8 July, 2015
News and Current Affairs
Ştefan Stoica, 08.07.2015, 11:59
Romanian PM Victor Ponta announced President Klaus Iohannis that starting Thursday, July 9th, he would resume his activity as PM. He came back to the country today, after undergoing knee surgery in Turkey, where he went in mid-June. During this time, his position was filled by deputy premier Gabriel Oprea, Minister of Internal Affairs, while the leadership of the ruling Social Democratic party was taken over temporarily by Rovana Plumb. On June 15, the day he had the surgery in Turkey, Ponta had been summoned to answer questions from anti-corruption prosecutors, which ten days before had announced he was under criminal investigation for forgery, conspiracy to commit tax evasion and money laundering. The alleged violations were supposed to have occurred when the premier was a lawyer, and are related to a case involving one of his party peers, Senator Dan Sova. While in Turkey, Ponta said he would answer the summons upon his pending return.
Romanian meteorologists issued today a code red alert for high temperatures for the counties of Arad and Bihor, in the west of the country. The two counties are expected to register temperatures of 38 to 39 degrees, close to the absolute high ever registered there. The rest of the country is under code yellow and orange alert. The sweltering heat will intensify in the north, center, south and south east, where maximums will reach 35 to 38 degrees, with the heat index going over 80 units, the critical threshold. The high heat will continue on Thursday, with rising weather instability in the west. Trains will be running at reduced speed to avoid accidents.
Greece has submitted today an official request for a loan as part of the European Stability Mechanism, according to Reuters quoting a spokesperson with the Eurozone Rescue Fund. Greeces situation has been discussed on Tuesday at a summit of the 19 Eurozone states, and an extraordinary summit of all 28 EU member states has been called for Sunday. EC President Jean-Claude Juncker said that his executive is analyzing several scenarios, including Greece leaving the Eurozone. European Council President Donald Tusk said that this week is the final term for Greece to clarify its situation. He admitted that this was the most critical moment in the history of the Eurozone. Greek PM Alexis Tsipras addressed the European Parliament, saying that his government continues its efforts towards reform. The head of government in Athens told EuroMPs that Sundays referendum in his country provided him with a mandate to solve the crisis in a sustainable way, socially and economically.
Romanian football champions Steaua Bucharest and vice-champions ASA Tg. Mures face off today in Constanta in the 2015 edition of Romanias Supercup in the game that opens the domestic season. Steaua holds the most titles, six, and plays in the Supercup for the third straight year, thanks to its three championship titles. In the previous season, Steaua won the domestic championship and Romanias Cup, but the Romanian Football Federation has decided that the champions and vice-champions should play for the Supercup after Cup finalists Universitatea Cluj was relegated to the secondary league.
The Romanian-Indian tennis double Florin Mergea/ Rohan Bopanna qualified on Tuesday to the semi-finals of the mens doubles at the grass court competition in Wimbledon, the third Grand Slam of the year, after defeating the world leaders, brothers Bob and Mike Bryan of the US. The victory of the pair, seeded 9th, ensures that Romania would have a representative in the double finals, as the two will play against the Romanian-Dutch pair Horia Tecau/ Jean-Julien Rojer, seeded fourth. This would be the fourth Wimbledon finals for Tecau. He played in the event three times alongside Robert Lindstedt between 2010 and 2012, but lost every time.
Three Romanian warships take part these days in Black Sea maneuvers. The frigate King Ferdinand, the minesweeper Alexandru Alexe and the missile boat Pescarusul take part in the BREEZE 15 exercise held by the Bulgarian Navy. Over 30 ships, 10 aircraft and 1,700 military personnel from Bulgaria, Greece, Holland, Portugal, Romania, the US and Turkey take part in the exercise. At the same time, six hundred Romanian and US troops take part in the Dacian Eagle 2015 exercise at an airbase in Transylvania. The Romanian side is involved with six MiG 21 LanceR fighters and five IAR-330 Puma helicopters, while the US provides 12 F-15 multirole fighters.
