April 13, 2026 UPDATE
A roundup of local and world news
Newsroom, 13.04.2026, 18:58
EASTER In Romania, a country with an Orthodox majority, both the Orthodox and Greek-Catholic believers celebrated the second day of Easter on Monday, at the beginning of a week called the Bright Week. Lord Jesus Christ’s resurrection is Christianity’s most important holiday and it is being celebrated for three days. This week everything stays under the symbol of light, the symbol of Christ’s resurrection. People are now greeting each other with the traditional salute, ‘Christ has risen!’ and the response is ‘Indeed he has risen’, which is a public recognition of his resurrection. Today is known as the Bright Monday. On Sunday, during the Easter sermon, Romania’s Orthodox Patriarch Daniel says that Christ’s Resurrection is the most important Christian holiday, a ‘holiday of holidays’ that is enlightening and channeling the entire life of the Church. ‘Christ’s Resurrection is not a comeback to the passing biological life, but the cancellation of death and the inauguration of an endless life,’ Patriarch Daniel went on to say.
VISIT Romania’s Health Minister, Alexandru Rogobete will be travelling to Washington on Tuesday for talks with representatives of the World Bank and the main US companies in the healthcare sector, including Pfizer. According to a press release, the visit is part of the efforts made by the Health Minister and the government in Bucharest to turn the compensations Romania has to pay to Pfizer into a real benefit for patients ensuring access to treatment, which is now lacking from the public system. Early this month Romania was sentenced by a court in Brussels to pay 600 million Euros to Pfizer for the vaccines it ordered but failed to buy.
BLOCKADE The US army on Monday imposed a blockade against Iran, upon orders from President Donald Trump. According to the US Central Command, the blockade will be impartially applied on all ships entering or leaving the Iranian ports, including in the Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. According to the US army, ‘any vessel entering or departing the blockaded area without authorization is subject to interception, diversion and capture. The Iranian army has described the blockade as illegal and an act of piracy. France and Britain are to stage a conference aimed at reestablishing the freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, the French president, Emmanuel Macron announced on Monday. France together with allies is preparing a purely defensive mission to reopen the Strait of Ormuz. The US-Iranian peace talks in Pakistan ended in a deadlock on Saturday. According to Iran’s Foreign Minister, Abbas, Araghci, the two sides were only inches away from an agreement before encountering ‘maximalism, shifting goalposts and a blockade from the US side.’ Pakistan has urged Iran and the USA to observe the ceasefire concluded on Wednesday in spite of the deadlock in the peace talks. The price of crude went up again after the US announcement of the blockade. The US crude has exceeded 104 dollars per barrel while Brent crude has reached 102. Brent crude has witnessed a dramatic fluctuation during the war in Iran, from 70 dollars a barrel before the conflict to 119 at present.
ELECTION Romania’s President, Nicusor Dan, has congratulated the leader of the Hungarian opposition, Peter Magyar on his win in the parliamentary election on Sunday and underlined that Romania and Hungary are neighbours, partners as well as EU and NATO members and has voiced his readiness to open a new chapter in the relationship between the two countries. The European leaders have also hailed the outcome of the election. The chief of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, says ‘Hungary has chosen Europe, the Union grows stronger.’ Peter Magyar has also been congratulated by the President of the European Parliament, the President of France, the German Chancellor, the head of the Polish government and the president of Ukraine. Volodymyr Zelensky says that he is ready for a common, constructive action to the benefit of both nations as well as for peace, stability and security in Europe. The opposition TISZA party obtained a landslide win with two thirds of the Legislature in Budapest. Now TISZA has 138 seats of the Parliament’s total 199, while FIDESZ has only 55. Through this win, the group led by Peter Magyar puts an end to the 16 years of Viktor Orban’s ruling. With a record turnout of 77.8%, the highest in the past decades, the poll marks a major change on Hungary’s political stage.
TENNIS The Romanian-Chinese pair made up of Sorana Cirstea and Shuai Zhang has won the trophy in the doubles of the WTA 500 tournament in Linz, Austria, with total prizes over one million Euros. In the finals on Sunday, Cirstea and Zhang clinched a 6-3, 6-2 win against the Czechs, Jesika Maleekova and Miriam Skoch in a game that lasted 69 minutes. Before Linz the Romanian had played seven times in doubles contests, the best performance being her qualification for the quarterfinals of Wimbledon last year. This has been the seventh trophy Sorana obtained in the women’s doubles of a professional tournament. She announced this season would be the last in her career.
HANDBALL The Romanian national women’s handball side has qualified for the Final Four tournament of the EHF EURO Cup 2026, after securing a 38-34 win against Poland in Radom on Sunday, their last match in the preliminary Group G1. Romania had a good start and got the upper hand 5-0 and the first half ended 21-15 to the visitors. In the other G1 match, Norway outperformed Slovakia 38-19. Norway won the group with 12 points, followed by Romania with 8 and Poland with 4. The Romanians will be up against Denmark in September, before the European championship in December. Norway will be playing Hungary in the other match of the Final Four, which is a tournament involving the 8 national sides already qualified for Euro 2026. Romania, Czechia, Slovakia, Turkiye and Poland are participating as host countries, while Norway, Denmark and Hungary thanks to their performance of being on the podium at Euro 2024.
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