June 26, 2026 UPDATE
A roundup of local and world news
Newsroom, 26.06.2026, 20:38
TALKS The new round of talks to forge a new government for Romania ended on Friday at the Cotroceni Palace in Bucharest without consensus. According to political sources, the talks were tensioned and President Nicusor Dan took note of the divergent positions expressed by the leaders of the Social Democratic Party, the National Liberal Party, the Save Romania Union and the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania. The chiefs of pro-European parties in Parliament were invited to a new round of talks by president Nicusor Dan after the right-wing parties, PNL, USR, UDMR on Friday nominated Siegfried Muresan for Prime Minister, whereas two days ago, the PSD decided to propose its leader, Sorin Grindeanu, for the same position. Earlier, the Romanian president said he was expecting the leaders of the former ruling coalition to come up with a political agreement to endorse a future executive adding that he wants the country to have a government with full powers until Tuesday.
TENNIS Romania’s tennis player Gabriela Ruse on Friday conceded a 4-6, 4-6 defeat to Karolina Muchova of Czechia in the semifinals of the WTA 500 tournament in Bad Homburg, Germany. The match was suspended for a couple of hours after temperature had reached 39 degrees Celsius. Ruse qualified for the semis after defeating 6-4, 6-2 the US challenger, Emma Navarro in the quarters. In the finals of the aforementioned tournament, Muchova will be up against Naomi Osaka of Japan on Saturday.
GYMNASTICS Russian gymnasts have withdrawn from the Rhythmic Gymnastics Cup underway in Cluj Napoca, western Romania. The decision of the Russian field federation came after the mayor of Cluj Napoca, Emil Boc, had banned the Russian flag and anthem during the competition. The competition is housed by the Polyvalent Hall in Cluj, which belongs to the city hall. The gymnasts of Belarus decided to compete as neutral athletes without national insignia. The interdiction of banning the national symbols of Russia and Belarus in international competitions was made after the beginning of Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine. The International Gymnastics Federation lifted the ban in May this year, a decision, which sparked off protests from the Ukrainian community. At international level, most of the sports federations are still keeping the interdiction imposed on Russia as an aggressor state.
CARACAS Rescue teams in Venezuela are racing against time to rescue people trapped under the rubble after two earthquakes hit the country. Authorities say hundreds of people are trapped under the debris and more than 250 buildings have been damaged or completely destroyed. At least eight hospitals were affected, along with the headquarters of the Venezuelan Red Cross and the French Embassy in Caracas. Tens of thousands of homes have been left without electricity and water supply. The current death toll is 235, but the number of victims is estimated to be much higher. There are fears that the death toll from the tragedy could reach thousands. The first of the two earthquakes, with a magnitude of 7.2 Richter and the epicenter 160 km from the capital Caracas, occurred on Wednesday evening. The second one, which came less than a minute later, measured 7.5 Richter, and was the strongest the country has experienced in almost 130 years.
DEFICIT Romania’s budget deficit dropped by almost a half compared to the previous year, from 3.35% to 1.75% of GDP after the first months of the year, the finance ministry announced. Total public revenues increased by 9.2%, mainly due to higher tax collection, while expenditures dropped by 1.5%. In a Facebook post the interim finance minister Alexandru Nazare said that talks with international rating agencies ahead of the new country assessment reports will take place in the coming period, and developments in the current budget period will support Bucharest’s arguments regarding its capacity to carry on fiscal consolidation. The budget deficit target agreed with the European Commission is 6.2% at the end of the year.
(bill)
