August 11, 2024
A roundup of domestic and international news
Newsroom, 11.08.2024, 13:40
Paris – The International Gymnastics Federation has officially confirmed that the Romanian Ana Maria Bărbosu receives the bronze medal in the floor final at the Olympic Games in Paris. The confirmation comes after the decision of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (TAS), following the explanatory reports submitted by the Romanian Gymnastics Federation and the Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee. TAS allowed the Romanian gymnast to obtain the bronze medal, as the appeal filed by the American athlete Jordan Chiles was submitted beyond the regulatory deadline. Thus, the ranking of the floor final was changed, which is why Ana Maria Bărbosu climbed to third place, and the Romanian Sabrina Voinea to fourth. The American gymnast dropped to fifth place. On the other hand, the request made by Sabrina Voinea was rejected. The gold medal went to the Brazilian Rebeca Andrade, while the silver went to the American Simone Biles.
Olympics – On Sunday the Romanian athletes are competing in athletics and wrestling at the Olympic Games in Paris. Romania dropped to 23rd place in the overall ranking, with nine medals: three gold, four silver and two bronze. Today is the last day of the Olympic Games and, this evening, the closing ceremony will take place at the Stade de France. Romania’s flag bearer at the closing ceremony will be Mihaela Cambei, silver medalist in weightlifting. According to Radio Romania’s correspondent in Paris, the ceremony will not be without surprises and, according to the little information given to the press, the spectators will follow a sci-fi story: beings from space will try to bring back to life the missing Olympic Games. The closing ceremony is also intended to be a relay handover for the Summer Games due in 4 years’ time in Los Angeles.
Earthquake – A 4.7 magnitude earthquake occurred, on the night of Saturday to Sunday, in the west of Romania, in the county of Arad, according to the information published by the National Research and Development Institute for Earth Physics. The earthquake occurred at a depth of five kilometers. This year, the strongest tectonic movement, of magnitude 4.3, took place in Vrancea county (east), in January, at a depth of 74 kilometers, and last year in February, an earthquake of 5.7 occurred in Gorj county (south-west), at a depth of over 6 kilometers.
Untold – The biggest music festival in Romania, Untold, ends on Sunday in Cluj-Napoca (north-west). For four days, over 250 top national and international artists were invited to entertain tens of thousands of fans from all over the world. Among the guest artists are famous performers who have been to Romania before, such as Lenny Kravitz or DJ Salvatore Ganacci, as well as some new comers such as Sam Smith and Burna Boy. The latter is the only African artist who had two sold-out events, two years in a row, at the London Stadium. Numerous law enforcement agents are present in the area, their priority being to maintain order and combat drug trafficking.
Enescu – The 19th edition of the George Enescu International Competition starts on August 31, in Bucharest. This year, there was a historic record of entries to the Enescu Competition: 555 young people from 27 countries applied for the three sections of the competition – violin, cello and piano. Out of these, only 149 were selected to participate in the first stage of the competition. Each section will have two elimination stages, the semi-final and the final. The George Enescu International Competition is an event held under the High Patronage of the President of Romania and financed by the Government of Romania through the Ministry of Culture.
Inflation – In Romania, the inflation rate is to decrease towards the end of the year to 4%, a value lower than the one forecasted by the National Bank, namely 4.9%. The downward trend of this indicator will continue in 2025, reaching 3.4% at the end of the year, according to data presented by Governor Mugur Isărescu. He stated that the inflation forecast also took into account possible risks or uncertainties, including the conduct of fiscal and revenue policies, as well as the evolution of energy and food prices. The national bank governor also said that the inflation forecast was also the basis for the recent drop in the reference interest rate. The National Bank has recently reduced, for the second consecutive time, the monetary policy interest rate to the level of 6.5%/year from 6.75% per year. (LS)
