July 31, 2024
A roundup of local and international news.
Newsroom, 31.07.2024, 14:00
OLYMPICS – Romanian athletes are competing on Wednesday, at the Olympic Games in Paris, in rowing, swimming, judo, table tennis, archery and triathlon. Japan remains in the top position in the medal standings at the Paris Olympics after Tuesday’s races, the fourth official day of competition, while Romania is 16th after the gold won by swimmer David Popovici in the 200m freestyle race on Monday. On Tuesday, David Popovici also qualified to the semifinals of the 100 m freestyle event. The final is taking place today. The Romanian artistic gymnastics team competed in the women’s team finals and finished in 7th place, 12 years after their previous participation, at the London Olympics, when they took the bronze medal. Romanian rowers Ancuța Bodnar and Simona Radiş, the Olympic champions in women’s double rowing, qualified, on Tuesday, to Final A. At the same time, Romanian rowers Florin Arteni and Florin Lehaci qualified to the final in men’s double sculls, after winning the first semi-final.
FIRES – 40 Romanian firefighters with 8 technical means left for Greece on Tuesday, where several wildfires are active. The mission lasts until September 15, the purpose of the program being to reduce the response time in the event of forest fires and improve interoperability between the participating forces. The head of the Romanian Department for Emergencies, Raed Arafat told the firefighters that, although they are going on a support mission, the situation is difficult in Greece and, most likely, they will participate in the interventions. The mission of the Romanian firefighters is part of the assistance program financed by the EU, provided as a measure of support for the Greek communities, after the devastating fires recorded in the past years.
TAROM – TAROM flights to and from Beirut have been suspended on Wednesday and Thursday, amid the growing tensions in the Middle East and following the alert issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Bucharest to avoid any travel to this region, the national air operator announced. Other European countries have also suspended their flights on the Beirut route. Several countries, including Romania, Germany, Great Britain and the Netherlands, have urged their citizens to leave Lebanon urgently, due to growing concerns about a possible large-scale retaliation by Israel, after Saturday’s rocket attack that killed 12 young people on the Golan Heights and for which the Lebanese group Hezbollah is accused. The Israeli army said it carried out a targeted strike in the area of the Lebanese capital against the Hezbollah command on Tuesday evening.
FRAUD – The European Public Prosecutor’s Office alerted Romania regarding several cases of fraud, including one with a possible damage of 4.3 million euros, involving a mafia group from Italy. The institution led by the Romanian Laura Codruţa Kovesi informed the Ministry of Investments and European Projects in Bucharest that there are possible systemic vulnerabilities in contracts with European funds in the country. The European Public Prosecutor’s Office has signaled a high risk of fraud with letters of guarantee issued by fictitious entities or which did not have the right to issue such documents. According to a press release by the European institution, based on these false documents, several public tenders were won and then ended up being investigated.
HAMAS – The Palestinian group Hamas said that its leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in Iran, in an Israeli raid on his residence in the capital Tehran. The President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, condemned the “coward assassination” of the political leader of Hamas. Turkey also condemned the assassination of Ismail Hanyeh, a close associate of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. A spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Nasser Kanaani, said that the blood of the assassinated Hamas leader will not be wasted. We remind you that the war in the Gaza Strip broke out on October 7, 2023, when Hamas committed an attack in southern Israel that led to the death of nearly 1,200 people, most of them civilians. Another 250 people were kidnapped then. In response, Israel promised to destroy Hamas, in power since 2007 in the Palestinian territory, which it sees as a terrorist organization, a position shared by the US and the EU. (EE)
