August 16, 2018
Gendarme coordinator for August 10 prostest apologizes to victims; One of the two Romanian citizens declared dead in Italy bridge disaster is alive
Leyla Cheamil, 16.08.2018, 13:07
BUCHAREST — The coordinator of gendarmes at the anti-government protest of August 10st in Bucharest has publicly apologized to the people who suffered, quote, needlessly after security forces intervened. He emphasized that he has not made a decision regarding his resignation, and that he has nothing to feel guilty about. Military prosecutors have opened a file in rem for abusive treatment, abuse of office, and negligence while on the job by gendarmes during the so-called diaspora protests. So far, over 200 criminal complaints have been filed against the gendarmes, a few of whom have also filed criminal complaints of their own.
BUCHAREST – The Bucharest Foreign Ministry announced Wednesday night that one of the two Romanian citizens caught in the A 10 viaduct collapse in Italy who were declared dead is in fact in a deep coma. He is now being cared for in a clinic in Genoa. The Foreign Ministry said that error is due to the fact that the Italian authorities had great difficulties in identifying the victims of the tragedy. The ministry added that the efforts to take all the victims out of the rubble are ongoing. The provisional body count is over 39, among them children, including French, Chilean, and Colombian citizens. About 35 vehicles and three trucks were caught in the collapse, which occurred during a torrential rain.
EMPLOYMENT – Employment agencies have found jobs abroad for over 19,000 Romanian citizens in the first half of the year, mainly in Germany, Holland, Austria, Spain and Britain, according to data centralized in Bucharest. At the same time, 282 Romanian citizens got work contracts abroad in the first semester through the EURES network, which facilitates free circulation of workers in the European space. According to the Organization for Cooperation and Economic development through the International Migration Outlook 2017 publication, in mid-2015, over 3.5 million Romanian citizens were living outside the country.
FOOTBALL – Three Romanian football teams — champions CFR Cluj, vice-champions FCSB and Romanian Cup winners CSU Craiova — are playing games at home in the second leg of the Europa League preliminaries. CFR Cluj has the greatest chances to qualify to the play-offs, after winning 2-0 in Armenia against local team Alashkert. Vice-champions FCSB meets Croat team Hajduk Split, after tying to a blank score in the first leg. Romanian Cup winners CSU Craiova plays against German powerhouse RB Leipzig, after losing 1-3 in the first leg.
TENNIS — The game between Romanian tennis star Simona Halep, first in the world, and Australian Ajla Tomljanovic was interrupted by rain while the score was 4-6, 6-3, 4-3. This happened on Wednesday, in the second round of the WTA tournament in Cincinnati, OH, with over 2.8 million dollars in prize money. The game, which so far lasted two hours, resumes Thursday night, the organizers announced. Simona Halep, 26, main favorite and finalist last year in Cincinnati, is the recent winner of the WTA tournament in Montreal, Canada.
ECONOMY — The economic growth that started four years ago in former communist states in eastern Europe is starting to slow down, according to Bloomberg. Even though Hungary, Romania and Slovakia managed to have higher growth rates, obstacles they face are higher cost loans, a shortage of labor, and the slowdown in the Eurozone, their main market for exports. The region has managed to mostly avoid the turmoil that affected other developing markets, but uncertainties in trade are gradually eroding the demand for products such as automobiles and electronics. Meanwhile, inflation pressure has caused Romania and the Czech Republic to raise interest rates, Bloomberg writes. According to the National Institute of Statistics, Romania grew its economy in the first semester by only 4.0%. In the second quarter, the economy grew by 1.4% as against the first.
