January 2, 2020 UPDATE
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Newsroom, 02.01.2020, 19:21
Emergency calls — Almost 3 thousand emergency calls have been made in Romania in the last 48 hours, the authorities announced on Thursday. Fire fighters had to intervene in more than 260 cases and the SMURD teams – the Mobile Emergency Service for Resuscitation and Extrication — were called to intervene in 2,400 cases to provide qualified first aid or to extricate the victims of road accidents. Also rescuers intervened to help people out of hostile situations and were involved in as many as 200 missions for community protection. During the New Year celebrations 82 people were reported wounded by firecrackers and other pyrotechnic devices and 28 fires occurred. For the New Year mini holiday over 5,300 firefighters are on duty to ensure the citizens’ protection and safety.
Eurostat – Romanian households allotted in 2018 only 1.9% of their total consumption expenses to catering services provided by restaurants, cafes, pubs and teashops, the smallest percentage reported in the EU. This figure is three times smaller than the average 7% reported in the EU, show data published by Eurostat. All in all, households in the EU spent more than 600 billion Euros (the equivalent of 3.8% of the EU’s GDP) to eat out. The largest amount of expenses allotted to catering services out of the total consumption expenses was reported in Ireland, Spain, Malta and Greece and the smallest amount of such expenses was reported in Romania, Poland and Lithuania. Between 2008 and 2018 the amount of expenses allotted for catering services out of the total consumption expenses increased in most EU countries except for Romania, Spain, Slovakia and Great Britain. In Romania expenses for catering services dropped sharply from 2.9% in 2008 to 1.9% in 2018.
Film – The film La Gomera (The Whistlers) by Romanian director Corneliu Porumboiu is participating in the 31st edition of the Palm Springs International Film Festival in California, which is unfolding from January 2nd to 12th. 188 films from 81 countries will be presented in this year’s edition of the festival. Corneliu Porumboiu’s 5th feature film La Gomera was premiered in the Cannes Film Festival in 2019. The film tells the story of Cristi, a police officer who reaches the island of La Gomera (Spain) to learn ‘El Silbo’, a form of communication by whistling, which is specific to the area. His mission is to set free Zsolt, a controversial businessman who is detained in Bucharest.
Prices — In Romania fuel prices dropped as of January 1 by an average of almost 7 eurocents. Also as of January 1 the minimum wage went up to 467 Euros per month and the value of one point in the fine system rose to 47 Euros. The fine point should have been kept at the level of 2019 but the law which freezes the price was challenged at the Constitutional Court.
Madrid — One Romanian citizen died and another seven were injured in a car crash that occurred on Wednesday in Spain’s western region of Extremadura, on the highway to Seville. According to Radio Romania’s correspondent to Madrid, the eight Romanians were in a van stationing on the side of the road. Their car was hit by a truck running at a high speed. Ambulances, firefighters, the police and Red Cross representatives arrived at the location of the crash. The injured people have been taken to several hospitals in the area. (update by L. Simion)
