September 26, 2016

Prison staff protests in Romania; the condition of 4 Romanian troops wounded in Afghanistan is improving

Newsroom, 26.09.2016, 00:00

DEFENCE – In Bucharest, the Supreme Defence Council is to convene on Tuesday. The agenda includes topics like the implementation of the decisions made in the NATO Summit, which affect Romania, the Presidents spokesman announced on Monday. Another topic on the agenda is the state of the healthcare system in Romania. The previous meeting of the Supreme Defence Council was held in late July, two weeks after the NATO Summit in Warsaw.

PROTEST – The management of the National Penitentiary Agency announced the institution took note of the demands of trade unions in the penitentiary system, but warned that employees cannot resort to strikes or voluntary suspension of work, although they may organise other forms of protest permitted by law. Prison staff in Romania initiated open-ended protest actions around the country on Monday. They demand, among other things, an improvement in working standards, addressing salary imbalances and a reduction of the personnel shortage, currently put at nearly 8,000 people. The unionists say they will no longer work extra hours, which in their opinion would lead to blocking prison activity. The Justice Minister, Raluca Prună, is to have talks today with employees of the National Penitentiary Agency.

AFGHANISTAN – The condition of the 4 Romanian troops wounded on Sunday during a mission in Afghanistan is improving, the authorities in Bucharest have announced. The military were part of the White Sharks Battalion, which ensures the protection of the military base in Kandahar and assists the Afghan security forces. They were wounded when an improvised explosive device went off during their patrol mission, and were taken to the army base hospital in Kandahar.

RADIRO – RadiRo Festival, the only large-scale European event exclusively devoted to radio orchestras, continues today with a concert given by the National Radio Orchestra conducted by Cristian Măcelaru. The soloist will be the highly acclaimed cello player Răzvan Suma, who will be accompanied by the Academic Choir and the Radio Childrens Choir. They will perform Carl Orffs Carmina Burana, one of the best known works of the last century. The festival, organised by Radio Romania, comes to an end on Saturday, October 1, and the concerts will also be aired live in the European Broadcasting Union network and the Asia-Pacific platform of public and private radio broadcasters.

MOLDOVA – The European Commissioner for Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement, Johannes Hahn, will have meetings in Chişinău today with representatives of the authorities and the opposition. The main goal of the talks is to review the status of implementing specific reforms supported by the European Union. Special emphasis will be laid on the overview of the state of the country ahead of the elections, with a view to ensuring that the country meets its commitments to the OSCE and the Council of Europe during the presidential elections due on October 30.

SYRIA – The American Ambassador to the UN has launched a harsh attack at Russia, which supports the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria. According to the US official “What Russia is sponsoring and doing is not counter-terrorism. It is barbarism. Russias actions were also condemned by the ambassadors of France and Great Britain, who emphasised that such actions should not go unpunished. Russia claims these attacks target terrorism and the people killed were terrorists or supporting terrorism. The Ambassador of Russia to the UN has warned that, because there are hundreds of armed groups in the region, peace is virtually impossible at this point in Syria. Clashes continued on Sunday in Aleppo, the countrys second-largest city, where government forces launched heavy attacks on Friday against the rebel-held areas. These were targeted by intensive bombing by Syrian and Russian aircraft.

(translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)