July 24, UPDATE

Worlds biggest economies will use all available measures to support global growth

Newsroom, 24.07.2016, 19:11

G20 – The world’s biggest economies will use all available measures to support global growth and better share the benefits of trade, policymakers said on Sunday, at the end of a two-day G20 meeting in China. The meeting has been dominated by the impact of Britain’s exit from Europe. Britain’s new chancellor, Philip Hammond, said the uncertainty about Brexit would begin to abate once Britain laid out a vision for a future relationship with Europe, which could become clearer later this year. Hammond also said there could be volatility in financial markets throughout the negotiations in the years ahead.

MUNICH ATTACK – David Ali Sonboly, the teenage gunman who killed nine people in Munich on Friday and then committed suicide had been planning his attack for a year, German authorities say. Bavarian officials said the gunman appeared to have bought the illegal pistol used in the attack on the so-called “dark net”. The victims of the attack had not been specifically targeted. The assassin was taking medication for anxiety and depression.

MISSION – On Monday, the 341st infantry battalion “White Sharks” will go on a mission to Afghanistan. According to the Romanian Defense Ministry, the military will be part of NATO’s Resolute Support mission and will protect the military base in Kandahar and will help train the Afghan security forces. The White Sharks is an elite unit of the Romanian Army that carried out missions in Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan.

LEGISLATION – The Romanian Government will next week green light a bill that transposes into national law the European Directive on the single European railway area. According to a release of the Transport Ministry in Bucharest, the bill will then be sent to Parliament to be adopted by end-October. On Friday, the European Commission has referred Greece, Luxembourg and Romania to the EU Court of Justice (ECJ) for failing to transpose the Directive into national law. The EC proposed daily penalty payments of almost 30 thousand euros for Romania.

ASYLUM – As many as 443 people have submitted asylum applications in Romania in the first half of the year, by 40% less than in the same period of 2015, the Immigration Inspectorate has announced today. Most asylum seekers come from Syria, a quarter of them, Iraq Pakistan and Afghanistan. Also, 430 international protection applications have been solved, and a form of protection was granted in 226 cases.

INTERNSHIP – The Romanian Government’s official internship programme will be launched on Monday at Romania’s National Library in the presence of Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos and of several ministers. 200 students and graduates will be interns in 43 public institutions, of which 20 ministries. The interns come from 20 Romanian and 32 foreign universities. The Government’s internship programme is currently at its 4th edition.

DRILL – Several hundred Romanian and American military are participating, between July and September, in the Dacian Eagle 2016 drill at an air base near the central Romanian town of Campia Turzii. The drill is aimed at enhancing the level of training and interoperability, through joint flights. It is also an opportunity to practice standard procedures and techniques used during air operations, in keeping with the NATO standards.

OLYMPICS — Some of the athletes making up Romania’s Olympic delegation, namely members of the boxing, judo, fencing, athletics and swimming teams, left for Rio on Sunday to attend the 31th edition of the summer Olympics, to be held between August 5th and 21st. Over 100 Romanian athletes will take part in this year’s Olympics.

(Translated by Elena Enache)