April 8, 2026 UPDATE

The latest news from RRI

Newsroom, 08.04.2026, 20:00

Prosecutors – President Nicușor Dan appointed, on Wednesday, the new heads of the major Prosecutor’s Offices in Romania. Thus, Viorel Cerbu is the new chief prosecutor of the National Anti Corruption Directorate (DNA), Codrin Miron is the head of the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT), and Cristina Chiriac is the Prosecutor General of Romania. ‘What I expect from the prosecutor’s offices and their heads is a boost in activity, in order to meet the expectations of the Romanians’, said the head of state. At the same time, he specified that he hoped that the three appointed chief prosecutors would communicate with their subordinates and in the public space all the deficiencies they encounter in their activity. As for DIICOT, the president said that he wanted to dismantle the large drug networks and the large tax evasion networks. Drugs are an extremely harmful social phenomenon, which affects more and more Romanians, and tax evasion affects the state budget, Nicușor Dan also said.

Football – Mircea Lucescu, the most successful coach in the history of Romanian football, has died at the age of 80. He had been hospitalized in Bucharest’s University Emergency Hospital since March 29 and was in a coma after reportedly suffering a heart attack on April 3. Having led the Romanian national team until a few days ago, Lucescu had previously coached Pisa, Brescia and Inter Milan in Italy. In Romania, he led Dinamo and Rapid Bucharest to success. The peak of his career was when he coached the Ukrainian team Shakhtar Donetsk, where, between 2004 and 2016, he won 21 national trophies, as well as the UEFA Cup in 2009. Lucescu also coached the Turkish national football team. Mircea Lucescu is the third most successful coach in the history of world football, with 36 trophies, being surpassed only by Pep Guardiola and by Sir Alex Ferguson. Lucescu surpasses other legends of world football, such as Carlo Ancelotti, Jose Mourinho or Arsene Wenger. The death of the one who, according to experts, built generations, characters and dreams sent a shock wave in international football.

Ceasefire – World leaders have welcomed the two-week ceasefire agreement announced by the United States and Iran an hour before the ultimatum given to Tehran by US President Donald Trump expired and stressed the importance of establishing a lasting peace in the Middle East, international news agencies reported on Wednesday. Israel supports President Trump’s decision to suspend strikes against Iran for two weeks, on the condition that Tehran immediately reopens the straits and ends attacks against the United States, Israel and countries in the region, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomed the temporary ceasefire and called on the warring parties to commit to establishing a lasting and comprehensive peace in the Middle East. The most important thing is to take concrete measures to defuse the situation, especially to guarantee the safety of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, the Japanese government also stressed. Japan is the world’s fifth largest oil importer. About 93% of its oil imports transit the Strait of Hormuz. The South Korean Foreign Ministry said that the Seoul government hopes that the negotiations between the two parties will achieve their goal and that peace and stability will be restored in the Middle East as soon as possible. Australia also welcomed the ceasefire, warning, however, that prolonging the war would have a greater impact on the world economy and the human costs would be high.

Statistics – Romanians were much more cautious with their spending in the first two months of the year, official consumption figures show. According to National Instituite of Statistics (INS) data, published on Wednesday, in-store sales fell by 7.6% compared to the same period last year. The largest decrease in sales, of almost 11%, was recorded for non-food products, namely clothes, household appliances or furniture. Fuel sales also fell by almost 10% before the crisis brought by the conflict in the Middle East. Specialists believe that the decrease in consumption, which began in January, a month with traditionally slightly lower sales, will continue in the coming months, because the effects of the increase in fuel prices, determined by the conflict in the Middle East, will be gradually felt in all prices, which could lead to a new increase in inflation this year, possibly over 7%, compared to the previous forecast of 6%.

Cyber attack – The FBI, together with several partners, including the Romnaina Intelligence Service (SRI), announced the dismantling of a prolonged cyber attack on sensitive infrastructure in several Western countries, Romanian President Nicuşor Dan announced on Wednesday. “Cyber ​​actors associated with the GRU, the Russian military intelligence service, were collecting military, governmental and critical infrastructure information. Russia is therefore continuing its hybrid war against Western countries,” the head of state wrote on Facebook. He added that Romania must improve its cyber security and continue to collaborate with Western partners.

WB – The World Bank has significantly revised its estimates for the evolution of the Romanian economy this year, from 1.3% as it estimated in January, to 0.5%, according to a report published on Wednesday. The World Bank has also revised downward its estimates for 2027, when the Romanian economy is expected to grow by 1.4%, compared to 1.9% as it estimated in January. ‘Amid the Government’s fiscal adjustment efforts, the pace of economic growth has slowed sharply in Romania. Tighter fiscal policy, including a freeze on public sector wages and pensions, and restrictive monetary policy have strongly affected private consumption,” the report says. On the other hand, World Bank experts emphasize that, thanks to a solid reform package, which includes tax increases and spending freezes, Romania managed to reduce the budget deficit to 8% of GDP last year, from 9.3% in 2024, despite slower output growth. Under these conditions, the World Bank estimates that Romania’s budget deficit will fall below 6% of GDP by 2027. (LS)