May 4, 2015 UPDATE
A roundup of domestic and international news.
România Internațional, 04.05.2015, 12:15
Romania’s prime minister Victor Ponta, currently on a tour of the Gulf region, met on Monday with the Emir of Kuwait, Sheik Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and with the head of the government, Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah. Ponta said after the meeting that he discussed with the Kuwaiti officials about concrete projects in fields like agriculture, health, IT and energy infrastructure. The two sides are looking for a solution so that the Romanian farm and food products should have quicker and easier access to the Kuwaiti market and the Gulf markets. On Sunday in Doha, prime minister Victor Ponta had talks with high officials from Qatar about the latter country’s possible involvement in a project to restructure the Romanian airline Tarom and the development of the Otopeni International Airport in Bucharest. Victor Ponta’s Gulf tour, which started in Saudi Arabia and also takes him to the United Arab Emirates, ends on the 5th of May and is aimed at relaunching Romania’s political dialogue and economic relations with the countries in the region.
An arrest warrant has been issued for the former Romanian parliament member Marko Attila, from the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania. The Bucharest High Court of Cassation and Justice greenlighted a pre-trial 30-day arrest of Marko Attila, in his absence, charging him with abuse of office. The magistrates have thus admitted the request of the National Anti-Corruption Directorate prosecutors who claim that the suspect, who is currently in Hungary, was actually avoiding criminal investigation after he was accused alongside other members of the National Authority for Property Restitution of having approved the payment of overvalued damages, which incurred losses worth over 84.5 million euros to the state. Another major corruption file is being discussed at the High Court of Cassation and Justice as of Monday. Former communication minister Gabriel Sandu, businessmen Nicolae Dumitru and Dorin Cocos and former mayor of Piatra Neamt, Gheorghe Stefan are charged with corruption in this file.
More than 5,800 migrants have been rescued at sea and 10 bodies recovered in operations in the Mediterranean off the Libyan coast at the weekend, the Italian Coast Guard announced. Almost 1,300 people arrived on Monday morning in Sicily. Hundreds of illegal migrants arrive every day in Italian ports from African countries and Syria, often on board make-shift vessels, many unsafe, which leads to shipwrecks such as the recent tragedy on the 18th of April, when more than 800 people died. At least 1,750 people have died this year trying to cross the Mediterranean.
The Romanian film Aferim! directed by Radu Jude won the IndieLisboa International Film Festival held in the Portuguese capital between the 23rd of April and the 3rd of May.Aferim! was also awarded the trophy of the city of Lisbon, the Grand Prix for best fiction film and the Distribution Award given by the cinema bloggers’ jury. One of the most important cinematographic projects in Romania in recent years, Aferim! also won the Silver Bear trophy in Berlin for best director and has so far been the most successful Romanian production this year. The film is set in early 19th century Wallachia and deals with the theme of Gypsy slavery in the Romanian Principalities.
Romanian tennis player Simona Halep continues to be no. 2 in the world, according to the WTA classification made public on Monday. Although she lost to the French player Alize Cornet and was eliminated from the Madrid tournament, Halep still has 230 points more than Russia’s Maria Sharapova, but needs as many as 1,200 points to equal the world leader, American Serena Williams. Another Romanian tennis player Irina Begu is no. 37 in the world, after she lost 4 positions the previous week.
