16 January 2016

The Romanian border police capture 60 immigrants trying to cross the Serbian border into Romania illegally.

Bogdan Matei, 16.01.2016, 12:00

The Romanian border police on Friday night captured 60
immigrants trying to cross the south-western border from Serbia into Romania
illegally. According to preliminary reports, all of them are men aged between
20 and 40 who say they come from Pakistan, Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia and
Morocco. The border police contacted the Serbian authorities to start a joint
investigation into the incident and implement the readmission agreement.
Measures were also taken to tighten border control.

The Liberal Democratic Party in
the Republic of Moldova will go in opposition and will not endorse the
nomination of Pavel Filip as prime minister, the party’s interim president
Valeriu Strelet said on Saturday. According to the leader of the Democratic
Party Marian Lupu, Pavel Filip is supported by the Democratic Party and the
Liberal Party, as well as 14 MPs who defected from the Party of Communists.
Lupu said he hoped Moldova would have a new cabinet by the end of next week. On
Friday, the president of the Republic of Moldova Nicolae Timofti nominated
Pavel Filip as the new candidate for the position of prime minister. Talks for
the formation of a new government will start on Monday. Unless a new government
is in place by the 29th of January, Parliament will be dissolved and
early elections held. Demonstrations were held on Saturday in Chisinau as a
group of pro-western NGOs organised a protest against corruption and the
inefficiency of the political class, while the pro-Russian socialists and
populists staged their own rally to demand early elections.

Orange and yellow warnings of
blizzard and snow are in place in half of Romania until Sunday evening. The
yellow warning was issued for 12 counties in the south-west and east, while the
orange warning is in place in 11 counties in the south-east and the capital
Bucharest. A considerable amount of snow is expected, as well as gale force
winds of up to 65 km per hour. Snow storms and severe wind speeds of up to 80
km per hour are forecast for the south-eastern part of the country and the
capital city. The wind will create snowdrifts and visibility will be reduced to
50 m and less. The Romanian foreign ministry has warned people travelling to
neighbouring Bulgaria that heavy snow, frost and gale force winds are expected
across this country on Saturday and Sunday.

Romania’s water polo team on
Sunday face Greece in the last 16 of the European Championship in Belgrade,
following Friday’s win against Germany 14:13 to finish second in their group.
In their first two group matches, Romania won against Georgia and lost to
Italy. In women’s handball, CSM Bucharest on Friday defeated the Danish side FC Midtjylland 24:22 in the
Champions League Main Group 2, to secure their first group victory.

The Romanian-Indian pair Florin Mergea and Rohan Bopanna
lost to the British-Brazilian pair Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares in two sets on
Saturday in the doubles finals of the ATP tennis tournament in Sydney.
30-year-old Mergea, who is no. 11 in the ATP world doubles rankings, has won
five ATP doubles titles in his career and lost six finals. In women’s tennis,
the Romanian player Simona Halep, currently world no. two, will face a
qualifier in her first match at the Australian Open, which begins on Monday.
Another Romanian player, Irina Begu faces the Swedish player Johanna Larsson in the first round, whom she
defeated last year in the quaterfinals of the Seoul tournament before
eventually winning the title. Monica Niculescu meets Teliana Pereira of Brazil,
Alexandra Dulgheru faces Storm Sanders of Australia, and Andreea Mitu opens
against Julia Gorges of Germany.

(Translated by: C. Mateescu)