October 20, 2018
A roundup of domestic and international news
Newsroom, 20.10.2018, 13:31
JUSTICE – Romanias president Klaus Iohannis intends to summon all political parties represented in Parliament for talks on the justice laws, following yesterdays report of the Venice Commission on the changes brought to these laws in Romania. The Venice Commission, an advisory body of the Council of Europe, composed of independent experts in the field of constitutional law, believes that the changes brought to the Criminal Code, the Code of Criminal Proceeding and the justice laws will weaken the fight against corruption and organized crime. The Commission recommends large-scale public consultations, aimed at achieving a solid and coherent legislative change, supported by citizens and in compliance with the rulings of the Constitutional Court. Following the critical opinion of the Venice Commission, president Klaus Iohannis has stated that the Justice Minister Tudorel Toader, himself a member of the Commission, has definitely compromised his credibility and should resign.
INTERCEPTION – Russian military aircraft, flying near the Romanian air space, was intercepted by Canadian fighters, in collaboration with the Romanian Air Forces. According to information made public today, the Russian jet was a SU 27-Flanker and was flying above the Black Sea. As soon as the Russian plane was detected by the Command and Control Center of the Romanian Air Forces, Canadian Hornet fighters were sent on mission. They watched the Russian plane from a short distance, until the latter left the area.
PROCESSION – On Sunday in Bucharest, thousands of Roman and Greek Catholic believers and priests will take parte in a procession with relic and icon of Pope John Paul II. The relic consists in several drops of the Popes blood, a gift to the Saint Joseph Cathedral in Bucharest from Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, the former personal secretary of the Pope, currently Archbishop Emeritus of Krakow. Born on May 18th, 1920 in Wadowice, Poland, Karol Wojtyla was elected pope in October 1978 and died on April 2nd, 2005, at the Vatican. Pope Francis declared him a saint in April 2014, so John Paul II was included in the calendar of the Catholic Church, and his liturgical commemoration was set for October 22nd of each year. In 1999, Pope John Paul II came to Romania, on the first visit to a predominantly orthodox country by a head of the Catholic Church.
FESTIVAL – Bucharest is hosting the 28th National Theater Festival. For 11 days, theater lovers will have the opportunity to participate in some 100 artistic events: shows, performances, exhibitions, book launches and meetings with special guest. The director of the festival, Marina Constantinescu, has stated that the money collected during the festival will be donated to the Daruieste viata (Give Life) Association, for the building of the first hospital of pediatric oncology and radiotherapy in Romania. Bucharest is also playing host to the event titled Cannes Films in Bucharest, an opportunity for film goers to watch films awarded at the prestigious festival, but also films signed by Romanian directors.
INVICTUS – The Romanians who are participating in Sydney in the Invictus Games, the international adaptive multi-sport event, in which wounded, injured or sick armed services personnel and their associated veterans take part, will start tomorrow the team competitions, said on Radio Romania Colonel Augustin Pegulescu, himself an Iraq and Afghanistan veteran. The Romanian team is made up of 15 wounded soldiers, most of them participating for the second time in the Invictus Games. More than 500 soldiers from across the world have come to Sydeny to take part in the games, created by Prince Harry four years ago.
HANDBALL – The Romanian womens handball champions CSM Bucharest are this evening playing, away from home, against the Norwegian squad Vipers Kristiansand, in the Champions Leagues Group D. In the first two matches, the Romanian team defeated Ferencvaros of Hungary on home turf, and was defeated by Bietighem of Germany. On Thursday, CSM Bucharest got a new head coach, the Serb Dragan Djukic. He replaced the Swedish Magnus Johansson. Djukic, aged 56, has trained clubs such as Pick Szeged of Hungary, Vardar Skopje of Macedonia and Maccabi Tel Aviv of Israel, as well as the national teams of Montenegro, Israel, Great Britain, Switzerland, Macedonia and Jordan.
