March 8, 2016
Click here for a roundup of domestic and international news
Newsroom, 08.03.2016, 12:00
On the second day of his visit to Israel, Romanian president Klaus Iohannis, will be meeting Knesset speaker Yuli-Yoel Edelstein and opposition leader Isaak Herzog. During the Monday’s talks with his counterpart Reuven Rivlin and Prime Minister Benjamin Nethanyahu, president Iohannis underlined that no compromises can be made when it comes to Israel’s security. From Jerusalem, Iohannis will be visiting the Palestinian territories for talks with president Mahmoud Abbas.
Almost 120 multinational exercises have this year been planned in Romania and abroad, a Romanian Defence Ministry communiqué reads. Yesterday, the Mihail Kogalniceanu base in Constanta county, southeastern Romania, saw the opening ceremony of a joint drill involving the air forces of Romania and Canada. Until April 10th, close to 200 Romanian soldiers from the country’s air forces backed by MIG-21 fighters and Puma gunships will be training together with their Canadian colleagues backed by F 18 Hornet fighters. The drills are aimed at improving interoperability and cooperation inside the North-Atlantic Alliance.
Romania last year reported 3.7% in economic growth as compared to the previous year and an estimated GDP of 158 billion euros, the National Institute for Statistics has today announced. All economic sectors have contributed to the GDP growth with the exception of agriculture, forestry and fishing. Several sectors, such as trade, car mending, transport and storage, hotels and restaurants, constructions, It&C and industry have made a significant contribution to the GDP growth. The National Forecast Committee has revised up its outlook for the GDP to 4.2% this year. A 4.3% economic growth is expected for the next year.
Romanian Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos is holding talks in Brussels with European Council president Donald Tusk and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. Ciolos will also be seeing representatives of the Romanian community in Belgium. Yesterday Ciolos attended the EU-Turkey summit on the refugee crisis in Brussels. After the session, the Romanian official hailed Turkey’s proposals on settling the refugee crisis, saying that their implementation would lead to deterring illegal migration to the EU. We recall that Turkey has asked for another three billion euros to stop the refugee inflow towards the EU, at the same time accepting all the refugees coming from Greece, including Syrian citizens.
Famous Russian tennis player Maria Sharapova announced last night that she had tested positive for a recently banned drug called Meldonium at the Australian Open. The Russian athlete admitted to have been taking the drug for 10 years before being banned on January 1st. Sharapova admitted to her mistake and to have badly disappointed her fans, adding that she didn’t want her career to end in such a way. Suffering from injuries at present, when she’s ranking 7th in the world standings, Sharapova shot to international fame back in 2004, after winning the Wimbledon tournament at the age of 17. She has also reaped other Grand Slam titles ever since, such as the Australian Open, US Open and Roland Garros. Her prize closet includes no less than 35 titles in women’s competitions. She won the Fed Cup with the Russian side in 2008 and reaped a silver medal in the single contest of the London Olympics in 2012.
The International Women’s Day is being celebrated in Romania by most of the population, shows a survey conducted by the Romanian Institute for Evaluation and Strategy. For almost two thirds of the Romanians, March 8th is a day of celebration, 85% of Romanian women admit to have received flowers, jewels or perfumes on that day. On this occasion Romanians are mainly presenting their wives, girlfriends and mothers, acknowledging their qualities of being hardworking, beautiful and sympathetic.
