July 16, 2023 UPDATE

A roundup of local and international news.

Newsroom, 16.07.2023, 19:17

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.

Nominations. The national political council of the
Social Democratic Party, in government together with the National Liberal
Party, will on Monday establish its nominations for the new ministers of labour
and family following the resignations of Marius Budăi and Gabriela Firea,
respectively. The two stepped down over an ongoing scandal over abuse committed
at care homes in Ilfov county, south of Bucharest, where the prosecutor’s
office for organised crime is investigating criminal groups specialised in
exploiting vulnerable persons. Both former ministers categorically rejected any
links with the persons named by the prosecutors, including owners of care homes
and staff. Prime minister and leader of the Social Democratic Party Marcel
Ciolacu has promised to put forward concrete measures to improve the running of
care homes for older persons, children 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 on Friday lost to Hungary in the
semifinals, 34-26. The winner of the previous two European under-19 titles,
Hungary dominated most of the match, but Romania did manage to take the lead
twice in the first half. In the final, Hungary will be facing Denmark, who
defeated Portugal in the other semifinal 38-35, after extra time. 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.

Weather. The National Weather Service in Romania
issued yellow and orange heat warnings across most of Romania. The west
and south are under orange alerts, with the highs expected to range from 30 to
39 degrees Celsius. A maximum temperature of 38 degrees Celsius is forecast for
the capital Bucharest. Rain is expected in the north, north-west and centre.
According to the weather service, this heat wave will last for the next seven
days, especially in the southern part of the country. (CM)