January 17, 2020 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 17.01.2020, 19:41

HOLOCAUST – The Romanian
president Klaus Iohannis will be in Israel from Tuesday to Thursday, the
president’s office has announced. He will make this trip in order to attend the
5th forum of world leaders
dedicated to the remembrance of the victims of the Holocaust and the 75th
anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. The
forum, entitled Remembering the Holocaust, Fighting Anti-Semitism,
will take place on the 23rd of January in Jerusalem. The
participation of the Romanian president in this international forum is part of
the efforts made by the Romanian state to consolidate education about the
Holocaust, preserve the memory of the Holocaust, combat anti-Semitism, racism
and xenophobia and promote European values, tolerance and respect for the
fundamental rights and liberties. On the sidelines of the forum, president
Iohannis will also have a meeting with his Israeli counterpart Reuven Rivlin.

AID – The Romanian
government has approved aid worth 41 million euros, to rescue the National Air
Transport Company Tarom. Without the aid, Tarom would no longer be able to
finance its activity as of March. According to the head of the prime minister’s
office Ionel Danca, this is the first step and can take the form of
restructuring aid, following the notification of the European Commission and
the latter’s approval of the aid. Tarom estimates losses of around 36 million
euros for 2019. The Romanian state-owned airliner has not had profit since
2007.

AIRPORT – The Avram Iancu
International Airport in Cluj has been authorized to introduce pets from third
countries for non-commercial purpose, thus becoming the first regional airport
to provide this facility to its passengers. Pets could only be introduced in
Romania via the Henri Coanda International Airport in Bucharest.

WHO -
The World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday warned that the lack of new
antibiotics threatens global efforts to contain drug-resistant infections,
which kill tens of thousands of people every year, France Press reports. Never
has the threat of antimicrobial resistance been more immediate and the need for
solutions more urgent, says Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General
of WHO. Numerous initiatives are underway to reduce resistance, but we also
need countries and the pharmaceutical industry to step up and contribute with
sustainable funding and innovative new medicines. The WHO believes the world
is headed to an era where common infections could start killing again. Some
33,000 people die every year in Europe and 35,000 in the United States to
drug-resistant infections, one of the greatest health challenges yet
identified, WHO officials say. Bacteria develop resistance when patients misuse
antibiotics or don’t finish their treatment, thus becoming immune to drugs.

BREXIT -
The UK will not automatically kick out EU citizens who have not obtained a stay
permit, the European Parliament’s coordinator for Brexit, Guy Verhofstadt said.
The EU official said that those who have not filed for resident status by the
end of June 2021 will be given a six-month grace period to solve their status.
The information was confirmed by Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s spokesman. Under
the current post-Brexit legal framework, EU citizens who have an attested stay
of at least 5 years in the UK are granted permanent resident status. The others
can file for temporary resident status, which can be upgraded to permanent at
the end of 5 years spent in the UK.

TENNIS -
Romanian tennis player Monica Niculescu, world no. 128, has qualified for the
main draw of the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam tournament of the year.
She defeated the Swiss player Stefanie Voegele on Friday in three sets, in the
last qualifying round. Three Romanian players go straight into the main draw in
the women’s singles: world no. 4 Simona Halep, world no. 74 Sorana Cirstea, and
world no. 105 Irina Begu. In the opening round, Halep will face world no. 49
Jennifer Brady of the US, Cirstea will face world no. 33 Barbora Strycova of
the Czech Republic and Begu will face world no. 10 Kiki Bertens of the
Netherlands.

(Translated
by C. Mateescu & V. Palcu)