Newsflash

Newsflash 20 July 2013

România Internațional, 20.07.2013, 13:40

Over 127 thousand Romanians, mostly men, celebrated their name day on Saturday, Saint Elijah’s Day. The saint is said to have lived some 2 thousand 8 hundred years ago, when the people of Israel was straying towards a polytheist belief. In order to convince people to believe in one God, Elijah said that there would be no rain for three years. And so it was. After three years it started to rain again, after he had prayed for it. According to the Bible, Saint Elijah did not die as an ordinary man, he rose to the sky in a chariot of fire. As he was the first man who could fly, starting 1913 Saint Elijah has also been the patron saint of aviators. The Romanian Aviation Day was celebrated all across the country through various military ceremonies and air shows.

Romanian PM Victor Ponta said on Saturday that Omar Hayssam, the Syrian business man with Romanian citizenship sentenced to 20 years in prison for terrorism, was brought back to the country under government’s approval and by abiding by the Romanian laws. Omar Hayssam was brought to Romania on Friday, seven years after he fled the country. He was involved in the kidnapping of 3 Romanian journalists in Iraq in 2005 and was sentenced to prison in absence. In 2006 he managed to flee the country, while on bail. Hayssam was arrested in Syria, where he was sentenced to four years in prison for another case.

Four Romanian alpinists have conquered the 8125 m high Nanga Parbat peak in Pakistan, at the western end of the Himalayans. Marius Gane, Zsolt Torok, Aurel Salasan and Teo Vlad reached the peak on Friday afternoon, and during the climb they did not use any additional oxygen or guides. To mountain climbers Nanga Parbat is one of the most difficult peaks to climb.

Romania has 18 athletes participating in the 2013 World Swimming Championship in Barcelona, which will last until August 4th. The Romanian delegation is made up of 18 polo players, 2 divers and 3 swimmers. According to the Romanian Swimming and Modern Pentathlon Federation, the objective is qualification for a swimming final and a place among the 12 best divers.