September 23, 2017 UPDATE
A roundup of domestic and international news
Newsroom, 23.09.2017, 18:28
ALERT SYSTEM – A text-message alert system advising people of potential dangers due to adverse weather conditions in Romania will be ready within a few weeks according to specialists in the field. The warnings, to be issued by the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations or by local inspectorates are meant to reach both locals and tourists in the affected areas. The authorities have decided to speed up the process of putting in place such a system following the powerful storms that hit Romania last Sunday, killing 8 people and wounding 140.
INVICTUS GAMES – The Romanian Defense Minister Mihai Fifor and the Romanian Army Chief of Staff, General Nicolae Ciuca, are attending the opening of the Invictus Games in Toronto, Canada. Invictus Team Romania, participating for the first time in these paralympic games, is made up of 15 soldiers wounded in theatres of operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. The two officials will also attend the teams training sessions and part of the sporting events. The members of Invictus Team Romania will take part in six individual events: archery, athletics, indoor rowing, power lifting, cycling and swimming. Also, the Romanian team will compete in the sitting volleyball competition. Photos posted on social media show the Romanian Invictus team meeting with Prince Harry of Great Britain, the one who established the competition in 2014.
GERMAN ELECTIONS – Parliamentary elections are due in Germany on Sunday. Angela Merkel is hoping for a fourth term as Chancellor, even if her party, the Christian Democratic Union, is not likely to get majority and will therefore have to bring in partners to form a coalition. According to the latest opinion polls, Mrs. Merkels party and its Bavarian branch – the Christian Social Union – would get 36% of the votes. Second, with 23%, comes the Social Democratic Party, headed by the former President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz. Angela Merkel is preferred by 48% of the voters, while Martin Schulz is supported by only 22% of the voting population.
MIGRATION – At least 21 people died yesterday when a boat carrying migrants sank in the Black Sea, off the Turkish coast, France Presse reports. 70 people were on board the boat which was heading for Romania, most of them Iraqi citizens. According to France Presse, some 570 illegal migrants have reached Romania since August following the Black Sea route, which allows them to avoid Greece. If found in Greece they run the risk of being returned to Turkey, under the agreement concluded between the EU and the Turkish government.
FRENCH ELECTIONS – A Romanian-born ethnic Roma, who graduated from the Sorbonne, is running for one of the 348 seats in the French Senate. Anina Ciuciu, aged 27, was invited to take part in Sundays elections by ecologists. She militates for free access of all children to education and is a fierce fighter against discrimination and police brutality.
GEORGE ENESCU FESTIVAL – The George Enescu International Festival, held every two years in Romania, ends on Sunday. On the last day of the event, in the Grand Orchestras of the World series, performing will be the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam conducted by Daniele Gatti. Some three thousand artists have been invited to participate in this years edition of the festival held over September 2nd – 24th. The first edition of the George Enescu Festival was held in 1958. In 1971, the communist regime decided to put an end to it, and the festival was only resumed after the fall of the regime in 1989.
TENNIS – On Saturday, the Romanian tennis player Monica Niculescu defeated the Chinese Fangzhou Liu 2-6, 6-1, 6-0, in the last round of qualifications for the WTA tournament in Wuhan, China, with some 2,300,000 dollars in prize money. In the first singles event, Monica Niculescu, ranked 56th in the WTA classification, will take on the Dutch Kiki Bertens, no. 29 WTA. Simona Halep, no.2 in the WTA rankings, is second seed at the tournament and she will go straight into the second round. Another Romanian taking part in the tournament is Sorana Cirstea, no. 52 WTA, who will play against the Chinese Yafang Wang. In the doubles, Halep and Niculescu will play in the first round against the pair made up of the Romanian Sorana Cirstea and the Latvian Jelena Ostapenko. Raluca Olaru, also of Romania, and the Ukranian Liudmila Kicenok will take on the pair Raquel Atawo(US)/Darija Jurak(Croatia).
