August, 16, 2022
Click here for a roundup of domestic and international news
România Internațional, 16.08.2022, 14:04
MEDAL Romanian swimmer David Popovici won gold in the 200
meter freestyle race of the European Aquatics Championships in Rome. Popvici,
17, the world’s en titre champion, ended the race in one minute, 42 seconds and
97 hundredths, a new world and European record. We recall that Popovici also
walked away with gold from the 100 and 200 meter freestyle races of the World
Championships in Budapest. The Romanian swimmer also got the title on Saturday
night in the 100 meter freestyle race with a new world record of 46 seconds and
86 hundredths. The Romanian swimmer is also expected to run in the 400 meter
race on Wednesday.
BUDGET The government in Bucharest is this week preparing the first budget adjustment
in 2022, which has been described by the country’s Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca
as positive. The Ministries of Finance, Labour and European Projects are to get
more money and so are the Ministries of Healthcare, Energy, Transport, Justice
and Agriculture. The Ministries of the Interior, the Environment and Culture have
seen their funds trimmed as Finance Minister Adrian Caciu has announced that a
key priority are the measures the Executive has taken in order to boost the economy
and support the citizens against the backdrop of a soaring inflation rate. Among
the aforementioned measures there are a support scheme aimed at offsetting
growing prices in gas and electricity, state subsidies for fuel consumption in
agriculture as well as credits for farmers. Under the new measures consolidated
budget deficit is estimated to exceed 16 billion euros, which account for 5.8%
of the GDP.
EXAM Roughly 35 thousand students are presently taking the national
baccalaureate exam in the autumn session, which kicks off today. 22 thousand of
them have graduated this year and the exam’s final results are to be made
public on September 3rd. The success rate in the first session of this exam
held in July stood at 75% being the highest in the past 10 years.
BORDER Over 1, 500, 000 people, Romanian and foreign
nationals, have crossed Romania’s borders over August 12th and 15th the General
Border Police Inspectorate has announced today. The most intense traffic has
been reported at Romania’s border with Hungary. 13 thousand Ukrainian nationals
entered Romania on Monday 0.2% more than in the previous day, which brings up to
2 million the number of refugees that have crossed into Romania since the
beginning of the conflict in February.
UKRAINE
A pro-Russia
separatist court in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, has charged five foreign
nationals, including a Swede, a Croat and a Brit, captured fighting alongside
the Ukrainian forces with being mercenaries. According to Russian media the
three could face a possible death sentence. We recall that authorities in
Dontesk in June sentenced to death two British citizens and a Moroccan but
didn’t apply the sentence yet. According to some reports, Ukrainian artillery
has struck the headquarters of Russia’s shadowy Wagner paramilitary group of
mercenaries in eastern Ukraine. The Wagner group was deployed to Crimea and
Ukraine’s Donbas region in 2014, when Russia-backed forces ousted Ukrainian
soldiers from areas they later declared to be part of Russia. Wagner units have
also been deployed to Syria, Libya, Mali and the Central African Republic.
Western intelligence links the group to Russian oligarch Yevgheny Prigozhin,
who was dubbed Putin’s chef as his catering business has long helped President
Putin and his armed forces.
(bill)
