April 1, 2018
Roman Catholic and Protestant believers celebrate Easter today while Orthodox and Greek Catholic believers celebrate Palm Sunday
Newsroom, 01.04.2018, 14:12
Religious celebrations — Roman Catholic and Protestant believers from Romania and the world over are today celebrating Easter. Pope Francis held the Easter service at the Vatican’s St. Peters Basilica and urged Catholics not to remain paralysed in the face of injustices around them. This year Orthodox and Greek Catholic believers celebrate Easter one week later, so today they mark Palm Sunday, the triumphal entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem. To mark this religious celebration Bucharest and other cities across Romania are hosting religious processions. Also today Holy Week begins. The most solemn week of the Christian year, Holy Week is the week leading up to Easter and is the week during which Christians particularly remember the last days of Jesus’s life.
NATO — Romanian President Klaus Iohannis has today conveyed a message on the occasion of the celebration of NATO Day in Romania. President Iohannis says in his message that Romania sees in NATO its strongest security guarantee. PM Viorica Dancila has also said, in a message occasioned by NATO Day that the authorities want to further prove that Romania is a credible and stabile ally in the Black Sea region. Dancila has pointed out that Bucharest sticks to its commitment to allot 2% of the GDP to army equipping. To mark NATO Day a military ceremony was held at the Romanian Defence Ministry headquarters. Romania joined NATO in March 29, 2004. NATO Day in Romania is celebrated every year in the first Sunday of April.
Immunoglobulin — The first immunoglobulin vials requested through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism have reached Romania and will be distributed to patients, the Health Ministry officials announced. Actually 16 thousand vials from Austria will be sent to Romania by the end of May. The Health Ministry’s medicine distributor bought the immunoglobulin vials from foreign producers. Discontinuities in immunoglobulin supply were caused by the withdrawal from the Romanian market of the producers that ensured more than 80% of the needed amount.
eCall — The eCall system is operational across the EU as of today. eCall is activated automatically as soon as in-vehicle sensors and/or processors detect a serious crash. Once set off, the system dials the European emergency number 112, establishes a telephone link to the appropriate emergency call centre and sends details of the accident to the rescue services, including the time of incident, the accurate position of the crashed vehicle and the direction of travel. 112 eCall is not a black box. It does not record constantly the position of the vehicle, it records only a few data to determine the position and direction of the vehicle just before the crash and these data are only transmitted to emergency call centres if there is a serious crash. Also, eCall cannot be used to monitor motorists moves.
Weather — 29 counties in the north, center and west of Romania are under code yellow alert for strong wind and heavy rainfalls that is valid until Sunday night. The weather is getting colder all across Romania with temperatures dropping by 10 up to 12 degrees C as compared to the previous day. The wind speed will reach 45, 55 km per hour and around 75 km in the mountains and in the west, centre and south of the territory. Maximum temperatures range from 9 to 17 degrees Celsius. The noon reading in Bucharest was 10 degrees.
Weightlifting— Romanian athlete Nicolae Onica on Saturday evening two gold medals in the mens 94 kg category (clean and jerk, total) at the European Weightlifting Championships held these days in Izvorani. Onica also won the silver medal in the snatch event. The European Senior Weightlifting Championships end today. Romania hosted two other editions, in 1972 in Constanta and in 2009 in Bucharest. (Translated by Elena Enache)
