January 4, 2020
Click here for a roundup of domestic and international news
Newsroom, 04.01.2020, 13:56
DUTY
Over 21 thousand employees of the Romanian Interior Ministry were on duty in
the first three days of this year to ensure citizen safety during the winter holidays, a
ministry report reads. According to the same sources, no major events were
reported at the 180 cultural-artistic events attended by almost 320 thousand
people on New Year’s Eve. Police intervened in 73 hundred cases involving
public order reported at the emergency number 112. Special attention was paid to preventing serious
accidents and to streamlining road traffic to the most popular tourist resorts.
Up to 1,500 road police were on duty on the most circulated thoroughfares, with
around 270 radar speed guns, to safeguard the lives of drivers, passengers and
pedestrians. A series of measures were implemented and 4 thousand border police
were on duty at the country’s border checkpoints to streamline traffic and ease
the access of the foreign tourists who had chosen Romania as a holiday
destination and also of the Romanians who traveled abroad for the winter
holidays.
RECOMMENDATION The Foreign Ministry in Bucharest is recommending the Romanian
citizens to avoid traveling to Iraq unless necessary, given the latest
escalation of tensions in the Middle East. The Romanians already there are
advised to avoid crowded places, where meetings or demonstrations are taking
place. They should report their presence to the closest diplomatic mission or
consulate in order to be contacted in emergency situations. The controversial
Iranian general Qassem Soleimani killed in a US raid in Iraq yesterday is being
buried today. The 62 year old general was considered the second in importance
after leader Ali Khamenei. US president Donald Trump said that Soleimani’s
killing was meant to stop a war not to start one, but according to the BBC ‘the
killing marked a major escalation in tensions between Iran and the US’. Tehran has vowed revenge against the US for
killing the general.
BUSHFIRE Devastating bushfires in Australia have prompted the authorities to
evacuate tens of thousands. The hot weather and strong winds have intensified the
bushfires, which in some places have got out of control. Since early September
when the fire started around five
million hectares of land have burned, at least 19 people have been killed, and
more than 1,400 homes have been destroyed.
YO 35
athletes will be representing Romania at the 2020 Youth Olympics due in
Lausanne, Switzerland over January 9 and 22. According to a communiqué issued
by the Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee the Romanian athletes will be
competing in several disciplines, such as biathlon, bob-sleigh, ice hockey,
speed skating, sledge, ski-jumping, alpine skiing, cross-country skiing and
snowboarding. At the previous edition in Lillehammer, Norway, the first medals
in the history of Romania’s participation in such an event went to Eduard
Casaneanu, who walked away with gold from the ice-hockey event and Mihaela
Hogas, who won bronze in the speed skating race.
(translated by bill)
