August 8, 2015 UPDATE
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Bogdan Matei, 08.08.2015, 12:30
Three counties in Romania’s western regions have been placed under code orange alert for extremely hot temperatures until Sunday. We recall that scorching weather has seriously affected crops in Romania, which are compromised on large areas. Several villages in the south of the country have been left without water supplies and due to its low discharge traffic on the Danube has been affected but has not been completely restricted on the Romanian sector. Access to the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve has been restricted also due to low water levels. Several countries in Europe are also seeing extremely high remperatures and the Romanian Foreign Minsitry has already cautioned the citizens who are traveling to Hungary, Italy and Croatia, countries currently under code red alerts with temperatures of up to 40 degrees Celsius. The Romanians who travel to these areas must get up-to-date information about traffic restrictions on highways and national roads as well as on the railway. Those spending their holidays on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast also need to be informed on the latest road restrictions. Eastern Bulgaria is facing the risk of bushfires. According to the latest weather reports the heatwave will be felt all over Europe next week.
Over two million people living in the border regions between Romania and Serbia will benefit the implementation of a new cross-border environment-protection programme of 88 million euros. The programme will be focusing on the development of effective and environmentally friendly transport infrastructures, which are to create fresh jobs and improve access to medical services and education. According to a communiqué issued by the European Commission’s Representation in Bucharest, the aforementioned EU-funded project covers three border regions in Romania and six in Serbia.
Romanian Defence Minister Mircea Dusa on Saturday said that public tenders were to be launched shortly for streamlining Romania’s frigates King Ferdinand and Queen Marie and fitting them with state-of-the-art equipment. The Romanian official said that Navy Day this year would be celebrated in the context of marking 155 years since the foundation of Romania’s modern navy. Minister Dusa made the statement at the festivities prefacing Romanian Navy Day traditionally held on August 15th. On this occasion military ports on the Black Sea and the Danube hosted an event called Doors Open Days, during which visitors could attend exhibitions presenting military gear in use with the Navy as well as other events such as art exhibitions on navy-related themes or get acquainted with the naval forces’ education offer.
Romanian students are intelligent and willing to learn but apparently lack the patience to study, shows a report carried out by the Education Sciences Institute in Bucharest. Teachers see their students as creative, bold and self-confident but at the same time hyperactive, sloppy and self-centered. They are interested in studying languages but are superficial in study showing more interest in material benefits; at the same time they are vindictive and without respect for adults. They have technical skills showing curiosity particularly for IT but are superficial when it comes to reading. Their role models come from their families in 48% of the cases; 11% of those interviewed said that athletes are their models while only 7% chose teachers as role models.
An IMF mission is due to arrive in September in the Republic of Moldova, an ex-soviet country with a Romanian-speaking majority the IMF European Department has announced in a letter sent to the government in Chisinau in response to its invitation. The country’s new Prime Minister, pro-European Valeriu Strelet, on July 31st, only a day after being sworn in, called for an emergency visit of an IMF delegation to Chisinau for a new loan agreement that should offset the country’s big budget deficit. In June, the IMF, the World Bank and the EU announced that any financial aid for the Republic of Moldova had been frozen asking among other things for the liquidation of the three banks through which one billion dollars has been siphoned off the Moldovan banking system.
On Friday night the city of Sibiu in central Romania played venue for a two-day traditional music festival that was attended by 30 thousand spectators. Currently at its 40th edition, the ‘Mountains Songs’ traditional music festival is an international event that this year has brought together artists from several countries, such as Romania, Ukraine, Cyprus, Serbia, Turkey and Germany.
