November 23, 2014
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România Internațional, 23.11.2014, 13:41
The Defence Ministry is holding today, in the central Romanian city of Sibiu, a military and religious ceremony to commemorate the 8 people who died in a helicopter crash on Friday. The bodies will subsequently be taken to the localities where they are to be buried by the Defence Ministry at the request of the victims’ families. Two other servicemen were injured in the aviation accident that took place in Sibiu County. The ten people were supposed to take part in a joint Romanian-American military exercise. “This is a sad moment for the Romanian Army, for the Romanian people and for myself,” president Traian Basescu said after the tragedy.
The head of the Romanian Directorate for Organised Crime and Terrorism Investigations Alina Bica resigned, after she was placed under 30-day arrest in a corruption investigation. Alina Bica is accused of having approved excessive compensation payments in 2011, when she was a state under secretary with the Justice Ministry and a member of the commission in charge with the return of landed property to former owners. The estimated damage stands at more that 60 million euro. In the same case, the National Anti-Corruption Directorate requested the approval of the Chamber of Deputies for the arrest of MP Marko Attila Gábor, a former co-worker of Alina Bica in the restitution commission.
The representative office of the European Commission in Romania jointly with the Italian presidency of the EU will launch in Bucharest on Monday a campaign called “Yes, we care.” The campaign is designed to present the projects financed with European funds to the ambassadors of EU countries in Bucharest. The first event in the campaign focuses on research. The ambassadors of 15 countries to Bucharest, the head of the Romanian office of the European Commission, Angela Filote, and the Romanian minister delegate for higher education, scientific research and development, Mihnea Costoiu, will visit two important Romanian institutions in this field. The first is the “Victor Babeş” National Institute, which runs cancer research projects, and the second is the “Horia Hulubei” Nuclear Physics Institute in Măgurele (near Bucharest), which is set to host the world’s largest laser.
The Gaudeamus International Book and Education Fair organised by Radio Romania comes to an end today in Bucharest. Attending this 21st edition of the fair were more than 300 Romanian and foreign publishers, education institutions and cultural institutes, presenting books from all fields and for all age categories. This year’s guest of honour in the fair was Russia.
The NATO Parliamentary Assembly, convened these days in The Hague (Netherlands), is discussing the conflict in eastern Ukraine and the accusations against Moscow regarding its support for the pro-Russian separatists in this region. In an interview to the Radio Romania correspondent, the head of the Romanian delegation, Deputy Gabriel Vlase, said a key element may be the decision on whether or not to keep in place the suspension of Russia’s representative in the Assembly, which was operated in spring. The agenda of the meeting also includes topics like the fight against the Islamic State and the allies’ commitment to increase military expenditure to at least 2% of their national GDP. Taking part in the session are more than 350 delegates from the 28 NATO member states. Representatives of Ukraine, Iraq and Afghanistan also attend the meeting.
