August 26, 2016
Click here for a roundup of domestic and international news
Newsroom, 26.08.2016, 12:00
268 people have died and around 400 have been wounded in the earthquake that hit central Italy early on Wednesday morning, shows the latest death toll made public by the authorities. Italy has declared a state of emergency in the regions worst hit by the quake. The PM Mateo Renzi has pledged 50 million Euros in funds for rebuilding and cancelled taxes for residents. He also announced a new initiative called “Italian Homes” after the press leveled criticism over building standards in high risk areas. Some of the buildings that collapsed had recently been renovated, in the aftermath of the 2009 quake that killed more than 300 people. The rescue operations continued for the second consecutive night. Rescuers have been hampered in their efforts by hundreds of aftershocks. The Romanian Foreign Ministry on Friday confirmed the death in the quake of a 6th Romanian citizen, and activated the special fund for supporting the costs of corpses repatriation. 5 Romanian citizens have been injured in the earthquake and 17 are reported missing. The Foreign Ministry announced they are in permanent contact and coordination with the competent Italian authorities, and the Romanian Embassy in Rome and the Consulate in Bologna are offering assistance to the Romanian citizens.
Romania commemorates, Friday, the heroes of WWI as part of a military ceremony. The ceremonies, organized by the National Defense Ministry, mark 100 years since Romania entered WWI. Over 330 thousand soldiers died in this war and as many as 76 thousand were crippled. Solemn ceremonies are being held in 100 cemeteries and heroes monuments across Romania. At the end of WWI, on December 1, 1918, the process of setting up the Romanian unitary nation state was finalized, following the union of all Romanian provinces with a majority Romanian-speaking population included in the neighboring multinational empires, came under the authority of Bucharest.
27 Syrian and Iraqi immigrants were arrested, last night, while they were trying to illegally cross the border between Romania and Serbia. As many as 600 foreign citizens have tried to illegally cross the border in the first seven months of this year, 41% less than in the same period of last year. 1,005 illegal migrants were caught at the border in 2015, shows a recent report issued by the Border Police. Most of the illegal migrants have tried to cross the border hidden in various vehicles or using fake documents. One week ago, the Romanian Interior Ministry deployed further border police and gendarmerie forces at the border with Serbia, after several small groups of immigrants attempted to cross the border. These actions are meant to ensure public order and fight cross-border crime at Romania’s southwestern frontier.
At least 11 people have been killed and around 80 have been wounded this morning in a car bomb attack that hit police headquarters in Cizre, south-east Turkey. According to Anadolu Agency, that quotes security forces, the PKK are to be blamed for the car bomb attack. The town of Cizre, with a predominantly Kurdish population, located near the Turkish border with Syria and Iraq, has been the scene of confrontations between the Turkish security forces and the PKK Kurdish militias. On Thursday, the Turkish interior minister, Efkan Ala, accused the PKK of attacking a convoy, which the leader of the Turkish opposition, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, was part of. The Turkish security forces have been systematically targeted by the PKK attacks since the end of the truce in 2015. The attacks have killed tens of soldiers and policemen. (translation by Lacramiaora Simion)
