel Tîlvăr, participated, on Thursday in Brussels in a new meeting of the Contact Group for Ukraine in the field of defense, held on the sidelines of the NATO defense ministers’ meeting. The talks focused on coordinating the efforts of the member states and identifying solutions to current needs, taking into account developments on the ground. Romania’s contribution and the sustained effort within the Capacity Coalitions were highlighted. Minister Tîlvăr had a bilateral meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart, Rustem Umerov, on which occasion he reaffirmed Romania’s commitment to further support Ukraine. He presented the developments related to Romania’s effort to host and operationalize the F-16 pilot training center in Feteşti (south-east), intended for both Romanian and Ukrainian pilots. At the same time, the Romanian official said that Bucharest will continue to contribute to the training of the Ukrainian military in various formats. Minister Umerov thanked the Government of Romania for the multidimensional support that Ukraine has received since the first days of the Russian aggression.
FILM – The 23rd edition of Transylvania International Film Festival (TIFF) held until 24th June in Cluj Napoca, has kicked off today. This year’s edition pays tribute to Japanese cinema as part of Focus on Japan, an eclectic line-up bringing together iconic Japanese productions and recent titles, as well as workshops and special programmes. The opening ceremony includes the screening of “Dogman” by Luc Besson, a film that premiered at the Venice Film Festival. Another important name of world cinema, which will be present at TIFF, is the director Daniele Luchetti.
FOOTBALL – The European Football Championship kicks off today in Munich, Germany, with the match between the host country and Scotland, in Group A. EURO 2024 brings together 24 teams in six groups of four teams each, including Romania, which is part of Group E, alongside Belgium, Ukraine and Slovakia. Romania will debut against Ukraine on June 17 in Munich, then it will play Belgium on June 22 in Cologne and Slovakia on June 26 in Frankfurt. This is the 6th time Romania is taking part in the European Championship, after 1984, 1996, 2000, 2008 and 2016. Romania will be also represented at EURO 2024 by a brigade of referees. (EE)
