16 January 2016, UPDATE

An orange warning for blizzard has been issued for the south and south-east of Romania, including the capital Bucharest.

Newsroom, 16.01.2016, 12:15

Orange and yellow warnings for
blizzard and snow are in place in half of Romania until Sunday evening. The
yellow warning was issued for 12 counties in the south-west and east, while the
orange warning is in place in 11 counties in the south-east and the capital
Bucharest. A considerable amount of snow is expected, as well as gale force
winds of up to 65 km per hour. Snow storms and severe wind speeds of up to 80
km per hour are forecast for the south-eastern part of the country and the
capital city. The wind will create snowdrifts and visibility will be reduced to
50 m and less. The Romanian foreign ministry has warned people travelling to
neighbouring Bulgaria that heavy snow, frost and gale force winds are expected
across this country on Saturday and Sunday.

The Romanian border police on Friday night captured 60
immigrants trying to cross the south-western border from Serbia into Romania
illegally. According to preliminary reports, all of them are men aged between
20 and 40 who say they come from Pakistan, Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia and
Morocco. The border police contacted the Serbian authorities to start a joint
investigation into the incident and implement the readmission agreement.
Measures were also taken to tighten border control.

The Liberal Democratic Party in
the Republic of Moldova will go in opposition and will not endorse the
nomination of Pavel Filip as prime minister, the party’s interim president
Valeriu Strelet said on Saturday. According to the leader of the Democratic
Party Marian Lupu, Pavel Filip is supported by the Democratic Party and the
Liberal Party, as well as 14 MPs who defected from the Party of Communists. Lupu
said he hoped Moldova would have a new cabinet by the end of next week. On
Friday, the president of the Republic of Moldova Nicolae Timofti nominated
Pavel Filip as the new candidate for the position of prime minister. Talks for
the formation of a new government will start on Monday. Unless a new government
is in place by the 29th of January, Parliament will be dissolved and
early elections held. Demonstrations were held on Saturday in Chisinau as a
group of pro-western NGOs organised a protest against corruption and the
inefficiency of the political class, while the pro-Russian socialists and
populists staged their own rally to demand early elections.

Romania’s water polo team on
Sunday face Greece in the last 16 of the European Championship in Belgrade,
following Friday’s win against Germany 14:13 to finish second in their group.
In their first two group matches, Romania won against Georgia and lost to
Italy. In women’s handball, CSM Bucharest on Friday defeated the Danish side FC Midtjylland 24:22 in the
Champions League Main Group 2, to secure their first group victory.

World number two Simona Halep of Romania faces qualifier Shuai Zhang of China in her first match at the
Australian Open, which begins on Monday. Also in the first round, another Romanian
player, Irina Begu, faces the Swedish player Johanna Larsson, whom she defeated last year in the quaterfinals of the
Seoul tournament. Monica Niculescu meets Teliana Pereira of Brazil, Alexandra
Dulgheru faces Storm Sanders of Australia, and Andreea Mitu opens against Julia
Gorges of Germany. In another development, the
Romanian-Indian pair Florin Mergea and Rohan Bopanna lost to the
British-Brazilian pair Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares in two sets on Saturday in
the doubles finals of the ATP tennis tournament in Sydney.

(Translated by: C. Mateescu)