August 30, 2018
Romania is in the grips of African swine fever, Air policing missions in Mihail Kogalniceanu
Newsroom, 30.08.2018, 13:25
Swine fever — Romania is in the grips of African swine fever with cases confirmed so far in 165 localities from 10 counties from the southeast and northwest of the country. In order to control the epidemics, experts recommended the setting up of road blocks, to identify attempts at taking out from the swine fever hotbeds sick animals and products made from their meat. In another move, the Romanian authorities opened criminal files against those who illegally introduced in Romania products from meat infected with the African swine fever virus, said the state secretary with the Interior Ministry, Raed Arafat. Geronimo Branescu, the president of the National Sanitary Veterinarian Authority, explained that the virus spread in Romania by means of infected pork products brought into the country.
Air missions — 135 military with the Royal Canadian Air Forces and 5 Hornet fighter aircraft will participate in the coming 4 months at the Mihail Kogalniceanu air base in Constanta county (southeastern Romania) in air policing missions together with MIG 21 LancerR planes of the Romanian army. The Canadian detachment will replace the British one, which has so far conducted air policing missions together with the Romanian pilots. According to the Romanian Defense Ministry representatives, a ceremony was held at the Mihail Kogalniceanu base on the occasion of the detachment replacement. In the past 4 years, the Canadian pilots have undertaken another 3 missions in Romania, one at the Campia Turzii air base in central Romanian and the last 2 in Mihail Kogalniceanu.
Football – Romania’s football champions CFR Cluj (from northwestern Romania) and the vice-champions FCSB, formerly known as Steaua Bucharest, are today playing on home ground the return matches of the Europa League playoff. CFR Cluj will take on the team from Luxemburg Dudelange after a surprising defeat in the first round, 0-2. FCSB will play against Rapid Vienna. In the first match the Austrians won 3-1. If none of the two Romanian teams manages to qualify, Romania will have no representative in the continental football competitions.
Penitentiaries — The Romanian justice ministry will submit for debates a project for the procurement of feasibility studies for the construction of new detention locations within the system of the National Penitentiary Administration. Latest data show that the penitentiary administration system is holding in custody more than 22 thousand detainees, which points to a deficit of almost 4 thousand places. The project shows that by 2024 thousands of detention spaces will be built so as to comply with the standards required by the Council of Europe. According to the line ministry, in 2017 the European Court of Human Rights resolved though decisions and resolutions a total number of almost 400 applications, through which damages worth more than 2.2 million Euros were granted to detainees held in the Romanian penitentiary system for the improper detention conditions.
Film — The 75th edition of the Venice International Film Festival kicked off with the screening of the film “First Man” which is the favorite for the Golden Lion trophy. The film tells the story of astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the Moon, which is impersonated by actor Ryan Gosling. The feature film “Sunset” by Hungarian filmmaker Laszlo Nemes featuring two Romanian actors Vlad Ivanov and Levente Molnar and the Romanian co-production “The Sisters Brothers” by Jacque Audiard are among the 21 films selected for this edition of the Venice festival. The films will be juried by a panel presided by Guillermo Del Toro, who last year won the Golden Lion for the film “The Shape of Water”. (translation by Lacramioara Simion)
