November 25, 2015
Pay raises in Romania, France makes diplomatic efforts to put together international fight against IS
Newsroom, 25.11.2015, 12:00
The President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, has signed into law a bill that raises the salaries of public healthcare personnel by 25% as of October 1, and the wages of other public sector employees by 10% as of December 1. PM Dacian Ciolos says these increases must be accompanied by an investment programme.
The PM of Romania, Dacian Cioloş, said in the government meeting today that he wants to make sure that the chiefs of the Bucharest-Ilfov Inspectorate for Emergency Situations who had been suspended would be dismissed and would no longer be able to get back in the system. The leaders of the Bucharest-Ilfov Inspectorate were suspended nearly a month after the Colectiv nightclub tragedy. Investigations revealed that the relevant authorities had not conducted inspections at the nightclub, although the heavily attended event had been announced publicly. We remind you that a rock concert ended tragically when the soundproofing material on a support pillar caught fire, which quickly spread over the entire ceiling. Hundreds of people, 5 times more than the club was allowed to host, were caught under the burning pieces falling from the ceiling.
Scores of cinema and theatre halls, restaurants and bars in Bucharest have been shut after last week the head of state Klaus Iohannis signed a law banning public activities from buildings with high vulnerability in case of earthquakes. Around 670 buildings, according to the Bucharest City Hall, have a heavily damaged structure, especially after the 7.2 earthquake in 1977, which killed nearly 1,600 people. The law was promulgated 3 weeks after the tragedy in Colectiv nightclub in Bucharest, in which 60 people died so far and which sparked heated debates concerning public building safety.
The National Anti-Corruption Directorate in Bucharest has today ordered the prosecution of the Social Democratic Senator Dan Sova in a new case, in which he is suspected of being accessory to abuse of office. According to investigators, in 2006-2008 Sova apparently caused the Govora Thermal Power Complex to incur losses of over 1 million euros. On Tuesday, the Senates Judicial Committee approved Dan Sovas arrest and pre-trial detention in a separate case, concerning the period 2011-2014. Sova, a former minister for transportation in Victor Pontas Cabinet, reportedly claimed and received 100,000 euros in bribes to ensure the same Govora power plant signed a contract with a particular law firm.
21 people, of whom 18 Afghans and 3 Moldovan citizens, were captured by a Taliban group on Tuesday, after the emergency landing of a helicopter in the north of Afghanistan, the Republic of Moldovas government announced today. According to the same source, two Afghans and a Moldovan have been killed. The interim PM, Gheorghe Brega, said the Moldovan authorities requested support from the US and Romanian embassies in Afghanistan, in order to have the hostages released. The helicopter, owned by a private Moldovan company, was on a humanitarian mission in Afghanistan, under the UN aegis.
President Barack Obama expressed US and NATO support for Turkeys right to defend its sovereignty, reads a news release issued by the White House. The American and Turkish presidents discussed over the telephone about the incident involving a Russian warplane downed yesterday by the Turkish Air Forces. Whereas Ankara claims to have defeated its territory, after the plane entered Turkeys air space, the Russian President Vladimir Putin labels the incident as a stab in the back by the supporters of terrorism. Kremlin warned that its relations with Turkey would be affected and that it would take concrete steps. In an emergency meeting in Brussels, NATO expressed its solidarity with Turkey and called on the parties to refrain from escalating the conflict.
The President of France, François Hollande, is scheduled to have a meeting in Paris today with the German Chancellor Angela Merkel, as part of Paris efforts to rally international support in a coalition able to fight the IS terrorist group. Yesterday in Washington, François Hollande agreed with President Barack Obama to intensify air strikes in Syria and Iraq against the Jihadist group. On Monday, the head of the French State discussed the same issue with the British PM David Cameron. Hollandes diplomatic efforts to rally support against terrorism will continue tomorrow in Moscow, where the French President is to meet his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.
