May 2, 2022 UPDATE
A round up of local and international news.
Newsroom, 02.05.2022, 19:54
Transplant. Ten organ transplant surgeries were performed in Romania last weekend from three brain dead donors, the National Agency for Transplant announced. These included the first heart transplant this year at the Heart Institute in Târgu Mureş from a 17-year-old donor to a 16-year-old girl, as well as a liver transplant to a 5-year-old girl diagnosed with an aggressive form of hepatitis. Several hospitals from around the country were involved in these highly complex surgeries. Six kidney transplant surgeries were also performed, four in Cluj and two in Iaşi. This type of surgery is relatively rare in Romania.
Visit. The First Lady of the US, Jill Biden, will pay a visit to Romania and Slovakia, between May 5-9. The wife of President Joe Biden will meet American soldiers from the Mihail Kogalniceanu air base (southeastern Romania) on May 6, before travelling to Bucharest for talks with Romanian government officials, members of the US embassy, humanitarian workers and teachers working with Ukrainian refugee children. According to a statement from the First Ladys office, on 8th May, when Mothers Day is celebrated in the US, Jill Biden will meet Ukrainian women and children who have been forced to leave their homes because of Russias invasion of Ukraine.
Refugees. The number of Ukrainian citizens entering Romania on Sunday dropped by 27% compared with the previous day. Some 836,000 people crossed the border into Romania from Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion, most of them continuing their journey into other countries. A jobs fair for Ukrainian citizens will be held on Wednesday in the central city of Sibiu. Information will also be available about how to register Ukrainian children in Romanian schools and about medical assistance.
Anniversary. Romanian president Klaus Iohannis will be receiving his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Wednesday in Bucharest. They will be discussing the regional, European and Euro-Atlantic security situation generated by the Russian aggression against Ukraine. The visit by the German president comes in the context of the anniversary of 30 years of the signing of a treaty between Romania and Germany on friendly cooperation and partnership in Europe. Talks will also focus on ways to develop and deepen the Romanian-German strategic ties and the consolidation of bilateral economic cooperation. Germany is Romanias biggest trade partner, with exchanges amounting to over 35 billion euros last year, and the third largest investor in the Romanian economy.
Cyber attack. A cyber attack affected on Sunday night the website of the most important airport in Romania, Bucharest Otopeni. The site subsequently became operational again. The Special Telecommunications Service has blocked, in recent days, thousands of such attacks launched on the websites of some important institutions in Romania by the pro-Russian group Killnet. The group has also attacked websites of state institutions in the neighbouring Republic of Moldova and in EU and NATO countries. In response to the Russian hackers attacks, the Anonymous Romania group announced that it had attacked and blocked the site of the unified public procurement system in Russia, which was out of order for two days.
Tennis. Romanias Simona Halep on Monday defeated the American player Cori Gauff in the Round of 16 of the WTA tennis tournament in Madrid. Halep won in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4. She also leads the head-to-head against Gauff, having won both of their previous matches. Halep was a champion in Madrid in 2016 and 2017, and a finalist in two other editions.(CM)
