August 9, 2015
Click here for a roundup of Romanian and world news
Bogdan Matei, 09.08.2015, 13:44
Three counties in western Romania are under a code orange alert for extreme heat, with temperatures expected to reach 38 degrees Celsius. Another eight counties will be under a code yellow alert, while drought will continue to be reported next week as well, according to weather forecasts. Farming areas in most of the country are affected by the lack of rainfalls. Navigation on the Danube is hindered, although not completely stuck. In the Danube Delta, a UNESCO world heritage site, access by boat on several tens of canals is impossible because of the low water level.
Representatives of the Romanian communities in the diaspora, MPs from Romania and the neighbouring Republic of Moldova, as well as professors from the countrys main universities are attending, as of Monday, a new edition of the Summer University in Izvoru Mureşului. The Romanian Cultural Institute, through the Directorate for Romanians Abroad, supports the participation in this one-week event of 80 leaders of Romanian associations, major personalities of the diaspora. This years theme is “Romania and the Romanians on the EU and NATO borders. The topics include the right of the Romanian minorities in the border regions and in the Balkans, as well as the stronger ties between Romania and the Republic of Moldova. The President of Romania Klaus Iohannis, PM Victor Ponta and cabinet members are among the guests of the event.
Russia will always try to control the neighbouring ex-Soviet countries, said the Ambassador of Georgia to Bucharest, Ilya Georgadze. In an interview to a Romanian television channel, he added that Russia did not want Georgia to be a democratic, prosperous, Western-leaning country, because the more fragile this republic was, the easier it was to control. The Georgian diplomat also said the Russian offensive in Ukraine is designed to help keep Kiev in Moscows orbit. Georgadze made these statements seven years after the Russian invasion of Georgia, in August 2008, under the pretext of protecting the pro-Russian secessionist rebels in Abkhazia and South Osetia.
Traffic on A2 Motorway connecting Bucharest to the Black Sea port of Constanta was stopped this morning after a coach crash last night, which killed at least 2 Ukrainian tourists and left tens of others injured. According to the Romanian traffic police, the driver must have fallen asleep while driving. The tourists were returning from a seaside holiday, most likely in neighbouring Bulgaria. Many of the passengers were children, and one of them is in a critical condition. The State Secretary with the Romanian Interior Ministry Raed Arafat announced that the victims were taken to six hospitals in Bucharest.
Japan commemorates today 70 years since the launch, during World War II, of the atomic bomb over the city of Nagasaki, in the west, which killed some 74,000 people. The blast came 3 days after the one in Hiroshima, in which 140,000 people died. The two strikes forced Japan to surrender and ended the war in the Pacific, three months after the conclusion of the one in Europe. The supporters of the decision say that this way an American land invasion was avoided, which would have left millions of people dead. In December 1967, Tokyo undertook to never produce, possess or allow nuclear weapons on Japanese territory.
