July 23, 2023 UPDATE
A roundup of domestic and international news
Newsroom, 23.07.2023, 19:15
Patients. Belgium will continue to treat patients with severe burns from Romania. An agreement on this matter will be signed soon, the Minister of Health in the Bucharest government, Alexandru Rafila, has announced. He has also stated that, at national level, the number of beds in hospitals for major burns will increase from 30 to 50, with support from the World Bank.
Wildfires. Dozens of Romanian firefighters, stationed in Greece, will participate in extinguishing the strong fires on the island of Rhodes, the Department for Emergency Situations in Bucharest has announced. 30,000 locals and tourists from this island were evacuated to safer places, 3,000 of them by water. The countrys fire service has described the fires as the most difficult right now. Firefighters are battling flames fueled by strong winds amid a heat wave that has hit most of Europe. According to the authorities, tourists are being safely evacuated from the affected areas and are being redirected to other hotels on the island.
Vessel. The training ship “Mircea” of the Romanian Navy will dock, on Monday, in the Port of Izmir in Turkey. It will make a stopover until Thursday, during which it will have the mission of promoting the maritime values and traditions of Romania. The diplomatic mission of Romania, through the General Consulate in Izmir, planned during the stopover in the port of Izmir visits of the crew and cadets on board to the tourist attractions in the area, official meetings of the ships commander with the local public authorities, as well as a reception on board the ship, with guests from among the diplomats, civil and military authorities in the region. The ship has a crew of 145 people and is conducting an international training march in the Black Sea until July 31. The ships crew includes 64 second-year students of the “Mircea cel Bătrân” Naval Academy in Constanta (south-east, on the Black Sea) and 10 foreign cadets from partner academies in Bulgaria, Poland, Latvia, Turkey, Italy and Spain. “Mircea” has so far called in the ports of Piraeus in Greece and Taranto in Italy.
AUR. The Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR, in opposition in the Bucharest Parliament) has launched its candidates for next years European Parliament elections. Among them are the senator Claudiu Târziu, president of the National Management Council of the party, the MEP Cristian Terheş, elected in 2019 on the lists of another party, or the entrepreneur Mugur Mihăescu, a former non-professional comedy actor, who gained notoriety playing the role of an idiot policeman named Garcea. Before 1989, Mihăescu was a collaborator of the Securitate, the political police of the communist dictatorship. The average age of AUR candidates to the European Parliament is 45 years, and almost half of the list was reserved for women. The decision to announce the candidates for the European Parliament about a year before the election date is a challenge for the electoral competitors and a test of transparency towards the voters, who have 11 months to get to know those who are asking for their votes – the Alliance for the Union of Romanians has stated. The elections for the representatives of the member states of the Union in the European Parliament will take place between June 6-9, 2024.
Ukraine. The Secretary General of the North Atlantic Alliance, Jens Stoltenberg, has convened for Wednesday, at the request of Kyiv, a meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council. This will take place at the level of ambassadors and will focus on consultations on the latest developments, including the transport of Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea – said the spokesperson for the Alliance, the Romanian Oana Lungescu. Shortly before the announcement, Stoltenberg had a phone conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, after which he wrote on Twitter: “We strongly condemn Moscows attempt to make a weapon out of food.” For his part, Zelensky said that he identified, together with the Secretary General of NATO, future measures for unblocking and supporting the grain corridor through the Black Sea.
Rowing. Romania ended the World Rowing Under-23 Championships in Plovdiv (Bulgaria) with two gold medals. The Romanian athletes won the double sculls on Sunday, and the quadruple sculls on Saturday. In the medal ranking, our country took sixth place. At the World Under-23 Championships in 2022, hosted by Varese (Italy), Romania won three medals: gold in the womens double sculls, silver in the womens quadruple sculls and bronze in the mens double sculls.
Tennis. Romanian tennis player Ana Bogdan won the BCR Iasi Open (WTA 125) tournament, with 100,000 euros in prize money, for the second year in a row. She defeated her compatriot Irina Begu, 6-2, 6-3, in the final on Sunday. In the doubles final, the Romanians Irina Bara and Monica Niculescu were defeated by the Slovenians Veronika Erjavec and Dalila Jakupovic, 6-4, 6-4. (MI)
