August 3, 2018 UPDATE
Europe braces up for new heat wave
Newsroom, 03.08.2018, 19:05
SECURITY – The President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, hails the USAs firm commitment to the European security and defence, as reflected in the budget earmarked for the defence sector, recently approved by the US Congress. According to the Presidency, 12.9 billion US dollars will go into the missile defence system, including amounts for supporting and operating the Aegis Ashore structure in Romania, as part of the NATO ballistic missile defence system. The Presidency also reiterates Bucharests determination to further keep its bilateral and NATO commitments, both in terms of the budget allotted for defence and the national contribution to NATO missions and operations, in keeping with the decisions made at the NATO summits in Wales, Warsaw, and more recently in Brussels.
CENTENNIAL – Romanias inter-ministry committee in charge with the preparations for the Union Centennial Friday endorsed projects worth over 4.2 million euros. According to the Culture Minister George Ivaşcu, 7 of the projects have been put together by local authorities and have a combined budget of 2.3 million euros, while another 16 projects, proposed by various ministries, require a combined 2.5 million euros. The Committee has so far approved funding for over 500 projects, George Ivaşcu added. He explained that by the end of this month proposals designed by NGOs will also be selected for financing, out of a list of 232 projects.
JUDICIARY – Mihail Vlasov, the former president of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Romania, was sentenced on Friday by the Bucharest Court of Appeals to 9 years and 10 months in prison, for offences including embezzlement, forgery and the misuse of influence or authority in view of obtaining undue benefits. The judges found that the offences in this case were concurrent with the offence of influence peddling, for which Vlasov received in 2015 a final prison sentence of 5 years and 8 months. Last September however he was released on parole. The Court therefore cancelled the conditional release decision and added an additional 3 years and 10 months to the sentence, resulting a total of 9 years and 10 months. The ruling is not final.
TOURISM – Romania and Poland will have joint tourist routes to attract visitors from Asia, the Romanian Tourism Minister Bogdan Trif announced on Friday, adding that both countries excel in terms of UNESCO sites and medieval citadels. Trif made these statements in Bucharest, during an event also attended by Polands Minister for Sports and Tourism, Witold Banka. Bogdan Trif emphasised the importance of a Government Order passed by Bucharest on Thursday with respect to the full guaranteeing of tourism services, a system implemented by Poland 2 years ago. In turn, the Polish official said a task force will be set up, to design joint Polish-Romanian travel packages.
WEATHER – The Romanian Foreign Ministry announced that the authorities in Spain, Portugal and Croatia have issued code red and orange alerts for extreme heat, whereas some parts of Greece and Portugal are under high wildfire alerts. Italy, the UK, the Netherlands, Belgium and Sweden are also reporting very high temperatures. Weather experts announce that Europe may see a new record in terms of high temperatures in the forthcoming days. The current record is 48 degrees Celsius, reported in Greece in 1977.
(translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)
