June 29, 2014 UPDATE

A look at some of the main headlines in Romania today.

România Internațional, 28.06.2014, 13:03

Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta, Defence Minister Mircea Dusa and deputy prime minister Gabriel Oprea, who were attending a ceremony in Kandahar, Afghanistan, on Sunday, were evacuated by armoured vehicles and taken to safe place after the NATO base was attacked with rockets. The Romanian officials were participating, in Kandahar, in a ceremony marking the beginning of the Romanian troops’ withdrawal from Afghanistan. No one was injured and the visit’s agenda was resumed. According to PM Ponta, Romania is now safer and more respected by its NATO allies thanks to the sacrifice and courage of the Romanian military who carried out missions in this country. The 23 soldiers who lost their lives in Afghanistan will forever be Romania’s heroes, the PM has said. The Romanian troops, numbering 25,000 soldiers, were deployed in Afghanistan in 2002, where they took part in military and humanitarian missions. At present, the Romanian contingent in this country numbers 2,000 military, who will return to Romania over the next few months. About 200 Romanian soldiers will remain in Afghanistan to help with the training of the Afghan army.

Over 500 thousand Romanians celebrated their name day on Sunday on the occasion of the Orthodox celebration of Saints Peter and Paul. It is a liturgical feast in honour of the martyrdom, in Rome, of the two apostles.

Romanian tenis player Simona Halep qualified to the round of sixteen in Wimbledon with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Belinda Bencic of Switzerland. Halep will next play against Zarina Diyas of Kazahstan. The WTA 3rd ranked, Simona Halep is seeded third in the women’s singles in Wimbledon. Halep reached the fourth round of the 2013 U.S. Open, the quarterfinals of the Australian Open in January and came within a set of capturing the French Open earlier this month.

High school graduates in Romania who have registered for the first session of the graduation exam, the Baccalaureate, will have their first written exams starting on Monday. The first results will be made public on July 7 while the final grades will be posted on July 11. In 2013, 56,4% of the Romanian high school graduates passed during the first session of the Baccalaureate.