November 1, 2015 UPDATE

Romania declares three-day national mourning following a fire at a Bucharest nightclub on Friday night.

Newsroom, 01.11.2015, 19:52

Fire 30
people were killed and more than 140 injured following a fire on Friday night
at the Colectiv nightclub in Bucharest. Three of the injured died on Sunday.
More than 30 people are in critical condition in the intensive care units of 13
hospitals, with burns covering large parts of their bodies and smoke inhalation
injuries. The General Prosecutor’s Office has started hearing the witnesses to
the tragic accident.

In a message posted on Facebook on Sunday evening, president
Klaus Iohannis said the fire had been a terrible tragedy. There are moments
when a nation comes together, shows its solidarity and, in the end, its
strength. Today we are all able to show that we care and that we are united,
he added, while also praising the doctors who came to the hospitals in their
free time and the thousands of citizens who have donated blood. President
Iohannis also said that corruption that kills should no longer be tolerated.
Earlier he asked the bodies in charge of the investigation into the fire to be
firm, efficient and quick.The government has
declared three days of national mourning on the 31st of October and
the 1st and 2nd of November.

On Sunday afternoon, around 12,000 people took
part in a march of silence in Bucharest in memory of the victims. The Romanian
Radio Broadcasting Corporation has also expressed its sympathy for and solidarity
with the families and friends of the people who died in the fire. We are
profoundly grieved and our thoughts will always be with those who suffered from
the tragic accident, writes a statement from the Romanian Radio Broadcasting
Corporation.

Plane crash Egyptian
president Abdel Fattah
al-Sissi said an investigation into the causes of the Russian plane crash in
Egypt’s Sinai peninsula, in which 224 people were killed, could take months. On
Sunday, Russia declared a day of national mourning for the victims. The
Islamic State jihadist group claimed responsibility for the crash, saying it
brought down the plane in response to Russia’s intervention in Syria, but
Moscow has rejected the claim. Aeronautics experts are also sceptical about
this possibility. Air France, Lufthansa and Emirates say they have temporarily
stopped flying over the Sinai area for security reasons.

Turkey elections The
Islamic-conservative Justice and Development Party (AKP) of president Recep
Tayip Erdogan has won Sunday’s early parliamentary elections in Turkey. The
party won more than 50% of the votes and looks likely to regain the absolute
majority it lost at the previous elections five months ago. The Republican People’s
Party comes second, with more than 20% of the votes, followed by the
pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party and the Nationalist Action Party, each with a little over 10%.

Anniversary 87 years ago, at 5 pm on the 1st of November 1928, the Radiotelephonic Broadcasting Company went on air for the first time. The opening words belonged to the then president of the company, the physicist Dragomir Hurmuzescu. Today, Radio Romania is the largest media outlet in this country in terms of daily number of listeners to its different stations, as well as the many campaigns it has been involved in and the large-scale cultural projects it has developed.

Travel Romania participates in the
World Travel Market 2015 held in London between the 2nd and the 5th
of November. Considered the second important travel fair in the world, it
brings together over 50,000 professionals from more than 180 different
countries. Romania’s stand occupies 308 square metres.

Gymnastics The Romanian gymnast Marian Dragulescu
on Sunday won the silver medal in the men’s vault at the World Championships in
Glasgow. This is Romania’s second medal in Scotland after Thursday’s bronze. At
almost 35, Dragulescu is the most successful male gymnast in Romania, with
eight world and nine European titles. In the Olympic Games, he is the holder of
one silver medal in the floor event and two bronze medals in the vault and team
finals, all of which he won at the Athens Games in 2004. The Romanian men’s and
women’s teams both failed to qualify for the finals and thus secure a spot at
next year’s Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. They have one more chance to
qualify for the Games by competing in a pre-Olympic test event in April 2016.

Tennis Romania’s Simona Halep will finish the year
at no. 2 in the WTA ranking, after Serena Williams. Despite her Thursday exit
from the WTA Finals, Halep has improved on her 2014 record, moving up one
position in the world ranking. This is an exceptional achievement, given that
the only other Romanian player to make it to the top 10 was Irina Sparlea in
1997, when she became world no. 8. Aged 24, Simona Halep has 11 WTA titles to
her record, three of which she won this year, in Shenzen, China, Indian Wells,
in the US, and Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates.