June 1, 2022 UPDATE

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Newsroom, 01.06.2022, 18:47

June 1 — On the International Childrens Day, marked on June 1 special activities such as concerts and flash mobs, treasure hunting parties, sports and creative activities and theater performances were organized throughout Romania. In Bucharest, the Parliament Palace opened its doors, and children and their companions could visit the plenum halls of the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies, and could also participate in outdoor activities in the gardens of the largest administrative building in the world after the Pentagon. Superheroes and princesses, a flight simulator, a magic show or a military marching band made the day for children. Also in Bucharest, over 500 children celebrated the International Children’s Day by participating in various events held by the Ministry of Sports on the Arch of Triumph Stadium. Entitled “Childrens Sports Day”, the multi-sports event was organized in the form of demonstration workshops, with trainings given by certified athletes, under the guidance of specialized coaches. The children were able to learn the basics of several sports events such as basketball, archery, rugby, football, tennis, fencing, football-tennis, table tennis, wrestling, martial arts, judo, kempo, boxing, historical archery and teqball. In Oradea (west), the State Philharmonic presented a special concert with cartoon music, and in Constanţa (southeast) puppet shows, magic and face painting events were organized.

Vouchers — The electronic vouchers offered through the government program Support for Romania started being issued and will soon reach their beneficiaries, the Romanian Labor Minister Marius Budai announced. The vouchers have a face value of 250 lei (about 50 Euros), are intended for people in situations of material deprivation or risk of poverty and are part of the most important initiative of this kind carried out, so far, from the perspective of the number of beneficiaries. According to the aforementioned source, over 2.5 million Romanians will receive vouchers for the purchase of food products: pensioners from the public pension system, people with a very severe, severe or moderate disability, families with at least 2 dependent children or single parent families. A first for this social assistance program is the wide range of funding sources, both from the state budget and from European non-reimbursable funds.

Embargo — The US has hailed the embargo on Russian oil imports decided earlier this week by the European Union, aimed at cutting off funding for Russias war against Ukraine, France Presse reports. The U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price also hailed the European efforts meant to diversify energy supply and develop renewable sources to reduce long-term dependence on Moscow, and pointed out that Washington had already announced a ban on all Russian oil imports. On the other hand, Russia warned that the European sanctions on Russian oil imports would affect the global energy market and underscored that Moscow would redirect exports to limit the damage, Reuters reports. During Monday’s meeting, the European leaders reached an agreement under which Russian oil imports will be reduced by about 90% by the end of the year and also agreed on several other sanctions, including the removal of Russias largest bank, Sberbank, from the SWIFT system. More than a quarter of the oil used by Europe came from Russia last year, with nearly half of Russias oil and oil products exports reaching the EU, according to data provided by the International Energy Agency. Moscow has already begun redirecting deliveries originally intended for Europe, following the sanctions, the Kremlin officials said. India and China are among the countries that have massively bought Russian crude oil, benefiting from a lower price.

Film – The third edition of the Romanian Film Festival in Washington, the largest national cinema promotion event held in North America, will begin on Friday, June 3, 2022, at Miracle Theater, one of the historic cinema halls in the American capital. This year, the festival is dedicated to the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the launch of the Strategic Partnership between Romania and the United States, an important landmark of the relations between the two countries, shows a communiqué of the Romanian Embassy in the US. The festival will run until June 19, under the already established motto: Reinventing Realism – New Cinema from Romania. The American public is expected during the first three weekends of June to watch some of the most valuable recent Romanian films and to meet with the most popular actors and directors of the moment.

Handball — The Brazilian Raul Nantes Campos and the Spanish Alex Pascual, both handball players at CS Dinamo Bucharest, are nominated in the ideal team of the 2021-2022 season of the EHF Champions League – the most important club handball competition for men’s teams in Europe. The South American was nominated for the left-back position, and the Spanish handballer was nominated for the title of best young player. The vote is open until June 15 on the dedicated EHF application, and the ideal team will be announced on June 17, during the Champions League Final 4 tournament in Cologne, and will be established based on the vote of the fans, and also of a committee of EHF experts. (LS)