30 June 2015
A roundup of domestic and international news
Newsroom, 30.06.2015, 12:01
The Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has stated that Greece is not going to pay its 1.5 billion Euro debt to the International Monetary Fund due today, which is also the day when the international bailout plan for his country expires. The Greek government has imposed a strict control of capital movements and has decided to keep the banks and the stock exchange closed for a week. Also, the government has decided that public transportation in Athens will be free, to avoid a fuel crisis. At least 20 thousand people protested in Athens last night against the austerity measures. The Greek citizens are expected to express their opinion regarding the creditors’ conditions at a referendum that will be held on the 5th of July, seen by the government as part of the negotiations. European leaders have stated that they are willing to negotiate a new agreement, and thus help prevent Greece from defaulting. In another development, yesterday Standard&Poor’s adjusted downwards Greece’s rating and said there was 50% chance for Greece to leave the Eurozone.
The mayor of the city of Brasov, George Scripcaru, has been placed under preventive arrest for 30 days. He was detained last night by anti-corruption prosecutors, accused of abuse of office in a case involving the delivery of thermal energy. Scripcaru allegedly signed sales contracts between a major thermal plant in Brasov and a private company run by close associates of his for the purpose of running the plant into the ground, effectively taking it off the market to the advantage of said private company. A member of the Liberal Party, Scripcaru is in his third term as mayor of Brasov. According to anti-corruption sources, since 2006 over 125 mayors and deputy mayors, as well as 8 heads of county councils have been indicted.
The Romanian Parliament gathers today to vote on the nomination of Mihai Razvan Ungureanu for the position of director of the Foreign Intelligene Service. Ungureanum proposed for the position by Romania’s president Klaus Iohannis, is supported by the Liberals, the main party in the opposition, the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, the National Union for the Progress of Romania (the latest partner in the ruling coalition), and the National Minority Group. The governing Social Democrats and their partners in the newly formed political alliance, called the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, have announced they will not vote for Ungureanu. . Mihai Razvan Ungureanu was head of the Foreign Intelligence Service between 2007-2012, Foreign Minister between 2004-2007 and also Prime Minister in the first half of 2012.
The challenges facing broadcasters at a time when a growing number of listeners prefer modern means of communication, such as the internet or mobile telephony, are being debated for two days in Bucharest, as topics on the agenda of the media conference organized by Radio Romania in cooperation with the Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union. This is the first big meeting between Asian and European broadcasters. The participants, experts, presidents of radio stations, digital platform representatives and other prominent media have gathered in Bucharest to discuss the ways in which the media, and the radio industry in particular, is likely to develop in the next five years.
The Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has today returned to Vienna, where he will meet with the US Secretary of State John Kerry in a bid to reach an agreement regarding Iran’s nuclear program, France Presse reports. The two officials already had two rounds of talks in Vienna last week. Iran, the US and another five countries — Great Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany — is negotiating an agreement to restrict Iran’s nuclear development, in exchange for reducing sanctions against the country, which affect the economy. The negotiations over this case, which started some 20 months ago, should have been concluded today, but the big powers are to meet again in the coming days, in an attempt to reach a historic agreement on the Iranian nuclear issue.
WTA 3rd ranked Simona Halep is today taking on the Slovak Jana Cepelova in the first round of the Wimbledon tournament, the third Grand Slam competition this year. Also today, Monica Niculescu will play against Monica Puig of Puerto Rico and Andreea Mitu will take on Olga Govortsova of Belarus. On Monday, Irina Begu qualified for the second round, as she defeated the Russian player Daria Gavrilova. Unfortunately, Alexandra Dulgheru had to leave the competition, defeated by Kristina Mladenovic of France. In the male doubles the pair made of Florin Mergea of Romania and Rohan Bopanna of India defeated Tim Smyczeck of the US and Jiri Vesely of the Czech Republic.
