August 7, 2013
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România Internațional, 07.08.2013, 14:49
The Romanian Orthodox Church deems the documentary presented on the BBC on August 3, 2013 and entitled “The Power and the Faith: Romania’s Orthodox Church” as manipulative. The documentary presents Romania as the country where a new church is built every three days, in spite of the fact that it is one of the poorest EU countries. According to a press release, after 1990, 2.000 churches have been built or are currently under construction. As for the financial support for the officially recognized denominations (and not only for the Romanian Orthodox Church) it accounts for 0.2% of the state budget or for 0.08% of Romania’s GDP. In Romania, almost 90% of the population is Orthodox. According to the BBC documentary, after the fall of communism, the Romanian Orthodox Church took advantage of its position within society and built new churches, including a an enormous cathedral in downtown Bucharest.
Romania’s Foreign Affairs Ministry has advised Romanian citizens who plan to travel abroad to get information about the security conditions in their country of destination, before leaving Romania. The Foreign Ministry has asked Romania’s diplomatic missions and consular offices in the high-risk areas to identify the prospective threats for Romanian citizens. The Romanian Foreign Ministry’s move takes place against the background of the United States decision to keep 10 embassies and consular offices in the Middle East and Africa closed, until August 10, because of terrorist threats. France, Britain and Germany have also temporarily closed their embassies in Yemen .
The National Bank of Romania (BNR) has decreased the inflation forecast for 2013 and 2014 to 3.1%, from the previous 3.2% and 3.3% respectively, the Central Bank Governor Mugur Isarescu has announced. The National Bank of Romania has analysed and OKed the quarterly report on inflation. The document highlights the prospect of disinflation in the near future and an accelerated economic growth. At European level, the annual inflation rate in June stood at 4.5%, the same as in the previous months. We recall on Monday, the Central Bank’s Board decided to reduce the annual key interest rate – another important economic indicator – to 4.5%, to encourage lending.
Romaian metherologists have extended until Friday the code orange alert for heat in 6 counties from western Romania. In these areas, maximum temperatures will stand at 37 to 40 degrees Celsius. In Romania’s capital city Bucharest and 18 counties in southern, south-western, western, northwestern and central Romania a yellow code alert for heat continues to stay in place. In these areas, the highs of the day can reach more than 36-37 degrees Celsius, while the temperature –moist ratio can exceed the critical threshold of 80 units. Elsewhere in the country the weather will be warm, except for the mountain regions, where rainfalls and thunderstorms are expected.
