September 11, 2026 UPDATE
The latest news from RRI
Newsroom, 11.09.2026, 20:00
9/11 attacks – ‘Romania will remain a reliable and trusted partner of the United States, as it has demonstrated on every occasion over the years’, President Nicușor Dan said earlier on Friday, marking the 25th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the USA. On behalf of all Romanians, President Dan expressed unwavering solidarity with President Donald Trump and the American people and conveyed deepest feelings of compassion on his X page. ‘It is a moment when Romania and all nations of the world remember and honor, alongside the United States, the heroism of a country and its citizens’, the Romanian president further wrote, also noting that September 13 will mark 15 years since the signing of the Joint Declaration on the Strategic Partnership for the 21st Century between the USA and Romania.
Indictment – The head of Romania’s Department for Emergency Situations, Raed Arafat, has been indicted by the Military Prosecutor’s Office attached to the Military Court of Appeals in a smuggling case related to the purchase of a helicopter from the United Kingdom while evading VAT payments. The loss amounts to nearly one million Euros. Until now, Raed Arafat had been a suspect. Upon leaving the hearings on Friday, he announced that he would not resign from his position, considering the charges to be unfounded. The head of the Department for Emergency Situations was indicted in April. A total of 17 people are under investigation in the case.
Inflation – The annual inflation rate in Romania dropped to 6.17% in August, according to data published on Friday by the National Institute of Statistics. Compared to July, the reduction is 2.2%. Over August 2025 – August 2026, the largest price hikes were recorded in the services area, nearly 11.3%, while non-food goods prices rose by over 6.3%, and food prices by 2.6%. In its most recent forecast, the National Bank of Romania revised upward, to 6.1%, the inflation forecast for the end of 2026 and anticipates it will reach 3.4% by the end of 2027. Currently, inflation in Romania is the highest in the EU.
Summit – Romania’s President Nicuşor Dan will attend the European Summit on the Arctic Region, hosted by Finland in Rovaniemi, on Sunday and Monday. According to the Presidential Administration, the summit aims to strengthen the EU’s strategic approach to the Arctic region, in a context marked by its growing geopolitical, economic, and climate importance. During the discussions, President Nicuşor Dan will present Romania’s vision for a coherent and unified approach to managing the challenges across the entire region stretching from the Arctic to the Black Sea. He will express Bucharest’s interest and willingness to contribute to the joint efforts of the EU and NATO by participating in concrete sectoral projects in areas such as the protection of critical infrastructure, the strengthening of defense capabilities, and energy security.
Drones – A first meeting of members of the EU-Ukraine Drone Alliance took place on Friday in Brussels. Through this initiative, Europeans are seeking to learn from the Ukrainians about the lessons of drone warfare. At the same time, the Drone Alliance aims to combine the Ukrainian industry’s frontline experience with the EU’s production capacity and financial resources. According to the Romanian Defense Ministry, since the start of the war in Ukraine, there have been 136 drone attacks near the Romanian border, 45 unauthorized incursions into Romanian airspace, and four drones have been shot down. On Friday, two F-16 aircraft of the Romanian Air Force were scrambled after drones were detected near the border with Ukraine, in the Tulcea County area (southeast). According to the Defense Ministry, no object entered Romanian airspace.
Parole – The Ilfov Court (near Bucharest) ruled on Friday to release on parole the Syrian national Omar Hayssam, who is serving a sentence of 24 years and 4 months in prison. The court ordered his immediate release, provided he is not detained or arrested in connection with another case. Hayssam was convicted in several cases, including the kidnapping of three Romanian journalists in Iraq, economic crimes, and illegal border crossing. In 2006, he was released on parole after claiming to be suffering from terminal cancer and subsequently fled Romania. The former businessman was brought back to the country in 2013 and has been in custody ever since.
September 11 terrorist attacks – The 9/11 attacks, which profoundly changed American security policy and international relations in the first decades of the 21st century, were commemorated on Friday in the USA. The most important ceremonies were organized at Ground Zero in New York, at the Pentagon headquarters in Washington, and at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. On the morning of September 11, 2001, at 8:46 AM local time, a first hijacked plane struck the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York. 17 minutes later, a second plane struck the South Tower. Both buildings subsequently collapsed. A third hijacked plane struck the Pentagon, and a fourth crashed in a field in Pennsylvania after passengers and crew members attempted to stop the attackers. Nearly 3,000 people died in the attacks attributed to the terrorist group al-Qaeda. (LS)
