30 July, 2014
News and current affairs from Romania
Valentin Țigău, 30.07.2014, 11:50
Floods caused by torrential rains over the last few days have wreaked havoc in south western Romania, with one person dead and four missing. Hundreds have been evacuated. Flash floods have damaged roads, households, and hundreds of hectares of land. One train has derailed, and railroad traffic has been restricted in the area. A total of 63 towns and villages have been gravely affected by the floods. Code orange rain and strong wind alerts have been issued for three counties in the area, valid until tomorrow. At the same time, a code red alert for flooding has been extended, and PM Victor Ponta called a meeting today of the emergency management council. In the rest of the country, the weather is largely fair, with maximums between 27 and 33 degrees Celsius, with temporarily overcast skies in the center, south and west, with localized light thunderstorms. The noon reading in Bucharest was 28 degrees.
A study published early this month, ordered by the central Romanian daily Adevarul, shows that Romanians have an overwhelmingly positive image of western European countries. First place is taken by Germany, with 84% positive opinions, followed by the UK and Spain. All top three countries are favorite destinations for Romanians who go to work abroad. At the opposite end of the scale are Ukraine, Hungary and Russia, in that order. 51.4% of Romanians said they have a rather negative opinion of Moscow, for both historical reasons and because of the latest turmoil in Ukraine. The data in this study was collected before the downing of the Malaysian flight over Ukraine, which left 298 dead. The sample was 1,055 people, representative of the population 18 and older in Romania.
Romania’s football champion team Steaua Bucharest in Kazakhstan today will be taking on Kazakh side FK Aktobe, in a game courting towards the first leg of Champions League’ s third preliminary round. In the other continental competition, Europa League, representing Romania will be three teams, scheduled to play their games counting towards the first leg of the 3rd preliminary round. Winner of Romania’s Cup Astra Giurgiu and Petrolul Ploiesti on home turf will be facing Czech side Slovan Liberec and Victoria Plzen, respectively, also from the Czech Republic. The other Romanian team, CFR ClUj, will be taking on Dinamo Minsk from Belarus, away from home.
The Republic of Moldova will take part for the first time ever in a NATO summit, which is scheduled for September in the UK. The announcement was made by Moldovan minister of foreign affairs and European integration, Natalia Gherman. She said that her country, a former Soviet republic, expects her new NATO allies would reiterate their request that Russia withdraw its troops from Transdnestr, a pro-Russian breakaway region which self proclaimed independence following an armed insurrection. Recently, the US Senate passed a resolution in support of Moldova’s territorial integrity, and of strengthened relations between Washington and Chisinau.
The Romanian Foreign Ministry has issued a warning to all Romanian citizens to exercise caution and look up on special websites information in case they were planning to travel in and through Hungary, due to extreme weather conditions. In an announcement through Agerpres, the ministry informs that the south west of the neighboring country is under code orange alert for torrential rain with hail and strong winds of up to 80 km/h, starting today. At the same time, the center and north are under code yellow alert. The extreme weather is expected to spread on Thursday over the entire territory of Hungary, which is under code yellow alert, but mostly in the south and center, which are under code orange alert.
