January 21, 2020
A roundup of domestic and international news
Newsroom, 21.01.2020, 14:01
HOLOCAUST FORUM – Romanias president Klaus Iohannis is on a visit to Israel, to attend the Fifth World Holocaust Forum, entitled “Remembering the Holocaust: Fighting Antisemitism”, marking the 75th anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz and international Holocaust Remembrance Day. The main ceremonies will be held at the Yad Vashem Memorial on January 23rd. Today, Klaus Iohannis is meeting with his counterpart Reuven Rivlin, to discuss, among other things, bilateral cooperation. On Wednesday, the Romanian head of state will have a meeting with the leader of the Blue and White Alliance, Benjamin Gantz, and on Thursday he will attend alongside 46 members of royal families, presidents, prime-ministers and other world leaders the World Holocaust Forum, focusing on the global commitment to educate about the dangers of anti-Semitism, racism and xenophobia and foster Holocaust commemoration, education and research.
PROPOSALS – The Romanian Justice Minister Catalin Predoiu has today announced the proposals for the offices of Prosecutor General, head of the National Anticorruption Directorate and head of the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT): Gabriela Scutea, Crin Bologa and Giorgiana Hosu respectively. The proposals will be submitted to the Superior Council of Magistracy, which has an advisory role, and the last decision is to be made by president Klaus Iohannis, who can turn them down once. The selection procedure started on December 2nd last year and 18 prosecutors have been interviewed on legislation, judicial error, the Caracal case and other topics of interest.
PER DIEM – The Romanian military, gendarmes and police attending mission abroad will receive per diems as high as those received by the foreign partners, according to a Government decision. The document was initiated by the defense and interior ministers, Nicolae Ciuca and Marcel Vela, respectively, following talks with Romanian soldiers and gendarmes during Decembers visit to Afghanistan. Therefore, the per diem can go up to 140 Euro per day, depending on the risk level in the areas where they carry out their missions and operations.
TENNIS – The Romanian tennis player Simona Halep, no.3 in the WTA rankings, has today defeated the American Jennifer Brady 7-6, 6-1, in the first round of the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam tournament of the year. Also today, Irina Begu (105 WTA), has lost the match against the Dutch Kiki Bertens (10 WTA), 1-6, 4-6, and Monica Niculescu has been defeated by the French Alize Cornet, 5-7, 6-1, 6-0. . Another Romanian, Sorana Cirstea, has already qualified for the second round, where she will play against the American Cori Gauff.
MONOBOB – The Romanian athlete Andrei Nica has won the gold medal in the mens monobob competition of the Youth Olympic Games in Lausanne, Switzerland. Its the second medal after the one won on Sunday by Georgeta Popescu, who raced to first place in the womens monobob competition. Last week, Ramona Ionel won bronze with the speed skating mixed team. At the winter edition of the 2020 Youth Olympic Games, Romania is represented by 35 athletes.
POLO – On Monday evening, Romanias mens polo team was defeated by the Greek squad 7-14, in the European Championships play-offs in Budapest, Hungary. Romania will play for one of the 9th to 12th positions, and, in the first match, it will take on the German team on Wednesday. In the other match, for the same positions, Turkey will face Georgia. The Romanian team ended Group B ranking third, after they defeated on Sunday the powerful Russian squad, 11 to 10. In the first two matches, they had lost to the Netherlands (8-9) and Serbia (7-15).
