February 26, 2016 UPDATE
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Newsroom, 26.02.2016, 12:15
On Friday the High Court of Cassation and Justice decided on the investigation without detention and pending trial of the Liberal senator Doina Tudor, accused of being accessory to bribe taking. In the same case, her former husband, Daniel Tudor, is being investigated under house arrest. He was the vice-president of the Financial Monitoring Authority.
The US Ambassador to Bucharest Hans Klemm attended a conference in the city of Cluj on security issues, and stated that the world at present is rife with threats, and that Russia destabilizes European security. The American diplomat has recalled that Moscow has dubbed NATO its main military danger, saying that the anti-ballistic missile shield, elements of which are being deployed in Romania, was a threat to global stability. Mr. Klemm underlined the defensive nature of the shield, and said that the US would continue to bring military materiel to Europe in order to bolster its capacity as a key element of NATO.
22 countries, including Romania, will take part in the NATO exercise dubbed Anaconda, the most important in Poland’s modern history. According to high-ranking Polish military officials, over 27,000 military personnel will take part in the exercise between 7 and 17 June, scheduled ahead of the NATO Warsaw summit in early July. One other exercise, Saber Strike, is scheduled in parallel. It aims to improve mobilization in the Baltic countries, Romania, Bulgaria, Germany and Poland. The exercises aim to consolidate the eastern flank of the alliance after the annexation of Crimea in 2014.
The speaker of the Romanian Senate, Calin Popescu Tariceanu, said that the solution in the case of the Romanian Public Television, currently facing big financial problems, would be the modification of legislation, so as to declare the institution insolvent. He added that further measures are needed such as the efficient collection of the television license fee, the reanalysis of costs for the use of relays that belong to the National Radio Communications Society and supplementing the space allotted to advertisements during the television broadcasts. On the other hand, the leader of the People’s Movement Party, Eugen Tomac, announced his party did not support the idea of merging the public television and radio in one institution. He said that, in comparison with the public radio, which reported success and managed to remain in the top of trust regarding transparency and editorial policy, the national television has been managed badly in the past 20 years, with a few exceptions. Over the past days, several political leaders have rejected the idea of merger and of amending the law on the organization and functioning of the public radio and television.
The feature film “Son of Saul”, with Romanian actor Levente Molnar on the credits, as well as Paolo Sorrentino’s film Youth, featuring Romanian actress and model Madalina Ghenea, have been nominated for best foreign film at the Cesar awards, the most prestigious in French cinema. The awards will be granted on Friday night. Son of Saul has also been nominated in the Best Foreign Film category at the 2016 Oscar Academy Awards. The Hungarian-French co-production got the jurys grand prize in Cannes last year.
12 more people have died of the flu this past week in Romania, bringing up the death toll to 33, according to public health authorities. 31 cases have been confirmed of the AH1N1 strain, known as swine flu, as well as two cases of the AH3 strain.
The Swiss Italian Gianni Infantino was elected Friday to a 4-year term as president of FIFA. Infantino (46), the current secretary general of UEFA, thus became the first high official of the European forum to lead FIFA.
