July 10, 2026
A roundup of local and world news
Newsroom, 10.07.2026, 14:00
TALKS Romania’s President, Nicusor Dan, has summoned the leaders of the former ruling coalition – PSD, PNL, USR, UDMR for a new round of talks, in an attempt to break the political deadlock. The meeting has been slated for Monday in the context that the head of state says ‘he doesn’t feel that a solution might emerge’ for instating a government with full powers. Dan has again said the responsibility for building a majority does not belong to him but to the parties, which should feel pressure from the people. On May 5, the minority PNL-USR-UDMR government, headed by the Liberal Ilie Bolojan, was sacked through a non-confidence vote initiated by the former coalition member, the PSD, and by AUR of the ultra-nationalist, populist opposition.
INS Romania’s population will go down to 15.633 million in 2080 from 19.043 million in January 2025, says the latest forecast by the National Institute of Statistics (INS) released on Friday on the World Population Day, marked every year on July 11. According to the same sources, the number of the resident population could drop by 3.410 million in 2080 against the level registered at the beginning of last year. In this context the young population (under 15 years) and adult (between 15-64 years) will register a drop of 13.7%, 60.4% respectively, against the reference period whereas the aging population (65 years and older) will go up to 25.9% of the total. The world population is expected to grow in the following 50-60 years reaching a peak of roughly 10.3 billion people in the mid-2080s. After this peak, the world population will gradually decrease down to 10.2 billion towards the end of the century. According to Eurostat, Romania came sixth in the EU in terms of resident population on January 1, 2025.
FOOTBALL Romania’s football vice-champions, Universitatea Cluj drew their match, nil-all, against Dynamo Kyiv in Lublin, Poland on Thursday night, in the first qualifying round, first leg of Europa League. The return game is due in Cluj, northwestern Romania, on July 16. If they beat the Ukrainians, our footballers will be up against the Greek side, PAOK Thessaloniki in the second preliminary leg of the competition. The champions, Universitatea Craiova, on Wednesday clinched a 4-1 win against ML Vitebsk of Belarus. The teams played in Hungary in the first round of the first leg of the Champions League. The return match will be played in Romania on July 15. If they outperform Vitebsk, Universitatea will be taking on the winner of the game pitching Borac Banja Luka of Bosnia-Herzegovina against PFC Levski of Sofia, Bulgaria. Two other Romanian sides, CFR Cluj and FCSB will be representing Romania in the Conference League.
WILDFIRES Romanian firefighters are continuing their interventions in France, where the risk of wildfire remains high. The General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations has announced the Romanian rescue teams took action on Thursday to remove risks and secure the perimeters in the affected areas. Their main activity was to monitor and remove the effects of wildfires. So, the Romanian firefighters have checked the affected areas, identified hidden seats of fire and took action to cool the hot spots. According to the same sources, the section where the Romanian firefighters are operating is one of moderate risk. 40 Romanian firefighters are operating in France within the EU Civil Protection Mechanism.
CORVETTE The new corvette of the Romanian Navy, ‘Rear Admiral August Roman’ – 261 is to moor in the military port of Constanta, southeastern Romania, on Friday. The corvette, which was built in Turkey, and officially entered service on June 20th is the most modern naval platform of the Romanian Navy. This warship is designed for patrol and surveillance missions, surface combat, air and anti-submarine defence.
WEATHER Daytime temperatures in Romania are under the period’s average in almost all regions, while in the country’s north, center and east the weather is generally unstable with heavy downpours and thunderstorms. The highs of the day are ranging between 19 and 31 degrees Celsius with a noon reading in Bucharest of 24 degrees.
(bill)