COVID-19 – The
\ngovernment in Bucharest extended by another 30 days the state of alert, at the
\nsame time easing some lockdown restrictions. Church services will resume inside
\nthe churches with the observance of physical distancing and the mandatory
\nwearing of masks. Certain border crossing points will also reopen. Liberal
\nPrime Minister Ludovic Orban has explained that most experts believe the state
\nof alert is necessary given the present epidemiological context. The
\ngovernment’s decision must be approved by Parliament and the largest opposition
\nforce, the Social-Democratic Party, have announced their intention not to
\nendorse an extension longer than 15 days. The Social-Democrats also believe the
\nrelaxation measures proposed by the government are not enough. Romania has so
\nfar reported 22,415 infections and a number of fatalities that has gone up to
\n1,437. Over 16 thousand patients have been cured. 34 hundred Romanians have
\nbeen confirmed infected abroad and 114 of them died.<\/p>\n
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FESTIVAL – The first weekend of the International Theatre
\nFestival in Sibiu, central Romania, which has this year been staged exclusively
\nonline due to the COVID pandemic has registered an impressive audience. The
\nfestival’s shows and other events posted on its Facebook or webpage at
\nsibfest.ro have registered roughly 181 thousand visitors. The event continues
\nuntil June 21 with prestigious dance, music, opera and street performances,
\ncircus and special conferences, all broadcast online. The festival’s present
\nedition unfolds under the motto ‘The Power to Believe’. The International
\nTheatre Festival in Sibiu is the first big performing arts festival in Central
\nand Eastern Europe.<\/p>\n
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WEATHER – Romania is still facing extreme weather phenomena
\nin most of its territory, where meteorologists are expecting heavy downpours
\nand thunderstorms for the entire week. Scores of towns and villages have been
\naffected by the weather in 20 Romanian counties. Firefighters have been
\ndeployed to pump water out of hundreds of households and public institutions or
\nto remove the fallen trees from the streets. Traffic has been temporarily
\ndisrupted on national and county roads.<\/p>\n
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NATO – The Romanian Navy has handed over the command of
\nStanding NATO Mine Countermeasures Group Two, a press release issued by the
\nNavy Chief of Staff on Tuesday announced. By assuming the command of the
\naforementioned military force, Romania proved its capabilities as a security
\nprovider for the defence of the allies as this navy force has made a major
\ncontribution to maintaining the alliance’s battle and immediate response
\ncapabilities in crisis situations as well as to the promotion of NATO’s images
\nand values. In the past six months, the group has carried out missions in the
\nBlack Sea, the Aegean and the Mediterranean Sea involving the participation of
\nmilitary vessels from Bulgaria, Germany, Greece, Romania and Turkey.<\/p>\n
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FORESTS – The Senate on Tuesday passed the law on creating the
\nDirectorate for Investigating Environment-related Crimes. The scope of
\nenvironment-related crime demands the specialization of prosecuting bodies in
\nthis field and the allocation of resources for the creation of an institution
\nwith specific and clear competences, the initiators of the draft law explain,
\nsaying that in the last 5 years over 20 million cubic meters of forests have
\ndisappeared illegally, causing a prejudice of hundreds of millions of Euro
\nevery year. All Parliamentary groups have voted in favor of the project, with
\nthe exception of the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians. <\/p>\n
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BORDER – According to the Romanian authorities, 65,200
\nRomanian and foreign nationals transited Romania’s border checkpoints on
\nMonday. The traffic has increased by 60% as compared to the month of May.
\nRomania’s border with Hungary proved to be the busiest, as it has been crossed
\nby roughly 43,800 people. According to the same sources, the number of people
\nwho entered Romania has doubled as compared to the previous state-of-alert
\nperiod.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
(Translated
\nby D. Bilt & V. Palcu)<\/p>\n
\n
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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A roundup of domestic and international news<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":113,"featured_media":75903,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[35585,35583,29807,35584,31319,30469],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-104399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash","tag-border-transit","tag-covid-pandemic","tag-extreme-weather","tag-forests","tag-romania-and-nato","tag-sibiu-theatre-festival"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n