July 10, UPDATE
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Newsroom, 10.07.2017, 19:09
Trade deficit – In the first five months of 2017 Romania’s trade deficit stood at 4.5 billion euros, 18 % higher than the similar period of last year, the National Institute of Statistics (INS) announced on Monday. In that period, imports and exports rose by 11% and 12% respectively. Trade exchanges with EU countries, both in imports and exports, stand at more than 75%. In the first five months of the year, Romania exported 19.5 billion euros worth of goods to EU countries, while imports stood at around 23 billion.
Tennis — The best Romanian tennis player, Simona Halep, (2 WTA) on Monday qualified to the quarterfinals of the Wimbledon grand slam tournament after she defeated Viktoria Azarenka of Belarus, a former world’s no. 1 player, in the eighth finals 7-6, 6-2. In the next stage, Simona will take on British Johanna Konta (7 WTA) for a place in the semifinals. Top seed Angelique Kerber of Germany (1 WTA) was defeated by the Spanish player Garbine Muguruza (15 WTA), therefore Halep will advance on 1st place in the world ranking if she wins one more match in Wimbledon. Also in the eighth finals, in the ladies’ doubles, the pair Monica Niculescu / Hao-Ching Chan (of Taiwan) defeated the pair Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil and Ana Konjuh of Croatia, 6-7, 6-3, 6-4 and thus reached the quarterfinals. In the gentlemen’s doubles Romanian Florin Mergea and Pakistani Aisam Ul-Haq Qureshi on Monday failed to qualify to the quarterfinals after being defeated in 5 sets by the pair Lukasz Kubot of Poland, Marcelo Melo of Brazil.
Court ruling — The former mayor of the city of Constanta (southeast) Radu Mazăre on Monday received a 4-year suspended prison sentence in a case in which he has been accused, alongside other civil servants, of illegally distributing several plots of land. The former president of the Constanta County Council, also involved in this case, received a 3-year suspended prison sentence. The damage estimated by the National Anti-Corruption Directorate stands at 114 million euros. The Court of Appeal’s decision is not definitive and can be challenged at the High Court of Cassation and Justice. Radu Mazăre is also being investigated in other criminal cases involving land retrocession, being accused of abuse of office.
Baccalaureate — In Romania, the rate of passing grades reported by high school graduates who took the national Baccalaureate exams in the first session has risen, after the resolution of appeals, from 71.4% to 72.9%, the National Education Ministry officials announced on Monday. 93,640 candidates have passed the tests out of a total of 128,509 who took the tests. The autumn session of the 2017 Baccalaureate exam is scheduled for the period August 28 — September 6.
