October 28, 2018

A 5.8 earthquake shook Romania / Romania has reverted to winter time as per DST

Newsroom, 28.10.2018, 13:04

EARTHQUAKE – A 5.8
Richter scale earthquake shook Romania on Sunday morning, without producing any
victims or material damages. The impact reached as far as Moldova, Ukraine and
Bulgaria. According to the scientific director of the National Institute for
Earth Physics, Mircea Radulian, the earthquake was a normal phenomenon for
Vrancea region. We recall the last major earthquake was reported in Romania on
November 22, 2014 and measured 5.7 degrees on the Richter scale. Two weeks ago,
Romania hosted the biggest earthquake drill in an EU state in the last 14
years. The most devastating earthquakes were those in 1940 and 1977, both killing
over 2,500 people and injuring another 15,300.

DST – Romania on Sunday reverted to winter time as per daylight
saving time. Clocks were shifted back, making Sunday night the longest of the
year. According to a European survey, 84% of respondents want to keep the
standard summer time, claiming the time shift is causing fatigue, haziness,
insomnia, focus issues and energy drain. According to the European Commission,
member states can decide on their own which time frame they should observe,
provided they report their choice by the end of April 2019. Should the
Commission’s timetable be observed, the March 31, 2019 time shift will be the
last one to be compulsory.

ATTACK – US flags were
flown on Sunday at half-mast all over the country after a synagogue shooting on
Saturday in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which left 11 dead. The perpetrator
shouted All Jews must die before opening fire on the crowd. The attacker was
indicted on 29 criminal counts, including anti-Semitic crimes and risks the
death penalty, US Attorney General Jeff Sessions has said. According to the
BBC, this was the bloodiest attack targeting the Jewish community in the US.
President Donald Trump has labeled it a wicked act of mass murder. Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed horror at the attack, while
Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel called for increasing efforts to combat
anti-Semitic acts of violence worldwide.

SURVEY – Over 37% of Romanians want closer
relations with the USA, while 11% say Romania should strengthen relations with
France, according to the findings of a recent survey conducted by the Avangarde
Group of Social and Behavioral Studies released on Sunday. 59% of respondents say
the anti-ballistic missile shield in Deveselu is a good thing, while 20% say
it’s a bad thing. 33% say that, military-wise, NATO should increase the number
of troops in Romania, 53% say it should stay the same, while 14% want NATO to
deploy fewer troops to Romania. Asked if the US should remain Romania’s
strategic partner, 74% of Romanians said yes, 26% said no. The survey also
reveals that most Romanians believe the next US ambassador to Romania should
continue to support the fight against corruption started by the National
Anticorruption Directorate. The study was conducted over October 17-20 over a
sample population of some 800 people and an error margin of 3.2%.

ELECTION – Regional elections are being held today in
Hessa Land in Western Germany, which could further weaken parties in the Big
Coalition in power in Berlin, Reuters reports. The ballot follows two weeks
after the historic failure of the Social-Christian Union in Bavaria, the ally
of Angela Merkel’s Christian-Democratic Union, which grabbed the lowest score
in an election since 1950. The result rocked the ruling coalition, threatened
by divergences over migration. In case of a failure in Hessa, talks over
maintaining Angela Merkel at the helm of the Christian-Democratic Union could
intensify at the annual party congress slated for December.

TENNIS – Romanian tennis player Marius Copil,
93 ATP, is today playing Roger Federer in the Basel tournament final. Federer
is world number 3 and seeded first in the tournament in Switzerland, totaling
some 2 million euros in prize money. This is the first match pitting the two
players and Copil’s third match against a top-10 player, after ousting Marin
Cilic of Croatia in the round of 16 and Alexander Zverev of Germany in the
semi-finals. This is also Copil’s second final in the ATP circuit, after
earlier this year he reached the final match of the ATP tournament in Sofia.

HANDBALL – The Romanian men’s handball team is
today playing the defending world champions France at home in the 2020 European
Championship preliminaries. On Wednesday, Romania lost 13-21 to Portugal away
from home. Romania is drawn in Group 6 alongside France, Portugal and
Lithuania. The first two teams in each group will advance to the championship,
as well as the best-ranked four teams in second position in the group tables.
The 2020 European Championship will be hosted by Sweden, Austria and Norway.

(Translated by V. Palcu)