January 12, 2014
A roundup of the main stories in Romania today.
România Internațional, 12.01.2014, 13:03
Along other world leaders, Romania’s president Traian Basescu also sent his condolences to the Israeli people following the death of Israel’s former prime minister Ariel Sharon, who spent the last 8 years in a coma. Mr Basescu said that through his political actions and the values he upheld throughout his entire career, Ariel Sharon remains one of the most outstanding figures in Israel’s modern history. The former Israeli prime minister between 2001 and 2006 will be buried on Monday at his family’s farm in the south of the country.
The Romanian minister delegate for higher education Mihnea Costoiu is attending the International Space Exploration Forum under way until Tuesday. During his trip to the United States, he also met a number of US congressmen and had talks with representatives of US universities with a view to signing partnerships in the field of education. He said the American Space Agency NASA will develop joint projects with its Romanian counterpart, ROSA.
The Romanian men handball team has qualified for the play-offs of the 2015 World Championships despite losing against Slovakia 27-25. This was Romania’s first defeat in the 2nd preliminary group, which they lead with 10 points. The winner of each of the 5 preliminary groups in the first round qualifies to the second round, where 13 European teams have the chance to qualify straight into the final tournament. These matches will be played in June, with the winners qualifying to the championships hosted by Qatar.
The pair made up of Horia Tecău of Romania and Jean-Julien Rojer of Holland are seeded 10th in the men’s double of the Australian Tennis Open which starts on Monday in Melbourne. Another Romanian player, Florin Mergea, pairs up with the Austrian Oliver Marach. 6 Romanian players are taking part in the women’s doubles. The all Romanian pair Irina Begu and Sorana Cîrstea will play against the Romanian-Czech pair Monica Niculescu and Klara Zakopalova, who are in great form this year after winning two WTA tournaments, in Shenzhen and Hobart. Simona Halep will pair up with Alexandra Cadanţu, while Raluca Olaru will play alongside the Ukrainian-born US player Varvara Lepchenko.
Stere Gulea’s fiction film “I’m an Old Communist Hag” will be screened for the first time in Sweden on the 3rd of February as part of Romania’s participation in the Gothenburg Book Fair. The writer Dan Lungu, the author of the book on which the film is based, will also attend the screening. His novel by the same name enjoyed warm critical reception in 2007, being later translated into more than 10 languages. It looks with dark humour at post-communist Romania, where many older people, faced with social instability, develop nostalgia for the former communist regime.
