January 13, 2016

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 13.01.2016, 12:01

The Turkish
police have arrested three Russian citizens suspected of having connections
with the Islamic State terrorist organization, following the suicide bomb attack
committed in the historical center of Istanbul on Tuesday. 10 people died and
15 were wounded in the attack, Reuters reports, quoting the Turkish media. Most
of the victims are German tourists. The attack occurred against the background
of Turkey being on state of alert
already, following the bloodiest attack in its history, when 103 people were killed
in front of the central railway station in Ankara, in October 2015. Tuesday’s
attack has been denounced by the entire international community. The Romanian
Foreign Ministry has too condemned it and has reiterated Romania’s
determination to fight terrorism, alongside its international partners.

Romania’s
Ambassador to Oslo is having talks today with the Norwegian Minister of
Children, Equality and Social Inclusion, in a bid to settle the situation of
the Romanian – Norwegian family whose five children were taken away by the
Norwegian Child Welfare Authority because their parents had apparently used
physical punishment . The minors have already been placed in the care of three
foster families. Their father, Marius Bodnariu, who is Romanian, has denounced
the abuse, but has also admitted that there have been situations in which he
has used some minor physical corrections to discipline the children. On the
other hand, the stand of the Child Welfare Authority is not known, because the
Norwegian law imposes full confidentiality in such cases. Manifestations have
been held both in Romania and abroad to support the Bodnariu family. In
Bucharest, president Klaus Iohannis has stated he supports the Romanian
Government’s efforts to ensure the full observance of Romanian citizens’
rights, wherever they may be.

Romania’s President Klaus
Iohannis is to receive a WB delegation
today, following Monday’s signing of a fresh memorandum between the WB and the
technocratic government in Bucharest. According to the new memorandum, the WB
will keep providing technical assistance to the Romanian public institutions
until 2023 and will help the Romanian Government implement public
administration modernization reforms. Thanks to the first memorandum, some 20
public institutions benefited from 30 million Euro worth of funding in the 2012
– 2015 period.

The controversial business man Vlad Plahotniuc is the proposal of the Democratic
Party for the office of Prime Minister of the Republic of Moldova, Romania’s neighbor with a predominantly
Romanian-speaking population. Previously, the leader of the party, Marian Lupu, announced,
after consultations with president Nicolae Timofti, the formation of a
parliamentary majority, which might give a new Government. He has stated that
the new majority, which has 56 of the 101 votes in Parliament, includes the
Democrats, the Liberals, part of the Liberal – Democrat group – members of the
former pro-European government coalition – as well as several former Communist
MPs, traditionally pro-Russian, who have created a so-called ‘social democratic
platform’. If a new Government is not endorsed by January 29th,
president Timofti will be forced to dissolve Parliament and announce early
elections.

In Romania,
consumption prices dropped in December 2015 as compared to the same month in
2014, so the annual inflation rate reached minus 0.9%, according to data released by
the National Statistics Institute. In early 2015, the National Bank of Romania
estimated a 2.2% inflation rate, but the forecast has been adjusted with every
revision, in keeping with the fiscal measures adopted by the Government, such
as lowering the VAT on foodstuffs, as of June 1st. This is the
second consecutive year when end-of- year inflation is below the minimum target
set by the Central Bank.

Romanian tennis player
Simona Halep, who ranks 2nd in the WTA classification, has today
qualified for the semifinals of the Sydney tournament, with 687,000 dollars in
prize money. She defeated the 11th ranked Czech player Karolina
Pliskova 6-4, 7-5. Next, Simona will take on the Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova,
number 25 in the WTA rankings. In the direct matches with Kuznetova, Simona
Halep leads 3 to 2.

Romania’s
national water polo team is today playing against Italy, in group C of the
European Championships in Belgrade. On Monday, the Romanian squad defeated
Georgia 12-6. Also part of group C is Germany, which Romania will play against
on Friday. The European Water Polo Championships are a useful rehearsal for the
2016 Olympic Games, and the winners will secure their participation in Rio, this
August. The other teams have the chance to take part in the pre-Olympic qualification
tournament, provided they are among the Euro 2016 top 10.