July 16, 2023

A roundup of local and international news.

Newsroom, 16.07.2023, 13:45

Exercise. 750 troops from the Romanian Navy, other
national defence structures, as well as from Bulgaria, Belgium, France, Greece,
Italy, the UK, the United States and Turkey are taking part in the Poseidon
2023 multinational exercise. Under way until the 21st July, the
exercise was officially kicked off on Saturday in the Romanian Black Sea port
of Constanţa. A mine countermeasures exercise, it consists in complex training
sessions at sea, as well as an episode to practice interagency cooperation in
the event of collective accidents and disasters with multiple casualties.

Weather. Yellow and
orange code warnings for heat are in place today across most of Romania. The
west, south and south-east are strongest hit, with the temperature-humidity
index passing the critical level of 80. The warnings are also valid on Monday,
with the capital Bucharest and southern and western Romania under orange alerts.
Temperatures are expected to hit 37-39 degrees Celsius. The heat wave will
continue on Tuesday in the west, south and south-east, and on Wednesday and
Thursday in the south.

Heat wave. The world is
struggling with a record-breaking heat wave, affecting Europe, China and the
United States, with the authorities taking measures to cope with the heat and
the fires caused by global warming, France Presse notes. Record-high
temperatures are expected across Italy in the coming days, with the Italian
weather service fearing the most intense heat wave this summer and of all time.
The European record is 48.8 degrees Celsius, which was recorded in Sicily in
August 2021. The highest temperature recorded in Germany on Saturday was 37.9
degrees Celsius in the Bavarian town of Mohrendorf-Kleinseebach. Greece is also
in the grips of a heat wave, prompting the authorities to close the Acropolis in
Atthens during the hottest hours on Sunday, for the third day in a row. In the
US, California’s Death Valley, one of the hottest spots on earth, new record
temperatures are expected on Sunday, after 48 degrees Celsius were recorded on
Saturday. A new heat wave is expected in Morocco until Tuesday, with
temperatures between 37 and 47 degrees Celsius. Globally, July has been the
hottest month ever according to Copernicus European agency and to NASA.

Measures. The Romanian
government is expected to put forward concrete proposals to reform the care
system for older persons and persons with disabilities. Amid investigations
carried out in recent days at a number of care homes and leading to the
uncovering of abuses against the residents, the prime minister and leader of
the Social Democratic Party Marcel Ciolacu said the measures would be discussed
with representatives of civil society and NGOs. Nominations will also be made
to take over the labour and family ministries following the resignations of Marius
Budăi and Gabriela Firea, respectively. The two resigned over irregularities in
the care system for older persons and persons with disabilities.

Baccalaureate.
Registrations for the second session of the baccalaureate exam will begin on
Monday. High school graduates who either failed the exam or were unable to
register for the previous session have one week to submit the necessary
documents. Exams will begin on 7th August and the results will be
published on 29th August. According to the education ministry, 27%
of those who took the June session failed the exams.

Handball. Romania are today playing Portugal for the
bronze medal at the European Women’s Under-19 Handball Championship hosted by Piteşti
and Mioveni, in southern Romania. Romania has
two European Under-19 Championship titles, from 1998 and 2000, while the last
time it won a medal was in 2007, when it came in third. (CM)