May 18, 2019
A roundup of Romanian and international news
Newsroom, 18.05.2019, 14:00
WEATHER In Romania, the National Meteorology Agency has issued a code yellow alert for heavy rainfall valid in 16 counties in the north, east and centre of the country until Sunday morning, and an unstable weather warning valid across the country until noon Tuesday. Weather experts expect heavy rain, hail and thunderstorms. More than 3,000 fire fighters have been deployed over the past few days to support the local authorities and citizens in tens of towns and villages, to pump out water from households following recent rainfalls and flash floods. The most affected counties were Bistriţa Năsăud and Mures in the centre, Gorj and Teleorman in the south, Hunedoara in the south-west and Maramureş in the north.
NATO The North-Atlantic Alliances largest communications exercise Steadfast Cobalt 2019 begins on Sunday in Otopeni, near Bucharest. Taking part are over 1,200 Romanian and foreign military from 35 NATO IT&C structures, the Romanian Defence Ministry announces in a news release. Scheduled to conclude on June 2, Steadfast Cobalt 2019 is aimed at the joint training of troops in the provision of multinational support in NATO operations and at practicing the standard procedures required in order to ensure the interoperability of NATO human and technical resources.
CYBER-CRIME The EU member states have adopted a mechanism enabling them to punish individuals or entities from outside the bloc that commit cyber attacks. It is for the first time that the EU responds to cyber attacks in this form. Under the new mechanism, Brussels will be able to introduce travel restrictions and to freeze the assets and accounts of suspected offenders.
FILM La Gomera, directed by the Romanian Corneliu Porumboiu, has its world premiere today at the Cannes International Film Festival. The film competes for the Palme dOr against movies by Quentin Tarantino, Pedro Almodóvar, Ken Loach, Terrence Malick, the Dardenne brothers and other directors. Corneliu Porumboiu returns to Cannes this year, after in 2015 he won the Un Certain Talent prize in the section Un Certain Regard, for his film Treasure. His Police, adjective was awarded in 2009 the grand prize of the jury and the FIPRESCI award in the same section. Also in Cannes, in 2006, his debut feature, 12:08 East of Bucharest won the Camera d’Or trophy.
HANDBALL The mens handball team CSM Bucharest is playing at home today against the Portuguese side Madeira Andebol SAD, the decisive match in the Challenge Cup finals. In the first leg, in Portugal, the 2 teams drew, 22-22. Challenge Cup is the 3rd-tier inter-club competition in Europe. The current Cup holders are Potaissa Turda, from north-western Romania. Another 3 Romanian teams have also won the trophy so far: CSA Steaua Bucharest (in 2006), CS UCM Reşiţa (in 2007, 2008, 2009) and HC Odorheiu Secuiesc (in 2015), while CSU Bucovina Suceava was a finalist in 2009. In womens handball, CSM Bucharest was kicked out from the Champions League quarter-finals by the French team Metz, after having qualified into the so-called Final Four for the past 3 years, and after having won the trophy in 2016.
(translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)
