April 23, 2014
Click here for a roundup of domestic and international news
România Internațional, 23.04.2014, 12:00
Eleven counties in the south of Romania are under code yellow alert for heavy rain between Wednesday afternoon and Thursday night, with expected rainfall between 25 and 30 liters per square meter, with quantities as high as 50 in certain areas. Winds are expected to be 50 to 60 km/h strong. In the rest of the country, the weather will be milder, with variable skies and showers. Maximums today are between 16 and 26 degrees Celsius, with a noon reading in Bucharest of 22 degrees. The heavy rains in the last few days caused flash floods in the south, killing at least four people. Hundreds have been evacuated.
Romanian state railway employees on Wednesday morning went on a temporary strike after collective labor contract negotiations failed. Almost 300 passenger trains were halted in stations for two hours, affecting thousands of passengers. The railway workers claim insufficient wages, losing the privilege of traveling for free on trains, and possible downsizing of the work pool by around 2,500 in the freight division of the state company.
Romanian tennis players Victor Hanescu, playing singles, and Horia Tecau, playing doubles, compete on Wednesday in the BRD Nastase Tiriac Trophy, with total prizes worth over 420,000 Euro. Hanescu plays Gilles Simon, fourth favorite, with three wins under his belt in Bucharest. Horia Tecau pairs up with Dutch player Jean-Julien Rojer, working towards his third title in Buchaest, after winning in 2012 with Swedish player Robert Lindstedt, and in 2013 next to Max Mirnyi. The winners of the doubles face-off will contend with French duo Mahut- Mannarino.
The southern Romanian city of Craiova hosts the 9th edition of the Shakespeare International Theater Festival, in the year celebrating 450 years since the birth of the playwright. The festivities open at the Globe Theater in London with Much Ado About Nothing, directed by Max Weber. For 12 days in Craiova, major theater troupes from four continents, including Globe, will be celebrating the Bard with 30 shows under the heading ‘Shakespeare for All’.
The USS Taylor, a US Navy frigate, is in the Black Sea, on a mission to promote peace and stability in the region, as the US Navy website announced. The frigate joins the US destroyer Donald Cook, already in the Black Sea for joint maneuvers with the Romanian, Bulgarian and Turkish navies. At the same time, Washington announced it would send 600 troops in Poland and the Baltic countries for joint maneuvers in that area. 150 soldiers arrive in Poland on Wednesday, with the rest expected in the Baltic states over the next few days.
Interim Ukrainian president Oleksandr Turchynov ordered renewed anti-terrorist operations in eastern Ukraine after the discovery of two mutilated bodies near Slaviansk, one of them that of pro-European parliamentarian Vladimir Rybak. Turchynov said that the terrorists who took over the entire Donetsk region is a challenge not only against Ukraine, but the entire international community, violating the Geneva accords. US Secretary of State John Kerry, speaking on the phone with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, expressed his concern in relation to a lack of positive steps by Russia to defuse the situation in eastern Ukraine, and warned of new sanctions. Yesterday, US Vice President Joe Biden reaffirmed his country’s commitment to a united Ukraine, and promised economic aid.
The German and French foreign ministers are on a visit to Chisinau, as part of a tour that includes Georgia, according to a French Foreign Ministry website announcement. The two ministers are meeting Prime Minister Iurie Leanca and parliamentarians from the ruling coalition in Moldova. The Republic of Moldova will be signing the association agreement with the EU this summer, a fact much appreciated by Brussels and Washington in the context of the Ukrainian crisis.
The Russian navy on Wednesday initiated unanounced military exercises in the Caspian Sea, according to Mediafax, quoting Russian official military sources. The maneuvers are scheduled to last seven days, with 10 military ships and around 400 sailors. The Caspian sea lies between Iran, Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Azerbaijan, in an area traversed by major oil and natural gas pipelines.
