July 25, 2015

A selection of some of the top stories in Romania today

Newsroom, 25.07.2015, 14:01

Romania’s president Klaus Iohannis today starts a 2-day trip to Salzburg
for talks with his Austrian counterpart Heinz Fischer. The two leaders will
discuss bilateral relations and current European and international
developments. Klaus Iohannis will also attend, together with his wife, the
official opening of the famous music festival in Salzburg as guests of honour
of the Austrian head of state.

The minister delegate
liaising with the Romanian communities abroad, Angel Tilvar, who is on a 4-day official visit to Italy, had talks in Rome on
Friday with representatives of the Rome municipality. Tilvar reaffirmed
Romania’s constant efforts to maintain links with the Romanians living abroad.
During the talks, it was agreed that Italian business people carrying out
activities in Romania would be involved in professional retraining programmes
for the Romanians who wish to return to their home country. Tilvar also met members
of the Romanian community in Rome. His visit is part of Bucharest’s efforts to
obtain information about the Romanian community in Italy, the biggest in the
world, with almost 1 million people, to help its members integrate and make
sure their rights as European citizens are respected. This is minister Tilvar’s
second visit to Italy after a trip to the Catania region in February.

Romania’s foreign minister Bogdan Aurescu had a telephone
conversation on Friday with NATO’s secretary general Jens Stoltenberg about
Russia’s recent announcements regarding the deployment of strategic bombers in
the Black Sea region. Talks also focused on other plans by Russia to develop
sophisticated military technology in response to NATO’s missile defence system.
Aurescu described these measures as completely unjustified given that the
military base in Deveselu, in southern Romania, which will be integrated into
the NATO ballistic missile defence system, does not target Russia.

Seven counties in western and eastern Romania are under an orange code
alert for heat. Temperatures in these regions will go up to 39 degrees today.
The rest of the country, with the exception of the areas in the Carpathian Arc,
is under a yellow code alert. Starting on Sunday, the orange alert will extend
to 12 counties in the south and south-east of the country, including the
capital Bucharest.

Romania are one of the top seeds for the 2018 World
Cup qualifying draw that takes place in Saint Petersburg today. According to
the Romanian Football Federation, Romania are seeded in pot one after climbing
to the 8th place in FIFA’s July ranking. The 52 entrants from Europe
will be drawn into seven groups of six and two groups of five. The nine group
winners will qualify automatically for Russia 2018, while the eight best group
runner-ups will take part in a play-off.

The biggest knightly flag in the world was flown on
Friday evening at the 23rd Mediaeval Festival in Sighisoara, in
central Romania, from the Clock Tower, the town’s emblematic building. This is
one of the world records the organisers of the festival wish to set this year.
They also wish to build the biggest sword in the world and create the biggest
traditional mask in the world. The festival, which is held in the only
inhabited mediaeval citadel in south-eastern Europe, also features concerts and
performances from 12 different music groups from Romania and Hungary, 11
theatre and mediaeval animation companies and 7 knight orders from Romania and
Bulgaria. Exhibitions, book launches, an organ concert and film screenings are
also part of the festival’s line-up.